Chamber banquet celebrates local businesses

Mike Breeze’s journey in psychology started in 2001 when an assignment from his college psychology professor made a huge impression.

He interviewed his mother about why she had finally quit smoking after trying several times to quit. The answer startled him.

His mother told him when he was younger that when she bent down to kiss him good night, he mentioned something and started him down the path of helping people reach their goals.

“You pushed back and you said, ‘Please don’t kiss me anymore, your breath smells too bad,” his mother told him.

He did not remember telling her that, but that interview with his mother changed his life. He became obsessed with helping people reach their goals and he has been doing that ever since.

That was the story Breeze shared in front of dozens gathered at the 2022 Comanche Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet held last Tuesday.

Breeze was the guest speaker of the banquet. He is originally from Ryan and now lives in Duncan where he travels to conferences and counsels people on an individual basis in helping their reach their goals.

He looked for common denominators of the people that he worked with that had been successful in reaching their goals and came to two conclusions. One was stress management and the other was words.

Breeze said while using certain words can build people up or break them down it is important that people don’t internalize the wrong words.

The Chamber also presented awards for Community Improvement, Free Enterprise, Citizenship and Chamber Member of the Year.

The Community Improvement Award outstanding business improvements went to Headdress Salon.

The Free Enterprise Award for an individual that made an economic impact through improvements went to the City of Comanche.

The Citizenship Award went to Thompson’s Pharmacy for going above and beyond as an outstanding community member.

The Chamber Member of the Year went to Edgewood’s for its outstanding leadership in the Chamber.

The Cowboy Opry Band played during the dinner in memory of founder Allen Wooten, whose hat and fiddle were displayed prominently on stage. 12-year-old Shylah Nichols, who had been taking lessons from Wooten before his passing, sang and played guitar for a couple of songs with the band.