The Bishop Chamber of Commerce honored its top citizen and community servants at the 63rd annual membership dinner Thursday. Pictured L-R are: Amy Thornberry, Outstanding Citizen of 2009 recipient; Cole Wilborn, Junior Citizen of the Year recipient; Charles Schooley, Lifetime Service Award recipient, and The 911 Ambulance Task Force comprised of Sheila Clint, Iris Harlan, Wesley Rogers, and Susan Gude, who were awarded the President’s Award. (Photo by Erika Hernandez) Bishop salutes top citizens The Bishop Chamber of Commerce honored community leaders at its 63rd annual dinner Thursday night in the Bishop School cafeteria.

Awards were presented to Amy Thornberry, Outstanding Citizen for 2009; Charles Schooley, Lifetime Service Award; the 911 Ambulance Task Force; and Cole Wilborn, Junior Citizen of the Year.

Myrtis Lindsey presented Thornberry with the Outstanding Citizen of 2009 Award.

Thornberry is a descendent of an original pioneer family settling in Bishop in the early 1900’s and has lived in Bishop her whole life with the exception of a few years while attending college at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas in Austin to attain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

After college she returned to Bishop and began working at an area hospital and has been the Health Administrator for Celanese for more than 20 years.

Thornberry is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church and has sung with the Celebration Choir for over ten years, she is a current member of the Bishop Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Bishop Pride Committee, the Olde Tyme Faire Committee and as Entertainment Chair for ten years, the Bishop Ag Boosters, and the Mesquite Cowboys Band.

She initiated the Relay for Life event in Bishop, organized a team of researchers for the American Cancer Society Prevention study, works as a Nurse Practitioner volunteer for the Mission of Mercy Medical Clinic where she provides disease management to uninsured patients in the Bishop community and has served as Executive Officer and Treasurer for the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show.

Schooley was presented the Lifetime Service Award and has resided in Bishop for 47 years.

Professionally, Schooley was the Principal at Bishop High School for 18 years, elementary and junior high Principal in Bishop for eight years, Curriculum Director for one year, Assistant Principal for elementary and junior high for three years, and an industrial arts and engineering drafting teacher for eight years.

Schooley has participated in many community projects over the years such as building ramps for handicapped citizens, chaired the United Fund drive, supervised hurricane shelter for hurricanes, helped build a fort in the park, is a former member of the Lions Club, former Boy Scouts Merit Supervisor, and is a member of the First United Methodist Church where he has served on almost all committees.

He has received many awards over the years such as the American Legion Certificate of Appreciation, the Alpha Chi National Honor Society for Scholarship, Service Award from the Boy Scouts of America, the Laity Award from the Corpus Christi district of the United Methodist Church, and was inducted into the honor society for outstanding educators from the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals.

The President’s Award was presented to the 911 Ambulance Task Force by 2009 Chamber President Christina Gutierrez.

Gude, Harlan, Rogers, and Clint were given the award for their dedication in obtaining an ambulance service for Bishop, Driscoll, and Petronila until December 31, 2010.

Outgoing chamber president and Bishop CISD Superintendent Christina Gutierrez presented Wilborn with his award for Junior Citizen of the Year, which includes a $750 scholarship.

Throughout his high school career, Wilborn has participated in FFA, the Texas Forensics Association, the National Forensics League, Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking, UIL, Junior Varsity Football and Baseball, National Honor Society, Relay for Life, Theatre, FCCLA, the National Junior Swine Association, the American Boer Goat Association, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, and Vacation Bible School.

Wilborn has also donated many volunteer hours to Driscoll Children’s Hospital and a Skin Cancer Awareness Project at Bishop High School among many other various community organizations.

Incoming Chamber of Commerce President Michael Engel presented outgoing president Christina Gutierrez with a plaque for her service.

Serving with Engel in 2010 are First Vice President Jan L. Senecal, Second Vice President Ed McKinley, Treasurer Cindy Johnson and Executive Director Betty Paschal.

Chamber directors this year are Royce Felder, Dr. Tanya P. Lawhon, Amy Thornberry, Betty Schroeder, Darrell Lawhon, Rev. Clif Abshier, Alvin Dragon, Pam Johnson, Christina Gutierrez, Jeff Faske, and Bruce Henkhaus.

Retiring directors this year are Rafaelita Cardenas, who served over 23 years and Nathan Lee who served 22 years.

Frank Paul, co-owner of Golfsmith International and who was born and raised in Bishop, was the keynote speaker.

Paul spoke of his childhood and the ethics and education that the community and his parents instilled in him.

His father was a welder at NAS and his mother was a teacher in Bishop for 30 years.

“The education we got here was terrific,” Paul said. “Mostly everybody that I knew came from good stable families with small town values and the parents were involved in the community heavily.”

Paul told the story of how he, his brother Carl, and his sisterin law Dorothy were able to turn a small business in Carl’s New Jersey basement into a multimillion dollar corporation that is now the nation’s largest golf retailer.

With each of them managing a third of the company, the company began as a mailorder business and eventually blossomed into a super-store giant, currently operating over 75 stores throughout the nation.

“Our flagship store was in Austin in 1995 and we slowly expanded to other Texas towns such as Houston and Dallas and over the next couple years we were able to go all over the nation,” Paul said.

In 2002, the brothers sold the company to First Atlantic Capital, who converted the company into a multichannel empire including the Internet.

Paul attributes his success to a few components: a focus on customer service, only hiring genuinely nice people, no private offices by preferring to have his office on the sales floor, and pure luck.