On Tuesday, March 7, we gathered at the Equinox to celebrate four incredibly generous members of the MHS “Friday Irregulars” and present them with our Exceptional Service Awards.We cannot begin to thank them enough for their significant contributions to the processing of our collection.
Helen Gawlik joined us in 2016. Since then Helen has been carefully cataloguing hundreds, probably thousands, of items in the collection. With great patience and beautiful handwriting, Helen has painstakingly described the documents, photographs, and artifacts in preparation for their being entered into the Past Perfect software. “I have been a volunteer for the last eight years and have enjoyed every moment of it,” she said. “My experiences have run the gamut from reading heartbreaking Civil War letters to cataloging the paint brushes used by Luigi Luccioni. The best part is meeting all the people who drop in seeking their family histories or to donate items. Every Friday brings a new adventure!”
Flo Ewasko joined the Friday group in 2019. Her experience working in administration meant she had exactly the skills needed to enter the information on each item into the PastPerfect database. “Working with the past gives us a glimpse of the strength and tenacity of the people that make Manchester a wonderful part of Vermont.,” she told us. “Future generations will enjoy the history.”
Mike diMonda has been a member of the MHS Board of Directors since 2015. He has gone through hundreds of photographs given to MHS when the Manchester Journal closed its office. He has been patiently sorting, identifying, and boxing up these irreplaceable memories of people and places in Manchester’s recent past.
Louise Hughes joined us as a volunteer in 2018. Louise was an expert at deciphering the handwriting in old letters and documents and she transcribed many important and interesting items in the collection, giving us access to their contents we otherwise would have not so easily had available. We are so grateful that she gave us so many hours as a volunteer in the last years of her life. Louise died in 2021.
