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TCOG recognizes Outstanding Citizens
By Allen Rich
Jun 19, 2006

Even 10 months later, the winds of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita were still a vivid memory on June 15 when the Texoma Council of Governments recognized the contributions of people and organizations that helped hurricane evacuees face a catastrophe of historic proportion.  

TCOG’s Annual Meeting was also an opportunity to thank community leaders that give of themselves to improve our everyday life.   Citizen of the Year Awards were presented to caring residents of Grayson, Fannin and Cooke counties.  In addition, 2006 marked the first time TCOG handed out Public-Private Partnership Awards.

TCOG President Johnny Waldrip

TCOG President and Grayson County Commissioner Johnny Waldrip welcomed the crowd to the award ceremony and annual business meeting before TGOG Executive Director Francis Pelley presented the first Public-Private Partnership Award to Brown & Hofmeister, L.L.P. 

This law firm has provided legal expertise regarding Open Meetings Open Records Act, economic development corporations, planning and zoning, and the policies and procedures of elected officials at four separate training sessions during the past year.  Brown & Hofmeister is offering to continue to offer their services at three or four seminars in the upcoming year.

“We are very fortunate to have such outstanding partners in the community,” remarked Pelley.

Janis Thompson of the Area Agency on Aging presented the next Public-Private Partnership Award to Deborah Adams of Stonebrook Assisted Living and Memory Care Community, calling Adams “a very special person” for her work with the Alzheimer Support Group.

Adams thanked TCOG for recognizing her efforts, adding, “The work is really its own reward.”

Mary Diekman, TCOG Public Housing Social Service Coordinator, presented the third Public-Private Partnership award to the First Baptist Church of Bonham for tireless efforts to offer as much comfort as possible to hurricane evacuees that filled the shelter in Bonham and challenged the community’s ability to provide even the basic necessities for their neighbors in an hour of need. 

“When the winds of Katrina hit the shores of Louisiana, we had 200 people appear at the shelter in Bonham,” Diekman said. 

When local housing was arranged, “The evacuees had nothing,” Diekman recalled. “No blankets, no dishes, no clothes…none of the things we take for granted…nothing but the clothes on their back.”

But when the TCOG Public Housing Social Service Coordinator placed a call to Morgan Malone, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Bonham, the congregation sprang into action coordinating the response of a caring community.  All of the churches in Fannin County began collecting donations and soon hurricane evacuees were shuttled to a location where they could pick out clothing and the necessary items that would help them through the trying days ahead.

As one middle-aged displaced New Orleans resident stoically remarked as he waited at the Bonham shelter for family to find him, “Where I’m going won’t be home, but I’m just gonna have to make it home.”

As difficult at the transition would be, the man at least had clothes and the prayers of a community that came together to reach out to neighbors that had lost everything in a natural disaster of enormous proportions.

“Without this partnership, we couldn’t have done this,” Diekman told the audience.  “I am just so proud of the community, of Bonham and of the First Baptist Church.”

Awards were then given to people whose lives make a dramatic difference in their counties.

The Cooke County Outstanding Citizen Award went to Michele Baldwin, Director of Volunteer In Service To Others (VISTO).  Baldwin has been one of the driving forces behind VISTO for years and her example of community service has been an inspiration to many in Cooke County.  She serves as chaplin for the Valley View Volunteer Fire Department and Baldwin has been instrumental in helping create a Cooke County Family Crisis Center. 

When hurricane evacuees arrived in Gainesville, other volunteers recall that Baldwin was on call 24 hours a day, never complained and only wished she could do more.

“I was just one of the people that responded,” Baldwin said humbly.  “On behalf of all of those people, thank you.”

Grayson County Outstanding Citizen went to D.D. McKnight, a man that spent a lifetime enriching the lives of others as a gifted teacher and Scout Master and someone that an entire community looks up to for integrity and fairness.

“His life has truly made a difference in the community,” Obie Lee Greenleaf commented as he presented the award.

McKnight dedicated 43 years of his life to students and always found a way to provide opportunities, even if it meant working a little harder and investing more time.  When the school wasn’t able to offer higher mathematics, McKnight founded a math club at the school to introduce motivated students to trigonometry and calculus.

When a need in the community presented itself, McKnight stepped forward, serving on everything from Meals on Wheels to the city council over a lifetime of service to those around him.

Fannin County Outstanding Citizen went to Jim Glaser, a very successful entrepreneur that has re-invested in his community by contributing over a half million dollars to charitable groups and students since 2002 through the Glaser Family Charitable Foundation.  Jim and Raynell Glaser founded the organization to promote health, opportunities and protection to children and Christian groups from their home base in Ector, Texas. 

Glaser is Redrock Management, L.L.C. President, a diversified company that manages numerous investments including Legacy Ridge Country Club in Bonham.  Still, he and his wife find time to visit orphanages as far away as Latvia to share with those less fortunate.   The Glasers are currently planning a mission trip to orphanages in Mexico.  

TGOG also presented a Service Award to Billy Bird Johnson, one of the founding members in 1980 of Texoma Council for the Deaf (TCD).  Now an important part of Texoma Council for Governments, TCD assists hearing-impaired children and employees, but that is only the beginning.  This group can be instrumental in helping deaf mothers in delivery, yet unable to understand the doctors and nurses.  TCD can be a valuable friend to persons who are deaf and also suffer from mental illness, but can’t be properly diagnosed due to a lack of interpreters at local and state hospitals.  Without interpreters at company meetings, deaf employees aren’t able to understand many of the issues during discussions.  And yet as Texoma Council for the Deaf finds more ways to make the lives of hearing-impaired residents more fulfilling, budgets cuts force the organization to find ways to do more with less funding.

For the past 26 years, the tireless commitment of people like Billy Bird Johnson have helped everyone understand it isn’t about how much you hear; it is about how much you care.

In 1942, Johnson became the first deaf person to graduate from Denison High School.  He attended Austin College and managed Texoma Greenhouse for many years.  Johnson continues to promote awareness regarding hearing-impaired issues to local businesses, law enforcement, schools, hospitals, employers and the deaf community.

The Homeland Security Heroes Award was presented to the Grayson County Disaster Relief Group for their dedication to the needs of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita evacuees that found shelter from the storm in Grayson County.

Through the efforts of the Grayson County Disaster Relief Group, over $100,000 of donations in cash, in-kind goods and services were offered to the United Way, Red Cross and Salvation Army.