Roark Edmond Rotarian of the Year
Stan Kelley, last year’s Edmond Rotarian of the Year, nominated this year’s honoree, Mike Roark, executive director of the Edmond Y.
Edmond Y executive director Mike Roark received the top honor from Edmond Rotary Club at its recent annual banquet -- the “George Mikesell Award” -- for demonstrating the principles of Rotary, which are truthfulness, fairness, benevolence and goodwill.
Roark was described as instrumental in bringing together the City of Edmond and the Edmond Public Schools, along with the Y, in building the recently opened Y Recreation and Aquatics Center at Mitch Park. He is a 10-year mentor for the Executive Preparatory Institute to work with current and future Y executives nationally, and has been Association of YMCA Professionals “Director of the Year” twice.
He is a Y coach and is a member of Crossings Community Church with his wife and two children, where the couple teaches Sunday School for fifth and sixth-graders. He is on the board of directors of the Edmond Character Council and is a graduate of Duncan High School and Cameron University.
Local attorney Jay Buxton was selected as the organization’s new president, succeeding Daniel Chavez, local insurance representative, who remains on the Rotary Board as immediate past president.
New to the board of directors for the upcoming year are Edmond architect David Hornbeek, club secretary; Myron Pope, vice president/student affairs at University of Central Oklahoma and Melissa Mahaffey, executive director of Touchmark at Coffee Creek.
Remaining board members are president-elect Cris Price; treasurer Rusty Hale, James Kerr, Victoria Caldwell, and Jeanean South.
One perfect meeting-attendance award far exceeded 12 others -- Sandy Chappell with 24 years of meeting attendance.
For more about the Edmond club, go to www.edmondrotary.com. The club welcomes any interested party to attend its weekly meetings at its new location at Mercy Clinic, 2017 W. 8-35 Frontage Road, beginning July 16. Lunch is available for $15. Reservations may be made by contacting club secretary Allison Calhoun at acalh@cox.net.