Although she has never attended herself, for 2015 Kingdom of Callaway Supper Guest of Honor Jane McClellan, the annual Callaway County gathering carries a bit of a family legacy.
McLellan's mother, Susan Krumm, served as the 96th Supper president in 2001; her great-uncle, John Grant, was president in 1968; her grandfather, Joe Grant, was the president in 1952 and her great-grandfather, Dr. J.M. Tate, was the president in 1916.
McClellan, who was unable to attend when her mother was president in 2001, said she is looking forward to her first Kingdom Supper - an annual event that honors native Callawegians who have gone on to achieve success elsewhere, as well as those who have stayed and served "The Kingdom."
"The more I learned about it, it's a very exciting opportunity," she said.
McClellan said she is especially excited at the prospect of seeing more than the few old friends she gets the opportunity to visit with when she returns home.
"It's a great opportunity to reconnect with people from my grandparents' generation and my parents generation," McClellan said. "I'm looking forward to finding out what's been going on."
Krumm said she was "thrilled and very, very surprised," when she found out her daughter had been chosen as the 2015 guest of honor.
"It's an honor, and I look forward to having her home for this," Krumm said. "I'm looking forward to being with her in that setting and also to hearing what she has to say about her experiences growing up here, what her reflections are."
A 1993 graduate of Fulton High School, McClellan earned her bachelor in communications from Northwestern University in 1997. Her career in consumer research has included positions with Sargento Foods and McCain Foods. She currently works as manager of consumer and market insights for the J.M. Smucker Company.
McClellan said her job includes organizing and conducting focus groups, online surveys and product research.
In a way, she said her career can be attributed to her Callaway roots. McClellan said she is "convinced" she got her first job because the man who was interviewing her noticed that her resume included a stint as a tour guide at the Churchill Museum and Library.
"He said he was reading a book about Churchill. We spent probably five minutes talking about Churchill," McClellan said. "That gave me that connecting point."
She also attributed some of her success to having grown up in a small town.
"Being from a smaller community, you tend to get more opportunities to participate in things - for example, I got a lot of opportunities with music and theater," McClellan said. "My job really has involved a lot of presenting and those sorts of experiences gave me a comfort level with that."
She said the friendliness and approachability of "people in the Midwest" was a contributing factor as well.
"That friendliness in our town and our community kind of stands out - it can be a unique asset in certain fields, and in how you do things," she said.
McClellan also referenced getting a more global perspective from Fulton's two colleges.
"There's a diversity in different kinds of thinkers, different ethnicities, people from different places," she said. "It gave me more of a view to the world I don't think I otherwise would have gotten."
2015 supper president Julie Boyd Uhls said she chose McClellan as the guest of honor because the two grew up together and, "I've always admired her insight and personality."
"I am excited to hear about her life currently, and I'm interested to hear how Callaway County has shaped her," Uhls said, noting that another reason she picked McClellan was her frequent visits home: "She's very tied to this community."
The 110th Kingdom Supper will be held Tuesday, March 24 on the William Woods University campus. The event will kick off with the Guest of Honor Reception from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Gladys Woods Kemper Art Center, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. in Tucker Dining Hall at 7 p.m. and the program at 8:15 p.m. in Dulany Auditorium. Tickets are $15 and are available at Bank Star One, The Callaway Bank, United Security Bank, the Fulton Area Chamber of Commerce, Crane's Country Store in Williamsburg and the Short Stop in Millersburg.