Linda Banks

Linda Banks and her ready smile have become a fixture in downtown Orangeville. Linda lives within walking distance of Broadway, where she often pops into a café or restaurant to meet friends. But more likely than not, she will also be doing double duty on one of her myriad volunteer undertakings, such as distributing posters for Theatre Orangeville. 

David Nairn, outgoing artistic director of Theatre Orangeville and a 2024 Local Hero himself, calls Linda “our pin-up queen” for her work “pinning up” posters downtown. 

In fact, Theatre Orangeville has played a key role in Linda’s life since she relocated here in 2014. Soon after moving in, Linda attended a Theatre Orangeville production where she learned they needed volunteers and she jumped right in – greeting and ushering at performances, selling 50-50 tickets and distributing promotional material. 

“I only knew one person in Orangeville, but I wanted to keep busy, and I’ve met an awful lot of people volunteering.” Such was her contribution that the theatre honoured her with Volunteer of the Year in 2019. 

Linda has a longstanding love of theatre. She talks about going to concerts with her father in Windsor growing up, and today she is a regular at Caledon Town Hall Players, Blackhorse Village Players, Theatre Collingwood and farther afield, from Drayton and Stratford and Mirvish Productions in Toronto.

In Windsor and then Toronto, Linda was an executive secretary in the insurance industry, before she decided to strike out on her own and create Linda Banks Secretarial Services. For 25 years she also worked in continuing education, teaching keyboarding to all age groups, including children with learning disabilities. While she is retired now, these careers and her go-getting attitude have served her well in her volunteer activities.

In nominating Linda for a Local Hero, her friend Sandra Pinkney observed that many organizations “have benefited from Linda’s selfless volunteering, spirited outlook, cheerful disposition, and genuine desire to make a positive contribution to her community.” There is a long list.

At the Orangeville and District Seniors Centre she helps with the Cyber Seniors group. “I’m helping people with Android phones and tablets.” She also helps helm the centre’s day-tripping bus tours. “I help when they ask me, you know,” she says modestly.

At Orangeville’s Probus Club, a social club for active retirees, Linda is involved in committees organizing speakers, bird-watching jaunts, hikes and leisure walks. 

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Linda is treasurer for Friends of the Library. She has served on the Heritage Orangeville committee, and is now on the town’s age-friendly advisory committee. She also chips in at annual events such as the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival, caregivers appreciation day for the Hills of Headwaters Collaborative, and the Coldest Night of the Year walk. 

In her nomination, another friend, Jill Sproule, noted, “As a mature person moving to a new area it can be a challenge to make friends. Linda embraced the challenge. She has come to know more about our town and its residents than many lifelong Orangevillians.”

In 2022, she was named provincial Senior of the Year representing Orangeville and was honoured the same year with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Provincial). 

When Linda retired, she moved to Wasaga Beach for few years before settling in Orangeville. “I feel it’s been the best move of my life,” she says. Orangeville gratefully agrees.