ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

Look — up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane:
It’s Alumni Man!
By Eva-Marie Gooden

Rick Fenimore ‘stays connected’ to ensure ORU is here for the next generation and beyond.

“I felt the Holy Spirit from that first moment back in 1972 . . . I had come to a Youth Seminar on campus and I realized that this was the place where I wanted to be, where I wanted to get my education,” said Rick Fenimore (77;79-MBA), ORU’s 2003 Alumnus of the Year for Distinguished Service to the Alma Mater.

It’s been more than 30 years since Fenimore experienced that initial draw toward the gilded ORU campus. Countless friends, three decades, two undergraduate degrees, one MBA, and one business partner later, Fenimore still finds that everything he has in life that is good — from his thriving business to his happy marriage and family — has come from God. And many of these blessings have come directly or indirectly through Oral Roberts University.

“My business partner (Terry Fisher-79-MBA) and I met at ORU back in 1978; I met my wife through my business partner; and most of my best friends are ORU graduates. I’ve gotten so much from ORU, to give back in the ways that I have sometimes seems very small, but you do what you can.”

But don’t be fooled by Fenimore’s modest appraisal of his contributions, for in fact, his feats on behalf of the Alumni Foundation are enough to make one ponder:
“That’s funny; I don’t remember there being a superhero called ‘Alumni Man.’”

Consider:

• Golden Eagle Club board member: 8+ years
• Wing Backers (with wife Shelley): 10+ years
• Chairman and Alumni Board member: 4 years
• Alumni Foundation board member: 12+ years
• Quest Campaign co-chairman (with business partner and friend Terry Fisher)
• Various and sundry successful ORU Alumni Foundation fundraising efforts
• Personal financial supporter of the Alumni Association.

These commitments and more somehow fit within a schedule that includes running Trinity Chemical Industries, the Tulsa, Okla.-based global logistics company Fenimore founded with Fisher in 1985; being a husband to Shelley and father to Whitney, 13, Rick II, 10, and Cameron, 3; and active participation in world evangelism efforts through his business and as a member of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa.

What motivates Fenimore to keep making time for his alma mater?

“I want ORU to be there for my kids, so I think that it’s very important for me to stay connected — stay involved — to ensure the financial and spiritual stability of the university for my children and my children’s children. ORU has held a special place in my heart because it taught me that [through seed-faith] not only can I give, but that I should expect to receive from the Lord, and in turn, I can give again. Christ-centered giving and receiving is a continuous cycle,” Fenimore said.

He believes that staying in touch with ORU can enhance each graduate’s ability to “maintain that solid base for launching into his or her career and into ministry.”

It’s certainly an approach that is working for Rick Fenimore.

“Even today, when I walk on the campus, I sense the Holy Spirit and I realize that it’s a very special place that God has raised up through Chancellor Oral Roberts, and now President Richard Roberts. ORU is raising up students who hear God’s voice, and it’s providing an environment that allows the students to have their minds changed, and their hearts changed, and their lives changed. And now we’re the ones who are going into every man’s world and making a difference.”