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Nancy B. Anthony

Nancy Anthony joined the Oklahoma City Community Foundation as Executive Director in 1985 when it had assets of $20 million and one other full-time employee. She directed the growth of the Community Foundation to assets of more than $1.6 billion during 2021. Today, the Community Foundation has 47 full-time employees and makes average annual distributions to the Oklahoma City community of $46 million. In 2015 she was named the President of the organization.

The Oklahoma City Community Foundation has been a leader among community foundations in the development of endowments for nonprofit charitable organizations. It has also focused its discretionary resources on a group of strategically selected community issues and opportunities where it can provide both resources and leadership. It operates the largest organizational endowment program in the United States and the largest independent scholarship program in Oklahoma. In 1995, the Community Foundation joined with several other area organizations to provide leadership in the oversight and distribution of contributions given in response to the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. She has served on the board of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy in Washington DC, and the Community Foundation Leadership Team for the Council of Foundations. She retired as President of the Community Foundation in 2022 after 38 years leading the organization.

A native of Elizabethtown, KY, Anthony received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University M.A. and M.Phil degrees in mathematical statistics from Yale University, and a Ph.D in biostatistics epidemiology from the University of Oklahoma. In her professional career she has taught at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma City University. She has also served as a consultant in statistics and demography before joining the Community Foundation

As a community volunteer, Anthony has served for 45 years as a member of the Metropolitan Library Commission including ten years as chairman. She has served on a number of community boards and also served as a volunteer coach for several girls’ athletic teams. She served as the Vice Chairman of the Oklahoma City Sports Facility Oversight Board, a city commission. She served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Duke Divinity School.

She and her husband, Robert H Anthony, reside in Oklahoma City. They have four daughters and six grandchildren. They are active members of crown heights United Methodist Church

Oklahoma Arts Institute

In 1977, the Oklahoma Arts Institute (OAI) – a statewide, private educational and philanthropic organization – was established to provide intensive, high-quality fine arts training to talented high school students at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute (OSAI). World-class artists come to Quartz Mountain each June to teach and mentor over 240 gifted young Oklahoma artists. OSAI offers classes in acting, chorus, creative writing, dance, drawing & painting, film & video, orchestra, and photography.

Inspired by the enhanced skills of students attending the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, Oklahoma educators and community artists suggested a similar program for adults. In 1983, OAI established the Oklahoma Fall Arts Institute (OFAI), a series of weekend workshops for adults in the visual, literary, and performing arts. Each October, nationally renowned faculty artists provide intensive study for more than 300 adults who wish to continue their educational and personal enrichment. The largest audience served by OFAI are educators from the state of Oklahoma, who take the skills they learn back to their classrooms and share new techniques with students and peers. Every year, OAI reaches over 30,000 students through their teachers’ participation at OFAI.

The Oklahoma Arts Institute was designated “Oklahoma’s Official School of the Arts” in 1991 by a joint resolution of the Oklahoma legislature. As such, OAI allows Oklahomans the opportunity to study with the nation’s finest artists. The standard for faculty artists was set high from the first Summer Institute, taught by Ballerina Maria Tallchief, U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall, conductor Judith Somogi, and other luminary artists. Since then, winners of the Pulitzer Prize and the Academy, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Awards have traveled to Quartz Mountain State Park to serve as Arts Institute faculty. 

As the Oklahoma Arts Institute continues to grow and evolve, the mission of the organization remains the same – to provide exceptional multidisciplinary arts experiences that develop individual talent and inspire a lifelong passion for the arts.

Joyce A. Henderson

Joyce A. Henderson is a 1964 graduate of Dunjee High School.  She received her B. S. Degree from Langston University, M.Ed. Degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, and Secondary School Administration Certification from the University of Oklahoma. 

In 1963, a member of the NAACP Youth Council, Joyce went to Washington, D.C., with her teacher the late Clara Luper and others to the March on Washington and heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his “I Have A Dream” speech.  Clara Luper was her teacher, mentor and personal guidance counselor.  On January 20, 2009 and January 20, 2013, she traveled to Washington, DC to see the Inaugurations of our President Barack Obama which were priceless experiences.  Her being a part of the sit-ins as a participant prepared her for life.

Her thirty-seven years in education, Mrs. Henderson spent approximately twenty years as principal at five different area schools in the Oklahoma City Public Schools (Emerson Alternative High School, the original Classen High School, Northeast High School, Star Spencer High School, and opened one of the district’s first magnet schools, Classen School of Advanced Studies).  The Classen School of Advanced Studies has been listed as one the nation’s top schools of excellence.  Her last 10 years in the school district, she served on the Superintendent’s Cabinet as the Executive Director of School and Community Services.

Joyce was honored by being inducted in the Oklahoma City Schools foundation Wall of Fame, Langston University Education Wall of Fame, Oklahoma African Americans Educators Hall of Fame, and most recently, the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame.  She has received many awards.  They include Educator of the Year by The Women of Color Expo; U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Black History Award, Dr. Charles E. Butler Black History Trailblazer Award, the Ambassadors’ Concert Choir OKC Women Who Made A Difference award, National Award from John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts Administrator Award, to name a few.

She as served on several community boards that include The Oklahoma Crime Commission, Oklahoma Health Disparities Task force, the YWCA Board, Oklahoma City Leadership Alumni Board, OKC Red Cross Board, Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation, Oklahoma African American Education Board, OKC Sunbeam Board, to name a few.

Joyce is very active in Beta Sigma Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, where she has been a member 57 years.  She served in different positions at he local, Regional and National levels.  She also was a 30 – year member of National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. (Gamma Epsilon Chapter), presently a Life member of Langston University Alumni Association, University of Central Oklahoma Alumni Association, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Joyce has been a member of the Respect Diversity Foundation as one of their speakers.  She is featured in the 2015 Children of the Civil Rights Documentary film produced by Julia Clifford.

Joyce is the oldest child of the late Eddie Lee and Fannie Johnson of Spencer, OK, where she was reared with her 3 sisters: Etta, Barbara, and LaVerne.  She and her husband of 56 years, Wm. Gerald Henderson, are the proud parents of two college graduate sons:  Kevin and Kelly, a daughter-in-law, Tasha; 5 grandchildren:  Corie, Taletha, Maddisen, Kalehia, and Peerliss; and, two great grandchildren, Khari and Champ. 

Sally Frye Bentley ‘64

Sally was born and brought up in Oklahoma City. She attended both Horace Mann Elementary and Nichols Hills Elementary schools. Although her parents wanted her to attend private school in 7th grade, she convinced them that Harding Jr. Sr. High School was where she belonged. It was at Harding that she received an outstanding college preparatory education, made life-long friends, and met her future husband, Steve Bentley ‘65.

After graduating in 1964, Sally attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in Elementary Education. She served as President of Delta Gamma sorority and was chosen as Outstanding Senior in the College of Education. Sally graduated and married Steve in July 1968. Steve served in the U.S. Navy from 1968-1971 where they were stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, and Norfolk, VA.

After returning to Oklahoma in 1973, Sally taught school at Lincoln Elementary in Norman, OK. Other employment included Continental Federal Savings and Loan, President of Georgia Carpet Outlet in Wichita Falls, TX, Director of the SPARK after-school program at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Realtor with Metro Mark Realtors, and Chairman of Bentley Flooring, Inc. with her two sons, Steven Bentley, Jr, and Nick Bentley.

Education, youth, health care, and volunteer leadership are Sally’s passions. Through the years she has held leadership positions on several non-profit boards including The Junior League of Oklahoma City, Leadership OKC, Youth Services of OKC, Variety Health Center, Payne Education Center, SSM Health Systems, and the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education Board of Advocates at OU.

In 2003, John Belt asked her to help establish and join the Harding Fine Arts Academy Charter School Board, dedicated to providing an arts-integrated college-preparatory high school experience. Sally served as School Board President for six years. In 2019 the Harding Fine Arts Academy Foundation Board was formed to successfully raise the money to purchase the historic Harding building. Sally has served on the Foundation Board since that time and has been part of the growth of that organization for the benefit of Harding Fine Arts Academy, its students, and the community.

Carlie Preskitt ’15

Carlie Preskitt graduated as Valedictorian from Harding Fine Arts Academy in 2015. She attended the University of Oklahoma on scholarship where she earned her BFA in Ballet Performance and BS in Multiple Disciplinary Studies (neuroscience focus). After graduating from OU with distinction, she joined the Oklahoma City Ballet as a second company member. The following year she was promoted to the main company as an apprentice and danced on the company for 2 years. Ms. Preskitt has also had the opportunity to perform as a guest artist with Tulsa Ballet and toured internationally with Hartel Dance Group.

While pursuing her ballet career she has simultaneously pursued her career in the sciences. She served as a research assistant for the OU Visual Neurosciences Laboratory as well as for the OU Health Sciences Center Department of Radiological Sciences. During her time as a research assistant at OUHSC she has been co-author on a publication in the Insights of Biomedical Research Journal, co-inventor on a patented biomedical device, and received the American Association of Physicists in Medicine 2023 Blue Ribbon Award for her team’s abstract and poster submission. Ms. Preskitt also works at the OU Children’s Hospital, formerly as a safety technician supporting adolescents with eating disorders and mental health crises, and currently as a pharmacy technician.

She is honored to be recognized by the Alumni Association and is grateful for all of the knowledge, skill sets, and encouragement she received from her teachers while she was a student at Harding Fine Arts.