ENMU Foundation Awards— Celebrating Generosity

from ENMU Green & Silver Magazine - November 2013

ENMU Homecoming 2013

Business of the Year— Tillery Chevrolet-GMC

Garland Tillery founded Tillery Chevrolet-GMC, Inc. in 1955. Today, the organization includes three dealerships in Moriarty, Albuquerque and Los Lunas, New Mexico. While growing the dealership, Garland and his wife Georgia raised five children: Gayle, George, Gary, Glen and Gena. Garland passed away in 1984 leaving the dealership in good hands with four of his children- Glen, Gary, Gayle and Gena. George and his family live in California and run a thriving bus dealership.

The Tillery family has strong ties to ENMU, with four of the five children having attended the University. Gayle, George, Gary and Glen chose ENMU because it was in-state and close to home (but not too close). Glen recalled, “I would

visit ENMU when my brothers or sister were students there, and I was impressed by the campus. It made sense that I would go there, too.”

To honor their father, the Tillery family established the Garland Tillery Memorial Scholarship at ENMU to benefit high school seniors from Moriarty, Vaughn, Estancia, Mountainair and Manzano. The family members have supported this scholarship for many years and have helped 25 students since its inception.

Tillery Chevrolet-GMC, Inc. also gives back to all the communities where they have dealerships. The family supports United Way, Bethel Community Store, the Wildlife Nature Park, and the Torrance and Santa Fe County Livestock Sale. The dealership assists the Moriarty AABC Baseball League by providing new equipment, monetary contributions and free instructional clinics. Tillery Chevrolet also sponsors the Moriarty High School Athletic Department’s annual raffle that nets over $60,000 for the athletes.

“Our community supports our dealership and that has helped us to be successful,” explained Glen, “It is important for us to give back to the Moriarty schools system and our youth because both are the future of our community.”

Philanthropist of the Year— Ray W. Hammond

Ray W. Hammond lives by the philosophy, “Walk softly and make the world a better place.” His journey to and since ENMU has been a varied one that included a year in South Korea with the U.S. Air Force, managing a beer distributorship in northern New Mexico and seventeen years owning several art galleries in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

ENMU and especially his economics instructor, Fredrick Wuori, gave Ray the opportunity to challenge himself and opened his mind to new ideas during his undergraduate and graduate studies in the early 70s. “Mr. Wuori encouraged me to be a free thinker and we became lifelong friends,” remembers Ray. Fast forward to the year 2000 when Mr. Wouri was 85; Ray decided to honor his favorite professor with the Frederick A. Wuori Endowed Scholarship.

His giving didn’t stop there. Ray continues to support ENMU in small and big ways. Ray’s gifts include purchasing golf balls for the Alumni Association and Eastern Athletic Club tournaments, dedicating the Caitlin A. Hammond Percussion Room, the ENMU Foundation Practice Room, the Lisa Obenhaus Practice Room and the Jim and Mary Jacobs Practice Room all in the recently renovated Music Building, as well as donating rare books to the library and special paintings to beautify the campus. All his gifts have totaled well over $100,000. And the humor, contributions, insights and goodwill he brings the ENMU Foundation Board of Directors are beyond measure.

Ray acknowledges, “Eastern was and continues to be quite simply a wonderful place to learn, with easy access to faculty. For me, helping ENMU is the right thing to do.”

Volunteer of the Year— Dr. Patti Dobson

Department Chair and Assistant Professor of Communication Dr. Patti Dobson is concerned about her students and the community. She demonstrates this commitment every day. Patti started teaching at ENMU in 1992. Around the same time, she became a youth minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Clovis. She has since become a lay-pastor and is currently going through the Presbyterian Church CRE process. Patti recently officiated at her sister’s wedding.

Patti is aware of the many who struggle on and off campus. She keeps a “food bank” in her office for college students who can barely afford college even with ENMU’s low tuition. “There are students on this campus living below poverty level who are determined to improve their situation,” explains Patti. “Helping the students succeed inside and outside the classroom is

important to me.” Her outreach all started when three college students lost everything in a house fire in the 90s. Patti sent out an e-request via her online network of church, school and community connections. The Altrusa Club volunteered to provide food boxes for these students and many others.

Patti also organizes and ships military care packages. There can be as many as four packages a week that her volunteers send to military members. Patti uses her e-network of Helping Hands friends to get the community to rally around “drive by” anonymous care and food package deliveries around Clovis and Portales. Her heart also has room for animals in need. She and her husband Wayne provide foster care for animals and help to find homes for abandoned pets. This unending love is the reason the couple currently has fifteen special need dogs and a sheep.

“I’m working little by little to change my world for the better,” acknowledges Patti. “I don’t know and will never meet most of the people we have helped. This doesn’t matter to me because we are all connected.”

**ENMU Foundation and Alumni Award recipients from left to right: Ray W. Hammond, Terry Othick, B. B. Lees, Glen Tillery, Berylene Rogers for Michael Blake, Ernest Sanchez, Don Bullis, and Patti Dobson.**

Alumni Association Awards

‘Student Success-that’s what it’s all about.’ The award winners for this year exemplify the transition from student to alumni success. They represent the fields of law, information technology, writing, and athletics.