The Joplin Globe
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It’s one thing to receive a great honor.
It’s another thing to earn it.
Joplin businessman and community leader Hal Roper last week accepted the prestigious Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America, Ozark Trails Council.
Roper also received the key to the city from Joplin Mayor Mike Woolston. It’s purely symbolic. Roper already has the keys to the important things in life. That was evidenced by the number of friends and business associates who turned out last week to honor Roper.
We were most impressed, though, by the many, many members of his family who attended the event.
The well-known Joplin personality supports his town in a number of ways. That was apparent when he put his efforts behind the Joplin-Webb City Industrial Park in 1984. He has served as chairman of the Joplin Business and Industrial Development Corp. and helped bring the Newman Business and Technology Innovation Center to fruition. He led the Joplin School District Foundation to raise enough money to change the student to computer ratio from 13:1 to 4:1. His involvement is also evident in The Bridge, Children’s Miracle Network, the Joplin Family Y, and the Community Health Clinic of Joplin.
Roper, during the evening of accolades, revealed his secret to success. He calls it his map to life and he found it in the Old Testament of his Bible. Proverbs 3: 1-6, he says, has been his guide.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Hal Roper has a sense of purpose in his life. Because of it, the Joplin area is a better place to live.
