April 1st
9 am to 11 am

Please join us at our Annual Pancake Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt Saturday, APRIL 1st from 9 to 11 am.

Breakfast will be served throughout the event, and the Egg Hunt will take place at 10:30 am sharp.

Children of all ages are invited to attend. The cost is $6 for adults and $3 for children. Cash or Check. Please bring your own baskets!

Additional parking is available at Downing Middle School.

Any questions, contact either Billie Garrett or Donna Gilliam for more information.

We continue to collect canned goods at Town Hall to feed the hungry. The drop off is in a plastic pink box in the DOWC corner. Thank you to DOWC for helping raise $240 for donation to The Arbor Society in memory of Georgette Cook.

Tell us about you: Family, pets, profession, hobbies. I have been married to Tom for 32 years in June – we met at Oklahoma State University. We have two children, a son who is a pilot for a cargo company and lives in Bedford (he is not married so if you know someone around 28 years of age I am not beyond fixing him up) and a daughter who is married and has a 4-year-old daughter who is the sunshine of my life. My daughter and her husband are expecting their second child, a boy, in June. I also have a dog, Corbin, who belonged to my son-in-law but with the addition of a child, the dog decided he needed to come live with me, so he is my 14-year-old dog who loves his retirement home and always looks forward to greeting DOWC bunco and night time book club when they meet at my house.

I work for the Boy Scouts of America and am coming up on my 25th anniversary with the organization this year. I love my job as the Research Director because I have the opportunity to work with youth, parents, and volunteers about what they like and what they would like improved in the organization. In my job I have also had the opportunity to work with the World Scouting movement and travel to Sweden, Japan, and Brazil to work fellow researchers across the world to understand how Scouting builds a sense of purpose and enriches lives across the globe.

What is something unique and surprising about you? I love to shoot pistols and rifles – I am not so good at shotgun so that is not a favorite. Shooting challenges you to calm yourself, breathe, and focus so that you can hit the target in a tight formation. My husband and kids also like to shoot, so it is fun to have friendly competition.

How long have you been with DOWC and what inspired your involvement? I moved from Flower Mound to Double Oak in 2007 and the first person to greet me was Rosaline Scheerer with a plate of cookies and a DOWC Newcomers guide. She and another neighbor invited me to the September meeting that year and I have been a member ever since. I became a member because DOWC was a community of women that support each other and are there for each other in times of need and in times of joy. I love the friendships I have made, the activities I have participated in, and the community service projects.

You have a history of community involvement. In what capacities have you served? I first joined the DOWC board around 2009 as the person putting the Directory together. I did that for two years and later spent several years as the Second VP, then moved to the Secretary position, and then came back to the Directory position and have done that for 2 years. In 2022 I was appointed to the Double Oak 50th Anniversary Committee and the town Strategic Plan Committee and began serving on a town-wide capacity. I am also the Treasurer for a Venturing Crew chartered by my office.

How would you like to see DOWC grow in the future? I would like to see more women in this town as active members of DOWC. I think we have to start reaching out to our neighbors and inviting them to the meetings that have interesting speakers or the activities that we have and introduce them to the women in the club. We had street greeters when I first came – that is why Rosaline came to my house. Having someone personally invite me and then come with me to the meeting so that they could introduce me to others made me feel welcome and comfortable the first time I attended. I think asking members make these connections with their neighbors could strengthen this organization and the community as a whole.

You work in a very male-dominated industry. How has that shaped you? Working in a male-dominated organization helped me to find my voice and make sure that it was heard. I learned that there are many males that understand that female voices are not always heard, and they will become your allies. When I became a manager, I was usually the only female manager in the room (there were three women at the same level across the organization). I started sitting by our magazine publisher because I realized he could hear me. The manager leading these meetings would never acknowledge my ideas no matter how close I sat to him. Unknown to me during one meeting the publisher kept track of all the times I made a suggestion without being acknowledged and then the same idea would later come from a male colleague. Near the end of the meeting the publisher asked for the floor and read every suggestion I had made without being acknowledged. A few of the men said they heard my ideas and realized I was not being acknowledged so they floated the same idea to get it heard. That opened some eyes. It also made me more aware of the power of speaking up, mentor, and supporting other women in the organization to ensure their voices were heard, their ideas valued, and they were acknowledged for their contributions.