Humanitarian award winner ‘humbled, honored’ to be associated with Robert ‘Sonny’ Hill

Celeste Didlick-Davis doesn’t know all 13 past recipients of the Robert “Sonny” Hill Jr. Humanitarian Award.

But she recognizes enough names to understand their significant contributions to the Middletown community.

“A very distinguished list,” she said.

Now her name has been added to that list.

She was presented with the 14th Robert “Sonny” Hill Jr. Humanitarian Award, named in honor of a man who served 11 years on Middletown City Commission and was the city’s first Black mayor. Hill’s widow, Pat Hill, their oldest son, Robbie, and Mayor Nicole Condrey presented the award during a recent city council meeting.

Hill joined city commission in 1993 and the next year was named vice chairman. Then in 2001, he was elected mayor. He died on June 21, 2004 and the community center on Lafayette Avenue is named in his honor. Hill worked at Armco and served on numerous boards.

Every Christmas, he gave away 200 baskets to needy families.

“He loved the city of Middletown,” Pat Hill said.

The same can be said about Didlick-Davis, 65, a 1974 Middletown High School graduate.

She’s exactly what Middletown — or any town for that matter — needs to produce more often: A high school graduate who goes off to college, trade school or the military, then returns to their roots to make their hometown a better place.

Didlick-Davis won the award for her “hard work, tenacity and vision,” which have greatly contributed to the progress of the community, according to the proclamation from the city.

She has degrees from Princeton and Cornell universities and earned her master’s and PhD from Miami University where she serves as a professor.

Didlick-Davis, a single mother, returned to Middletown to care for her elderly mother. She calls herself “a sandwich” because her mother is 35 years older than she is and her son is 35 years younger. Next week, her mother, Mattie “Rowena” Didlick, would have celebrated her 100th birthday while her son, Calvin, turns 30.

She is founder of 3R Development in Middletown that specializes in job placement assistance, group therapy and education and parenting education for those with middle and high school students.

She serves on numerous boards. But before you call and ask if she’ll serve on your board, remember this: Didlick-Davis will speak her mind.

“Some people may not want me at the table,” she said with a laugh. “I always say, ‘Did you ask the people you are trying to serve?’ Instead of doing what we think is best for people we are trying to help, we have to ask them.”

She calls herself “trustworthy and authentic.”

The key to success, she said, is to “serve the people and not serve the title. You don’t always have to agree, but you have to be honest, transparent.”

As president of the Middletown Area NAACP, Didlick-Davis said part of the Martin Luther King celebration in January will include an opportunity for people to discuss what they want offered at the community center that may receive more than $12 million in funding from the city, school district and county.

When the center, then called the Armco Colored Association, opened in 1942 the steel company deducted 50 cents per paycheck from its employees to pay for the center. The center also includes 15 acres of greenspace, the most in the South End, she said.

“We have to listen to the community,” she said. “We have to give them a voice.”

Those are her words. They also could have been spoken by Robert “Sonny” Hill Jr.

ROBERT ‘SONNY’ HILL JR. HUMANITARIAN AWARD WINNERS

2007: James B. Ewers Jr.

2008: The Rev. Donald Jordan Sr.

2009: Jackie Phillips

2010: Maurice Maxwell

2011: Judge Mark Wall

2012: Gene Snow

2013: The Rev. Gregory Hart

2014: Yudell and Stephen Hightower

2015: Judge Noah Powers