Congratulations to the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Honorees

Three Grandview High School Alumni have been selected to be honored with the Jane Bryan Distinguished Alumni recognition for 2023. The Distinguished Alumni Committee selected Marla Lynn, Christopher Markley and Byron Roberson to be presented with this award at the Alumni Brunch on April 1, 2023, at the Armacost Museum in Grandview.

Marla Lynn - Class of 1992

Marla is currently the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Transportation for the Grandview C-4 Transportation Department, a position she has held since 2019. She has worked in the Transportation Department for 18 years, both as a school bus driver and a driver trainer.

Marla puts her heart and soul into her job, ensuring students get to and from their homes and destinations for extracurricular activities in a timely manner. In 2019 she received the Above and Beyond Award from the school district, which recognizes staff members who go the extra mile to provide service that is above and beyond expectations. She willingly takes charge when the director is not available, taking ownership of any challenges that arise.

She is on the Potpourri Committee, which is a group of staff that meet with he Superintendent once a month to talk about the coming year’s calendar and changes that need to be made. Marla is also the Wellbeing Ambassador for the Transportation Department. In this role she and representatives from every building in the district meet with the district Wellbeing Coordinator to talk about upcoming events and pass that information onto their departments. In 2022 she joined the Youth Court Executive Board and is currently the President.

Marla is proud to live and work in the Grandview C-4 community. She has two sons, Tyler and Kevin that graduated from Grandview High School in 2014 and 2016 who are both Eagle Scouts. She is also a proud grandmother of two.

Christopher D. Markley - Class of 1999

Chris is currently the Chief of Standardization and Evaluation in the 931st Operations Group at McConnell AFB in Kansas. After college at the University of Central Missouri, where he earned a B.S. in Aviation Management, he began flying for a couple of regional airlines. He completed his Masters in Aviation Safety in 2006 and ultimately decided to join the Air Force Reserve with the intention to resume his airline career and fly for the military part-time.

After three years of initial training and deployments that began in 2006, he went back to the airlines in 2009. A short time later, Chris was offered the opportunity to become a full-time member of his unit, and he has served in that role since 2010. His unit was selected to transition from the KC-135 Stratotanker to the KC-46 Pegasus in 2014. It was at that time he was selected to lead the unit’s Program Integration Office. In that role, he was responsible for the integration of operations, maintenance, and training activities to support the Wing’s conversion from the KC-135 to the KC-46. In 2019 Chris was honored to be selected to fly the first delivery of the KC-46 to the Air Force in 2019.

Over the course of his Air Force career, he has accumulated over 5,000 flying hours in the KC-135 and KC-46. When added to his civilian flying hours, the total is over 8,000. He has flown more than 100 combat missions in Operations IRAQI FREEDOM, ENDURING FREEDOM, NOBLE EAGLE and UNIFIED PROTECTOR. He was the first pilot in the Air Force Reserve Command to be qualified on the KC-46.

Chris has earned many awards and decorations including the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Graduate, Undergraduate Pilot Training and Company Grade Officer of the Year, 2012.

When Chris isn’t working, he coaches both of his daughters on basketball teams and he’s also served in a number of volunteer roles at Christ Church in Wichita, KS. He regularly represents his unit in community outreach briefings, school visits, parades, and fly-overs.

Chris has been married to wife Shawna for 18 years, they have 2 daughters, Ava and Audrey, and they currently reside in Rose Hill, Kansas.

Byron K. Roberson - Class of 1987

Byron Roberson became the 7th Chief of Police for the City of Prairie Village Kansas when he was appointed on January 4, 2021. At the same time of this appointment, he became the first African American Chief of Police of any municipality in the history of Johnson County, Kansas.

Byron has served the cities of Prairie Village and Mission Hills Kansas, for over 28 years, starting his career as a police officer in 1995. During his career at Prairie Village, he has served as a Field Training Officer, worked as an Undercover Narcotics Detective and Shift Commander. He was a Team Commander of the Prairie Village SWAT Team for over 10 years.

Byron is a State of Kansas Certified Firearms Instructor and taught Critical Incident Response and weapons tactics for the Department for over 20 years. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Criminal Justice from Jackson State University in Jackson Mississippi, a Master’s Degree of Administration of Justice from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri and is a also a graduate of the 269th Class of the FBI National Academy, Quantico, Virginia.

He is an Adjunct Professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Missouri Kansas City and is an active member of the Johnson County NAACP, helping with cultural events put on by the organization throughout the year. Byron participates as a mentor for the Prep KC Organization that sponsors career building opportunities in the Grandview and Kansas City, Missouri School Districts. He recently announced publicly that he will be seeking election to the position of Johnson County Sheriff in the 2024.