Although it has been close to a year since her passing, former Ravenna resident Patti Hicks is gone but certainly not forgotten. Her memory continues to live on as the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce named the late Hicks as the newest Honorary Way Recipient.
“She received a lifetime achievement award last year right before she got sick and to her that was a huge honor so this is the biggest honor you could possibly have in Ravenna,” Duane Hicks, Patti’s husband, told The Weekly Villager.
The Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce will host a special ceremony on July 26 on the corner of the Courthouse Lawn to officially unveil Hicks’ name on the Honorary Way Street sign. Her name will remain on that sign for the next six months following the ceremony.
Although she passed away in late August of last year, Hicks’ memory continues to live on. According to Duane, several of her friends nominated her to become the next Ravenna resident whose name would be proudly displayed on the Honorary Way street sign. In addition to being recognized as the recipient of the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, her memory will continue to be honored months after her passing.
“It means that she was in there to help people and make things better,” he said. “She was not in there to get praises.”
According to Duane, his wife was an active volunteer in the Ravenna community but was never involved for the glory. He said that she liked to remain in the background rather than be publicly acknowledged for being an avid community volunteer.
“She was all about Ravenna,” he said. “Anything she could to support Ravenna, she did. She volunteered for lots of organizations. She was President of the Rotary Club at one time and was still on the Board of the Rotary there. She did stuff for the Chamber.”
Hicks worked as a manager/insurance agent for RC Cook Insurance for the last 20 years but also served as the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce’s secretary, was a board member of the Ravenna Rotary Club and was also a Trustee of the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair. Duane added that his late wife also volunteered at the Center of Hope and the Shepherd House.
“That was in her DNA,” he noted. “She was always one to make things better. It was making me a better man by knowing her and loving her. She made me a much better man. Every person that ever knew her personally became a better person just by knowing her. She would bring out the best in people.”
Duane said that his late wife had been a resident of Ravenna since childhood when her family moved to the area when she 6-years-old. He acknowledged that he did not know much about Ravenna prior to meeting her, but instantly fell in love with the character of the City.
“There is character in Ravenna and personality and a lot of caring people,” he said. “Ravenna is a much closer community. They support each other and support everything that is going on.”
Duane said that she loved to spread her love for Ravenna around the community to anyone she met. He lauded her for having a magnetic personality, which especially came in handy during her work as an insurance agent. He said that customers would stop by the office and talk to her for almost an hour about casual things.
“She truly cared about her customers and people responded to that,” Duane remarked. “Her customers had her personal cell phone number. There was a time that we were on a cruise, and one of her customers had a problem that nobody could fix; we were sitting on the pool deck, and she pulled out her iPad and contacted the customer and took care of the problem while she was on a cruise in the middle of the Caribbean.”
Duane credited his wife for instilling Ravenna pride in their children, who both attended the Ravenna School District, and encouraged them to also be active volunteers in the community. Their daughter volunteered in the Key Club and their son currently serves as a trustee for Balloon-A-Fair.
In the wake of her passing, Duane said that the loss was felt by the Ravenna community and many of her friends took to Facebook to write farewell messages to her. Even in her passing, Hicks’ impact on Ravenna is still being felt as her memory is honored with the latest recognition by the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce.
