Carol Wagner earns Bridge Builder award from Wichita Falls Community Foundation

The Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation held its Fund Holders and Friends luncheon Tuesday at The Forum.

The foundation was organized in 1999 and is a not-for-profit philanthropic institution organized and operated primarily as a collection of charitable funds that will have long term benefit for the Wichita Falls area.

Since its inception, the organization's funds have taken in $127,186,502 dollars and dispersed $88,541,591 dollars through a wide variety of grants and charities.

Each year, the foundation presents its Bridge Builder award to an outstanding member of the community, who embodies the spirit of the bridge builder story.

In the tale, an old man crosses a turbulent river and once safely across, begins building a bridge. A fellow traveler asks why. He says, "The river was not an obstacle for me. But after me, a fair-haired youth may come. I'm not building it for me... I'm building it for him."

This year's award was presented to Carol Wagner.

Wagner has been involved in volunteerism and service to the community for almost 65 years. She has served on more than 60 commissions, boards and committees at the local, state and national levels.

Her advocacy has benefited the arts, youth, parks, greenbelt and river development and historic preservation.

Wagner served three terms on the Wichita Falls City Council and was Mayor Pro-Tem during the devastating 1979 tornado.

She has also served as president of the Junior League of Wichita Falls, and was instrumental in the formation of Beacon Lighthouse, Inc., the MHMR Center and was the first executive director of the Nonprofit Management Center.

Wagner, a former teacher, joined the Foundation's board in 2011 and served on its scholarship committee for 20 years.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation recognizes Carol Wagner