Brandon318web

What are the words you would use to describe
Yvonne Bianchi?
FUN-LOVING...& SERIOUS.
Do these words even go together? Not usually. But for this person,
they do. I have known Miss Yvonne for over 50 years. When I was
young, she was an active member of our church choir. And then life
happened and we lost touch. Bob and I got married and moved to
Crossgates. One day, I looked up one day and there she was! She was
still as friendly as ever! Yvonne never met a stranger.
I wasn’t sure if she would remember me, but she hugged me and asked
about my mom and dad. The time that passed didn’t matter a bit. She
wanted to know all about the things that
were going on in my life. She was interested in me.
When Yvonne first ran for political office, I asked her why in the world
she wanted to do such a thing. To me, it seemed like a lot of work
without much reward. She told me, “Linda, I love my city. I want to
give back to this community by taking care of it and its citizens. I have
prepared myself by taking classes to learn what will be needed for this
job and I am ready to serve.”
And serve she did. For many years, she helped her constituents with
many different, and sometimes difficult, situations. It is impossible
to make everybody happy, so I am sure she made
some enemies along the way. But one could never
question Miss Yvonne’s dedication to the voters who
elected her. The one thing you could be certain of was
that her commitment was always to help the city of
Brandon be the best it could be.
When Yvonne lost her last bid for alderman, she could
have easily disappeared into the sunset. But instead,
she immersed herself in the fun side of life in Brandon.
She supported the city in a new way by becoming
more involved in the activities of the city and of
the Senior Center. She was still listening to folks,
empathizing with them, and loving them.
As I have watched Miss Yvonne through the years,
this strong Christian lady has encouraged me to love
my God, my family, and my friends unconditionally;
to be there when they need me, and to serve them
through all the situations of life.
Miss Yvonne, I am a better person
because of your influence in my life. Thank you.
Linda Moore Wolfe
Yvonne Bianchi.
I don’t know of anyone that hears that name
and doesn’t smile. I’ve known Yvonne for 40 years
—ever since meeting her daughter when I first
moved to Brandon. When we were elected to
serve on the Brandon board of aldermen together,
I got to know her even better—both on a personal
and professional basis. I can honestly say that I
have never worked with anyone so honest and
straight-forward. You knew if she agreed with
you . . . and you knew when she didn’t!
Something I’ve always wanted the citizens of
Brandon to know about Yvonne is that if it wasn’t
for her, we probably would not have a senior
citizen program. As with a lot of programs, it
started with a simple idea for us to consider and
hopefully implement. It was one of Yvonne’s many
ideas that are in place now. She stuck with it until
.............................. >
it came to fruition, with the first event being
Hometown Brandon • 63