Lifelong Conroe resident and passionate arts supporter Susie Moore Pokorski was crowned the city’s Citizen of the Year at the annual Conroe Founder’s Day celebration Wednesday.
The event took place on the Aug. 2 anniversary of the death of the town’s founder Isaac Conroe on the front lawn of his Conroe home.
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Pokorski said she was honored and humbled by the award.
“I love Conroe and all the people here and it’s a pleasure to have lived in Conroe my whole life,” she said.
Pokorski graduated from Conroe High School and then Southern Methodist University.
Her grandfather Thomas Earl Gentry was the mayor of Conroe in the 1940s. She also worked in his men’s store Gentry’s on the town square when she was in her teens.
She went on to work at her father’s company Moore Supply in Conroe.
The family also has a reputation of community service which Pokorski followed.
She’s a lifetime member of First Methodist Conroe, a lifetime member of the Crighton Theatre Foundation, a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Council and supporter of the Heritage Museum of Montgomery County.
In 2023, she also celebrates 25 years as the President/CEO of Young Texas Artists. The music competition comes to downtown Conroe each March and brings young musicians from around the world to the city.
The evening also brought reflection upon the Union captain who established his sawmill here.
The city is named for Isaac Conroe who founded the town in the 1870s as he set up a sawmill in the then wilderness north of Houston.
He rode the train up to the area from Houston to oversee the sawmill and his stop became known as Conroe’s Switch which was later shortened to Conroe.
He established a home at 202 Ave. A in Conroe and was the city’s first postmaster. As the county seat transitioned from Montgomery to Conroe, his home for a short time served as the courthouse and held county records.
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His died at age 62 on Aug. 2, 1897 after experiencing a heart attack at his sawmill. He is buried at the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.
His great-great-grandson Mike Bowden was in attendance at the ceremony.
He spoke of visiting his grandparents in the Conroe home and he also lived in the home in the 1980s.
Bowden shared that there was at one time another small home on the property that was built as Isaac Conroe’s son, William Munger Conroe, was in failing health. He was close to the Conroe home so that Bowden’s grandparents could look after him.
For the first time former Congressman Kevin Brady was able to attend the ceremony after sending support in the past.
The Conroe Founder’s Day committee recognized his support by giving him a gift certificate to Perry’s Steakhouse in The Woodlands.
“Generations from now others will be sitting here honoring Isaac Conroe and remembering Conroe’s past because of your work, devotion and dedication.”
Nominations for the Conroe Citizen of the Year are open to the public and are taken at the start of summer leading up to the Aug. 2 event.
Visit the Conroe Founder’s Day Facebook page for more.
