By Joshua Koch
Public Communications
In November, at the 2025 Specialty Equipment Market Associations (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, the inaugural Jeff Wilson Award for Selfless Education was presented by the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF).
Jim Cook didn’t know Jeff Wilson as the two educators never crossed paths in the profession, but the Ogden High School Technical Training teacher and the former Kingwood Park Auto Body and Refinishing teacher are now connected.
Cook, from Ogden, Utah, was the first-ever recipient.
“It’s humbling,” Cook said in an Auto Body News article. “Honestly, I feel I just do my job, and care an extreme amount about the students and their well-being.
“I feel I know him now. I did a ton of reading and shed a lot of tears.”
Brandon Eckenrode (CREF), award winner James Cook, and Aden Ibarra (Leading Edge Collision)
Jeff, his wife, Amber, and son, Shiloh, were tragically killed in the July 4th floods in the Texas Hill Country, which claimed more than 150 lives.
Jeff served as a teacher in Humble ISD for 30 years, teaching welding at Humble High School for 12 years and then Auto Body and Refinishing at Kingwood Park High School for 18 years.
The Jeff Wilson Award for Selfless Education was established in his memory.
Cook was one of approximately 80 applications CREF received from approximately 950 programs across the country for the committee to review. Nominees were asked to meet and have attributes that defined Jeff’s career:
Deeply passionate about the future of the collision repair industry
Always put their students before themselves
Go above and beyond expectations in service of their students
Serve as a true advocate for their students and the industry
Always willing to do the right thing
Photos Courtesy of Kingwood Park Media
The glass award was made in the shape of a cowboy boot, which was another tip of the cowboy hat to Jeff, who always wore cowboy boots.
“It’s an award of awareness and for his legacy,” JDM Collision Owner John Melendez said in the Auto Body News Article. “I was half choked up; it was a tearjerker as they brought out Jim Cook when Adan presented the award. It was for selfless education — that’s what really moved me … very moving; it was hard.”