A banquet May 1 brought together local community and education leaders to honor Nancy Strickland as a life-long advocate for education. Strickland was honored with the 2007 Woman Leadership Award from the Farmers Branch/Carrollton American Association of University Women.
The gala was a fund-raiser for the C-FB AAUW. The event raised approximately $6,000 for the C-FB AAUW Educational Foundation, part of which will fund three scholarships of $1,000 each. AAUW representatives said they are especially grateful to the scholarship donors and to the work of the scholarship committee headed by Marjorie Westberry, English professor in the Communications Division. Brookhaven College, the C-FB ISD and SHW Group LLP all supported the event.
Annette Griffin, superintendent, and John Tepper, president of the board of trustees for the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, were just two of the guests along with friends and relatives who shared amusing and heart-felt memories of working with Strickland in the C-FB ISD. Beginning her teaching career as a substitute during the Asian flu epidemic of 1959, Strickland went on to spend 28 years teaching in the C-FB ISD. She taught at Farmers Branch Elementary, Vivian Field Middle School, R.L. Turner and Newman Smith high schools and after her retirement continued teaching for the GED program at Mary Grimes School.
Strickland’s friends encouraged her to continue her work in education by running for school board, and she did run in 1995. She has served four terms for a total of 12 years, before her retirement this month. Her devotion to educational pursuits led Strickland to become a founding member of the Farmers Branch/Carrollton branch of AAUW in 1975. She volunteers weekly at R.H. Dedman, and at Reading and Resources for the Blind, and is active in the Kappa Phi chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, the Rhea Crane Book Club, the Friends of Farmers Branch Manske Library and other service organizations.
The new intermediate school on Fyke Road will bear her name when it opens as the Nancy H. Strickland Intermediate School.
