MEDORA, N.D. — During a special ceremony of the Rough Riders Roundup, William and Jane Marcil were honored with the Bully Spirit Award Saturday, June 12, at the Medora Community Center. The Bully Spirit Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation.
“We just love this place,” William Marcil said as he finished his speech thanking the foundation. His family smiled and cheered, including his son, Forum Communications Co. CEO Bill Marcil Jr.
“It’s overwhelming. It’s a wonderful award and we’re so proud to be recognized by the foundation,” Marcil said.
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The Marcils started “this love affair with Medora” back in the ‘70s when they were introduced to Harold Schafer, a major benefactor to the city and a vision for the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation. For Marcil and his family, Medora became not only a summer spot for camping, but it was a destination.
In 1996, William and Jane Marcil joined the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation. But William Marcil saw that there was a need in Medora for all of its summer and full-time employees to congregate, grow and learn from each other. In 2016, the Bill and Jane Marcil Life Skills Center was built with the donation of the Marcil family.
With ongoing projects and preservation efforts, Marcil said he sees the city as an enduring place that will live on for generations.
“I think it’s going to continue to grow. I think the fact that the Roosevelt Library will be out here will add traffic to the area. But I’m confident too, that the city will grow in a way that doesn’t take away from the heritage of what we’re looking at in Medora,” he said.
The Bully Spirit Award was an idea that the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation was considering for a long time before it came to fruition, President Randy Hatzenbuhler said. Four years ago, the foundation formalized the idea to give recognition to those who have played a major role in making Medora the place it is today, he noted.
Each year, the board that selects the honorees sifts through a long list of philanthropists, benefactors and volunteers, Hatzenbuhler said, adding that it is a “robust process.” From there, the board narrows the search down to four or five names and selects the honoree.
Though it is difficult to just pick one name from the list, Hatzenbuhler said he was thrilled when the board selected the Marcils.
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“I know that they love Medora; I know they love the people that are here in this room. So to be able to do that at a point that they could enjoy it, that felt really good to me,” Hatzenbuhler said.
