DEERFIELD — Presiding over her last Franklin County Chamber of Commerce event Friday, Ann Hamilton had the uncomfortable second role of being its star — as Recorder Citizen of the Year.
“I don’t like being in the limelight,” Hamilton told the 330 people assembled in Deerfield Academy’s dining commons. “This has been kind of fun, though.”
Hamilton, who is about to retire after 32 years as Chamber leader, received citations from Greenfield Mayor William Martin, from the Massachusetts Senate, House of Representatives and governor, a certificate of Congressional recognition and even a lifetime “Get Out of Jail for Free” card presented by county Sheriff Christopher Donelan, with tongue in cheek.
“I don’t want to say the chamber has been my life, but the Chamber has been my life,” said Hamilton, who was hired in 1983 after serving a term as Greenfield’s first selectwoman and working part-time for Chamber subgroup, Go Greenfield. “In many ways, it’s the best job that anyone could hope for.”
“There is something special about Ann Hamilton,” said Martin, pointing to her role in creating the popular Green River Festival, the Home and Trade Show and the Fiber Festival. “It’s that kind of leadership we need to carry forward. Younger people, younger women, can understand that it’s so important to be part of their communities and so important to take over these positions that are being vacated, after so many years of great, great effort.”
Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, leading a group of legislators onto the podium to present Hamilton’s House citation, called her, “a wonderful woman who made a difference in Franklin County since before I was born. You’ve created so many great events and programs and done so much to help the community and make it a better place.”
Sen. Stan Rosenberg’s aide, Mary Jane Bacon, presenting a citation from the Senate, said, “Ann Hamilton could also be designated the best advocate that Franklin County has ever had, for her job of explaining to people in government, whether we work for a legislator or whether she’s seeking the legislators themselves, how what we do impacts Franklin County and how it might play in a slightly different way in Franklin County, in a rural area … in which policies can make a huge difference and make a huge change in people’s lives, both for the good and for the bad. So Ann has promoted your projects, she’s promoted your businesses, but she’s also been a very wise counselor for all of us in the Legislature.”
Rep. Stephen Kulik called Hamilton “a constant advocate and a force of nature … and an inspiration, to all of us in the Legislative delegation, past and present. She brings people together, and she’s just a catalyst for people to work together.”