M.Ed., Troy University, 1978. Reading Specialist.
B.S.E., The University of Alabama, 1958. Elementary Education.
Marian Loftin’s dedication to the well-being of children and youth is apparent in her lifelong commitment to advocate for children and families at the local, state, and national level.
Marian Accinno grew up in Birmingham, the oldest of 6 girls, attended The University of Alabama where she met and married her college sweetheart, Jim Loftin. She spent the first 20 years of their marriage as mother of four and classroom teacher, two “vocations” that she cherished. Her classroom experience and her teacher training made her realize family and community experiences determine the well-being of children throughout their lives.
When Marian left the classroom, she was employed by The University of Alabama in External Affairs in the Dothan Regional Office, then as Assistant Director of Government Relations in Tuscaloosa and Montgomery. She returned to Dothan as Executive Director of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce. When appointed by the Governor to be Director of the State of Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention/The Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama, she left the position at the Chamber.
Actively involved in child and family concerns, Loftin served on the founding Board of the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center in Dothan, the first “one-stop” for human services in the state. Other counties stepped up to meet the needs of their communities using that model. There are now 13 Family Resource Centers located throughout the state in the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers (ANFRC). This network is receiving national recognition. ANFRC is changing the very future of Alabama. Marian will tell you emphatically that any accomplishment of which she has been a part is due to those with whom she worked.
In 2004, Governor Bob Riley appointed Marian Loftin to his Task Force to Strengthen Alabama Families. At the state level, she serves on the Boards of the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers and the Children First Alliance of Alabama. She was the first recipient of the Alabama Child Champion Lifetime Achievement Award, which now bears her name.
In 2007, nominated by Governor Riley, Marian received the National Health and Human Services Commissioner’s Award for Outstanding Work in Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect in Alabama. She has been named Distinguished Alumna of The University of Alabama (1988), Outstanding Alumna, Troy University Dothan (1993) and Distinguished Alumna of John Carroll Class of 1954 (1999). She is also member of the Order of The XXXI and Women of the Capstone at The University of Alabama.
She and her husband earned the Henry and Julia Tutwiler Distinguished Service Award and the ODK Summercell Award from The University of Alabama.
Marian Loftin is the widow of Jim Loftin Sr., mother of four and proud grandmother of six.