Royal Oak's Citizen of the Year Has Familiar Face

If you’re a regular reader of Royal Oak Patch, the 2014 Citizen of the Year is no stranger.

It’s former Royal Oak Patch Editor Judy Davids, now the city’s community engagement specialist.

“There is no doubt that Judy loves her city and is an outstanding example of a citizen who truly cares about the people, businesses and quality of life in Royal Oak,” Dawne Ripinski, a chamber member, said in a statement nominating Davids for the award.

Davids’ former boss, Patch Associate Editorial Director Dennis Robaugh, isn’t surprised that her community chose to honor her.

“Judy Davids lives and breathes Royal Oak,” he said. “Her strong feelings for the community and its people, her compassion and empathy, her desire to tell good stories, share useful information and engage people in meaningful conversation made Royal Oak Patch what it was.

“I could hear the passion in her voice when I visited town and she took me on a tour of the town she knows and loves,” he said. “This is a well-deserved honor.”

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• Leave a note of congratulations to Judy Davids, Royal Oak’s Citizen of the Year.

Mayor Jim Ellison said Davids goes out of her way to help residents, a commitment that was especially apparent during recent flooding that swamped basements across town, The Daily Tribune reports.

She not only lined up volunteers to help with cleanup, but devoted her own elbow grease to the massive task.

“She made it a personal goal to be sure than any resident that needed help ... received the help they needed,” Ellison said in statement supporting Davids as Citizen of the Year. “She coordinated all the volunteer efforts ... beyond that she personally helped at residents’ homes to help get them back on track.

“That, I can promise you, is not part of her job,” the mayor said.

During her time with Patch, Davids ran a robust site rich with comments and engagements, skills she said were transferrable when she accepted the job with the city. “I do my best to promote my hometown whenever I can. It’s all super exciting; you’d think I’d won a million dollars,” she said.

Davids has lived most of her adult life in Royal Oak after having grown up one community a way in Hazel Park. Her mother didn’t drive, so they would often take the bus to Royal Oak in trips that made a deep impression.

“Ever since I was 10, I’ve wanted to live in Royal Oak,” she said. “It has a really nice, vibrant downtown, and that’s what most people know us for, but it also has a nice small-town vibe,” she said.

Between her childhood and adulthood, she also lived in Ann Arbor and London, England, but there’s no place like Royal Oak. She moved to town when she was 26 and has established herself as a tireless community volunteer, but she also has had her share of national fame.

She was a founding member of the Mydols all-mommy rock band that has been featured in People magazine, the Wall Street Journal and other publications, as well as on KISS frontman Gene Simmons’ program on A&E’s now-canceled “Gene Simmons Family Jewels.”

She wrote a book in 2008 on her experience with the Mydols, “Rock Star Mommy,” and is negotiating an option on the book with a major Hollywood film studio.

Davids and her husband, John, an architect, have raised two sons: Dylan, 21, and Will, 19.

Davids and other award nominees will be feted at the 67th Royal Oak Community Awards banquet to be held from 6-9 p.m. Oct. 21 at Emagine Theater.