Members of The Chamber of Commerce Serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton were still there, including office manager Ann Banks, who earlier was showered with compliments celebrating her 40-year career with the chamber. But this was no time to rest. Banks could be seen collecting items that needed to be returned to the office.
That more than anything speaks volumes about the woman who started at the chamber as a teenager — months after graduating from Edgewood High School in 1979 — and continues working in the office today and doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon.
Since she was hired in July 1979, the chamber has been through three names changes — Middletown Area Chamber, Mid Miami Valley Chamber and its current title — moved offices out of the Manchester Inn to Central Avenue and been under the direction of six executives.
But there’s only been one Roberta “Ann” Banks.
For that reason, the chamber presented her with a special recognition. Banks, accompanied by her husband, Mark, and their two sons, Steven, 34, and Matt, 29, was surprised as chamber board member Larry Mulligan Jr. and Kathie Wassenich, its membership coordinator, read comments from former chamber presidents and board members, then David Daugherty, former president, and current president Rick Pearce provided their personal memoriest.
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As Daugherty walked to the stage, he was greeted by Banks. They embraced.
“That was a great hug,” he told the 260 people in attendance. “She always has that smile. She made it a great place to work.”
Daugherty said she worked with a lot of people during her career with the chamber.
“Annie was the best,” he said.
Phyllis Patrick, who served as 2000 board chair, congratulated Banks on her “impressive” 40-year career.
“How blessed the chamber has been to have had you as their front line host for whoever walked through their door,” she said.
John Dickerson served as board chair twice, in 1994 and 2014. He said through all the change in Middletown, its business community and at the chamber, there was “one steady, rock-solid person that everyone could always depend on, and that was Ann. Ann has always been a calming, competent, prepared, knowledgeable, warm presence at the chamber — always.”
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Ken Cohen, president of Cohen Recycling, has been an active chamber member throughout Banks’ tenure.
“Ann was always everyone’s ‘Gal Friday,’ the person who was always there with a smile on her face, ready to do whatever her members needed help with,” he said.
Bryan Derreberry, a former chamber executive, said Banks “exemplifies what my father once said of special employees, ‘No one is indispensable, but some people are so important that their legacy continues on long after they have finished contributing.’ Ann you are that kind of legacy maker. It’s simply who you are as a human being.”
And to think when Banks was introduced to the chamber, she didn’t know the role of a chamber in a community. She was supposed to be a temporary employee until a permanent one could be hired and Banks could begin classes at Miami University Middletown.
That was 40 years ago and she’s still there.
“It worked out so I stayed,” she said. “I have loved the people here and the job. I just enjoy it. Why leave?”
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Banks, 58, was asked if she ever felt “stuck” working at the same place her entire career.
“What we did in the ’70s was different than we did in the ’80s and ’90s,” she said. “The world has changed, so what we do has changed.”
On Friday morning, as Banks sat behind her desk, she thought back to the night before. She will never forget the 2020 annual meeting.
“Very surprised,” she said. “Unbelievable, really. It was beyond belief. It was like I was in another world.”
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