Their Shoes?
“Who’s gonna give their heart
and soul …
To get to me and you
Lord I wonder, who’s gonna
fill their shoes?”
W
6
— George Jones
hy is Parker County such a wonderfully interesting
place to live?
Thanks to Parker County’s strong and insightful lead-
ers of the past and present, our community has
remained strong and thrived in the face of economic
challenges (during the Great Depression not a single
Parker County bank collapsed), tornadoes, droughts,
wars, plagues, fires and marauding Indians.
Through visionary leaders who forged a better way,
encouraged their neighbors to dig in their heels, stay
strong and help those who are not as strong to stay
their course, they’ve built a robust and enduring
community, a community of people who don’t back
down, people who may still have fear, but who saddle
up anyway, people who simply don’t quit when the
road gets rough, steep and treacherous.
At Parker County Today, we felt the need to honor
the young leaders in our community, to balance the
harshness and negativity that is sometimes hurled
at you when you’re the one who courageously steps
up to the plate and swings for the bleachers with all
your strength. We want to honor your innovation and
your fearlessness and we hope that your example will
inspire other young people to shake off their timidity
and reach for the stars.
Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes is about honoring our
young leaders who bravely step into the large shoes of
leadership in various areas. It’s also about honoring
those leaders who began reaching out for the baton
of leadership and excellence at an earlier time. That’s
why the awards are named for brilliant and courageous
leaders who have inspired us. We’ve named our awards
for them as our way of saying thank you to each of
them for encouraging us, for mentoring us and for
inspiring us to be better than we would have ever real-
ized we could be.