Leadership San Juan co-founder earns chamber's Citizen of the Year award

FARMINGTON ― If Nancy Shepherd needed validation of the kind of impact her work as one of the founders of Leadership San Juan has had over the last three decades, she only had to look around the room last weekend when she accepted the Citizen of the Year award from the Farmington Chamber of Commerce.

After being presented with the award from chamber board vice chairman Vince Moffitt, Shepherd asked how many people in attendance were alumni of Leadership San Juan, the organization Shepherd helped start in 1989 with her friend Marjorie Black and San Juan College President James Henderson. Somewhere between 40 and 50 hands shot up, she said ― and that was only a small portion of the approximately 800 people that have graduated from the program over the last 33 years.

“That, of course, is my baby ― and Marjorie Black’s baby,” Shepherd said, reflecting on the hundreds of future leaders the organization has groomed across the county.

Shepherd, who retired as an instructor at San Juan College in 2017, now helps shape policy at Four Corners Economic Development, in addition to continuing her work at Leadership San Juan and at other community service organizations. In fact, she said she almost was late for the chamber banquet ― which was held Jan. 27 at the San Juan Country Club ― because she was advising the members of another group who were in the midst of developing a strategic plan.

“I had to race to get there,” she said.

Shepherd said she hadn’t been told ahead of time that she was going to be honored. So when Moffitt began introducing the Citizen of the Year honoree, it caught her attention when he said he had been acquainted with the winner for 30 years.

“I thought, ‘That’s odd ― I’ve known Vince for 30 years,’” she said, laughing.

Moments later, she realized Moffitt had been talking about her.

“It was a total surprise,” she said. “I should probably have seen the clues, but I did not put it all together.”

Jamie Church, the president and CEO of the chamber, said seven people were nominated for the Citizen of the Year award, but Shepherd received multiple nominations.

“She was the obvious choice for Citizen of the Year,” Church said.

Shepherd said she was amazed and humbled by the award, adding that community service and leadership came naturally to her after she was raised in a home where such qualities were modeled by her parents. But Leadership San Juan and the skills it promotes continue to hold a special place in her heart, she said.

“I really believe in it strongly, and I love it when I find somebody who takes it and runs with it,” she said.

Business of the Year awarded to M&R Plumbing Services

The chamber also presented its Business of the Year award last weekend, and the winner was Farmington’s M&R Plumbing Service, a family-owned business in its third generation. Rachel Bartley, the company’s human resources director, said Mike Waite founded the company in 1954 before passing it on to his son Ray, who has since ceded it to his son Chad.

“For Business of the Year, we were really excited to award that to M&R Plumbing,” Church said. “Over the last few years, it’s been a real struggle for many of our businesses because of the pandemic. I was really excited to see a business established in 1954 win.”

Bartley said M&R not only survived but thrived through the pandemic and now employs 80 people. But the company might be even better known for its philanthropic endeavors, especially its annual Lifts for Gifts fundraiser for the Farmington Boys & Girls Clubs. Local weightlifting enthusiasts are encouraged to try for a person best in the powerlifting division, while their registration fees are used to fund the purchase of clothing for the children the club serves.

Bartley said last year’s event raised enough money to purchase a jacket and a pair of winter gloves for every child who belongs to the club.

The company also initiated a new endeavor recently called the Treston Project, through which it donated $20 to a charitable fund for each online, written or verbal review of its services it received over the course of a year. By the end of 2023, the fund had amassed $16,500, and that money was divided between two local families who were enduring extreme financial hardship.

In the case of the first family, the husband ― the family’s sole breadwinner ― had died recently, leaving the stay-at-home mother with no insurance and no income.

The second family also had recently lost the father, while the mother was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, and the daughter had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

“We had so many nominations for both of them, we know we had to help them," Bartley said of the two families. “But it was hard because we had so many people we wish we could have helped.”

The Treston Project has been renewed this year, and the company continues to donate money to the fund every time it receives a review. Bartley, who was joined in accepting the Business of the Year award by the company’s female employees and the wives of many of its male workers, said the entire group was excited by the honor and looks forward to doing more good work in the future.

“We just want to help out any way we can,” she said.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com.

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This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Nancy Shepherd, M&R Plumbing honored at chamber's annual banquet