2021 Baylor Founders Medal honors benefactor Sue Mayborn

WACO – Baylor University has honored Temple publisher Sue Mayborn with the 2021 Founders Medal.
Established in 1969, the Founders Medal is one of the most distinguished awards given by Baylor. It is reserved for men and women whose service and contributions have been unusually significant to the life and future of the university.
A statement from the university noted that in more than 40 years of support, service and leadership as a member of the Baylor family, Sue Mayborn has invested of her time, talents and resources to further Baylor’s mission and to provide support to generations of students.
The owner, editor and publisher of the Temple Daily Telegram and the Killeen Daily Herald, Mayborn is known across the state for her commitment to journalistic excellence and support of higher education through the work of the The Frank W. & Sue Mayborn Foundation.
A native of Oklahoma, she graduated from Gatesville High School and Temple Junior College and attended Baylor and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She is a member of Memorial Baptist Church in Temple.
Her husband, the late Frank Mayborn, was heavily involved in developing Temple and the surrounding area. He was known for actions ranging from helping persuade the U.S. Department of War to locate Fort Hood nearby to donating land for the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center and to starting the annual Bell County Spelling Bee. Among many other contributions and leadership roles, he endowed chairs at Texas Tech University and Peabody College in Nashville, TN, and served on the journalism advisory boards for the University of Texas and Texas A&M. He served on the boards of trustees at Peabody College and Vanderbilt University.
The Texas Press Association’s annual Frank W. Mayborn Award recognizes community leadership by a Texas newspaper publisher in his honor. The award includes a scholarship the recipient may direct to a college or university of his/her choice.
In 1979, Maborn was executive vice president for Frank Mayborn Enterprises Inc. After the couple married in 1981, she undertook progressively greater roles in the companies. Following Frank’s death in 1987, she became president/owner of Channel 6 Inc. (KCEN-TV) and Frank Mayborn Enterprises Inc. and its subsidiaries, the Temple Daily Telegram, Killeen Daily Herald and County Developers. She remains active in the leadership of Frank Mayborn Enterprises, Inc.
The Mayborns’ involvement with Baylor University began with their friendship with U.S. Rep. William R. Poage, a 1921 Baylor graduate. Their first project was leading the fundraising for The W.R. Poage Legislative Library at Baylor.
Sue Maborn has continued this legacy with support for the Baylor Libraries, the Department of Journalism, the Mayborn Museum and the Baylor in Washington program, among other programs.
She is a Baylor Alumna Honoris Causa and recipient of The Herbert H. Reynolds Award for Exemplary Service. She also was honored with the Pro Texana Medal of Service from Baylor in 2015. 
She played a major role in the building of the Sue and Frank Mayborn Natural Science and Cultural History Museum Complex at Baylor and its ongoing renovation, and created the Sue Mayborn Endowed Scholarship Fund in Journalism.