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The Bartlesville Community Foundation has announced its 2013 inductees to the Legacy Hall of Fame.  On May 18th the Foundation will honor the Glenn and Ronnie Cox and the Pete and Theo Silas families for their outstanding contributions to Bartlesville.  According to Executive Director of the foundation, Shawn Crawford, the two families represent everything the Legacy Hall of Fame seeks to recognize,

Glenn and Veronica Cox met Southern Methodist University.  They married and arrived in Bartlesville with their son Martin in 1956 for Glenn to begin employment with Phillips Petroleum after he had served four and a half years as a pilot in the Strategic Air Command.  He retired as President and Chief Operating Officer of Phillips in 1991.

The Cox's have been active in the community.  She has served as chair of the Service league, has been a member of the Bartlesville Community Trust Authority, has worked with children at the Bell Ringer’s School, and has been a member of the Family Crisis and Counseling board. She has also served on the Girl Scout board, the Acquisition Committee of the Price Tower Arts Center, and continues as a member of the United Methodist Women’s organization.

He has served as president of both the Chamber of Commerce and the Cherokee Boy Scout Counsel; has chaired several organizations including the Community Center Trust Authority, OK Mozart, the United Way campaign, the Bartlesville Library task force, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and the Elder Care major gifts drive; Glenn has also been a member of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Salvation Advisory board and the Bartlesville Community Foundation board.

C.J. “Pete” and Theodosea “Theo” Silas arrived in Bartlesville in 1977 with their four children, Karla, Peter Edward, Michael Frank, and James Alexander.  After meeting in Theo’s hometown of New York, the Silases traveled the world as Pete’s job with Phillips Petroleum took them to Brussels, London, and other international destinations.  Pete rose to Chairman and CEO of Phillips in 1985, helping to guide the company through the aftermath of hostile takeover attempts, before retiring in 1994.

While their contributions to the community have been numerous, Pete and Theo have been instrumental in the establishment of two treasured Bartlesville cultural institutions: the OK Mozart Festival and the Price Tower Arts Center.  Both helped to found and support OK Mozart, while Theo was the founder and first president of the Bartlesville Museum, now the Price Tower Arts Center. She continues to serve on the OK Mozart board of directors and serves as a trustee and co-chairman of the Acquisitions Committee for the Price Tower.  Pete continues to serve as the chairman, trustee, and chief fundraiser for the Price Tower Arts complex.  Both have been working to have the Price Tower named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Theo has also served on the Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities and the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. She has been active on the boards of the Allied Arts and Humanities Council, the Bartlesville Civic Ballet, Friends of the Frank Phillips Home, the Landmark Preservation Council, and Women and Children in Crisis. Among her many awards, Theo received the Decoration of Merit in Gold from the Republic of Austria and was elected to the 2004 Hall of Fame of Hunter College where she graduated cum laude.

Pete serves on the board of the Georgia Tech Foundation and is a past national chairman of Junior Achievement, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, where he still serves as a board member.  He was a founder and board member of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and has been on the boards of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the University of Tulsa, and the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy.  Pete has received the Royal Norwegian St. Olav’s Order in the degree of Commander as well as Georgia Tech’s Total Person award.

The Bartlesville Community Foundation will induct the Cox and Silas families into the Legacy Hall of Fame on Saturday, May 18th at the Hilton Garden Inn.  The evening includes dinner, video retrospectives of the families, and the award presentation.  Sponsorship and ticket information is available from the Foundation at 918.337.2287.