Mid-Del Tinker 100 honors heroes
Above: Shawn Lockhart receives the Midwest City Firefighter of the Year Award during the Mid-Del Tinker 100 awards banquet on March 25 at the Del City Community Center. He is joined by Sally Newey, Chief Bert Norton and Cpt. John Keilty
(Photo by Jeff Harrison)
By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon
The Mid-Del Tinker 100 Club honored local first-responders and military personnel last week during their annual awards banquet.
Instead of hosting a traditional banquet, the board members hosted three separate presentations at the Del City Community Center honoring Tinker Air Force Base, Del City and Midwest City.
Awards were given to first responders who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
Navy Cpt. John Keilty served as the guest speaker for the event. He told the crowd that one of his favorite things about Mid-Del is the important role that police, firefighters and military members play in the community.
Del City Police Chief Steve Robinson presents the Police Officer of the Year Award to Chris Willis last week at the Mid-Del Tinker 100 awards banquet. (Photo by Jeff Harrison)
“The Mid-Del Tinker community does it right,” he said. “I wish America could tune into this presentation and see how our community takes great care of our police officers and firefighters. And our police officers and firefighters take great care of our community. What a great relationship. And it’s not like that everywhere, I can promise you that.”
The Midwest City award winners were Shawn Lockhart (Firefighter), Detective Lonnie Bray (Police), Lt. Frank Valley (Military Member), and Steven Pacholski (Support Person).
Del City’s honorees included Officer Chris Willis (Police) and Cpt. Gary “Marty” Harrison (Firefighter).
Tinker Air Force Base’s winners included: Brian C. Helms (Air Force Police), Zachary Milton (Navy Police), and Larry B. Tepen (Firefighter).
The honorees are selected by the chief or commander from each department.
The Mid-Del Tinker 100 also awards scholarships to children or spouses of first responders. This year’s scholarship recipients were: Tyler D. Yancey, Noah Chase, Gabriella Clabes, Maci Hall, M’Kenzie Wipfli, Brenden McGlasson and Jordyn Sateren.
The event concluded with closing remarks by Chief Jim Rollings who will serve as president of the Mid-Del Tinker 100 Club this year.
Del City High School’s Junior ROTC presented the colors for the events.
