SAN ANTONIO (July 23, 2015) -- U.S. Army Installation Management Command leadership dedicated a live oak tree on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to honor Army Community Service's 50th birthday and its founder, the late Lt. Col. Emma Marie Baird.
The tree stands next to Building 2266, where the IMCOM G9 Family Programs offices are located. It symbolizes the program's growth, strength and stability.
"The tree and trunk represents the thousands of program professionals, volunteers, and leaders who have supported and given selfless service to our Soldiers, Civilians and their Families," said Mariangiola Miller, Chief of ACS Programs at IMCOM G9.
"The branches also represent the protection that those millions of Soldiers, civilians and Family members have given in service to our nation," she concluded.
ACS is an Army-wide program that provides community and social services that help Soldiers, Family members and Department of the Army Civilian employees maintain readiness and develop self-reliance, resiliency and stability.
Baird is affectionately known as the "Mother of ACS" due to her work in pioneering its development in 1965.
"She recognized that as the composition of the Army changed, the normal problems of Family life, combined with special circumstances of military living, affected the morale and retention of active-duty Soldiers," said Robert Ramsey, Jr., the ceremony's narrator.
The ceremony was a joyous occasion, yet also a solemn event as the crowd honored the legacy of another leader in Army Family programming.
"Today, we honor great leaders of the past and the present," said Brig. Gen. Daniel Mitchell, Deputy Commanding General for Support for IMCOM.
Lynn McCollum, the chief of IMCOM G9 Family Programs for the last six and a half years, passed away last week after a long battle with serious illnesses.
"Lynn was a champion of military Families and a key reason our ACS offices continue to provide quality services," said Stephanie L. Hoehne, the G9 Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation director for IMCOM. "In her dedication to serve, she was teleworking from the hospital until just last week, when she was told to stop and rest."
Miller compared McCollum's dedication directly to Baird's.
"Lynn selflessly carried on in Ms. Baird's vision in supporting Soldiers and Families," Miller said.
Related Links:
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