Tyler Mills, a junior from Stratford, is pictured after receiving the Billie Fathree Floyd Elementary Education Scholarship at East Central University for 2013. The scholarship was established in the fall of 2012 by family and friends of Floyd, a longtime educator, Oklahoma State senator and civic leader. Also pictured with Mills are Floyd (left) and Phyllis Danley, executive director of the ECU Foundation. The scholarship is strictly awarded to an ECU student who plans to pursue a physical education teaching position at the elementary school level. Floyd is a member of ECU’s Gene and Evelyn Keefer Educator’s Hall of Fame. During her 30 years at ECU, she organized the first Special Olympics Games in Oklahoma, developed Red Cross swimming programs and was a founding member of both the Pontotoc Animal Welfare Society and PAST (Preserving Area Stories in Time). Floyd has continued to be active in the Ada community and at ECU over the years. She wrote the grant that established the Tri-County Indian Nations Community Development Corps., an enterprise serving Coal, Johnston and Pontotoc counties and serves on the New Horizons Sheltered Workshop Board of Directors. She was chairman of Ada’s centennial celebration in 2001 and supervises ECU’s resident-year teachers.
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