SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 25
WHEREAS, Joan Mathis received the 2020 Lifetime Community
Leadership Award from United Way of Lamar County; and
WHEREAS, Retired from a long and rewarding career as a
teacher at Paris Junior College, Ms. Mathis has contributed to
her community through her support of many worthwhile
organizations; she has served on the board of directors of the
Lamar County Chamber of Commerce, the Paris/Lamar County Habitat
for Humanity, and the Paris Education Foundation, and she has
volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club; moreover, she is an
active member of the St. Paul Baptist Church and a two-time
president of Church Women United; and
WHEREAS, A graduate of Paris Junior College, Ms. Mathis
taught developmental English, English composition, and American
literature at her alma mater from 1975 until her retirement in
2014, and she was named a 2010-2011 Minnie Stevens Piper
Professor for her outstanding work in the classroom; over the
course of her nearly four decades in education, she held numerous
leadership positions, such as president of the PJC Faculty
Association and board member and Southwest region chair for the
Two-Year College English Association; in 2011, she was honored as
a distinguished PJC alumna, and an endowed scholarship was named
in honor of her and her parents, Berlin and Katherine Reese, who
helped to desegregate PJC in the 1950s; in addition to holding a
degree from PJC, Ms. Mathis earned a bachelor's degree in English
from Wiley College and a master's degree from East Texas State
University; and
WHEREAS, Joan Mathis has made a positive difference in her
community through a lifetime of purposeful endeavor, and
residents of Lamar County are fortunate indeed to count her among
their fellow citizens; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 87th
Legislature, hereby congratulate Joan Mathis on her receipt of
the 2020 Lifetime Community Leadership Award from United Way of
Lamar County; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this Resolution be
prepared for Ms. Mathis as an expression of high regard from the
Texas Senate.
Hughes
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President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on Februry 9, 2021.
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Secretary of the Senate
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Member, Texas Senate