For the past four years, the Hillcrest High School Alumni Association recognizes graduates whose hard work and community service have improved Dallas.

“They set great examples for the current students by showing how hard work leads to success, and service to others can make a difference,” president Betsy Brown Nelson told the Advocate.

The alumni will be honored Wednesday, Oct. 18,  during the Platinum Panther Celebration at Prestonwood Country Club.

These distinguished grads from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s feature a former city council member and a political lobbyist.

Joan LaPrelle Eleazer is a top realtor who also volunteers with the Junior League of Dallas, Interfaith Housing Coalition, Habitat for Humanity and more.

Neil Goldberg and his brother launched the multi-million dollar company Gold Metal Recycling, a scrap metal recycling business. His resume features work with the Jewish Federation, AIPAC, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, local Jewish Community Center, Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

Mitch Rasansky has served as District 13 city councilman and president of Congregation Shearith Israel. The businessman, who worked in real estate development, has been active with Julius Schepps Community Center and Jewish Family Services, among other organizations.

Steve Watson, the managing partner at Stanton Chase Executive Search Firm, devotes his free time to Preston Hollow Presbyterian, SMU’s mentoring program, Dallas Summer Musicals and the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

Caryl Yontz worked for Texas Sen. Ralph Yarborough after graduating from Texas Tech. She then became a lobbyist, and former President Bill Clinton appointed her to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts at the John F. Kennedy Center. Yontz currently volunteers for Reading Buddies.

Merrily Thornton Sartain was a top real estate broker and was actively involved with actively involved with The Greenhill School. Her husband, John, also is being honored posthumously.