 Wow! What an evening. From tears to laughter and back again. The eighth annual Brazoria County Business Hall of Fame had it all. The evening started with a well attended reception sponsored by BASF, ConocoPhillips, Ron Carter Auto Dealerships & The Dow Chemical Company and featured treats by Café Annice and Del Papa Distributing.
Rich Raun, JA Board Chairman, began the evening with a brief history and accomplishments of Junior Achievement.
Then the recognition began with State Representative Dennis Bonnen as the evening’s Emcee. First up were the Albert P. Beutel, II scholarships made possible by an endowment from Dr. A. P.Beutel (formerly Dow Plant Manager) in memory of his grandson A.P. Beutel, II (founder of Intermedics). These $1,000 scholarships were presented to area high school seniors. This year’s recipients include from Left-Right: Callie Coulter-Columbia High School; Kylie Jo Box-Danbury High School; Jessica Effenberger - Sweeny High School; Jeff Pickering-Brazoswood High School (won the overall $2,500 scholarship), Leslie Stanton-Alvin High School; Dara Dalton-Brazosport High School shown with Lucy Pendon - Junior Achievement Scholarship Chairman.
For the second year, Presidential Volunteer Service Awards were presented. This year’s group recipients with over 1,000 hours of volunteer service to Junior Achievement, were ConocoPhillips Employees, Gulf States, Inc. Employees & the Can Do Cookers, and Texas Gulf Bank employees.
Individual awards were presented to Tim Daeschner of BASF for service as a volunteer classroom consultant and service on the Celebrity Waiter and Golf Committee as well as a Board member, Jessica Effenberger of Sweeny High School, for service in the JA office for the past 2 years, assisting at the Golf tournament and served as a classroom consultant. Rich Raun of ConocoPhillips for service as a volunteer coordinator, Classroom consultant, and service on 3 JA committees and currently serves as the Board Chairman, Jim Heath of Gulf States, Co-Chairman of the “Who’s Who” Golf Committee, serves on the Board of Directors and on the Executive Committee for Junior Achievement. Nell King also from Gulf States Inc., serves on the “Who’s Who Golf” committee, coordinates the golf silent auction, sponsorship signage, and goodie bag coordination as well as keeping all of the Gulf States volunteers straight.
The 2006-7 Teacher of the Year and Volunteer of the Year were next recognized by past chairman of the Board, Jim Heath. The teacher honor went to Marian Miksch of Sweeny Elementary. Marian has a Bachelor of Science in Education and Masters in Education from Southwest Texas State University and has taught school for 31 years and welcomed Junior Achievement programs into her classroom for more than a decade.
The Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Tim Daeschner of BASF. Tim has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University and has been volunteering with JA in various areas of the country since 1993.
The evening’s culmination then began with a short presentation from George Franklin-Hall of Fame committee member, as to the criteria considered for induction into the Brazoria County Business Hall of Fame. Inductees must demonstrate outstanding overall business achievement, outstanding entrepreneurial achievement, recognition by his/her profession regarding a significant contribution to the success of that organization, courageous thinking and actions, inspiring leadership, visionary/innovative leadership, community mindedness and high moral and ethical principles consistently throughout their professional lives. A video presentation made possible by the hard work of Barbara Franklin-Brazosport College and the good folks at PC Cares began detailing the lives of each of the Hall of Fame inductees.
Dr. Greg Smith, Alvin ISD Superintendent, was on hand to present the award to Dr. Cornell DeWitt of Alvin. DeWitt a native Alvin resident received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and Memorial Medical Center in Corpus Christi. Dr. DeWitt says that memories of being a night time janitor helped him to keep his thoughts on his studies during College and Med School. His words of wisdom for all younger generations is to “make your vocation your avocation”, that is try to find a career that you really enjoy doing, put that as first priority, then adjust your life style to what that career provides. Do not pick a career just for the money. Be flexible; look for the best in people, everybody has value, look for it.
2006 Hall of Fame inductee, Dr. Millicent Valek May in a poignant moment presented the posthumous award to the family of John Edmund Fuchs of Angleton. John received his B.S. in Chemistry at St. Edwards University and after a short stint in the United States Navy received his B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Texas. John owned and operated City Drug Store in Angleton from 1950 until 2001. City Drug was never really closed for the 51 year’s that John operated it. He has been noted as walking more than 17 miles to dispense medicine to people in need in inclement weather. A call in the middle of the night would bring John out to see to his clients needs. For anyone who knew John they knew that his primary goal was to serve others.
Dr. Bob Schwebel, also a 2006 Hall of Fame recipient presented the next award to sister-in-law Donna Ruth Loggins of West Columbia. Donna Ruth grew up in West Columbia then attended Southwest Texas State University. Although Donna grew up in the Jewelry business, she did not actually join the family business until 1962. She worked in the business for 15 years then purchased Chesney’s from her ailing parents in 1977. Donna has operated Chesney’s for the past 30 years. Donna says that knowing her customers personally makes her work day all the more fun and interesting even after all these years. With the careful watching of the economic tide, Donna has grown her business to include giftware and bridal items with jewelry as a second mainstay. Thanks in large part to Donna Ruth, Chesney’s holds the record for the longest running Jewelry store in Brazoria County, this year celebrating its 83rd year of business.
Raymond Burroughs, a 2002 Hall of Fame inductee, presented the last award to Jack Reid of Lake Jackson. Jack, trained as a bricklayer in the service, moved to Freeport to do brickwork at The Dow Chemical Co. Jack started a masonry company first and then in 1951, with partners opened The Jack Reid Lumber Co. Then in 1954, the lumber company was sold and Jack retained the appliance portion of the lumber co and operated The Jack Reid Appliance Co until he retired in 1991. Jack has been Councilman and Mayor of Lake Jackson among many other service positions throughout Lake Jackson.
Junior Achievement as host for the event is a local non-profit organization whose mission is educating Brazoria County youth in Basic Money Management, Economics, Career investigation, leadership skills and Free enterprise education. Programs are available for K-12th grade as well as after school programs. Volunteer opportunities abound and can be as little as 3 hours worth of your time to reach a classroom full of youth with vital life skills. For more information on volunteer opportunities, special events, program information or see a list of Business Hall of Fame recipients visit the JA website at www.ja-brazoriacounty.org or call the Junior Achievement office at 979-549-0800.
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