Eagle Society Event: The Legacy of the Alamo Avengers

• Date Posted: May 1, 2023

Deep in the heart of Texas, Methodist Health System Foundation welcomed back its Eagle Society members for the much awaited third annual Eagle Society dinner and program on June 7 at the Dallas Country Club. The Foundation created the group in 2018 as a way for board members, donors, physicians, leaders, and friends to gather for interesting events throughout the year.

After a two-year hiatus, guests were greeted with a lively cocktail reception and then ushered into the ballroom to classic Texas country music hits like Alabama’s “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas”, Johnny Lee and Lane Brody’s “The Yellow Rose of Texas”, and George Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live in Texas”.

Once seated for the Texas-themed dinner, Methodist Health System Chief Medical Officer and surgeon Martin Koonsman, MD, FACS, CPE, gave the invocation, followed by Methodist Foundation President Jim Johnston’s overview of the Eagle Society and its importance to Methodist Health System. Methodist CEO Jim Scoggin Jr. shared how wonderful it was to be back together. He described how the pandemic tested Methodist to its core, yet the organization emerged even stronger.

While the Eagles enjoyed a Pecan Ball “Alamo” dessert, keynote speaker, author and co-host of Fox & Friends Brian Kilmeade, took the stage. He spoke about his book, Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers, and enlightened the crowd with lesser-known stories and facts about key figures in American history: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson, as well as Sam Houston and the various ways he was tested as a general and third president of the Republic of Texas.

It was a night of fireside Texas battle stories, and members left to the apropos song “God Blessed Texas” by Little Texas.