Following is Judy McAninch’s acceptance speech for Tonkawa Citizen of the Year:
Good Evening,
First of all, I would like to apologize for not being here in person this evening to receive the Citizen of the year award. Prior family obligations had to take priority this time.
I am very humbled that the Chamber of Commerce committee thought that my work at the Tonkawa IOOF Cemetery was worthy of this prestigious honor. When I first received the letter from Cristy, I thought it was a joke. Then I thought it was a mistake. I couldn’t imagine what I could have done to make Tonkawa think that I was worthy to have my name added to the list of all those who had received this title before me.
But now, I must tell you the rest of the story. I must give credit where credit is due.
The register of names and burial locations that we completed for the Tonkawa IOOF cemetery was a dream of my brother, Don Cox. We went over the cemetery book and file box plus getting information from Find A Grave and he went to work. Don did all of the computer work of typing out the names, addresses, birth and death dates. There is now a data base of everyone buried at the cemetery on a thumb drive. About halfway through this work, Don said that if he would have known there were 4800 people buried in the Tonkawa cemetery, he didn’t know if he would have started this project.
But with his tenacity, it is finished and the end result is in the information building at the cemetery. Don did the work, I was just his boots on the ground in Tonkawa, gathering the information that he needed and taking the pictures of the headstones. This is just a thumbnail sketch of what was accomplished. So you see, Don should get this award but I am the Tonkawa resident so I am just getting the glory for his dream and work.
So thank you so much for this award, I am proud to call Tonkawa my home and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world. God bless you all and keep working to making Tonkawa a great place to live and raise our families.
Sincerely,
Judy McAninch
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