Oklahoma's Pathmakers to be honored at luncheon

Two of the winners — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony Shadid and civic leader Nicholas Reding — are receiving awards posthumously.

Shadid, an acclaimed international correspondent for The New York Times, died of acute asthma while trying to leave Syria in February.

Reding, whose family came to the area in an early land run, helped develop parts of Oklahoma City; before his death in 1965, he donated the land now occupied by Integris Southwest Medical Center.

Living winners are community activist Leroy Bridges; Eddie Griffin, president of the Jim Thorpe Association; rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson; and Robert Spinks, professor and department chairman for sociology and justice studies at Oklahoma City University.

Girl Scouts of America — Western Oklahoma will receive the Distinguished Service award.

“Oklahoma City got its first Girl Scouts troop in 1919,” said Bill Welge of the Oklahoma City/County Historical Society, “but we're honoring them this year for the organization's national 100th anniversary.”