Women of Distinction get more than a cookie
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Northwest_Profiles/224740/
SPRINGDALE — Sandy Edwards’ roots in Girl Scouts can be traced back to Troop 556 in Fisherville, Va., a spot between two mountain ranges where she and fellow scout Judy Klein learned to be “green” way before it was cool.
Klein, who still lives in Virginia, introduced Edwards during the Girl Scouts of NOARK Council’s sixth annual Women of Distinction awards banquet, held April 25 at the Springdale Holiday Inn. Edwards is associate director of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is under construction in Bentonville.
Other honorees were Kelly Johnson, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, and Northwest Arkansas Community College President Becky Paneitz. Johnson was introduced by former airport authority board member Virginia Mocivnik, and Paneitz was introduced by Jill Wagar, a member of the community college’s development staff. Emcee was Cynthia Nance, dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law.
The affair included dinner, drinks and heartfelt tributes to several NOARK Girl Scout leaders and staff who logged tens of thousands of miles carting girls all over the country and abroad. The council, established in 1958, serves about 4, 500 girls in 15 counties across Northwest and north-central Arkansas. The 50 th anniversary program, titled “Through the Decades,” honored Leila “Skip” Baker, the late Donna Fincher, Martha Albright, Helene Taglauer and Judy von Diest Hooten.
Speeches were replete with comical stories of adventures in scouting.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that if they have a special craft item, and it’s at a really good price, you buy all they have,” Hooten said.
The weekend also included an outing for current Girl Scouts and the annual meeting of the NOARK Council board of directors. The local group will be consolidated with others in a national movement to reduce the number of councils from 316 to 109, said Carole Roach, executive director of the NOARK council. The council is realigning with councils in Mount Magazine, Conifer, Ouachita and Crowley’s Ridge to create the Girl Scouts of Greater Arkansas, to be headquartered in Little Rock.