DAYTON, Ohio–A table on which the historic Dayton Peace Accords were signed and which now belongs to a credit union is being moved temporarily to the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Center in downtown Dayton for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly this weekend. 

The Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995 at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and ended a war and established a peace agreement that preserved Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single state, among other provisions.

The 16-foot oak table was once owned by Dayton technological powerhouse NCR, which loaned it to Wright Patterson for the negotiations. According to the Dayton Daily news,  when NCR moved its headquarters to the Atlanta area in June 2009 it gave away much of its local office furniture to the former Mendelson’s, a store once famed for its local warehouse inventory of eclectic antique, historical and retro wares — including the table.

CEO is Out Shopping And…

The former CEO of Universal 1 Credit Union, Loren A. Rush, was shopping at Mendelson’s one weekend spotted the table, knew its significance and immediately bought it, the report stated. 

Universal 1 was once the NCR Credit Union before changing its name in 1995.

“She said, ‘I want to buy this and preserve this for history,’” the report quoted Rush as saying. Rush decided to build the credit union’s boardroom around the piece of history.

Current CEO Jessica Jones notified organizers of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly that the credit union had the table. In response, the local Chamber hired a firm to disassemble it and move it to the Schuster Center “so NATO delegates can appreciate it and the peace accord instruments which made the table special,” the Dayton Daily News said.

‘Lasting Symbol’

“Today, this iconic table remains at the heart of Universal 1 Credit Union, where it continues to serve a lasting symbol of the organization’s roots, resilience, and continued dedication to the community,” a credit union flyer on the table says, according to the report.