Recently, the UCCEO team had the pleasure of visiting with Ms. Norma Lee Hackney at the Anna Arts Center in downtown Anna. The Anna Arts Center was founded in 2008 and Lee has been the director since 2012. It has been the setting for many plays, exhibits and art classes since then, and is an important part of our community, drawing local patrons and many from outside of our county.

Lee grew up the only daughter of four children in a military family and moved literally, around the country where her father was stationed. They settled in Florida where she attended and graduated high school and then went to a junior college in North Carolina. After two years, she moved back to Florida, enlisted in the ROTC program and finished her bachelors degree. This began her 28 year stint in the United States Navy.

Her naval career spanned around the world. In fact, if you counted up all of her journeys by sea, she has been around the world twice. Some notable highlights about her career are that she was the first female engineer officer aboard a navy ship and the first female captain to command a large deck amphibious ship, aircraft carrier USS Saipan.

Shawnee CUSD #84 and UCCEO team member Cole Pender shares this great life lesson from Lee:

“My biggest takeaway from this visit is when Lee said, ‘Life is simple if you do what’s right, do everything to the best of your ability and show people that you care.’ This really stuck with me because a lot of people just don’t try their hardest and I’m not going to lie, I have sometimes been those people, but I have realized that it is just as easy to try my hardest and get things done than it is to try and find a way to make things easier.”

Thank you Lee, for your military service and thank you for your dedication to bringing the arts to Union County! The many exhibits, events and shows bring many people from outside of our county here to not only attend them but to also eat, shop and visit our community! We appreciate you!!