ENON — Enon resident Marjorie Travis has been named the 2016 Enon Community Citizen of the Year by the Enon Village Council during the March 14 village council meeting.
The coveted distinction is presented annually to an individual who has best characterized Enon’s hometown spirit, and through his or her community service, has made the Enon community a better place to live.
“Marjorie Travis is a great choice for the village’s 2016 Citizen of the Year award,” Enon Mayor Tim Howard said. “I have known Mrs. Travis for about 25 years and have worked with her on many projects. But, I was truly amazed when I read the list of her activities and involvement in the Enon community.”
Upon learning that she had been chosen for the annual award, Travis said she was surely amazed and felt especially appreciative to have been selected by village council members for such an honor.
Since Travis and her husband Phillip moved to the village in 1963, she has been a driving force in the community and has been involved in school-related activities, various community organizations and local government. Moreover, she has held a number of positions in several prominent organizations.
The mother of two noted that she especially enjoyed being a room mother for her daughters’ classrooms, as well as volunteering for lunch duty at their schools and accompanying the students on many field trips.
“I didn’t work outside the home, so the teachers would ask me to not only accompany my daughters’ classrooms, but also other classrooms on school field trips,” Travis said with a chuckle.
Travis has been especially active in volunteer work with the youth in the community. She served five years as a Girl Scout leader and three years as a volunteer leader of the Enon Elementary Junior Achievement Program. As a 4H leader, Travis oversaw the activities of a local 4H club and was the Clark County representative to the National 4H Conference in Washington DC. She also took an active role in the youth programs at her church and regularly taught a Sunday school class and vacation bible school.
Over the years, Travis has devoted much of her time to a number of local organizations that have served the various needs of the community. As past president of the Enon Lioness, Travis spearheaded numerous local projects, including road beautification projects, the purchase of a park bench for Galloway Park, procuring curtains for the first Enon Branch of the Clark County Public Library, American flags for the village and holiday banners for four street light poles.
Since the early 1980s, Travis has volunteered many hours at Enon Emergency Relief, including participating in the triannual clothing drive and the Christmas Adopt-A-Family program. She has also served as a United Way volunteer and has lent a helping hand during a number of village blood drives. Howard pointed out that Travis has always displayed a special passion for helping seniors and has served on the Board of Directors for United Senior Services (USS) since 2000.
“Providing services to an aging population has been very important to Marjorie, and establishing a USS satellite facility in the Enon community was a project she was very involved in for years,” said Howard. “She also does a great job serving as secretary on the board of directors.”
As a member of the Enon Community Historical Society, Travis has shared her love for history by volunteering at the Mike Barry Research Center and working closely with other members preserving the heritage of the Enon community and local history.
Howard recounted when Travis answered a call to public service and first ran for a seat on village council in 1993. He noted that Travis wanted to become well educated about village operations and during her four terms on council, emerged as a strong leader.
“I remember spending part of day with her at the water treatment plant when I was the village’s water superintendent. We spent hours talking about the operations of the water department, including all of the statics and numbers which is not the most interesting task for most people,” Howard said. “However, Mrs. Travis has always had a desire to understand and do the best she can in everything she is involved in.”
She also served as the mayor of the village from 2002 to 2003 when Howard was the village administrator.
Travis’ volunteer work over the last five decades also spanned beyond the Enon Community.
She served the citizens of Clark County as an appointed representative on the National Trail Parks Recreation District (NTPRD) Board from 1999 to 2012, where she once held the office of president of the board. NTPRD Director Leann Castillo, who along with NTPRD Deputy Director Brad Boyer, nominated Travis for the Citizen of the Year award.
They stated in their nomination letter that Travis served as a valuable member of the board overseeing the capital campaign that engaged in more than a decade of building and renovation facilities.
“Marjorie Travis always had the ability to forge strategic alliances for the improvement of county parks and recreational opportunities for all county residents,” Castillo wrote. “The amount she has accomplished in her service is too long to list.”
Travis also served 11 years as a member of the Clark County-Springfield Transportation Coordinating Committee, representing the Enon Community, and she worked as a volunteer mediator for the City of Springfield.
Travis remains an active member of the Ohio State University Parents Club, where she serves as vice president. The county chapter raises money to fund annual scholarships for high school seniors in Clark County who will be attending Ohio State University following graduation.
Howard noted that whenever the village needs a citizen to serve on a committee, Travis is ready to serve.
