MOULTRIE, Ga. — Mary Beth Watson, right, presents the 2017 Colquitt County Career Achievement Award to Reatha Clark King March 2.

King, a Pavo native who grew up in Moultrie, earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, taught at the collegiate level from 1968 to 1977 and served as president at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis and St Paul. She left that position to become president and CEO of the General Mills Foundation and later chairman of the board of the foundation until her retirement in 2003.

The award was created in 2012 to honor people who were educated in the Moultrie or Colquitt County school systems who went on to greatness outside the area.