Tim and Brenda McCord will be roasted and toasted by their friends and family members at the Outstanding Civic Leadership Event at the Brick Ballroom on Thursday.
It will mark the first time the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce has honored a couple at the annual event, according to Wayne Mays, president and CEO of the organization.
Mays described the OCLE as an "anti-banquet," where people can expect to be entertained and hear heartwarming stories about their friends. Dress is casual and this year's theme will focus on the McCord's hobbies of fishing, gardening and reading.
Honorees for the banquet are chosen by a committee for their current contributions to the community. Either Tim or Brenda could have been an honoree on their own merits, but the couple is a team, according to Mays and Katelyn Coon, chamber director of events.
Tim is influential in the community as the president of Generations Bank, as well as through his volunteer work on a long list of organizations such as Siloam Springs Regional Hospital board, New Beginnings Pregnancy Services board, Siloam Springs Public School Foundation, Roy Chesney Fund and Rotary Club. He also served as Chamber of Commerce board president in 2010.
Brenda is well-known from her 26-year career as a preschool teacher at Tender Care Pre-School at First Baptist Church and for her volunteer work at organizations such as Friends of the Library Board, Main Street Academy Board, The Manna Center and Southside Elementary School.
Tim and Brenda are often seen volunteering together as well as grilling food for community events as representatives of the bank, and each year they put up a musical light show at their house for Christmas. The couple are members of Community Christian Fellowship.
High school sweethearts (almost)
Brenda and Tim met while attending Blackwell High School in Blackwell, Okla. Tim was a senior and Brenda was a sophomore, and it took her a little while to catch his eye. They started officially dating during his freshmen year at Central State University in Edmond, Okla., now the University of Central Oklahoma.
"He was the quarterback, he was 'Mr. It,' and I had the biggest crush," Brenda said. "He didn't know I existed."
"Well, that's not true," Tim replied.
"Anyway, it took a while to get his attention," Brenda said with a laugh.
Brenda also attended Central State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Special Arts and Science in Nutrition and Tim earned a Bachelors of Business Administration. Tim went on to earn a master's degree from Oklahoma City University and attended the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.
Finding Siloam Springs
Tim started his banking career in the Oklahoma City area, but in the mid-1980s the couple's family began to grow and they began to look for a community where they could raise their children.
"We wanted to to get into a community setting to raise a family," Tim said. "We didn't even know Northwest Arkansas and Siloam Springs existed."
The couple made a checklist of their ideal community.
"We had a list of the perfect place to live and Siloam met everything except it wasn't actually on a lake, but everything else it had -- a university, a good employment base, within a close enough distance to go home and see our families," he said.
As they were preparing to move, Brenda was surprised to learn that her parents honeymooned in Siloam Springs in the 1940s.
The McCords moved to Siloam Springs in October of 1987, just after the birth of their second child.
"To me, that's one of the most heartwarming parts (of their story)," said Mays. "They were a young couple living in Oklahoma years ago, planning their lives, planning their futures, and they thought, 'We can pick anywhere we want. Let's go live in a place that has the following characteristics.' ... Unlike some people who got sent here by their company or they were born and raised here -- they had no choice -- this couple picked this community and they moved here and they invested their lives in the community and that's worth recognizing. They picked us for all the right reasons, they came here and then they took a good place and made it better."
The McCords raised all three of their children -- Elizabeth, Trent and Suzannah -- in Siloam Springs. All three children were involved in activities and sports and graduated from Siloam Springs High School with an excellent education that prepared them for their future, Tim said. Elizabeth went on to become a nurse practitioner, Trent became a dentist and Suzannah became an attorney.
Now that the kids are out of the house, the McCords said they have time to volunteer.
"The friendships we've made over the years by being involved and working on a common cause, you get to know people, you make friends and that makes for just a better place to live," Tim said.
Preschool teacher
As a preschool teacher, Brenda has impacted countless students over the past 26 years. Now the children of some of her former students are beginning to attend Tender Care Preschool.
There is never a dull moment for preschool teachers but Brenda clearly loves her work, eagerly sharing stories of the funny and cute things her students have recently done.
"I'm fortunate that I get to hang out with four-year-olds," she said.
Joan Hubbard, director of the preschool for the past 27 years, sees Brenda not only as a coworker but also as one of her best friends.
Early childhood education and developmentally appropriate activities are very important to Brenda, Hubbard said. She makes a great teacher because she is calm, creative, enjoys children and is very professional, she said.
"She's wonderful and great with kids, they love her," Hubbard said.
Hubbard said that Tim and Brenda are both very deserving of the OCLE award because they are "salt of the earth" people.
"They are down to earth, they are Christians, they are friendly and cheerful and 'my glass is half full' type of people," she said.
Carey Rotramel, whose oldest son was in Brenda's class last year and second oldest son is in her class this year, said she knows her children are in good hands.
As a teacher, Brenda shows "just the right amount of firmness and kindness," she said. Brenda is patient and kind, but students also know where they stand with her consistent guidance, Rotramel said.
Rotramel said her children love Brenda and get so excited when they see her in public. She appreciates Brenda's experience and professionalism.
"We just love her, we're very grateful for her and for Tender Care as a whole," she said. "I know my kids are in good hands."
Bank president
Tim started his career in Siloam Springs with Arkansas State Bank/Liberty Bank, working for the organization from 1987 to 2005. In 2005, he became president of Signature Bank, which would become, through a series of acquisitions, Generations Bank.
Heather Lanker, one of Tim's clients and the owner of Brick Ballroom, is excited to help honor the person who helped make her business possible.
"It's great, the ballroom was such a big project and he was just instrumental in getting that ball rolling," Lanker said. "I couldn't think of anything more fitting than for him to be honored in it."
Lanker said when she first became interested in purchasing the building from Dave's Appliances, she was told to talk to Tim because of his experience working with downtown buildings.
Tim was the first person to give Lanker a loan to purchase the building, although as the project began to grow the downtown loan consortium of five banks got involved and Arvest Bank took the lead.
"Because Tim had done so much work downtown, Arvest would go to Tim for advice," she said. "Tim was a really big part of supporting downtown and tax credits and things like that."
From the perspective of a client, Heather said Tim was very down to earth. He was very helpful in running numbers and foreseeing problems that come with working on an old building.
"I'd say most bankers are in the business of making money for themselves and banks," said Jason Lanker, Heather's husband. "Tim is about building businesses through his bank and for the good of the community and you don't run across people like that all the time. More people should be able to run across somebody like him, they would be blessed by it."
Heather said Tim's role as a banker has been key to community growth, in part because he has not been jaded by difficult building projects that involve restoring old buildings.
"He has encouraged taking on new projects and revitalizing downtown," she said. "That's huge for the city."
Surviving cancer
Brenda and Tim will receive their OCLE award at the end of a challenging year. Brenda found out in September of 2017 that she had breast cancer but just last week, almost exactly a year later, her doctor told her that her chemotherapy treatments are finished.
Brenda said she has had mammograms religiously since she turned 45 about the same time each year. In 2016 she was fine, but in 2017, the test showed a tumor that had already invaded her lymph system.
"I'm an advocate of mammograms, they're not pleasant and they're expensive, but I really feel like it saved my life," she said.
Brenda said she was able to continue teaching, but she lost her hair pretty quickly on day 21 or 22 of treatment. She and her students bagged it up so they could put it out at school for birds to use for making nests. She let her two granddaughters, ages five and two, dye what was left pink and blue. Being involved helped her grandchildren deal with the scary events, she said.
Tim and Brenda said their family received an outpouring of support from family and friends. Friends came together to organize meals from September through February, local church youth groups volunteered to rake their yard and neighbors mowed their lawn. Other friends gave Brenda rides to treatments.
Brenda shared parts of her journey on Facebook and many people prayed for their family, Tim said.
"You get all these friends to pray for you and you can feel the prayers, you can feel it," he said. "It's a very humbling experience to go through. We're so fortunate that we just had a big network of friends.
Get ready for the roast and toast
Tim said he's reconciled to being the one who receives most of the roasting at the event.
"We know who's the one that will be roasted," he said pointing at himself, "and who's the one -- Miss Brenda -- who will be toasted."
One of the criteria on the McCords' list for a place to live was a nearby college team they could get behind. Since moving to Siloam Springs, they have become faithful Razorback fans.
Randy Torres, 2017 OCLE honoree and well-known Texas A&M fan, had some advice for his friend in preparation for the roast and toast, suggesting he start rooting for the Aggies since the Razorbacks aren't looking so good this year.
"Wear Aggie maroon, I not only want people to recognize him as our Outstanding Civic Leader, but as someone who knows how to dress for success!" Torres joked.
Torres said he has worked with Tim as competitor in the banking business for 17 years as well as a fellow volunteer with many local organizations. He enjoys razzing Tim but also has a lot of professional respect for him.
"Tim takes an approach of looking out for customer's best interest," he said. "He's been in the community long enough to know that relationships and trust are extremely important. ... He has always done the right thing for the right reasons for the right people and I think that's contributed to the quality of life that people have experienced in our businesses and our community."
Torres said that both Tim and Brenda are very deserving of the OCLE honor because they have invested so much of their time, talent and treasure in the community and various nonprofit organizations. He noted the couple are often the last people to leave an event, because they are the ones who stay to help clean up.
"I'm very proud of Tim and Brenda's accomplishments in our community and I think them being highlighted is totally warranted, they're deserving," Torres said. "I appreciate their modeling community service and servant leadership. It leaves a legacy and also an example that many of us can continue to aspire to."
General News on 09/26/2018