Uncrowned Community Builders

DeNay L. Burris, is the Mayor of Ft. Coffee, Oklahoma. Mayor Burris graduated from Spiro High School in 1986. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting at Langston University in 1989. She then moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She began working for Farmers Home Administration. During this time, Mayor Burris earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in finance/budgeting from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, in 1992. Mayor Burris ended her career with Farmers Home in management.

Mayor Burris moved on to become a federal agent for the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta, Georgia. Her career ended early as a federal agent due to her health. Mayor Burris then moved back home to Ft. Coffee where she served on the Board of Trustees two years prior to becoming the mayor in 1999.

Throughout Mayor Burrisââ?¬â?¢ career, she has been very active in the community and has had a great concern for the children. Approximately fourteen years ago, she founded the ââ?¬Å?Muhammad Robbalaa Minority Scholarship Awardââ?¬. The award is given annually during her former high schoolââ?¬â?¢s graduation ceremonies. The scholarship was established to provide financial assistance to minority students registered to attend her alma mater. She has been involved with various other organizations and committees throughout her career. Mayor Burris believes that the most rewarding organization that she has been involved in, to date, has been little league sports. Mayor Burris has coached little league baseball for eight years, basketball for two years and soccer for one year.

Mayor Burris is the proud mother of two sons and a nephew. Her sons, Kent and Joseph and her nephew, Samad, are growing up to become strong Black men. Mayor Burris would like to stat that she is thankful for her blessings from God.