Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce hosts 97th Annual Dinner and honors L.A. Dysart Award Winners

By Mark Jackson On Feb 8, 2017 663

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LENOIR, NC (February 7, 2017)…The Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce held its 97th Annual Chamber Dinner February 7th at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir, North Carolina. This was a sold out event and was attended by many business owners, county, city and school officials.

The Chamber honored two Caldwell County citizens for their non-paid contributions to the community with the L.A. Dysart Award.

The first recipient of this prestigious award was, Glenda Wilson, Woman of the Year. Glenda Wilson is a successful real estate agent and owner of Reality Executives in Lenoir. Ms. Wilson spoke highly of Caldwell County as “we have so much to offer.” In her acceptance speech she is quoted as saying “I love Caldwell County, I love the people, I love living here.” She also noted that, “So many great people give to this community to make it great.” Her daughter encouraged her to have a special quote in her speech. She left us with these remarks, “We make a living in what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

Dr. Kenneth Boham received the award for Man of the Year. Dr. Boham is the retired president of CCC&TI after 21 years of service to higher education in Caldwell County. Dr. Boham was joyful in his acceptance of this award by jokingly telling the attendees that, “most of you know me pretty well, but you honored me anyway.” Dr. Boham thanked his wife, Betty for her support and in keeping him humble. He also thanked the many others for their support as “together, we can do anything and we do not give up.”

In photo from left, Kim Edmisten, board chair for the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce, Barbara Armstrong, CEO and president of the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Kenneth Boham, Glenda Wilson and Robin Nicholson of Duke Energy, sponsors of the L.A. Dysart Awards at the 97th annual Caldwell Chamber of Commerce Dinner.

Attendees also enjoyed insights from guest speaker, Doug Gillin, Appalachian State University Athletic Director. Gillin compared Caldwell County to Appalachian State as the university has “20 teams, 1 family” just as Caldwell County is made up of many municipalities, but all connected. He called for us to build our communities as we prepare students in our education system to be “champions of life.”

The Chamber’s membership has grown significantly by adding 156 new members and 44 chamber partners since last November under the new leadership of Barbara Armstrong and her very energetic team that include Joshua J. S. Marsh – Director of Project Development and Events, Faith Draper – Manger of Membership Services, Libby Killian – Community Information Specialist and Steve Rauchfuss – Director of Sales.

You can visit the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce at 1909 Hickory Blvd. SE in Lenoir, North Carolina or at www.caldwellchambernc.com.