“I used to be somebody.”
When Ben Williams Jr. saw those words in the subject line of an email, he knew he was on the right track. Williams is the founder and CEO/broker for the Williams Advanced Realty Team and board secretary and treasurer for the Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS® (GEPAR). He is also the visionary behind Living Legends, a new program by the El Paso, Texas, association to celebrate and recognize members who have dedicated more than 45 years of service to the association and the real estate industry.
“This was not a want,” Williams says. “This was a need. I walked away from this whole experience with the understanding that a lot of these folks in this category feel like they have been forgotten, like this one email I got from one of the honorees. And it just blew me away. But you’re talking to people who were the bomb back in the day. And I think other associations [doing programs like this] would unpack the same thing.”
Honoring the Past
Williams says the idea for Living Legends came from events he attended with his wife, an attorney, for her workplace. “What I notice in their world, they really pay respect and homage to the people who have been in that industry for a long time,” he says. “And I looked at how the other people looked at them in the room, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty, pretty amazing.’ So, when I ran for secretary-treasurer, it was just one of the things I said, ‘OK, I think I can bring that to life in our association.’”
He started talking about putting together the program in March. Days later, Daphne Hamilton, an association member for 45-plus years, passed away. Her death heightened Williams’ drive to get the program running as soon as possible. “We do a lot after someone passes away,” he says, “but I think we’re missing out on the moment that we can do this thing while they’re still living.”
Putting the Program Together
In reviewing El Paso’s membership roster, Williams realized there were 20 REALTORS® who had been members for 45 years or longer. That helped him set the mark at 45 years for members to qualify as Living Legends.
While the eventual goal is for Living Legends to be recognized at existing association events, such as a REALTOR® Rally or Education Day, El Paso decided to hold specific Living Legends celebrations to ensure it could celebrate the 21 members who qualify now. As a start, Williams reached out to all 20 to thank them for their service, tell them about the new program and determine who would be available for an initial celebration on Aug. 21.
We do a lot after someone passes away, but I think we’re missing out on the moment that we can do this thing while they’re still living.”
-Ben Williams Jr.
That first celebration featured six Legends. Six more were recognized at an event on Sept. 30, and the remaining nine will be honored at events through 2027.
Because Williams’ real estate office has its own studio, he worked with the initial Living Legends to record video interviews that would run during the celebration’s cocktail hour and luncheon. Williams feels strongly that any association interested in launching a similar program should record such videos. “We’ve preserved their words,” he says. “I think that’s even more powerful than anything else, because you can sit there and see their words or hear their words, and it’s in a video.”
The event was held at the association, with attendance capped at 65 (each Living Legend could invite up to four family members or friends). Williams himself paid for the food.
Because it was a first-time event, the association wasn’t sure what the response would be. It promoted the celebration through text messaging, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, weekly e-newsletters, and other communication channels—and it sold out almost immediately. “We could have had 120 people if we could have allowed it,” Williams says.
After the cocktail hour and luncheon, board President Alex Huereca shared remarks on why the association created the Living Legends program. Then, one by one, each Living Legend’s bio was read so that the person’s identity was revealed only at the very end. Amid the tears and cheers, each Living Legend came to the podium to speak. “It just landed perfectly,” Williams says. “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the audience.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It was almost like magic in the air,” says Ernesto Garcia, El Paso’s governmental affairs director and communications and marketing director. “We had planned to do this panel and bring them up there, and we never got to that because it was just so emotional. These are people who have been 45 years in the association. To see their work get acknowledged—where else can you do that except in an association? It’s something that means a lot to them.”
Into the Future
Following the event, Williams says he regularly heard from members who told him, “That was the best thing I’ve seen in my years of doing real estate at the association.”
In addition, Garcia says that the campaign to promote the event garnered some of the highest numbers of any campaign the association has ever run, with an average of up to 1,000 views on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
But most importantly, the program recognizes the hard work of members who have been in the profession for decades. “Things may not be the best in the real estate business right now,” Garcia says. “We’ve gone through so many changes that we’re not taking a second to stop and say thank you to the people who are still in this industry, who go day to day, and the hard work they put in every day. I think that’s the part that we really miss out on sometimes and we need to be focusing [on] more.
“Let’s focus on who’s still getting out there and show off those success stories that we have. When people who are new come in and see it, it inspires them to want to stay longer in this industry and be successful.”
