STIR elects members during annual meeting
By D.E. Smoot TDP Special Writer
TAHLEQUAH — Accolades and leadership changes highlighted the festivities this past weekend during Save the Illinois River’s annual meeting.
STIR President Denise Deason-Toyne passed the baton to successor Paul Rowsey, who was elected Sept. 20 by unanimous consent of members attending the event. Rowsey, a real estate investment manager of Dallas, lauded his predecessor and her leadership of STIR during the past 14 years.
Deason-Toyne expanded STIR’s advocacy efforts, collaborating with Northeastern State University to establish an endowed scholarship for select students enrolled in the freshwater studies program. Other successes include STIR’s partnerships with city, state and tribal officials on projects that demonstrate ways residents can help protect the Illinois River, its tributaries and Lake Tenkiller against erosion and pollution.
“She has been an incredible public servant and volunteer,” Rowsey said. “She works tirelessly to build partnerships … and create an awareness among our friends and neighbors at Lake Tenkiller about how important our work to protect the river is for the lake.”
Deason-Toyne, who was reelected to another three-year term as director, described her service to STIR as a “privilege and a pleasure.” She feels “encouraged by the promising next generation of water warriors.”
STIR Treasurer Ed Brocksmith spotlighted the work of John Ellis, the 2025 inductee into the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Hall of Fame. Ellis, a chemical engineer tasked with overseeing the decommissioning of Sequoyah Fuels near Gore, voluntarily sampled water collected from Lake Tenkiller.
“John took samples for many, many years from the dam up to Horseshoe Bend and took those samples to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, which had a program called Water Watchers,” Brocksmith said. “John detected and proved that phosphorus was a problem in the lake and the Illinois River. Brocksmith said water quality standards set for Lake Tenkiller are more protective than the standards established for any other lake in Oklahoma, He said that level of protection is “due largely to John’s work and STIR’s work.”
Ellis led Greater Tenkiller Area Association — rebranded earlier this year as Oklahoma Ozarks Tourism Association — for about two decades. Brocksmith said Ellis never shied away from discussing or addressing issues related to Tenkiller’s water quality.
“Most lake associations are reluctant to talk about water quality issues,” Brocksmith said. “A succession of groups Ellis has led did not hide challenge to clean, safe water — those groups and STIR have been closely allied.”
Accepting his induction, Ellis credited STIR’s efforts to protect the Illinois River to improved conditions in the lake.
“We really have to pay particular attention to the water quality in the Illinois River,” Ellis said. “That’s what … has actually improved the water quality of Lake Tenkiller during the 25 years I have really paid attention to it.”
STIR also honored Nancy Garber with its Francie Fite Water Warrior Award for 2025. Garber began writing about Oklahoma’s scenic rivers after traveling with STIR members to Oklahoma City, where they presented a STIR canoe paddle to the late Gov. Henry Bellmon.
During the presentation, Bellmon told “STIR members that clean water and industry are not mutually exclusive, that it’s not one or the other.” Garber reported the exchange for the Tahlequah Daily Press.
Garber said the honor was particularly special because of her close friendship with the late Francie Fite, for whom the award is named.
“Francie Fite was, indeed, one of the finest friends I have ever had,” Garber said. “I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t think about her, and I find myself asking, ‘What would Francie say? What would Francie do? How would Francie handle this?’ Because she always just seemed to know what to do.”
