Jane Flowers’ decision to retire is a great one for her, and we’re happy for her and her family.
At the same time, replacing Flowers at the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will be next to impossible.
Despite the fact Flowers loves her job at the chamber, she made the decision to retire while still in the prime of her life and spend more quality time with her family.
Knowing the position of director of the port commission was open and that some had talked about morphing that job into one of economic development, Flowers said she wanted to let all know of her plans to retire to help with that effort.
The decision has been made to locate a new director of the port commission at the chamber’s offices and for that person to assume the role of director of the chamber, too.
We have plenty of questions about how that would work and have our concerns that the chamber being short-changed in the process simply because Jane Flowers has been such an effective and enthusiastic executive director of the chamber.
Flowers’ background of working 30 years as work-based learning coordinator at Hinds Community College’s Vicksburg-Warren campus made her the perfect person to run our chamber of commerce.
Because of Flowers, the chamber has become staunch partners of the Vicksburg-Warren School District and has led the way in raising funds from the business community for the Leader in Me program.
The chamber has also taken on the role of fiduciary partner with the school district and Ford Next Generation Learning, which will work to prepare our students for college or work after graduation.
Jane has been a tireless advocate for chamber businesses, and one need only to attend a chamber monthly luncheon to know her love of this community is real and infectious.
Jane is someone who worked to help businesses grow, which ultimately made life better for all of us in Vicksburg and Warren County.
While her last day at the chamber will be Feb. 22, thankfully we will continue to see her around town as she continues her Rotary membership and her volunteer pursuits.
On behalf of a grateful community, thank you, Jane, for all you’ve done to make lives better here.