The ADS Gold Medal 2015 was presented to Jim Chuey and in memory of Carl Chuey, September 5, 2015. Ron MIner, past ADS President presented the award.
Ron’s remarks:
“Most of you know that an important part of every ADS National Show is the presentation of several awards, the most prestigious of those awards is the ADS Gold Medal. Each year, the ADS President and the Special Awards Chairman work with a few officers to identify possible candidates for that award. Generally, one or two individuals are selected to receive the Gold Medal.
It is remarkable that, until today, no Gold Medal has ever been awarded at any location other than the Annual Show banquet. In this situation, however, our Gold Medal candidate could not be encouraged to go to New York. Consequently, the ADS authorized this presentation at the Midwest Show…
In my experience in the ADS, there have been very few real watershed events. Some, I’m sure, would consider the completion and the implementation of the Judging Manual in 2002 to be such an event. Another would be the generation of the ADS Color Charts. As I see it, however, we are in the process of experiencing a far more significant change in our dahlia hobby. We are on the verge of beginning the reduction of virus in our dahlia gardens.
Two Midwest Conference members are basically responsible for changing that possibility into a reality. Those two people are Carl and Jim Chuey. As most of you here know, we lost Carl a year and a half ago to brain cancer. Carl was one of the few people within the ADS who really appreciated the research ongoing by Professor Hanu Pappu at Washington State University. As a Professor of Biology himself at Youngstown State University, he recognized that Professor Pappu’s work could yield a fundamental improvement in our gardens and our hobby.
Jim and Carl discussed that possibility during those long and impossibly difficult hours of Carl’s treatments. Unknown to all of us, Jim controlled the resources that were eventually able to make some of Carl’s hopes and expectations a reality through the assets of the Scheetz-Chuey Foundation.
Jim donated $350,000 to Professor Pappu’s Virus research project 
at Washington State University and has provided the financial support required to promote and publicize the research work within the ADS. Simply put, Carl’s knowledge and Jim’s commitment are making it possible for all of us both to understand and to begin to overcome virus in our dahlia gardens. For those fundamentally important contributions, it is my honor and privilege to present the ADS Gold Medal to Jim and in the memory of Carl Chuey. Clearly, Carl’s legacy will be to improve our dahlia hobby in a fundamental way.”