Longtime educator and tribal leader Linda Capps was honored for her decades of service during the 2014 Oklahoma Baptist University Founder’s Day celebration. Capps, who in addition to serving as CPN Vice Chairman since 1990 is a board member of the Oklahoma City Branch Bank of the Kansas City Federal Reserve, was conferred as a Doctor in Humanities by the Shawnee, Okla.-based institution.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but it is an honor to be awarded a PhD from such a prestigious university,” said Capps. “I want to thank President David Whitlock and the OBU faculty members for the honor. Having this bestowed on me while my family and friends were there is something I’ll always cherish.”
Capps spent over 25 years as an educator. She taught high school business at Dover, Tecumseh, and worked at Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Business and Industry Services as the Oklahoma Bid Assistance Network coordinator. She was inducted into Gordon Cooper Technology Center Hall of Fame in 2010. Capps is also a former recipient of the Small Business Administration Oklahoma Minority Advocate of the Year Award. Two years ago she was named Tecumseh’s Citizen of the Year. In addition to her place on the Oklahoma City Branch Bank of the Federal Reserve, Capps is also on the board of First National Bank and Trust of Shawnee, the Gordon Cooper Technology Center Foundation, and is a former board member of Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma (REI) where she served for 13 years.
In a letter to Vice Chairman Capps notifying her of the award, OBU said it was awarding the degree “for her outstanding accomplishments as an educator, community leader and elected official…In honoring Linda Capps, Oklahoma Baptist University is keeping faith with the high ideals we have set for granting such degrees.”
Vice Chairman Capps joins a number of notable honorary doctorate recipients in OBU’s long history, including Shawnee Mill President Dr. William “Bill” Ford, BancFirst Corp. Chairman Dr. H.E. Gene Rainbolt, former Oklahoma Governor Raymond D. Gary and FBI Director Dr. J. Edgar Hoover.
During her response at the luncheon, Vice Chairman Capps thanked her family, including son Aaron and her three siblings, Eddie Moore and wife Sue, Marilyn Clark and husband Don and Rosa Reed and husband Hub. She closed by mentioning she now has a degree from OBU to go along with her son Brian Capps’, a 1993 graduate.