Kirkpatrick Medal
Honoring Outstanding Contributions and Those Who Make Them
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.
To recognize outstanding contributions to its focus areas, Kirkpatrick Foundation will award the inaugural Kirkpatrick Medal 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.
A committee comprising foundation trustees, community members, and foundation staff winnowed down an impressive list of nominees to this inaugural class, a group that has demonstrated a lifetime of dedication to the giving focus of the foundation. 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 will be celebrated at a black-tie dinner on Monday, November 25, at Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center in Oklahoma City.
Presenting the Kirkpatrick Medal Inaugural Class 2024
Animal Wellbeing
Harvey Payne | Wildlife Photographer
Images by wildlife and nature photographer Harvey Payne have appeared in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, books, and calendars including The New York Times, National Geographic, America on My Mind, and the Audubon Society. Currently the community relations coordinator for the Nature Conservancy’s Joseph H. Williams Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Payne is a retired attorney and municipal judge for Pawhuska, Hominy, and Barnsdall, Oklahoma.
More than one hundred of his photos are included in a permanent prairie exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Payne was crucial in the development of the Nature Conservancy's Joseph H. Williams Tall Grass Preserve in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where he also served eighteen years as director.
Arts
Nan Sheets (Posthumously) | Painter Printmaker Museum Director Creator of Oklahoma City Art Community
The Oklahoma City arts community might look quite different today had it not been for the late Nannine Jane “Nan” Quick Sheets. Artist, arts advocate, teacher, and museum director; Sheets held many titles and firsts during her life. A pharmacist by education, she studied art in her free time, and after moving to Oklahoma City in 1916, began taking summer classes at the Broadmoor Academy of Fine Arts in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was an excellent student, particularly in landscape.
Her Oklahoma City home, “the Elms” was a salon for visiting artists and later was converted to a commercial art gallery, which today is JRB Art at the Elms in the historic Paseo Arts District. Sheets served as director of the Oklahoma Art Center of the Works Progress Administration which she later turned into a museum. Sheets was a member of numerous arts organizations and was inducted into the Royal Academy of Art and Oklahoma Hall of Fame. One of her paintings, which prominently features the American West, is part of the Oklahoma State Capital Collection. She also wrote about art for The Oklahoman newspaper and The Oklahoma Woman magazine.
Culture
Governor Bill Anoatubby | Chickasaw Nation
Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, set the bar for culture in the state of Oklahoma. By promoting Native American culture, he has given all Oklahomans a unique sense of place. Under his leadership, he has worked to not only preserve but also share the Chickasaw culture, heritage, and language through artistic programs, learning opportunities, and a world-renowned cultural center in Ada.
During his nearly four decades in office, Anoatubby has overseen the growth of the tribe, methodically constructing a diverse portfolio of economically strong businesses such as gaming, hospitality, tourism, banking, manufacturing, and chocolate. Income from these industries funds programs and services to benefit Chickasaws and their communities that address aging, education, health care, and housing. Today, the Nation employs nearly 14,000 people.
Anoatubby serves numerous civic and governmental organizations and is the recipient of countless awards for his dedication to not only his tribe and its heritage but to all Oklahomans. The Chickasaw Foundation funds dozens of Oklahoma nonprofit organizations, ranging from the Ardmore Animal Clinic, Meals on Wheels of Norman, and the Rush Springs Volunteer Fire Department to the Oklahoma Literacy Coalition and Special Olympics Oklahoma.
Education
Angela McKenna | Music Educator
Vocal music teacher Angela McKenna has devoted more than twenty years to helping her young students find their voices. Currently the choral director at Classen School of Advanced Studies in northeast Oklahoma City, McKenna leads diverse vocal choirs and guides her students to national recognition. During the last two years, she has placed more than two hundred students in All-Region and All-State Choirs. In 2023 McKenna’s students swept all vocal spots for the All-State Jazz Ensemble. She holds degrees in music education and educational leadership from the University of Central Oklahoma, as well as National Board Certification in education, the highest certification a teacher can earn.
In addition, McKenna directs more than one hundred students in musical theater at Studio J Performing Arts Center in Edmond, where
she has spent much of her teaching career. In recognition of her innovative teaching methods, which include advocating for the special needs community, she has received the “Every Kid Counts” award and was named Sequoyah Middle School Teacher of the Year and Edmond Public School Teacher of the Year. She also has been a finalist for Oklahoma Teacher of the Year.
Environmental Conservation
Ed Brocksmith | Co-Founder, Save the Illinois River
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.
Historic Preservation
Melvena Heisch | Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, State Historic Preservation Office (Retired)
Melvena Heisch dedicated her career to preserving, conserving, and protecting historically significant buildings and landscapes in Oklahoma. As the deputy state historic preservation officer, she spent nearly forty years leading efforts to protect the built and archeological environment by balancing a federal-state-local preservation partnership. From an experimental wheat field at Oklahoma State University to Route 66 to downtown Oklahoma City, the imprint of Heisch’s work is evident across the state.
In addition to the National Register of Historic Places program, Heisch and her team at the State Historic Preservation Office oversaw programs ranging from assisting local governments with rehabilitation tax credits to working with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture to recognize families who have farmed or ranched on their properties for at least 100 years.
Heisch drafted the legislation that created the state's historic rehabilitation tax credit that led to the resurrection of the Skirvin Hotel, the majestic anchor of Broadway and Park avenues in downtown Oklahoma City. First opened in 1911, the Skirvin Hotel was shuttered for nearly two decades and on the most endangered properties list before reopening in 2007 after a $50 million renovation. To celebrate the centennial of the 1889 land run, Heisch created an annual statewide historic preservation conference that continued under her guidance for nearly 30 years.
