Emmy-award winner: ‘I am proud and grateful beyond words to be from Dayton’

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

One of Dayton's most well-known daughters says she started bawling her eyes out as her plane landed at Dayton International Airport.

"There was a feeling of coming home that is very powerful,"  Cathy Guisewite, the famed creator of the "Cathy" comic strip, told us.

“I don’t think I ever could have done what I did in my life If I didn't have my start here.”

The 2017 Dayton Region's  Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College.  2017 inductee and Seven-time Emmy winner Allison Janney is pictured with attendees. Photo by Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

The Emmy-winning cartoonist was one of seven people inducted Wednesday, Sept. 28 into the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame.

>> MORE: 7 Daytonians join the Dayton Walk of Fame

The 2017 class also includes actress Allison Janney, the star of CBS' "Mom,"  Oscar Boonshoft and Marjorie Boonshoft; Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis Sr.; David L. Hobson and Shawnee Chief Tecumseh. 

Guisewite, who is working on a humor book,  was born in Dayton and lived here until she was 5 years old until her family moved to Michigan.

Her parents moved back to Kettering when she was in college, and she has always considered the Gem City home.

Guisewite said she is proud and grateful to be from Dayton and cherishes the foundation laid here for her during her formative years.

"To know now that a little piece of our family will be enshrined in cement in the Dayton Walk of Fame is an unbelievable honor," she said.  "I am proud and grateful beyond words to be from Dayton."   

The Cathy comic strip created by former Daytonian Cathy Guisewite ran from 1976-2010 and appeared in the Dayton Daily News for all 34 of its years in syndication.

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Her comic strip was featured in the “Dayton Daily News” during all of its 34 years (1976-2010).

“To know that my work was being delivered to Dayton homes meant so much to me,” she told us.

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

WHERE IS THE WALK OF FAME? 

Since 1996, more than 160 people and groups have been recognized by the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame for their contributions to the Miami Valley.

Commemorative stones are on West Third Street in the Wright Dunbar Historic Business District between Broadway and Shannon and along Williams Street as part of the effort sponsored by Wright Dunbar, Inc.

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

>> PHOTOS: Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame 2017 induction ceremony 

DIVERSE GROUP OF HONOREES ADDED

Raised in Oakwood, 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 former  Miami Valley School student and star of stage and screen thanked her parents and a long list of Dayton people and institutions for influencing her and supporting her.

“I feel incredibly grateful, and I will never forget being cemented into the fabric of Dayton, Ohio,”  she said.

The 2017 Dayton Region's Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College. 2017 inductee and Seven-time Emmy winner Allison Janney is pictured with Keith Harrison, a Gammy winner and an 2015 Dayton Walk of Fame inductee, and Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge.  Photo by Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

A dozen members of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, including several U.S. military veterans, accepted the honor on behalf of Tecumseh, who lived from 1768 to 1813.

The 2017 Dayton Region's Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College. David Boonshoft, the son of 2017 inductees Oscar and Marjorie Boonshoft, with Dayton artist Willis “Bing” Davis, a 2001 inductee, and Jason Bender of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Bender help accept the honor for Shawnee Chief Tecumseh.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

Edwina Butler-Wolfe, the tribe's governor, said Tecumseh is still talked about and is a important historical figure to her tribe.

She said she hopes that children here are also taught about his leadership and vision to unify the Shawnee people.

The 2017 Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College. The National Park Service's Robert Stewart of the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument accepted the honor for General Benjamin O. Davis Sr.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

Robert Stewart of the National Park Service's Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument  in Wilberforce accepted the honor for General Davis.

Musician David Boonshoft accepted the honor for his parents, Oscar Boonshoft and Marjorie Boonshoft.

>> RELATED: Daytonians who’ve made us proud

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.

The 2017 Dayton Region's Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College. David Boonshoft represented his parents, 2017 inductees Oscar and Marjorie Boonshoft. Photo by Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

Boonshoft said his parents would have been uncomfortable with the attention if they were alive to accept the award.

The couple wanted to see the results of their actions, Boonshoft said.

 “They felt that the best thing they could do with their lives is improve the lives of others,” he said.

Hobson, a Republican, was elected to Congress to represent the 7th Congressional District and served from 1991 to 2009.

During his acceptance speech, he said he tried to work with others for the betterment of the people he served.

He and Tony Hall, a Dayton Democrat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives more than 20 years, made it a point to send out joint press releases as part of their effort to improve lives here.

 "Yelling and screaming doesn't really work in the long run," Hobson said. He said people have to have consensus in the end.

Photo from the dedication of the Dayton  Region's  Walk of Fame mural wall in  Dayton Wright-Dunbar neighborhood. The mural was designed by Dayton artist James Pate. The dedication followed the 2017 walk of fame induction ceremony.   Photo by Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

The 2017 Dayton Region's Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College. Members of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, including several U.S. military veterans, accepted the honor for Shawnee Chief Tecumseh.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

icon to expand image

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Photo from the dedication of the Dayton  Region's  Walk of Fame mural wall in  Dayton Wright-Dunbar neighborhood. The mural was designed by Dayton artist James Pate. The dedication followed the 2017 walk of fame induction ceremony.  Photo by Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

The 2017 Dayton Region's Walk of Fame induction ceremony at Sinclair Community College.  Emmy-award winner  and Dayton native Cathy Guisewite (foreground)  was a 2017 inductee.  She is pictured with Mary Matthews and longtime Dayton Daily News writer Meredith Moss.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

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Credit: Amelia Robinson

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