Jake Flake Honored with Arizona Farm Bureau Service to Agriculture Award
ARIZONA, November 12, 2008 – The late Senator Jake Flake (R-Dist. 5) received the Arizona Farm Bureau Service to Agriculture Award during the 87th Annual Arizona Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Carefree, Arizona last Thursday during an awards ceremony celebrating farmers and ranchers throughout the state. His wife, Mary Louise, and their children received the award.
Senator Flake passed away at his Snowflake home in June when he suffered a heart attack while attempting to get up from a fall.
Jake was a cattleman and an agriculturist from birth. He worked on his family’s ranch in Snowflake, which he and his brothers purchased from their father. His work on the family ranch taught him the value of hard work and leadership.
It comes as no surprise that Senator Flake was driven by a sense of service. In 1970 Jake served on the Arizona Farm Bureau Board of Directors, helping to establish policy and bring a voice from his community. In 1997 he began serving in the Arizona House of Representatives. He was the Speaker of the House for 2003 and 2004. In 2004 he became term limited and successfully ran for the Senate. He was agriculture’s voice in both the House and Senate Republican Caucuses. State Trust Land issues, property and water right legislation, forest management reform and community college funding for his district are just a few examples of where his leadership made a difference to agriculture and rural Arizona.
Besides serving eight years as a State Representative and four years in the State Senate, Senator Flake has served as a board member and president of two school boards, an irrigation district, a hospital operating board, and Farm Credit Service’s board of directors. In addition, he had spent eighteen years on the Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts of America, served on the Arizona Rural Health Association Board, the Blue Ridge Natural Resources Working Group, the Arizona 4H Foundation, and the Snowflake Heritage Council. He was also appointed by Governor Hull to the Growing Smarter Commission and the Governor’s Water Management Commission.
Arizona Farm Bureau’s Service to Agriculture recognizes individuals that have given long-time service to agriculture.
