It has long been a practice to begin each Annual Town Meeting with two special presentations. A South Hadley Citizen of the Year is honored for “outstanding service to the community” and the South Hadley Recreation Committee announces its Joseph Taylor Volunteer of the Year award recipient. Both are longtime annual traditions, which have been carried on for decades.
The South Hadley Chapter of Lions Club International handled selection of the Citizen of the Year and funded any costs for the award for over 70 years, until the chapter disbanded in 2023. In 2024, the Selectboard voted in support of carrying on the Citizen of the Year award tradition and Know Your Town agreed to take over those duties, which seems appropriate as KYT founder Margaret Saunders was an award recipient in the 1970s.
To provide continuity, the Citizen of the year award criteria remain:
- Needs to be a South Hadley resident
- Should be a person who has done much that has made a difference, not just one or two particular things
- Their service does not have to involve Town government, though it often does
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR HONOREES
KNOW YOUR TOWN (since 2024):
2026–Douglas Young and Linda Young
2025–Lucia Foley
2024–Robert Judge
SOUTH HADLEY LIONS CLUB:
Thanks to Bob Judge for researching and talking with town employees to compile this list of recent Lions Club honorees.
2023–Mary Lou Guarnera
2022–Pauline Casey and Diane LaRoche
2021–(Covid)
2020–(Covid)
2019–John Hine
2018–Carol Constant
2017–Mitch Resnick
2016–Martha and Tom Terry
2015–Ira Brezinsky
2014–Larry Dubois
2013–Priscilla Mandrachia
2012–George Perrault
2011–Joan Rosner
2010–Mary Quesnel Sudyka
Honorees in earlier years include:
2002–Theodore Belsky
2001–Everett Reed
1994–Edgar (Ned) Noel
1992–William Chaffee
1991–Charles Taugher
1989–Edward Holly
1988–Timothy Fowler
1976–Margaret McDonnell
1970–George McDonnell
If you have additional history to add to the list, please email lfoley@knowyourtown.org.