They’re synonymous with Middletown.

You can’t think of the city without thinking of them.

They have spent most of their lives giving back, typically away from the spotlight. They want no recognition, just the satisfaction that they’re making a difference, one nice deed at a time.

They aren’t the richest and maybe the best known residents, but without them, there would be a void in the city.

Three individuals and two couples have been chosen as the Middletown Journal’s Most Influential People.

JAY AND LINDA MOORMAN

What began as a search for a bigger building for Jay’s stained glass business has turned into an almost decade-long drive to revitalize the downtown Middletown area. Since 2003, Jay and Linda Moorman, owners of BeauVerre Riordan Studios at 1054 Central Ave., have found themselves deeply involved in filling the empty downtown buildings with new and exciting businesses.

“I got into stain glass because I’m an introvert. I just wanted to go into my basement and create things,” said Jay. “To be thrown out here and we’re giving bus tours and I’m sitting on boards, I never expected that.”

Linda said she and her husband have never been afraid to get their hands dirty. “It’s not about the glory, It’s about making something that shows quality and that is good. It’s something we can all enjoy.”

The BeauVerre Studio is now a frequent host to downtown banquets and bus tours. The Walden Gallery of world renowned wildlife artist Chris Warren; Art Avenue Custom Framing; Legacy Fine Art Studio; The Loft Gallery; Hollywood Dance Attire; and Bella “A unique boutique”/Bella & Co. have all taken up residence inside the building’s doors at 1054 Central Ave., and there’s more to come in downtown.

“We have people down here arguing over buildings now,” Jay said. “Is the revitalization going as fast as I had hoped? No. But I think we’ve reached a tipping point here. Good things are definitely happening around here.”

Says Linda, “I think the word’s out that downtown Middletown is the place to be. The city is making it happen. They’re working hard to make this a go. It’s become our way of life, it’s what we do.”

Mike Robinette, president of Downtown Middletown Inc. and a commercial developer, says the Moormans put themselves on the line when it wasn’t cool to be investing in downtowns.

“They started investing in downtown Middletown nine years ago when it wasn’t a popular thing to do in any downtown,” Robinette said. “…What they’ve done speaks for itself. In terms of their willingness to put themselves out there, I don’t think anyone has done it more than them, certainly not in Middletown.”

ANN MORT

If ever there was a fun-loving spirit who loved to work behind the scenes to make things happen, it would be Ann Mort.

From the city’s bicentennial celebration, where she would hide specially engraved bricks all over town as a promotion for building the Bicentennial Commons stage, to helping a Middletown High School homecoming queen contestant with the backing to her earring, Mort, now 72, has been there behind the scenes to make sure everything turned out right.

Mort, who currently serves on the Middletown City Council, has been on the Middletown School Board, and was board president for two years. She often mentors young women by encouraging them to get out and volunteer in the city.

“I tell them ‘If you have the ability, you have the responsibility.’ And not everybody is cut out to run around and do the Suzy Sunshine stuff, and I understand that. But the volunteering, I think, is the important piece,” she said. “‘Get out there and do something, even if you do it wrong,’ as my mother would say. Action is better than no action.”

She was one of the people who helped wash the windows of vacant downtown buildings so artists could display their crafts there. “It’s one of the things I’m most proud of. There’s been a lot of hard work down there. And when the artists got hold of it, I got the hell out of the way!”

Linda Moorman is one of those women who has learned from Mort.

“Ann is the one that got me started doing volunteering downtown,” Moorman said. “She doesn’t know it, but she’s like my mentor. How to run a meeting, how to get people to volunteer, I know a lot about what I do by working with Ann. I don’t think people realize what she and her husband, Dick, have done so much for the community. If you ask them to do something, they’re both right there.”

Mort is currenlty working on two books, one about Middletown politics with J. Knight Goodman, and an audio book with Betty Selby about local Middletonians.

“With the photos I have, I could blackmail half of Middletown,” she said. “I have enjoyed life. If I die tomorrow, I’ve had a good time. But I ain’t done yet!”

TOM AND LYNNE WILEY

They’ve both lived in Middletown all their lives, and both have given back to the Middletown City School district for most of that time.

Tom, 74, spent 23 years as a public relations person for Middletown Hospital (now Atrium). He then partnered with fellow former hospital workers Karen Mehl and Don Barker to form a company called Health Service Review and worked there for the next 23 years, retiring seven years ago.

Lynne, 73, a retired teacher from the Middletown school district, has been very instrumental in the children’s reading program at Mayfield Elementary School.

“Actually, this is the first year that I’ve been with K-thru-5 students. I had been with K-thru-2 for the last six years. We’ve expanded a little bit there,” Lynne said. “There’s three of us tutoring at Mayfield, and the emphasis is still on reading, but I’m now working with some of the older kids also. … I taught full time mainly in first grade, two years in second grade and 23 in first grade, primarily at Mayfield school. There were a couple years at Lincoln and one at Sherman. After I retired in 1999, I couldn’t sit at home, so I went back!”

Lynne said she enjoys watching and tracking her kids’ rate of improvement as the school year goes on. “To see what they’re doing in May as to what they were doing in September, that’s all the difference in the world,” she said. “That’s why I liked teaching in the primary grades. It’s fun to see that change.”

Tom and Lynne were recently added to two separate Middletown Community Foundation task forces on education. Lynne will work on the Early Childhood group while Tom will be involved with Development.

“We’ve both — Lynne in her professional area, and from a volunteer point from myself — we’ve been active in the school system all our lives,” Tom said. “It’s one of the best things we can do to return our thanks to the community for what the community has meant to us over the years.

Tom was chairman of the facilities committee for the Middletown City Schools board of education. He said one of the things he takes the most pride in is a silver shovel award, that was in thanks for helping to set the groundwork for the district’s new elementary schools.

“That was six-to-eight years of hard labor of getting that done,” he said. “It’s my proudest single activity with the school system.”

A Jeff Wiley Memorial Scholarship is offered each year to a Middletown High School male and female student-athlete each year in honor of their son who passed away Initially a single $100 scholarship, the award is now part of the annual Pigskin Roundball Spectacular banquet. Through the scholarship, more than $350,000 has been awarded to Middie student-athletes.

REV. GREG TYUS

A senior pastor of 19 years and a fixture on the Middletown City School board, the Rev. Greg Tyus has made his goal to help mentor and support Middletown’s youth.

“I guess that’s what I’m most proud of,” he said. “It’s my efforts that I have worked toward supporting young people in this community in the various aspects of my roles.”

Tyus works with the youth through his church, United Missionary Baptist, where he has served as the pastor for the past 19 years. “I’m the co-founder and chairman of the board of Malachi. We’re in our 16th year, as a nonprofit agency that supports and helps adolescents to achieve here in Middletown and beyond,” Tyus said.

Tyus has been on the school board for 11 years in Middletown and he’s been on the Butler Tech board for two years.

“Middletown City Schools and the community of Middletown are fortunate to have visionary leaders like Reverend Tyus. Personally, it has been a pleasure to work with him for the last two years as he exemplifies Middie Pride by setting high expectations, effectively communicating those expectations and then doing all he can to help us meet our goals. What I really appreciate about Rev. Tyus is his willingness to roll up his sleeves and help get the job done. I’ve learned a lot from him,” said school superintendent Greg Rasmussen.

Tyus, who also has served on the United Way action council, downplayed being an influential person in the black community.

“I recognize that when you do certain things, that people then decide that you are ‘an influential person.’ It’s like athletes becoming people that young people look up to. It’s not where I’m doing things where I hope that I do things that the African Community will look up to me. I’m not that,” he said. “I want to think that I’m broader in scope than just the African American community. I certainly would support the African American community, but I’d like to think that people see me as one that supports Middletown, because – not that the African American community is not important – it’s about society, period.

“As I’ve helped kids through my various work. It hasn’t been that I’m only trying to help a certain culture.”

Tyus has also been working with criminal offenders in the Courts and Corrections Division of Talbert House for the past five years.

“It’s been challenging,” he said. “These are adults, even though they’re usually young adults ages 19-to-23. They’re in programs in lieu of prison, and it’s frustrating to see that this is an opportunity to correct the mistake that they’ve made, so that they don’t go down the road of the penal system. I guess I got involved because some of the younger people that I was working with so that they wouldn’t go that way, ended up that way. So now I’m doing what I can to help them get back on the right track.”

JOHN DICKERSON

Whenever the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the family-owned Dickerson Distribution business receives a thank you from a stranger, he’s momentarily taken aback by the kind gesture.

As the sponsor of several events throughout the Preble, Butler and Warren county area, John Dickerson said he’s thankful for the community’s support.

“I’m so grateful to the people of Middletown and every place that we serve,” Dickerson said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are. And we’re very grateful and more than happy to give back, because of how well we’ve been treated. I can’t tell you how many people, when I’m out and about. There’s people I don’t even know, I didn’t even know that we’ve helped them out. They’ll come up to me and say ‘I drink Budweiser when I drink, because you helped us out with our golf tournament,’ or ‘You helped us with our bowling tournament.’ It’s just very gratifying.”

A family business since 1934, Dickerson Distributing sells approximately 3.5 million cases of beer annually and makes more than 2,000 deliveries and service calls each week, but giving back to the community gives Dickerson the most pride.

“We make it a practice obviously to help various community organizations with their fund raising through sponsorships. I’d say we probably get 2-4 requests a week. We try to accommodate everybody that we can,” he said.

The company’s biggest fundraiser happens every spring when The Joe Nuxhall golf tournament takes place. Started in 1986, the Joe Nuxhall event — named after the late Cincinnati Reds pitcher and broadcaster — now offers $2,000 in scholarships to 13 school districts in the area. It is now administered primarily by the Fairfield Community Foundation each year.

“One of my big goals is to get us to at least a $1 million. If I had one tangible goal, it would be that,” Dickerson said.

To date, they’ve given out $600,000 to area schools. “We use various fund raising events to try to raise the money. We’re trying to get better at that. I’d really like to see a million dollars given to kids.”

John Dickerson has been a past chairman of the Middletown Chamber of Commerce and a past chair of the Middletown hospital board. He currently serves on the Chamber of Commerce board.

His cousin, Mike Dickerson, who is the company’s Chief Operating Officer and President, is chairman of the United Way and has served on the Middletown Community Foundation board.