Shashank Patel grew up in India and trained in New York City before landing in Greenville, where he now practices medicine.

Six-year-old Mary Avery Keen, a first-grader at W.O. Parmer Elementary School likes to dress up and play teacher.

Gwendolyn Crittendon of Georgiana has both a son and son-in-law who have each completed three tours of duty in Iraq.

Mary Wallace runs the Hank Williams Museum and Boyhood Home. Joy Matthews met her husband on the internet. Tony Peagler loves working with tires. Myra Blackburn won a prize for her Dolly Parton costume at a senior Halloween party.

These are the faces of our community.

They are diverse and unique, young and old, black and white. And they are featured in Profile 2009, a special section, months in the making, included in today’s edition of The Greenville Advocate.

Faces of Greenville are featured on page 6, faces of Butler County on page 16.

To glimpse the future of our community, we need look no further than our schools. We profile eight student leaders blazing a path to tomorrow in Faces of the Future on page 8.

Also included in this year’s publication is a feature on a woman who has revitalized a chamber of commerce and her community with an enthusiastic spirit and can-do approach.

Her accomplishments and positive influence have earned her distinction as The Greenville Advocate Person of the Year. You can read about her on page 5.

We hope you’ll enjoy Profile 2009, whether in print or on-line.