Second community lecture highlights George Washington

NEWS RELEASE
Issued - October 2, 2009

ARDMORE, Okla. — The Community Lecture Series, featuring nationally renowned scholar and University of Oklahoma professor J. Rufus Fears, Ph.D., presents its second installment at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Ardmore Convention Center.

Fears' presentation - George Washington: General, Patriot and Statesman - will highlight the United States' first president and examine his life as a statesman. Fears will discuss how Washington's leadership and sacrifice during and after the Revolutionary War helped define the United States. "Washington chose freedom and duty over wealth and luxury," Fears said. "He came out of retirement to lead our republic through its first years of freedom. He did all of this with an unswerving moral compass."

The Community Lecture Series - which features historical presentations under the overall theme of Leadership in a Time of Crisis: The Lessons of the Founding Fathers - is open to the public and provided at no cost, courtesy of several private and public sponsors. No reservations are required, and individuals may attend any or all of the lectures.

"More than 400 residents of southern Oklahoma attended the first lecture on Tuesday in which Dr. Fears discussed the Declaration of Independence and the battles at Lexington and Concord," said Wes Stucky, president and chief executive officer of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce and an event sponsor. "Dr. Fears gave a passionate talk, showing how these historical events laid the moral foundation for our country and how that applies to today's world. It was simply inspiring, and the second presentation promises to be just as amazing."

The lectures are an extension of the lifelong learning component of the Ardmore 2020 visioning process recently concluded by the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The series will continue for four more weeks with each lecture taking place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 6, Oct. 13, Oct. 20 and Oct. 27) at the Ardmore Convention Center, located at 2401 N. Rockford Road in Ardmore.

The third lecture (Oct. 13) will be titled How Real Statesmen Meet an Economic Crisis and will reveal how the United States, as a fledgling country, overcame the debt and mortgage crisis of 1786. Fears will show how the Founding Fathers did not meet that challenge with stopgap measures and self-serving partisan politics, opting instead to establish this country's constitution.

Entitled Thomas Jefferson and Our Empire of Liberty, the fourth lecture (Oct. 20) focuses on Jefferson's innate leadership ability and vision. At a time when Napoleon declared himself emperor and ransacked Europe, Jefferson peacefully brokered the Louisiana Purchase, ensuring that freedom and a free market economy would spread across a continent. The final presentation (Oct. 27) will shift from the national level to the state level. Fears will present Lloyd Noble: Patriot, Entrepreneur and Leader.

The Community Lecture Series is sponsored by American National Bank, Ardmore Chamber of Commerce, BancFirst, CableOne, The Bramlett Agency, Community Activities, Inc., of Ardmore, Mike and Betty Jane Cawley, The Daily Ardmoreite, Bill and Carrie Goddard, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Community Foundation of Ardmore, Tommy and Billye Joy Craighead, Elmbrook Management Company, First National Bank & Trust Company of Ardmore, Landmark Bank, Mercy Memorial Health Center, Merrick Foundation, Michelin, N.A., Noble Energy, Inc., John and Joan Snodgrass, The Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation, Wes and Peggy Stucky, and Valero Ardmore Refinery.

For additional information about the Community Lecture Series, contact Mary Kate Wilson at 580.224.6246 or mkwilson@noble.org. You may also visit www.noble.org/lecture. For media inquiries, please contact Adam Calaway at 580.224.6209 or jacalaway@noble.org.

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For media inquiries concerning the Noble Foundation, please contact:

J. Adam Calaway

jacalaway@noble.org

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc. (www.noble.org), headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a nonprofit organization conducting agricultural, forage improvement and plant biology research; assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs; and providing grants to nonprofit charitable, educational and health organizations.