American Mothers Inc. honors its Mothers of the Year

American Mothers Inc. is set to hand out its annual Mother of the Year awards May 9. The group is committed to valuing mothers through service and education and is the official sponsor of Mother’s Day and the Mother of the Year.

Each year, the organization honors motherhood by naming the National Mother of the Year and hosting the Mom to Mom Conference.

2015 Nevada Mother of the Year: Candy S. Krausman

Southwest resident Candy S. Krausman is the group’s 2015 Nevada Mother of the Year. Krausman helped raise her brothers and sister after the death of her mother in 1966. She and her husband of 45 years, Gary, have two children, Megan Jones and Bryce Krausman, and they are grandparents to Gabriella and Liam Jones.

Most of Krausman’s community service has been with children. She has been involved in Cub Scouting for more than 30 years and is a recipient of the Silver Beaver and Influential Women in Scouting awards. She also has a passion for music and has directed numerous children and adult choirs.

She worked for the Sunrise Children’s Foundation for 10 years, administrating a statewide program focused on teen pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted disease awareness, and fetal alcohol syndrome education. She also is nationally certified in reflexology.

Now retired, Krausman enjoys teaching cooking classes and taking organ lessons.

2015 Nevada Young Mother of the Year: Erin Phillips

Summerlin South resident Erin Phillips moved to Las Vegas when she was in elementary school. A 1999 graduate of Bonanza High School, she attended the University of Nevada, Reno, majoring in psychology and minoring in political science. After graduation, she married her high school sweetheart, Matt.

Phillips worked at a drug and alcohol rehab center and later became a psychiatric social worker before giving birth to her first son, Jackson, in 2006. After Jackson was born, she became a full-time mom, giving birth to two more sons, Cooper and Lincoln. In 2014, she and her husband became foster parents to a baby girl, whom they are in the process of adopting.

Phillips is active in the community, working to raise awareness about issues affecting parental rights and forming the group Power2Parent. She also leads young moms in a biweekly meeting of Mothers of Preschoolers.

2015 Community Mother of Honor: Cynithia Roberts Shaw

Summerlin resident Cynthia Roberts Shaw was born in Phoenix and raised in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. She attended Brigham Young University, earning a bachelor’s degree in French. After college, she pursued her dream of studying clothing design and working in the clothing industry in Dallas, where she met her husband, Jeff Shaw.

Shortly after the birth of their first child, the couple moved to Las Vegas, where they have lived for 29 years. They have three daughters and a son. Recent additions to their family include a son-in-law and a granddaughter born in January.

Roberts Shaw has taught herself gardening, oil painting, interior design and nutrition, and spent 11 years home-schooling her children. She loves to travel and is an avid cyclist. She also loves to read, and she and her husband direct a self-improvement book club for single mothers.

2015 Community Mother of Honor: Becky Fife

Las Vegas resident Becky Fife is a wife and the mother of four girls and three boys, ranging in age from 16 years to 1 year.

She received her bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and was a personal trainer and yoga teacher. She loves being active and has competed in three triathlons. She also is active in her church and the community, donating her time to assist children with singing and dance lessons.

She has encouraged her children to get involved in community activities such as competitive sports, Boy Scouts and community theater. She has donated many hours to local theater productions, painting backdrops, collecting props and helping actors with their makeup and hair.

2015 Community Mother of Honor: Terri Hedden

Las Vegas resident Terri Hedden is the mother of four sons: Joshua, Kevin, Kyle and Chance. She has a degree in business administration from the College of Southern Nevada, and her passions include education and photography. She loves peanut butter and chocolate, fun music and can often be found poolside watching her twin boys play water polo.

Other 2015 Community Mothers of Honor:

Summerlin-area resident Leticia Faso, whose daughter Bernadette Elizabeth Faso nominated her in an essay.

Henderson resident Dana Hislop, whose daughter Emily Rowena Hislop nominated her in an essay.

Logandale resident Sherrie Jackson, a mother of eight and a foster parent.