Longtime City of Oklahoma City employee receives high Naval honor

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The OKC Metropolis Council’s Chief Employees was awarded a excessive honor from the U.S. Navy.

The Navy awarded Debi Martin the Meritorious Service Award, the best honor the Nationwide Workplace of the U.S. Navy League can award a civilian.

Martin obtained the consideration throughout the inactivation ceremony for the USS Oklahoma Metropolis (SSN 723) on the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., on Could 20.

Martin was the submarine’s main Oklahoma Metropolis liaison for 28 years, meticulously planning excursions to Oklahoma Metropolis for the united statesOklahoma Metropolis’s sailors and officers, and arranging for Metropolis Councilmembers to go to the sub for practically three a long time, in line with a Metropolis of Oklahoma Metropolis information launch.

She introduced collectively survivors and sailors from the submarine to assist the neighborhood heal and forge a long-lasting bond throughout occasions of disaster. She was a good friend to most of the ship’s 18 commanders throughout her time with the boat, metropolis officers mentioned.

“It’s uncommon for the President/CEO together with the Dean for the Heart for Maritime Technique for the nationwide Navy League of the USA to journey from Washington D.C. to attend a ship’s decommissioning ceremony and extra over current the group’s Meritorious Service Award to a civilian,” mentioned retired rear admiral and former Below Secretary of the Navy Greg Slavonic. “Debi Martin spent numerous hours of labor supporting the crew of Oklahoma Metropolis’s namesake submarine was acknowledged just lately by NLUS. All Oklahomans ought to be extraordinarily happy with Debi’s dedication over the years representing our Metropolis with the U.S. Navy.”

Martin has been a metropolis worker for occurring 50 years.

She has been a dependable educator and useful resource for incoming mayors, Metropolis Council members and Metropolis executives since being named Metropolis Council Chief of Employees in 1990, metropolis officers mentioned.

Martin was town liaison who assisted with relocating the Oklahoma Metropolis Museum of Artwork downtown. She regularly met with households who misplaced youngsters within the Oklahoma Metropolis Bombing in 1995, and was named co-chair of the First Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony. She fashioned the First Tee youth golf program to assist adolescents develop life abilities, character and well being that assist empower them for the remainder of their life. She helped lead the Youth Council with Management Oklahoma Metropolis since 2002, managed the Studying Buddies program for public faculty youngsters and enlisted greater than 100 Metropolis staff as mentors. 

Heather Foster, an Oklahoma Metropolis resident, was additionally honored throughout the ceremony for designing the united statesOklahoma Metropolis’s badge when she was 14 years previous.