Drew County Woman of the Year

Bacon named 'Woman of the Year'

Laura McKinney
Stff Writer

Spanish professor Isabel Bacon received Drew County’s Woman of the Year award.

The Drew County Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Man, Woman, Business, and Industry of the Year award. The Chamber held an annual banquet for those receiving the awards.

The First Methodist Church, where Bacon and other UAM faculty and students work and volunteer for the local English as Second Language program, nominated her for the award. The ESL program works in conjunction with adult education classes at a local school, but participants and workers in the program felt that the First Methodist Church provided a better location.

While saying she felt “surprised and honored,” Bacon refused to take sole credit for the award. She said she and the ESL team want to help Hispanic people learn about the community.

“I share this honor with all the people who help with the Hispanic program,” she said.

The program not only offers tutoring and teaching in the English language, but also provides free translators that travel with participants to the doctors and attend parent-teacher conferences. It provides participants with identification cards that list their name, address and other general information in case they visit a doctor or are in an accident and cannot be identified. It also provides transportation and tutoring to both children and adults.

Bacon attended the banquet on behalf of the ESL program and accompanied volunteers and staff. She said she thought by accepting the invitation that she would join others in acknowledging the good that the program brings to the community. Instead, friends and coworkers gathered to recognize her for doing her part to better Drew County.

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