Chamber bestows annual awards

The Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce held the 2021 annual Awards Ceremony in the Christian Life Center of the First United Methodist Church with Pastor David Ferguson as host, who also led the Invocation and the Pledges to the U.S. and Texas flags.

The guest speaker, Kevin Tutt, was introduced by Lisa Echols. Tutt is co-founder of Tutt and Daggs, Corporate Speakers and spreads his positive enthusiasm to the audience. He continued to inspire others to maximize their potential by being positive and focusing on the details to make a difference. Tutt has served as adjunct instructor at Abilene Christian University by encouraging student engagement in education and worked in the healthcare field to improve client services.

There was special recognition to Virgil Moore as he is retiring as the Executive Director of the Breckenridge Economic Development Corporation.

Breckenridge High School students Caroline Turner, Kayla Wood and Thomas Hamilton presented their Texas Midwest Community Network project, which was identified as the South Park Project. The students made significant improvements to the South Park, which was directed at improving the play area for the younger children who can now play away from the busy highway that borders the City Park on Walker St. (Highway 180 East). The students were able to convince local businesses to donate time, money and materials to the tune of $80,000 in value that greatly improved the park for the identified younger children of our community.

J.B. Sparks introduced the Civic organization of the Year as The Rotary Club. The organizations current president, Yuri Huntington, accepted the award on behalf of the local club.

The 2021 Educator of the Year was introduced as Leticia Bartley, who teaches kindergarten at East Elementary. Her husband is the Head Baseball Coach and she thought she was present for him to get another award. During the COVID-19 virus this past year, she was known to go around to her student’s homes, spread a blanket on their lawn and read a story to her students. This is just one example of how she and many other teachers in Breckenridge ISD have gone above and beyond what is required of them as teachers this past year.

Next on the agenda was the presentation for the Ag Citizen of the Year, which was presented by Lisa Echols to this year’s recipient, (Sarah) Sally (Robertson) Satterwhite, who has been known to sit up with a new mama cow to help her deliver her first calf.

Cassie Griffith was able to explain to the audience how the 2020 Citizen of the Year aided Stephens County through the COVID crisis this past year and then pulled out all the stops to help citizens through the recent ice and extreme cold spell which hit our county hard and left many without heat for two or three days and no electricity due to the Texas Grid failure. Judge Michael Roach was the recipient and is deserving of every accolade he has received. Judge Roach also is responsible for the earliest filing for Disaster Relief for this county and way ahead of neighboring counties. It was a very well-deserved recognition for his efforts that went above and beyond what would be expected. He delivered heaters and got formula for a new mom and was able to deliver others to family members who did have heat or took them to the local motel where a warm room was made available. Judge Roach thought he was just here to give the benediction, which he did with a thankful heart.

The last award of the evening was a real surprise for the two recipients and most of the audience, a couple, Tony Pilkington and his wife Carla McKeown, who started the Breckenridge Texan about three years ago, 2017, as an online newspaper. He was present taking photos during the evening presentations and Carla was taking notes as is her constant contribution. Then it was their turn to take center stage to receive the award for the 2020 Business of the Year.