Patricia Ray wins Zonta Club's top honor

Patricia Ray’s colleagues knew she would be shocked to receive Zonta’s 2016 Women of Achievement Award.

They said as much in a video testimony of her achievements, from her work as a nurse, a lawyer with the Limbaugh Firm and a long list of services to the community. Despite these things, they said, she never would expect the honor to come to her.

“They were all right,” Ray said breathlessly as she was called to the stage during a ceremony Friday afternoon. “I am shocked.”

More than 500 people came to Ray’s Plaza Conference Center in Cape Girardeau as the Zonta Club presented its 12th annual Women of Achievement Awards.

The event, which was sold out, honors local, professional women in the community. It also serves as the club’s largest fundraiser.

Patricia Ray, center, receives the Zonta Club's 2016 Woman of Achievement Award from Callie Welker, left, and Casey Crowell on Friday at Ray's Plaza Conference Center in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

Before Ray was given her award, several other women were recognized for their local and worldwide service.

Typically the Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a person with a lifetime of service to the community. But in an unprecedented move, the award was given to three people: Mary Greaser, Naomi Newman and Mary Scherer, the three founding members of the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau.

“They are phenomenal. They’ve been in the club for 40 years and still probably have more service hours than anybody in the club,” said Callie Welker, co-chairwoman of the Women of Achievement Awards. “They’re very active still, and having people like that to look up to is really cool.”

During the ceremony, Zonta Club president Casey Crowell acknowledged the women’s collective achievements and their continued service to the community.

The Celebration Award went to Megan Boudreaux, founder of Respire Haiti, an organization that provides education, medical care, discipleship and community outreach in Gressier, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Unlike the other awards, the Celebration Award does not always go to a local woman. Boudreaux grew up in Louisiana and lives in Haiti permanently as a part of her mission.

The Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau is involved in service projects for the people of Haiti, and Boudreaux’s efforts, which she described as a calling from God, serve as an inspiration to the Zonta Club.

Ray’s Women of Achievement recognition came at an opportune time — as she prepares to head into retirement at the end of the year.

She began her career as a registered nurse, working in intensive-care units at hospitals in Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, New York, and Bethesda, Maryland. She went on to receive her law degree and practiced while raising a family.

When the Rays moved to Cape Girardeau in 1997, she became an associate and then a shareholder at the Limbaugh Firm. She also taught business law at Southeast Missouri State University as an adjunct professor.

She also has spent time as a member of the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau and a board member of the local Court Appointed Special Advocates group. She’s a member of Saint Francis Medical Center’s board of directors and its executive committee. She is a trustee to the Cape Girardeau Public Health Center. She sponsors and works with children around the world and participates in the Read to Succeed program at Franklin Elementary School.

Despite this list of accomplishments, Crowell said, she still doesn’t see herself as deserving.

“She is more than deserving,” Crowell said.

“You put your foot one foot in front of the other every day. You do your thing. This is what you do,” Ray said after the ceremony. “You don’t expect recognition for it; you just want to try and do good things because it makes you feel good.”

While she expressed shock at the honor, she also expressed appreciation.

“I’m humbled,” Ray said. “It’s stunning. It’s wonderful, but it’s stunning.”

Unlike the Lifetime and Celebration awards, Zonta’s Women of Achievement Award is not chosen by the Cape Girardeau membership. To maintain impartiality, the club sends its final list of nominees to another Zonta Club in Missouri.

The other nominees for the Women of Achievement Award were:

• Dr. Kate Barnette of the Center for Orthodontics;
• Charlotte Craig, former director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center and longtime volunteer with the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri;
• Elizabeth Gray of Realty One Associates;
• Sandy Hastings, owner of Servpro of Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties;
• Brenda Newbern, executive director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau;
• Michelle Outman, president of h.o.w.? Ministry;
• Kathy Smith, owner of Extra Hands Inc.

“We have so many amazing women that have contributed greatly to our community,” Crowell said, noting it was a relief the decision did not fall to the club in which all eight women belong.

But of the final selection, Crowell said, “Pat’s the perfect recipient.”

bbrown@semissourian.com

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