KTAB 2023 Remarkable Women Contest Winner: Teresa Clickener

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB) – Throughout March, KTAB and Big Country Homepage (BCH) featured the incredible stories of four Big Country women who were nominated for those they’ve most touched by their selfless acts.

On Thursday, KTAB’s Joni McKinnon announced the winner of our KTAB’s Remarkable Women 2023 contest: Our first featured contestant, Teresa Clickener!

Let’s meet our four Remarkable Women nominees

Teresa Clicker

US Army veteran, Abilene nurse, loving wife. By all accounts, Clickener has a story worth telling. She joined the army and worked as a nurse in Afghanistan, caring for our deployed troops, and even helped civilians and prisoners of war.

In August 2021, Bagram airfield in Afghanistan fell when two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds flocking to Kabul airport. Afghan and American officials said the attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 American soldiers.

When Bagram fell, Clickener told KTAB, because of the way the US withdrawal from Afghanistan unfolded, it left her and many others in a similar state of mind. to that of Vietnam War veterans. She would continue to help Afghan refugees make the transition to life in the states.

“Those three families, it’s been such a wonderful journey to be with them,” a beaming Clickener said. “They came here with literally nothing except the clothes they could put on. I joined up with my husband, as well as another veteran I served with in Afghanistan, and we were able to join the community and find them resources: get them their driver’s license, food, bedding and all the basic necessities that we take for granted.”

Clickener was nominated for KTAB’s Remarkable Women 2023 contest by her beloved husband, Robert.

“She’s a remarkable person that I’ve learned a lot from, even in my own journeys with PTSD, just watching how she copes with things, and being a servant and giving of ourselves,” delighted Clickener’s husband.

wicker pat

For generations, longtime educator Pat Wicker shaped the minds of Abileneans. A true Abilene original, Wicker graduated from Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) and then returned to town to teach elementary school students in 1956. She would spend more than 40 years teaching.

During this time, she gave birth to her two beloved daughters with her college sweetheart and continued to dedicate her life to her career. She retired in the early 1990s, but she wouldn’t slow down.

Now 90, Wicker continues to be involved in the community. She’s certainly been busy serving on various boards for HSU, the Grace Museum, the Abilene Woman’s Club, the Red Hat Society, and the Eastern Star, and a few others.

“Guess I’m just motivated to keep busy!” Wicker told KTAB. “I hope that through my involvement, I may have touched lives along the way.”

Wicker was nominated for the KTAB 2023 Remarkable Women competition by her inspired youngest daughter, Tamela Henington, who said she nominated her mother for her inspiring determination, positive outlook on life and independence at any age.

“She’s just busy!” I never heard her say, “I’m tired,” Henington said. “I just hope I can do half of what she does at 90, but I know I won’t… It’s just remarkable!”

Marsha Spink

Traveling to Coleman, you may be able to find a mother, wife, mentor, and real estate agent who doesn’t seem to have a switch. Marsha Spinks is revered throughout the community as an asset.

She works as a realtor for Live Oak Realty and has two little ones at home. Regardless, in what little free time she has, she is also chair of the board of trustees of Coleman First Methodist Preschool, she is vice president of the Coleman County Foundation, board member of Coleman Planning and Zoning Committee and Member of the Valuations Review Board. In addition, she is also a charity organizer. All can agree, everything Spinks does is done with 100% effort.

“I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey, and he always says you gotta live like nobody else so you can give like nobody else,” Spinks explained. “We all have 24 hours in a day, so I don’t know if I find the time better than anyone else, but… There’s a balance between doing something for everyone all day and trying to find some of your own time there too.

Spinks’ charitable efforts include helping raise funds for children in need of early education, as well as various community efforts through the community foundation. She coordinates both a gift and flower program for seniors and a care package operation that sends toiletries, snacks and essentials to service members serving in remote areas.

Spinks was nominated for KTAB’s Remarkable Women 2023 competition for her tireless dedication to her community and country.

Dr. Sandra Hazelip

Dr. Sandra Hazelip is no stranger to KTAB and BCH. More recently, she’s made local headlines and even national and international headlines for an amazing trip she’s taking with her best friend, Ellie Hamby – their ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ tour – to 81 years old and still on the run” from the world. The dynamic duo are due to return home to Abilene on April 1. His story, however, does not begin there.

Before being “Dr. Hazelip”, she was simply “Sandy”, wife and mother. natural desire to be the best mom she can be, she researched and researched.

“I read everything I could find about diabetes, and the more I learned about diabetes, the more I wanted to learn about medicine in general,” Dr. Hazelip told KTAB. “I said [to my husband]’Donald, I want to be a doctor.’

She went to college, medical school, and graduated as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. After getting her certification in geriatric medicine, she went to the Abilene Regional Hospital and she treated the patients with the utmost care and respect.

Dr. Hazelip didn’t want to be confined to the four walls of an exam room. She would soon be leaving for annual medical and ministerial missions around the world. She said she was watching over the physical and spiritual health of people in Zambia, Cambodia, Germany and Russia – among other destinations.

Closing the loop, Dr. Hazelip had the opportunity to speak at a four-day seminar to Cambodian doctors on diabetes.

Dr. Hazelip was nominated for KTAB’s 2023 Remarkable Women competition for her dedication to her practice, community, patients and more.

All four and these nominees are truly impressive, but, of course, only one can win. As KTAB’s 2023 Big Country and Remarkable Woman, Teresa Clickener will be a finalist for KTAB’s parent company, Nexstar’s national Remarkable Women competition. She will also receive a cash prize to keep, as well as a cash prize to donate to the charity of her choice. Congratulations, Teresa, you deserve it!