These 7 Daytonians are joining the Dayton Walk of Fame today

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Two of Dayton’s most famous philanthropists, the first black general in the Armed Forces, a famous cartoonist, a politician, a big-name award-winning actress and an American Indian chief are the newest members of the Dayton Walk of Fame.

The Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame will honor the Class of 2017 at a special luncheon at Sinclair Community College today, Sept. 28.

Memorialized with granite stones installed in the sidewalks along West Third Street between Shannon and Broadway Streets, the historic Wright-Dunbar Business District is the center of the neighborhood where Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the airplane, and African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar began his career.

The 2017 honorees are: Oscar and Marjorie Boonshoft, Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis Sr., Cathy Guisewite, The Honorable David L. Hobson, Allison Brooks Janney and Tecumseh.

>> What Allison Janney really thinks about her hometown

>> RELATED: The 2016 Dayton Walk of Fame inductees

Get to know the 2017 Dayton Walk of Fame inductees:

Oscar Boonshoft (1917-2010) and Marjorie Boonshoft (1928-2004)

Their last name is one of the most recognizable around town. Oscar Boonshoft was a mechanical engineer with a career spanning over 30 years. Marjorie Boonshoft was a partner in the family’s philanthropic and community activities. The couple’s numerous philanthropic endeavors included: the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Boonshoft Center for Medical Sciences at Kettering College, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, and the Marjorie and Oscar Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education, to name only a few.

Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (1877-1970)

Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was the first African-American promoted to the rank of General in the U.S. Armed Forces in 1940.

In July 1889 he joined the racially segregated 8th U.S. Volunteer Infantry service for the Spanish-American War and was appointed temporary First Lieutenant. In 1905, General Davis was appointed to his first tenure as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Wilberforce University. Over time and assignments, he spent almost 25 years at Wilberforce. He retired from the U.S. Armed Forces in 1948 with over 50 years of service. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cathy Guisewite (1950- present)

Cathy Guisewite, a pioneer in cartooning, was born in Dayton in 1950. Her most popular comic strip, Cathy, appealed to many women of her generation with both humor and social significance. The popularity of her comic strip increased rapidly and by the mid-1990s it appeared in approximately 1,400 newspapers, including the Dayton Daily News.

The Honorable David L. Hobson (1936-present)

David L. Hobson was elected to the Ohio Senate representing the 10th District in 1982 and was President Pro Tempore of the Ohio Senate during the 1988 to 1990 session. Hobson was then elected to Congress to represent the 7th Congressional District and served from 1991 to 2009. During this time he was chairman of the Military Construction and Appropriations Subcommittee and a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He paid particular attention to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and helped to secure and expand activities within the Base. While a member of Congress he co-sponsored the legislation that created the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

Credit: Brian Ach

Credit: Brian Ach

Allison Brooks Janney (1959-present)

This Emmy award winning actress is a native of Oakwood and has found success on stage and on the big screen and small screen. Janney currently stars in the CBS sitcom “Mom,” which earned her two of her seven Emmy awards. In 2014, Janney won Emmy awards for her roles on both “Mom” and “Masters of Sex” in the same year. She was also recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But Janney is perhaps best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the NBC series “The West Wing,” for which she received four Emmy awards and four Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards.

>> The life-changing cookies from local bakery Allison Janney has delivered to set

>> RELATED: Daytonians who’ve made us proud

Tecumseh (1768-1813)

Shawnee Chief Tecumseh is considered one of the greatest indigenous leaders in the early history of the United States. He grew up and lived in various Shawnee towns in the greater Dayton area, including Old Chillicothe, Peckuwe (Piqua), and further north near Wapakoneta, Bellefontaine, and Greenfield. Tecumseh rose to become the principal leader of the American Indian groups opposed to expansion of European-American settlements in the old Northwest.

Tecumseh participated as a warrior in the Northwest Indian War in 1785 to 1795. He took on a greater leadership role within the Shawnee war parties and became one of the primary leaders opposing a series of treaties negotiated between chiefs and William Henry Harrison. These treaties would give over three million acres of land for white settlement, but Tecumseh believed land was not a commodity. He led the American Indian allies of the British during the War of 1812. Tecumseh died at the battle at River Themes on Oct. 5, 1813.

He is the first American Indian to be inducted into the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame, organizers tell us.


ABOUT THE DAYTON WALK OF FAME

Wright Dunbar, Inc. sponsors the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame, and the memorial stones are on West Third Street in the Wright Dunbar Historic Business District between Broadway and Shannon and along Williams Street.

Since 1996, over 160 individuals and groups and their contributions to the Miami Valley have been recognized. 
>> NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE: Wright-Dunbar

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