In the months after Wayne Watkins died in April 2016, STI CEMS’s leadership was talking about the company’s values and what it meant to live them. Integrity was central to those conversations, along with a desire to give back to the community and recognize the people who serve it every day.
Wayne had done both. That November, his friends and coworkers held the first Boots, Badges & Burgers cookout at Sodie Davidson Park.
A lifelong Scott County resident and Waldron High School graduate, Wayne was one of STI CEMS’s three founding employees. He worked in the emissions monitoring industry for decades and served on the Waldron City Fire Department for more than 20 years. He also coached pee-wee baseball and football and helped with Friday night football games.
At STI, Wayne was the person people gathered around during breaks. He loved a prank, and laughter tended to follow him through the shop.
“Wayne could make a hard day lighter. He was always cutting up with somebody, but when someone needed help, he was there.”
The cookout has continued through cold and rainy Veterans Days and even the pandemic. From 2017 through 2023, STI held it at Forrester Davis Park or, when the weather drove everyone indoors, at the Scott County Boys & Girls Club across the street. During the pandemic, the team began offering curbside pickup. That option stuck: local first responders, businesses and community members now place orders ahead of time for coworkers or family members who cannot come out for lunch.
STI is a service-disabled veteran-owned business, and veterans make up nearly half its team. Honoring those who serve is personal for the people putting on the cookout.
“We talked about integrity and what it meant for STI to be part of this community. Serving a meal to the people who serve us felt like a way to live that out. It felt like Wayne, too.”
The cookout offers a free meal to veterans, active military personnel, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders. Everyone else is welcome to enjoy a meal with a donation to the Wayne Watkins Scholarship Fund. Since the first event, the fund has awarded $8,500 in scholarships to Waldron High School students who demonstrate a spirit of service. This spring’s recipients were Hailey Valdez and Avery Self.
STI also extends its thanks to the VFW for generously making the Memorial Hall available for the cookout and for the hard work its members have put into the facility.
“We always enjoy spending time with the veterans there, and we appreciate their hospitality,” said STI owner Wade Day.
This year’s cookout will be held Wednesday, November 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Memorial Hall, 96 South Main Street in downtown Waldron. The menu includes hamburgers with fixings, potato salad, baked beans, chips, drinks and cake donated by Union Bank. Guests may eat at the event or place a pickup order in advance by sending STI a message through the Facebook event page or texting Tracy at (479) 637-6285. Meals are free for veterans, active military personnel and first responders; all other guests are asked to donate to the Wayne Watkins Scholarship Fund. Donations may also be made at paypal.me/watkinsscholarship.
STI CEMS invites the community to come hungry, thank those who serve, and help carry Wayne’s generous spirit forward.
