Yarbro Honored with AC Burrows Award
Mark Yarbro, a retired director for Ozark Border Electric Cooperative, Poplar Bluff, was honored with the A.C. Burrows Award by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives (AMEC) at that organization’s annual meeting Oct. 7 in Branson.
The purpose of the award is to recognize directors and employees of electric cooperatives for outstanding service to their cooperative, community and service areas. Those who received the award were selected because of their leadership above and beyond the call of duty to strengthen and improve the economic and social conditions in their areas.
Yarbro served on the Ozark Border Board of Directors for 21 years. During that time, he served as vice-president, president and secretary/treasurer. On two occasions he served as a District Vl representative on the Executive Committee for AMEC, as well as representing OBEC as part of the Missouri delegation to the NRECA Legislative Conference in 2019. Mark’s final term as a member of the OBEC Board of Directors ended in August 2020. ln 2013 his fellow board members selected Mark to serve as an OBEC representative to the M&A Electric Power Cooperative Board of Directors, where he served until August 2020. He was elected president of the M&A Board in 2016 and served in this capacity until he reached his OBEC term limit.
ln addition to his cooperative duties, Mark has served on the Farm Credit Southeast Missouri Board since 1998. During this tenure he has served as the Compensation Committee chairman, the Audit Committee vice-chairman and has been chairman of the board. Mark is also a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. Mark started as a pharmacist, obtaining his degree from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. ln 1979 he began farming and built a successful enterprise that is still in operation. He has been married to his high-school sweetheart, Shirley, for over 50 years. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.
The award is named for the late Audrian Cleon Burrows of Van Buren, Mo., who rose through the ranks to become general manager of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. Burrows served in this position from 1968 to 1976. He was recognized as an outstanding leader in rural electrification and as a distinguished individual who dedicated his life to helping others.
The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Jefferson City, is the statewide service organization for Missouri’s electric cooperatives.