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STIR members at the Kirkpatrick Foundation Medal Banquet are, from left, STIR President Denise Deason-Toyne, her husband Michael Toyne, Drew Edmondson, Ed Brocksmith, STIR cofounder; Ed Fite, STIR cofounder; and his wife Terri Fite.
Ed Brocksmith, Co-Founder of Save the Illinois River was recently inducted into the Kirkpatrick Medal Inaugural Class 2024 for Environmental Conservation.
Each medal awardee receives a $2500 honorarium, a medal design by sculptor Eugene Daub, a citation, and a $50,000 endowment gift at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to the nonprofit of their choice. They were celebrated at a black-tie dinner on Monday, November 25, at Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center in Oklahoma City.
About the Kirkpatrict Medal: The inaugural Kirkpatrick Medal is given to a select group of people who represent the ideals of the foundation, specifically those of co-founder Eleanor Kirkpatrick and her daughter Joan Kirkpatrick, past chair. This prestigious award is inspired by them and is an expansion of the Kirkpatrick Honor for Animal Wellbeing. During the nearly seven decades since Eleanor and John Kirkpatrick established Kirkpatrick Foundation in Oklahoma City, grant funding from philanthropy has transformed the cultural landscape of central Oklahoma and points beyond. By focusing its resources on initiatives in six areas – arts, culture, education, animal wellbeing, environmental conservation, and historic preservation – the foundation continues to meet the needs of its community.
Hundreds of individuals have selflessly dedicated their energy to this longtime transformation whether by relentlessly pushing back against threats to natural resources, preserving the built environment, or teaching art in public schools.
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Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame member Ed Brocksmith co-founded Save the Illinois River in the early 1980s. The only nonprofit created for the preservation of the upper and lower Illinois River, STIR also seeks to protect Flint Creek, Barren Fork Creek, and Tenkiller Lake, as well as their tributaries.
The Tahlequah, Oklahoma resident, and his fellow citizens formed STIR in response to a permit that allowed the discharge of treated sewage into the Illinois River watershed by neighboring Fayetteville, Arkansas. This action led to a United States Supreme Court decision in 1992, Oklahoma v. EPA, that set in motion water quality rules to protect Oklahoma rivers from interstate water pollution.
Since that time, Brocksmith and STIR have worked tirelessly through laws and ordinances to ensure the continued protection of the scenic river in northeast Oklahoma. STIR members monitor water quality issues and follow the Oklahoma Legislature, Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, and other state and federal agencies. He has years of experience as a professional communicator with Northeastern State University as director of media information services, as a radio news editor and director, and as bureau chief of Oklahoma’s first statewide radio network.
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Photo Credit: Photographer, Shevaun Williams
