Reception set for Shelley Ricker

Laurie Taylor and Natalea Watkins

June 26, 2008 02:50 pm

— Shelley Ricker, executive director of the Stillwater Area United Way since 1977, will spend her last day on the job Friday. And the current UW Board invites all of Stillwater to an appreciation reception at the Stillwater Community Center from 1-3 p.m.
“It would be hard to imagine this city without Shelley Ricker’s leadership in social services over the past three decades,” says United Way Chair, ONG Manager Paul Vela. When she arrived, the annual campaign raised $113,000 while recent campaign totals have surpassed $800,000. There were 13 United Way agencies in 1977 and today there are 25.
Vela, who has worked with United Way in several communities says Ricker is “without question” the most loyal director he’s seen. He calls her “the face of UW in Stillwater” and says her knowledge of the community and its people have been invaluable to United Way’s volunteer leaders.
Ricker plans to continue working in the non-profit world through a local museum in Clarksdale, Miss. She says, quoting Tulsa author Jim Stovall, “When you find your passion and pursue it with ultimate productivity, economic conditions will never matter and you will live a life of success, prosperity and satisfaction.” She intends to pursue her passion for blues music and work to enhance the quality of life in the Mississippi Delta.쇓