Awards
John Young History Maker Celebration
Since our inaugural ceremony with astronaut John Young himself in 2005, the Historical Society of Central Florida has recognized the outstanding achievements of select community members by annually bestowing the John Young History Maker Award upon a Central Floridian whose lifetime of achievement has made a historic impact on the community.
The award’s namesake, Captain Young, was the ninth person to walk on the moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972.
Previous John Young History Maker Honorees
- Captain John Young, 2005
- Colonel Joe Kittinger, 2006
- Toni Jennings, 2007
- Charles Gray, 2008
- Charles Millican, 2010
- John Hillenmeyer, 2011
- Ann Sonntag, 2012
- Rita Bornstein, 2013
- Judge Belvin Perry, Jr., 2014
- Dr. John Hitt, 2015
- Pat Williams, 2017
- E. Ann McGee, 2018
- Ford Kiene, 2019
- Dr. Sanford “Sandy” Shugart, 2020
- Mabel Butler, 2021
Donald A. Cheney Award
The Donald A. Cheney Award was established by the Historical Society of Central Florida to recognize and pay tribute to individuals in the Central Florida community who embody unfailing dedication to the area’s history.
The award is named for Judge Donald A. Cheney, a devoted student and promoter of local history, as well as the founder of the Orange County Historical Society and the Orange County Historical Museum, the forerunners of the current Historical Society and History Center.
Previous Recipients
- Jean Yothers (1992)
- Orville R. Davis (1993)
- Andrew Serros (1994)
- Dann Pottinger (2002)
- Grace Chewning (2003)
- Russell V. Hughes (2005)
- Robert G. “Bob” Neel (2006)
- Jerry Chicone Jr. (2007)
- Andrew Serros (2009)
- Betty Pfeiffer (2010)
- William Milligan (2011)
- Robert N. Serros, M.D. (2012)
- Joy Wallace Dickinson (2013)
- Sara Van Arsdel (2014)
- The Rev. Canon Nelson W. Pinder (2015)
- Don Price (2016)
- Joseph Wittenstein (2017)
- James W. “Chief” Wilson (2018)
- Fairolyn H. Livingston (2019)
- Francina Boykin (2020)
- Frank Billingsley (2021)
- Thomas Tart (2025)