Simeon Banister remembers tagging alongside his mom when he was a kid and witnessing her influence.
“I had a front-row seat to see how she engaged in this community and to see the consistency with which she did it,” Banister said.
Iris Banister worked in the Rochester City School District for more than 30 years as a teacher, a counselor and in administrative roles.
She died in March of last year.
Now her legacy lives on through the renaming of John James Audubon School 33 on Webster Avenue to Dr. Iris Banister School 33.
“She loved people, she loved Rochester, she loved this community, and she was willing to roll up her sleeves and struggle, fight and work for it,” said Banister said.
He said he grew up around the corner from the elementary school. He recalled playing his first baseball and football games on the school’s field. Sully Branch Library, he said, was where his mother taught him and his brothers how to read.
“It's a school that actually has a lot of attachments for us,” said Banister, now the president and CEO of the Rochester Area Community Foundation. “We're going to be rolling up our sleeves and getting engaged there.”
Iris Banister was amicably called "Queen Mother" by those who loved and respected the longtime community leader.
Camille Simmons, president of the Rochester Board of Education, said Banister was “part of the fabric of Rochester,” which was reflected through the work she did in the community and the love she had for education, children and women.
“If you had something going on in this community, you could count on Queen Mother Iris Banister to be part of making sure people were whole,” Simmons said.
She added that it’s also important for students to understand the character of the individual for whom the school is now named after.
“Just bringing some of those pieces to our students creates a richer, more valuable life for them,” Simmons said.
The official renaming ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday.
