2009 Cross and Flame Award Recipients

New Mexico Conference Award Recipient
LaRae Phillips

LaRae graduated from McMurry in 1982 with a degree in choral music education. While at McMurry, she sang with and accompanied the Chanters. She was a member of Spirit of Truth, an independent singing group who led worship services and worked with youth in Methodist churches across Texas. She was also active in Theta Chi Lambda, Alpha Chi, and Christian Life Fellowship and was named Senior Class Favorite.

Upon graduation, LaRae worked three years for McMurry in Admissions as a recruiter for New Mexico and West Texas students, sharing her love of McMurry with potential students, parents, and church members. Working at McMurry was the beginning of a career in helping college students. She completed a Master of Education in University/College Counseling from the University of North Texas in 1988 and worked as a counselor for Odessa College for ten years. After twenty-two years in Texas, she returned to her hometown of Lovington, New Mexico, and began work as a counselor at New Mexico Junior College in 1999.

In Lovington, she has been active in many music ministries at First United Methodist Church and serves as Lay Leader. She is a certified Lay Speaker and has filled pulpits in several churches in Lea County. She has served as lay delegate to the New Mexico Annual Conference and currently serves on the New Mexico Conference Annual Revolving Loan Fund Committee. She is very active in the Walk to Emmaus and is a board member of the Pecos River Valley Emmaus Community.

LaRae cherishes her McMurry connections. She participated on the McMurry Alumni Board and attends Chanters reunions. She is blessed to still have contact with McMurry friends and even with some of those long-ago recruits and their parents. She enjoys referring students to McMurry and helping some of her junior college students transfer successfully to McMurry. LaRae loves McMurry and the church, but most of all, she loves Christ. She credits the McMurry community for building her faith as a young person and encouraging and nurturing her walk with Jesus Christ.

Northwest Texas Conference Award Recipient
Dr. Lee Ann Odom Hillhouse

For her exceptional service to McMurry University and the United Methodist Church, Dr. Lee Ann Odom Hillhouse is being recognized with the McMurry Cross and Flame Award for 2009-2010.

Dr. Hillhouse is the daughter of Ralph and Eunice Odom. Rev. Ralph Odom, a 1947 graduate of McMurry College, was a longtime pastor in the Northwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. As a preacher’s kid, Lee Ann lived in many places throughout the Northwest Texas Conference.

The salutatorian for the 1972 class at O’Donnell High School, Dr. Hillhouse graduated cum laude from McMurry College in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. She then graduated cum laude from Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in 1979.

Dr. Hillhouse became the resident veterinarian for Canadian Feed Yard in Canadian, Texas in 1979. She and her husband Ben Ed began managing the Wheeler Veterinary Clinic in January 1981 and eventually purchased it. They continue to operate the clinic today.

Dr. Hillhouse has been active in the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, having been a director for six years. She has been a member of the Wheeler ISD school board since 1999, currently serving as its Vice President. She also serves as Vice President of the Top of Texas Community Partners for Child Protective Services out of the Pampa, Texas office. She has headed the Nathaniel Hillhouse/1st Lt. Ben Britt Toys for Tots drive for northern Wheeler County for the last 14 years, last year supplying clothes and toys to over 150 children in the Wheeler area. Lee Ann and Ben Ed have served as directors for the Wheeler Chamber of Commerce for 20 years.

Dr. Hillhouse has been a member of the Wheeler United Methodist Church since 1981. She is currently serving as their McMurry Representative and as co-chair of the Pastor/Parrish Relations Committee. She has served on the McMurry Alumni Board of Directors, including a two-year term as President, and until recently served on the McMurry Science and Mathematics Advisory Board.

Lee Ann and Ben Ed’s first son, Andrew Edward (Drew) Hillhouse, is a 2003 graduate of McMurry and is presently working toward his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He and his wife Katrina Keith have one son, Phoenix Anderson. Lee Ann and Ben Ed’s second son, Samuel Benjamin, was born in 1988 and currently is attending Texas State University, majoring in international studies. Their son, Nathaniel Lee, was born in 1993 and died at the age of 10 months from meningitis. He became an organ donor, and the recipient of his liver, Carrissa Slater, will celebrate her 16th birthday in October 2009.