ShawneeDispatch.com

Photo by Kevin Anderson

Tom Coffman (left) and Mark Rosenau (right) of Deffenbaugh Industries accept the Citizen of the Year Award for Ronald Deffenbaugh Saturday at the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner. Marilyn Breitenstein, second from right, and Jim Allen presented the award.

The "Casablanca" theme for the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner proved appropriate: the movie is considered to be one of the top classic films, and the dinner turned out to be the top event in the county.

With 505 reservations, chamber officials reported that the dinner Saturday was the largest chamber event in Johnson County. In addition to dinner, dancing and auctions that raised funds for the chamber and its scholarship fund, the evening honored several important community members and included an announcement of a large donation to the city.

Jim Allen, 2007 chair of the chamber's board, addressed the crowd and recounted the chamber's successes over the year. He said in 2007, the chamber hosted more than 150 events that 8,000 people attended. Currently, it is awaiting approval of its application for accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which will put it among the top 4 percent of chambers in the country.

The chamber presented an honorary master of ceremonies award to Mike Thompson, a 25-year Shawnee resident and local news station meteorologist. It also recognized Ann Wilkinson of Millcreek Home Loans, a long-time member of the chamber's board who will step down this year.

Allen also recounted the winners of its volunteer awards, presented in December: Dawn Kuhn of Bank Midwest, Ambassador of the Year, and Karen Boyd of HomeTown Buffet, winner of the first Chamber Star award.

The Citizen of the Year award was presented by Marilyn Breitenstein, recipient of the award last year. She announced Ronald Deffenbaugh, owner of Deffenbaugh Industries, as this year's honoree.

When he was just 9 years old, Deffenbaugh moved to Shawnee with his family from Versailles, Mo. He started his trash-hauling company at 15 with just one truck, and 10 years later in 1967, he bought the first 130 acres that would become the Johnson County Landfill.

Breitenstein recounted the ways Deffenbaugh has given back to the community, donating funds or services to the city of Shawnee and chamber. She remembered how years ago, when Wonderscope Children's Museum was in need of a new roof at its old building, the former Greenwood Elementary School, Deffenbaugh was quick to donate funds to the effort.

"I'm guessing there are several of you here tonight with similar stories of his generosity," she said.

Deffenbaugh is currently in a hospital in Colorado after being paralyzed an accident at a local hospital. Tom Coffman and Mark Rosenau of Deffenbaugh Industries accepted the award for him.

Coffman, the company's director of public relations, said when Deffenbaugh would hear of people in need in the community, he often would ask Coffman to find a way to fill the need.

"He just saw a place where he could help out a little bit, and he did," Coffman said.

Rosenau, company president, said one of these situations occurred when Deffenbaugh heard about Shawnee Town's transition into Shawnee Town 1929 and decided he wanted to continue giving to the city.

"Working with the city, he has decided to dedicate $500,000 to that project," Rosenau said.

Phil McAnany of McAnany Construction, 2008 chamber board chair, ended the evening with his hopes for things to come in the next year.

McAnany played off the dinner's "Casablanca" theme with one of Humphrey Bogart's famous lines in the movie: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

"There's not a gin joint I the world where I would rather be than one full of Shawnee people," McAnany said.

McAnany recounted his family's history in Shawnee - his great-grandfather arrived here in the late 1850s, and his father started McAnany Construction and served as chamber president in 1969.

He noted the importance of watching every detail in construction to make a good product, saying it was the same in Shawnee, and he hoped to do what he could to add to Shawnee's product, like another Bogey line: "I think this is the beginning for a beautiful friendship."

"I am looking forward to a beautiful relationship with Shawnee," McAnany said.

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