Dr. Lore Wootton to be honored as First Lady of the Year

Each year the chapters in the Snake River Council of Beta Sigma Phi nominate and select a woman that members believe should be recognized for her contributions to the community, giving her the honor of being First Lady of the Year. 

 The tradition has been done annually since 1978. The First Lady honorees over the years have one thing in common. They are all women who give back to the community or are involved in charities or service projects. It is also a  longstanding rule that the nominee cannot be a member of the sorority.

 This year’s first lady honoree is Dr. Lore Wootton. Several of the sorority members came to her office early one morning, and her staff tricked her into coming up front where they could present her with a yellow rose and tell her of her selection for this honor. 

 Wootton said she was completely shocked to receive this award. While she has been in Weiser for 25 years, she didn’t think that was long enough to ever be considered.

 Wootton will be honored at the First Lady Tea on Saturday, April 9 at the Weiser Community Church from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

 Wootton shared that she has been honored to serve the community through her work as a physician. In addition to that, she has also served through her work with the Weiser Community Church. Wootton leads the worship service at the Community Church once a month, and she has helped lead a community youth group for 13 years. 

 A large service to the community and beyond has been through Wootton’s work to organize mission trips every other year since 2002. Over the years, the groups have traveled to Honduras and Puerto Rico. The mission trips have not only been an opportunity for those on the trip to share their faith, but also a chance to serve the people, helping with medical care, building houses, children’s Bible school, and other needs of those communities. 

 Wootton has also helped with Love INC projects, participated in community choirs, and organized ladies retreats over the years. Wootton shared that she has been blessed to be able to serve through her areas of passion: missions, music, and churches working together.  

 Wootton shared that she is called to serve others through her faith and that she really enjoys encouraging the churches with which they have formed relationships in Honduras. She also believes that it is important for people to get a bigger view of the world,  so she has enjoyed  leading teams, especially youth, overseas.

 In 2019, Wootton also began participating in an annual charity Bike MS event in Coeur d’ Alene. This service helps her combine one of her favorite hobbies of road biking with serving and raising money and awareness for a cause she feels is important.

 Wootton, and her husband John came to Weiser for her work. Weiser was the only town she looked at that tried to show each of the members of her family how they would fit in. Originally they planned to only be in Weiser long enough to pay off loans, then go overseas for mission work, but Wootton said that instead, Weiser became a ministry. It has been the perfect home for her family. Both her children, Aimee (27) and Ben (23) are graduates of Weiser High School.   

 “We have always felt accepted, have made friends that are family, and felt it was a great place to raise our kids. Now that they are adults we can’t imagine living anywhere else,” Wootton said.