SCI to Honor Admiral Loy and Grace Allen with Silver Bell Award

Admiral James Loy, Administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, and Mrs. Grace Allen will be recipients of Silver Bells at the Institute’s 26th Annual Silver Bell Awards Dinner on Tuesday, June 17 at Chelsea Piers in New York City. Last year, more than 900 people attended and more than $600,000 was raised to support the Seamen’s Church Institute. “We at the Seamen’s Church Institute as well as others in the maritime, were privileged to know Jim Loy from his distinguished service in the U.S. Coast Guard, long before he spearheaded improvements in airport security,” said the Rev. Dr. Jean R. Smith, Executive Director. “Grace Allen has been a leading proponent of SCI’s timeless and innovative programs alike. From core offerings such as ship visiting and Christmas-at-Sea to SCI’s more recent initiatives in service to inland mariners, her keen insights and enthusiastic encouragement have had a profound and lasting impact upon the Institute’s ability to serve well. Both Silver Bell recipients are SCI Board members. SCI is the largest independent maritime-oriented non-profit in North America whose $6.5 million budget funds legal advocacy world-wide, direct services to seafarers in the Port of New York/New Jersey and along 2,200 miles of America’s inland waterways; and simulator training facilities in New York, New York; Paducah, Kentucky; and Houston, Texas. Since November 2002, Admiral James M. Loy, Administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, has managed a new federal agency formed by the Aviation Transportation Security Act. This agency provides security for the traveling public and for all commercial transportation. Previously, Admiral Loy served as Commandant of the Coast Guard from May 1998 to May 2002, where he focused his leadership on restoring Coast Guard readiness and shaping the future of the Coast Guard. Prior to becoming Commandant, Admiral Loy served as the Coast Guard Chief of Staff from 1996-98, during which time he redesigned the headquarters management structure and overhauled the Coast Guard planning and budgeting process to focus more sharply on performance and results. Mrs. Grace Allen, the Chairman of the Institute’s Arts and Artifacts Committee, is an avid sailor, who appreciates the often lonely and dangerous life of mariners. She has orchestrated many of the Institute’s maritime art openings in the Water Street Gallery, located at SCI’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan. These shows have given the general public an opportunity to appreciate a mariner’s life through art and artifacts. A native of the midwest, Mrs. Allen enthusiastically supported the Center for Maritime Education’s initiative to train mariners by building the first inland simulator-based training facility in Paducah, Kentucky and she is the driving force behind SCI’s annual Christmas-at-Sea Gala. John J. McMullen to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award Dr. John J. McMullen, a 1940 graduate of the Naval Academy, served in the Pacific theater during World War II, he was awarded the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. He was also awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He completed post-graduate training at MIT and earned a doctoral degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. His civilian career includes leading the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Office of Ship Construction and Repair, starting his own naval architectural firm, and working as president and CEO of United States Lines, one of the nation’s foremost shipping companies. Dr. McMullen established the naval architecture firm of John J. McMullen Associates, which is responsible for numerous innovations in ship design and construction.