Vice President Greg Brownfield rang the bell to start the meeting at 12:01 PM. He then invited Dave Hartman to lead the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the song The More We Get Together, led by Arnold Oliver.
We had a few guests present at this week’s meeting. Lynn Perkins, owner of Falls IT, was a guest of Cara Sauceda. Cameron Turnquist, owner of Arrowhead Builders, was a guest of Austin Green. During the Sunshine Report, Steve Priester informed the club that Arnold Oliver’s wife, Tomi, is ill and has been in the hospital since Tuesday. Judy Koetter announced that both of her sons have recently been in the hospital and are recovering.
We had a lot to celebrate this week, as we inducted a new member and recognized multiple Paul Harris Fellow recipients. John Deason inducted his brother, Matt Deason. Now, let’s get to work on changing his red badge to a blue badge! Dr. Donny Lee received his Paul Harris Fellow. Richard Boyd and Lance Spruiell are Paul Harris Fellow +1 recipients, and Benay Ayers was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow +4. As a reminder, we are a Rotary Club with 100% Paul Harris Fellows.
The Brag Bucket was very lucrative this week. David Hartman is no longer in debt to Lisa Stephens-Musick for her loan from last week. Cara Sauceda bragged on her daughter playing volleyball. Carol Murray and Danny Steed both put money in the bucket to celebrate the sale of Hirschi Realtors to Tanya Ruff after 42 years. Tommy Richardson bragged on his granddaughter, who earned Academic All-American honors and was selected to the water polo Olympic Development Team. Josh Phillips bragged on his daughter for her goal in soccer and his son for his new position at an accounting firm in LA.
Josh Phillips then introduced Alicia Deges and Fouad Fakhouri. They visited the club to discuss the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra. The mission of the WFSO is to promote symphonic music in order to enrich, educate, and entertain a diverse audience in the Texoma community. The orchestra has been active for over 75 years, consists of around 75 professional musicians, and attracts over 3,000 concertgoers each season. Approximately one-third of the musicians are from the area, while the rest commute from the DFW area. Historically, the programs have been located in Memorial Auditorium, but due to renovations, they have held performances at FBC, FUMC, and MSU. They will not return to Memorial until the 2026-2027 season.
To meet their mission on the education side of things, the WFSO partners with WFISD, sending professionals into schools to work with students. They also offer a Young People’s Concert that is free for all local 5th-grade classes. The offices for the WFSO are located at the Kemp Center for the Arts, so feel free to reach out to them with any questions. Conductor Fouad Fakhouri concluded the program with some insight on the upcoming concerts. At the time of reading this, there will be two remaining concerts: Romantic Journey on March 8 at MSU and Timeless Passage on April 26 at FBC. He also shared the news that next year, the WFSO will be commissioning three pieces from some of the top female composers in America. These works will be premiered in Wichita Falls next season.
As a community, we are fortunate to have a Symphony Orchestra, so make sure to take advantage of attending a concert soon!
The meeting concluded with Vice President Greg presenting the speaker’s gift and leading the club in the Four-Way Test.