ORLANDO – Jackie Davis had a gift for everyone - a homemade cookie was at each place with a label saying “A Gift for You From Your Florida Realtors 2010 First Lady Jackie Davis.”

There were about 500 people at the banquet but she made sure she had plenty.

“I made 860 just to be safe,” she said.

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Watson Realty Chairman Bill Watson was one who took the podium to talk about Davis, who he called a workhouse for whom “70 hours a week is easy.”

He recalled interviewing Davis in 1991. “I made some calls and every person said I should hire him, so I did. I didn’t have a place for him, but I hired him anyway.”

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Watson was one of 14 former state presidents to attend and was the senior of the group, so he started the traditional gavel passing. All 14 lined up with Watson starting the gavel down the line, with the last person - outgoing President Cynthia Shelton of Orlando - giving the gavel to Davis.

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The state association has been around since 1916 and Watson gave a nifty fact: Davis is the sixth state president to graduate from Jacksonville’s Robert E. Lee High School.

Three are living: Buck & Buck’s Cathy Whatley, Watson Realty’s Russell Grooms and Davis. Three are deceased: Jim Buck, David Nussbaum and George Linville.

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It was a first-class banquet with two major entertainment groups. The Orlando-based Liberty Voices performed at various times during the ceremony and county music star Pam Tillis was the featured star when the installations were over.

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NEFAR backed its man with its pocketbook: the local association was a major sponsor of the event, contributing $15,000.

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Hank Oltmanns of A Broker’s Choice Realty was another local on the stage, being installed as the District One Vice President along with the dozen other district leaders.

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Grooms swore in the District Vice Presidents and he told them, “Leadership is about action, not position. Make things happen.”

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Davis’s acceptance speech may have been the shortest ever and he told the crowd that it wouldn’t take long.

He quoted President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Be sincere, be brief and be seated.” No more than five minutes later, he was through.

– Fred Seely