Press release: ENMU presenting foundation and alumni awards during homecoming

PORTALES--Eastern New Mexico University will present several ENMU Foundation and Alumni Association awards during this year's homecoming breakfast on Saturday morning, Sept. 25, in the Campus Union Building.

The ENMU Foundation Awards:

The Business of the Year Award will go to Doris and James Cassan of Dollar Rent A Car.

Being raised in the small town of Causey southeast of Portales, Doris Cassan said Eastern New Mexico University gave and continues to give small-town kids like her a chance. She attended the Business Education program at ENMU from 1957 to 1961. Her husband, James, grew up in Portales, and went to school at New Mexico State University to receive an engineering degree. The couple exchanged vows in 1961 and soon after started a family.

Throughout their lives they lived in numerous places, but in the mid 60s James accepted a position with the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle, Wash. It was in Washington where the two have spent the majority of their lives together, raising their children and building their business, Dollar Rent A Car, which they began in 1968.

Cassan Enterprises, Inc., is a Silver Greyhound Society member in the Annual Honor Roll. They are a Pearl Level member to the new Lifetime Giving Recognition, The Friends of Eastern Society. Initially, their Dollar Rent A Car scholarship was given to other area rural students to give them the same opportunity that Doris had been given.

"It was one way I could give back to the community that had formed my basic values, honest hard work, and belief in God and country," said Mrs. Cassan. Over the years, they have given a total of $53,500 to their scholarship, Dollar Rent A Car Endowment.