Let me start by thanking you all again for supporting our cook-off. Many of you have been with us since the beginning back in 2018. We’re writing you today to let you know that we will be doing the cook-off again this year, and that we are making a change. This year we lost a person who has been an important part of our cook-off every year. Nancy Koenig Allen passed away unexpectedly on July 12th.
Nancy was an American History teacher at Angleton High School. She had a doctorate in education and had been an Assistant Principal before deciding to go back to her first love – teaching. She was the assistant tennis coach, and a regular fixture on the field for graduation. She had three children, the youngest of which graduated from Angleton High this year. Nancy was engaged to our president – Thomas Harris. She had just taken the early retirement incentive that AISD had offered and was getting ready to start a new life with Thomas. She and Thomas were involved in a motorcycle accident the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend. The collision had broken her leg and she sustained significant tissue damage that required four surgeries to repair. Nancy had been healing well and getting good reports from her plastic surgery team and orthopedic team. She was scheduled to have one more surgery to remove the x-frame from her leg when she suffered cardiac arrest because of a blood clot and passed from this earthly life. This has been devastating to us. It has been life shattering for her children, family, friends, and fiancé. Nancy affected the lives of so many kids. Everyone loved Nancy, and she was always there for anything we, her students, family and friends needed. And, she was always good for a smile and laugh. Nancy lived the kind of life that made you wonder what you were doing with yours. Because of all this, we have decided to change our cook-off and honor the memory of Dr. Nancy. This year we will be hosting the Dr. Nancy Koenig Allen Memorial Scholarship Barbeque Cook-Off. All funds collected will go toward a scholarship(s) for deserving recipients. We are creating subcommittees to determine how many scholarships we give, and what the criteria will be. We will also have a committee that will choose the recipient(s). We hope that you will continue to participate and be a part of an event that honors a wonderful person and help get the continued education that a young person desires. We thought about this a lot, and knew it was a big change… but a change that we thought worthy and would make our event even bigger and better. Plan on the cook-off being the weekend of February 11-12 at the fairgrounds, like before. We will have the same categories – fajitas, chicken, ribs, and brisket, along with best margarita and best Bloody Mary. We hope we can count on you, and that you will help spread the word.
