During her four decades of service to the City of Grand Prairie, 87-year-old Ruthe Jackson has consistently championed environmental education and conservation. For the past 22 years, she's served on the city council and has used her position to advocate a wide range of projects. She fought for a curbside recycling program that was implemented in 2000 and pioneered the Grand Prairie chapter of Keep Texas Beautiful, which won a 2006 Governor's Community Achievement Award presented by Keep Texas Beautiful in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation. She also was the first woman in Texas to receive the National Lady Bird Johnson Award in 1977 for her long-standing dedication to the Grand Prairie park system.

Mrs. Jackson has especially focused on working with Grand Prairie's youth by sponsoring programs for the Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups. She sponsors and became the namesake of Keep Texas Beautiful's annual Ruthe Jackson Youth Leadership Award, which is given to students who exhibit environmental excellence. She's also been instrumental in establishing the Green and Clean Campus program at all 37 Grand Prairie schools, which serve 20,000 students.

One of Mrs. Jackson's most telling examples of advocacy is illustrated through her work on the Tree City USA initiative. Tree City USA plants 1,200 trees each year in Grand Prairie. In an effort to build on this success, she worked with the Texas Forest Service to uproot 254 saplings from the LBJ ranch and mail one to each county judge in Texas, urging them to plant the sapling and join the initiative.

In short, Ruthe Jackson personifies the difference one person can make when committed to action. Her continuous work over the past 40 years literally has changed the face of Grand Prairie.