Denise Fack was recently recognized as one of our outstanding employees. She was honored for all the incredible work she did for Western Days. She co-chaired with Karen Stanhope the General Store, which is a big responsibility. Denise recruited fellow employees to donate things they had made and also made several very nice items herself - did you happen to see the furniture, flags, and angels made out of wooden pickets? She is handy with a jig saw and has used that skill to cut out and paint many of our outside decorations for Western Days (like the big "Tulsa Driller") as well as at Christmas. But Denise is the first to say that she is able to do what she does because she has always had the help of lots of other people and is very grateful to them all.

Denise has worked here twice. The first time she started working with Suzy (our Downstairs Beautician at that time) doing fingernails. Her friend Karen Ferguson told her that Suzy was looking for someone. Later she got recruited by the then Nursing Supervisor, Judy Davis, to work in nursing and she did that for several years. Then she left to work for a company called Aaon where she learned to build and wire heating and air conditioning units. She also learned to follow blueprints. She graduated with honors from the wiring class! Later they went through some layoffs so she did private sitting for a while and then came back here in 1993 in the nursing department working the 11-7 shift.

When an opening came up in Housekeeping she took it. Denise has many talents and was the driving force behind Housekeeping's fantastic Wizard of Oz entry the past two years in our Mardi Gras parade. Denise "built" the Tin Man suit, sewed the Munchkins Hats, the Lion's head and tail, and even did Dorothy's red glittered shoes. She worked in Housekeeping until this past October when she transferred into the Maintenance Department becoming their very first female employee! She takes care of the tasks in the various Maintenance Logs throughout the building and whatever else comes up - this past month shoveling a lot of snow. One thing she really enjoys about this job is that you keep learning new things.

Denise lived in Bartlesville until she was four and then her family moved to Sperry. Her Dad had died when she was three and she had seven brothers but no sisters. They didn't find their seventh brother until a couple of years ago. He had been given up for adoption and her mother told the family about him just before she passed away. It took seven years to find him because he was clear away in Illinois. Denise has been to visit him several times and could see his resemblance to their mom.

Denise has been married to her husband, Jeff, for 27 years. He is a boilermaker and works out of Local Union 592. He has to travel a lot on his job and someday Denise hopes she can go with him. They have a daughter, Carrie, who has presented them with a grandson, Cody, who is eight years old. Cody loves to go arrowhead hunting with Grandpa. The whole family likes to go camping and fishing, usually at Skiatook Lake, but occasionally to Beaver Lake in Arkansas. In March they are going on their first cruise. They will drive to New Orleans and board the ship there to sail the Caribbean for seven days.

Denise attends Immanuel Baptist Church in Skiatook. She is one of those Oklahomans that you would never guess it but she is part Cherokee and is on the official roll of the Cherokee Nation. Recently they bought their first home, it has three bedrooms, a two car garage and sits on 11/2 acres.

Denise was in the GED class we had at St. Simeon's several years ago. She would be the first to encourage folks to stay in school and graduate because the GED test is hard!  Denise has a

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