COUNTY LIFE
Ceil Stanford works to build ‘inner champions;’ earns international recognition
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
For more than 20 years, the Advanced Coaching and Leadership Center north of Saint Jo has been helping individuals and families, along with some of the top business people in the world with improving their lives.
Rural Montague County may seem like an unexpected location for such a facility, but that rural setting also may be part of the draw as well as the well-trained staff who can assist with developing your own “inner champion.”
Owner Ceil Stanford, age 64, found this career later in life after establishing herself in a career, a marriage and raising a family. She has come a long way from what she calls an “epiphany” just before she turned 40 realizing she was unhappy with herself and did not know how to have a happy relationship.
That change in life and career has been successful both personally and professionally as she was named Global Woman of the Year. The award was presented at the Global Woman Summit Gala last summer in London.
She was shocked at being nominated and had not planned on attending until friends from all over the world encouraged her to attend. Stanford began to wonder if she could really win this honor, and one week out she purchased the airline ticket and traveled with two friends to England.
“This is the first award I have ever won in my life, I was so grateful to be named along with the other nominees. I am so grateful and hope this award helps me reach more people,” said Stanford.
The Saint Jo leadership center was established by the late Alan C. Walter in 1999 after he bought the ranch and he became very successful in personal development training at Saint Jo ranch.
Read the full feature in the weekend Bowie News.
When we were going through my grandmother’s house in Nocona after it sold, I found a few neat keepsakes, but the biggest treasure I thought I had found was her biscuit cutter. I was so excited to show my mother (her daughter) and just knew she would be happy it was found and would still be used after all this time.
My mother, however, had a different thought about my precious biscuit cutter. She said, “Suzanne, you know that biscuit cutter is just an old tomato paste can that has both ends cut out.”
I was still no less delighted with my cutter. I continue to use it today. My husband has bought me vintage, new and fancier cutters, but this cutter is something I go back to time and again.
My Memaw was recruited to be a lunch lady from 1952 to 1958 at Nocona Elementary, back when lunches were cooked, not “fixed.” Lenora Brown Burnett was an excellent cook and everyone knew it. She went on to work at the Nocona Major Clinic kitchen from 1958 to 1969.
You could only use shortcuts if you knew how to do it the long way. That is how I still approach cooking. You can only use a cake mix if you know how to make a cake with lots of ingredients, time and effort.
Read Suzanne’s Love & Luck column in the Thursday Bowie News on the On the Table page.
Top photo – Grandmother’s biscuit cutter and hand written recipes. (Photo by Suzanne Storey)
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
It’s a bitter cold January week, so it must be time for the Montague County Youth Fair, which opens Wednesday running through Saturday.
More than 330 students from across the county will compete in everything from golf ball art work to top dairy goat in this annual event where there are 1,160 entries. Almost every contest saw an increase in entries from the prior year.
Scheduling was still in flux at presstime due to pending weather. Watch the fair’s Facebook page for any late changes.
The All Together Show was moved to 5 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the show barn. It had been set for Thursday.
There were no changes for leadership day on Wednesday at presstime.
Read the full story on the fair in the Thursday Bowie News.
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