Three men, three awards. The Marion Board of Selectmen on May 1 honored three men in Town and presented them with awards, as Selectmen Chairman Jody Dickerson acknowledged that this was his final meeting as a selectman.
Dickerson started by presenting longtime Council on Aging employee Paul Garib with the board’s first ever Chairman Award. Garib, a driver for the COA for a number of years high enough to be considered simply “a very, very long time,” was selected as the first recipient of the award for his outstanding dedication to the senior citizens of Marion.
“In the Town of Marion, we’re extremely fortunate for the many dedicated employees we have in town,” said Dickerson. “But I see on a daily basis this one guy that really stands out.”
Dickerson sees Garib often going way above and beyond his position as a driver, saying, “I’ve seen him take a personal interest in a lot of the seniors in town, not just delivering meals but visiting them in nursing homes…” To Garib he said, “It speaks volumes of you.”
“We’re really proud that you work here in the Town of Marion,” Dickerson said.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Garib. “They give you an award for just doing your job, what you love to do.”
The Chairman Award will be given out to one outstanding person in Marion every year.
Next up was Fire Chief Brian Jackvony whose completion of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program earned him a certificate of completion that the board had the honor of delivering to Jackvony that evening.
Jackvony has been fire chief of Marion for about three years now, Dickerson pointed out, “And when I was a part of the interviewing process you stood out, and I think it was a great decision we made and I’m very happy in the way you run the department. You’ve done a great job there.”
Dickerson handed Jackvony the certificate and congratulated him.
“I appreciate the opportunity to carry on with my studies,” Jackvony said, “and I think it’s important that we continue to learn and that we continue to be lifelong learners.”
Jackvony thanked his wife, Linda, for her support and patience through the years he’s undertaken the program, acknowledging that it was her help that made it possible.
Then last, but never least, the board appointed lifelong resident of Marion Charles “Pete” Smith as Marion’s honorary historian, presenting him with a certificate and a colorful glass sculpture award that everyone joked looked like an ice scraper.
Selectman Norm Hills said Smith is a central figure in the town and he knows everything there is to know about it. “He either knows it or it’s not worth knowing,” said Hills.
Hills called Smith “an encyclopedia of knowledge” of all things Marion, saying his contribution as a historian has been a lifelong achievement.
“I’ve been a resident almost 83 years, come June,” said Smith, whose family goes way back – even his great-grandmother lived in Marion in the same house Smith still lives in.
Smith said people often ask him how he knows so much about Marion, and after living there for 83 years, he said, “How do you know that? Damn it, I lived it!”
At the end of the meeting, Dickerson spoke on the occasion of his last selectmen’s meeting.
“It can be a little emotional but I want to thank the townspeople for their support over the years,” said Dickerson, who between time as a selectman in the 1990s and now in the more recent years has served a cumulative five terms, or 15 years, as a member of the board.
Dickerson listed a number of different departments as exemplary, but singled out two people in particular who Dickerson said have made the most impact on his time as a selectman – the board’s administrative assistant Debbie Paiva, “Who kept me at the right meetings at the right times,” and Town Administrator Paul Dawson, whom Dickerson called a “class act” he’s enjoyed working with, “And you always put the Town of Marion first…”
Also during the meeting, Dawson reminded residents that Monday, May 14, is the Annual Town Meeting at 6:45 pm at Sippican School.
The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for May 15 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Jean Perry