Service Above Self
-Four-Way Test
“Service above Self” is the motto of Rotary International. While I did not become familiar with Rotary International’s use of the motto until I joined, I have tried to follow this idea in my life. My parents taught me this idea through their actions in service to the community.
My mother, Dorothy Barfield Kronzer, was a “stay at home mom” who did not stay at home. Year after year her volunteer activities ranged from helping residents at the Buckner Baptist Haven to leading my sister’s Camp Fire Girls group. On Sunday you would find her in South Main Baptist Church’s nursery. Her role in South Main’s Cradle Role lead her to being one of the first church members to meet the church’s newest additions.
She graduated from Baylor University in 1944. After many years of involvement with the Baylor Alumni Association, the association elected her its first woman president in 1976. This deepened the existing relationship with Baylor that led her to being in Waco on a routine basis. She served on the Baylor Board of Trustees from 1978-87. In 1996, she became the seventh individual to attain Regent Emerita status.
My father, Jim Kronzer, chose to involve himself in the legal community. He served as president of the Houston Bar Association as well as the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. He was instrumental in campaigns that led to the passage of the Texas Tort Claims Act, creation of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, and the construction of then-new Harris County Courts Building. He taught classes at the University of Texas School of Law as well as other law schools. His contributions to the legal community are still evident.
I thus grew up in this atmosphere of helping others. For example, I coached my first youth team while still in high school. That started a history of coaching teams in baseball, basketball, football, softball, and soccer. It was until over thirty-years later that I coached my last team. During that time I spent eighteen years in West University Little League - over twelve of those years serving on the league’s board of directors.
My mother’s church service instilled in me the importance of such service. I taught my first Sunday School class more than thirty-years ago. I still teach Sunday School on a regular basis. I serve as a deacon, and took the opportunity to serve on numerous church committees during the years.
I joined the Rotary Club of West University Place, Houston when I ended my involvement in Little League. This avenue of service has proven to be an intriguing opportunity to help tackle worldwide problems that Rotary International is committed to solving. Just recently I returned from Honduras where bios and filters are being used to purify contaminated water, thereby reducing dysentery and other contaminated water borne illnesses. I find that my manner of serving others fits Rotary International’s Four-Way Test.
I joined Phi Kappa Theta fraternity in college. I continue being involved in the fraternity in both a local and national basis. I currently serve on the Phi Kappa Theta National Foundation’s board of directors. That foundation provides funding for scholarships and leadership programs so as to develop further generations of leaders who serve the community.
I also serve as a director of the Dorothy and Jim Kronzer Foundation. My mother started the foundations some years after my father’s death. The foundation has always seen its mission as one to provide funding to programs that provide opportunities to children to help them achieve their educational or developmental goals. Funded programs range from Camp for All to Boys and Girls Club of Galveston to the Buckner Foundation’s orphanage operations. While my mother was never able to actively participate in the foundation before she died, the foundation continues to be guided by the principles she instilled in us.
I also provide volunteer counseling service through CanCare. As a prostrate cancer survivor myself, I knew that I could help provide counseling to others who are going through the same process. Consequently, I volunteer my services at the same hospital where my surgery occurred in 2007 - the Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas.
You can see why the idea of “Service above Self” fairly characterizes my family as well as myself. Serving on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals is a natural extension of that idea. While I will no longer be serving my clients, in a sense I will serve everyone’s clients as well as the citizens of Texas.