The Flora Masonic Lodge #119 in Quitman presented its 2024 Community Builder Award to Tom Keenan of Lake Fork in a ceremony Saturday, June 22.

The criteria for the award include a non-Mason who has made a large impact on improvements in the community, the recipient isn’t necessarily well known, and efforts being recognized should consistently span multiple years.

Keenan is a source of energy in Wood County. Soon after Tom and his family made a home for retirement in Wood County, he brought together other like minded people to step in and save a struggling golf club, The Links at Land’s End semi-private golf course. Land’s End has since been consistently recognized as one of the best outlying golf courses in Texas. He established a jewel for Wood County golfers.

In 2017 just when he thought he could sit around and golf all day, Tom was recruited by then Wood County Judge Lucy Hebron to chair the newly established Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC). Along with the judge he brought in several citizens from all walks of life to put their heads together and work toward establishing a countywide strategic plan for improving the quality of life for all of Wood County residents. Focus was put onto areas such as transportation and infrastructure, health and human services, public safety, government affairs, arts and parks and education. A concerted focus of his has been to ensure that leaders from all the communities have a sense of ownership in the work of the WCEDC.  

Just a few of significant areas of focus:

Affordable Housing: Tom established a task force to focus on identifying means and methods to address a stark need for affordable housing.

Workforce Opportunities: His efforts have resulted in a countywide team of folks working together to establish various means to identify and address workforce needs.

Commercial Real Estate: Tom led the initiative to bring together Realtors from agencies in markets across the county to collaborate on the establishment of a web portal that focuses on listing of commercial real estate available for businesses that might target Wood County to set up shop and employ folks.

Airport Development: Tom triggered the creation of another task force to focus on leveraging the Wood County Collins Field Airport and its surrounding undeveloped land in an effort to fuel what some call potentially the largest economic development engine in the county.

Strategic Plan: In 2024 the Wood County Strategic Plan was published and shared with interested parties while its recommendations are steering activities across the county.