McCords roasted and toasted
■ Local couple recognized for decades of community involvement.
Not everyone can say they have simultaneously been the recipient of an award and the subject of laughter, but one local couple recently got to experience just that.
The couple, Tim and Brenda McCord, were the subjects of a roast and toast for the 11th annual Outstanding Civic Leadership Event, where friends and family gathered in a packed room for a night of fellowship, food and friendly humor to celebrate the contributions that the McCord’s have made to the community.
Hosted by the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce, the event began at 6 p.m at the Brick Ballroom in downtown Siloam Springs. Guests were first treated to dinner catered by Catfish Hole and then a brief introduction given by Wayne Mays, President and CEO of the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Mays first introduced Pat Callahan, the Pastor of Community Christian Fellowship who delivered a brief prayer, followed by Trent McCord, the McCord’s son and Emcee of the night. Trent McCord addressed the audience before introducing State Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R-District 87), who expressed her gratitude to the couple.
“On behalf of the House of Representatives for District 87, the 91st General Assembly in the State of Arkansas takes great pleasure in recognizing Brenda and Tim McCord for being honored by the Siloam Springs Chamber (of Commerce) and for being outstanding civic leaders,”
Lundstrum said. “Thank you for presenting God’s light and friendship to everyone that you meet.”
This was followed by an address from Mayor John Mark Turner, who delivered an official proclamation declaring Sept. 27, 2018, as Tim and Brenda McCord Day. Shortly thereafter, the “roasters, not toasters,” began addressing the McCords and the audience, starting with Trent McCord who mimicked the way his dad describes his outdoor clothes.
“I’ll start off with this fishing shirt, ‘It’s got a lot of pockets in it,’ and these are all things that my dad has informed me of in the past,” McCord said. “(He would say) ‘You can put extra lures in there, even if you are not catching any fish, it’s got a breathing pocket back here, so you’ll never get hot, or cold, because it breathes, you know it comes up to the arms so it reduces sweating. And, my personal favorite is the pants, if you guys notice, these pants look like Khaki — but they aren’t — it is a quick-dry material, which makes it so awesome because when it gets wet, it is quick to dry.’”
Trent McCord didn’t spare his mom either.
“Mom, mom, I love you, and I am sorry,” Trent McCord said cautiously before beginning. “Who here has been around my mom and her pets, I mean are people aware of this or is it just something that has stuck within my family? My mom has an irrational love for pets, which is good for the pets, (but) it isn’t quite so good for the children. In most families, the dog bites the child, he gets sent to the ‘farm.’ My family, the dog bites the child, I get sent to timeout.”
Other speakers included family members such as the McCord’s daughters, Elizabeth and Suzannah. There were also family friends such as Steve Wilmott, Debbie Tehee and a couple of friends that could not attend — such as Roger and Bonita Holroyd and Randy Torres — who instead submitted a video for the audience’s viewing.
A couple of former coworkers of the couple also spoke, such as Laurie Geurin and Joan Hubbard. Geurin worked with Brenda at several events and with Tim at the Bank, while Hubbard taught school with Brenda McCord for 26 years and was also Trent McCord’s preschool teacher. Hubbard joked about a range of things, from Brenda McCord’s habit of freezing roadkill to share with her class, to her ways of always trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
“I am going to say a few things about Brenda’s cancer,” Hubbard said. “It just devastated us when we found out that she had this, but I want you to know, she took it in stride and just took it like it was, and she kept teaching and she took very few days off. She said ‘If I feel good enough to be here, I want to be here with the kids.’ Which is great, but when she started losing her hair, did she worry too much about it? No. In class, she would show the children that it’s coming out, and they had a ziploc bag that they put her hair in and then when it was mostly all gone, after a week or two, they all went outside and put it underneath the tree so that birds could use it to make nests.”
The night’s roasting was concluded with a picture presentation prepared by Elizabeth and Suzannah McCord, who then gave the floor to their parents. Tim McCord began by expressing his gratitude to everyone present and the Chamber of Commerce and sponsors who helped host the event, ending with a couple of jokes of his own.
“We really appreciate everybody being here tonight, it has been a lot of fun and, the presenters, the roasters, thank you, well kind of,” Tim McCord said. “See, the thing is, some of these (people) I’ve worked with, and some of these (people) were in our will. We want to thank the Chamber of Commerce for hosting this event and coming up with it. It has been several years now and it has been a fun event, and uh, in case you’re not aware, it is also one of Wayne’s top fundraisers, so please know that the $75 ticket is not going to waste.”