Tammy Holmberg Receives Alice B. Tompkins Community Service Award

For the fourth time in Brandon history, the same person in one year has been named both the Key Citizen of the Year and the Alice B. Tompkins Community Service Award recipient.

That honor most recently goes to Tammy Holmberg, a past honorary mayor of Brandon, who has held leadership positions at the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association and the Rotary Club of Brandon South, among her many other civic, community and commerce associations.

Holmberg, who gave her husband, Paul, credit for his role in supporting and helping her to pay back to the community, received her Alice B. Tompkins recognition at the annual Community Affairs dinners held by the Community Roundtable at Center Place on Feb. 21.

It came weeks after Holmberg received the coveted Key Citizen of the Year Award from the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce. She learned of that award at the chamber’s annual membership dinner at The Regent in Riverview, on Feb. 3. (Technically, the Key Citizen award is for 2011, while the Alice B. Tompkins is for 2012, although both awards were granted in the same month.)

(For a report, and video of her acceptance speech, see, Tammy Holmberg Named Brandon’s 2011 Key Citizen of the Year .)

In accepting the Alice B. Tompkins Award, Holmberg noted her early days in the community, arriving here with her husband and four children in 1998 to open the Chick-fil-A restaurant on Causeway Boulevard, in Lake Brandon Village.

"We didn't know a soul, didn't know if our business was going to go or be a bust," she said, noting that hardly any traffic traveled the roadway in front of her emerging business.

"There was a cow pasture behind us, real cows, now we have the fake cows," she said. "We sat in the parking lot and I said, 'At least it's warm."

Holmberg said she and her husband "dug their heels in, got to work, got to know the community, got to know the people, got to know the needs of the community," to further their overall mission.

"I was raised by parents who taught me to grow with your planet and give back to your community and work with your community," she said. "And if you help others gets what they want, you'll get what you want."

Named posthumously in honor of a long-time Brandon News journalist, the Alice. B. Tompkins Award celebrates "those men and women who have made a major difference in the Greater Brandon area though the commitment of their time and talent, making our community a better place to live."

Alice B. Tompkins herself received the award in 1977, the same year she shared the honor of the Key Citizen award with Julian Craft, who himself received the Alice B. Tompkins honor in 1983.

Sandy Rodriguez, the namesake of the building that houses both Center Place and the Brandon Regional Library, received both honors in 1987. William “Bill” Wolfe, who helped found the Brandon Outreach Clinic, received both honors in 1999.

Another dual recipient (Key in 1978, Alice B. Tompkins in 1976) is Dick Stowers, who at this year’s Community Affairs dinner took to the stage with Mike Brandon, Helen Mulrennan Young, Judy King Darcey, Claire Simmons Bryan and Paul Dinnis to discuss the town’s history.

Brandon’s ancestors founded and help populate the town back in the homesteading days. Stowers, who graduated from the Brandon School, established in 1914,opened the town’s first funeral home and served as chairman of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce. Young’s family homesteaded the land that now is home to Mulrennan Middle School. The King and Bryan families trace their roots back as well, with streets named in their honor, and Dinnis served as the first professional editor of The Brandon News, now owend by the Tampa Tribune.

In all, 24 people have won both the Key Citizen and Alice B. Tompkins awards. In addition to Holmberg, Craft, Sandy Rodriguez, Stowers, Tompkins and Bill Wolfe, the other dual recipients are:

• Patricia Odiorne (Key Citizen in 1980; Alice B. Tompkins in 1975)
• Hilda Hampton (Key Citizen in 1982; Alice B. Tompkins in 1984)
• Charles “Chuck” Slowey (Key Citizen in 1983; Alice B. Tompkins in 1978)
• Carol Todd (Key Citizen in 1984; Alice B. Tompkins in 1994)
• Vincent Ferraro (Key Citizen in 1990; Alice B. Tompkins in 1982)
• Joyce Uphoff (Key Citizen in 1992; Alice B. Tompkins, with her husband, Fred, in 1990)
• Ardis L. MacKinnon (Key Citizen in 1993 and 1998; Alice B. Tompkins in 1992 and 1997)
• Richard “Dick” Cimino (Key Citizen in 1994; Alice B. Tompkins in 1981)
• Lisa Rodriguez (Key Citizen in 1996; Alice B. Tompkins in 1993)
• Ramon F. Campo (Key Citizen in 2000; Alice B. Tompkins in 2002)
• Anne Nymark (Key Citizen in 2001; Alice B. Tompkins in 2006)
• Randolph “Randy” Wolfe (Key Citizen in 2008; Alice B. Tompkins in 2004)
• Mark Proctor (Key Citizen in 2009; Alice B. Tompkins in 1989)
• Clifton C. Curry Jr. (Key Citizen in 2007; Alice B. Tompkins in 1991)
• Robert "Bob" L. Dykes (Key Citizen in 1981; Alice B. Tompkins in 1980)
• B. Lee Elam (Key Citizen in 1997; Alice B. Tompkins in 1988)
• Stephen I. "Steve" Saunders (Key Citizen in 2005; Alice B. Tompkins in 1998)
• Alice Storms (Key Citizen in 1991; Alice B. Tompkins in 1985