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Approximately 400 people attended Mt. Zion Baptist Church’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and Award Ceremony on Monday.

Soaring oratory and music filled the Highland School Center for the Arts in Warrenton.

Rev. Dr. Eugene Johnson, the keynote speaker, stressed Dr. King’s themes of hope and change. Rev. Johnson serves as pastor of the 2,000-member Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Centreville.

Mt. Zion trustees presented awards to:

• Olivia Brown, a Warrenton Middle School student, for her winning essay about Dr. King.

• Paulette Garner, a Fauquier native, poet and Loudoun County schoolteacher, for her efforts in education.

• Jan Ashby, who has coached and taught 42 years in the county, for his work in education.

• Dr. Tom Sentz, a Warrenton dentist, philanthropist and business owner, for his contributions to the business community.

• Pastor Reese Washington of Shiloh Baptist Church in Brandy Station for his contributions to religion. Pastor Washington works with a ministry at the Coffeewood Correctional Center and with a food bank.

• Butler Grant, a retired Fauquier sheriff’s officer, for community service. Lt. Grant broke numerous color barriers as the office’s first black patrol deputy, first black detective and first black command staff member.

• Chad Perkey, administrator of Fauquier Health Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, for service to the elderly.

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