We asked for nominations for the 2019 Greenfield Recorder Citizen of the Year, and once again, readers, you delivered.

In a two-week span, we received over 30 different nominations for people you felt deserved to be honored this way.

That means over 30 people who go way beyond just living in our part of the world by filling a need, leading a cause, starting a new initiative, oh, the list goes on.

The task of choosing the Citizen of the Year fell on a committee that included the Recorder’s editorial board and three volunteers from the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors.

We were appreciative when people took the time to write about their nominee, about what they have done and continue to do. Certainly, many of those proposed do their work quietly, with no desire for recognition.

Here’s a chance to change that or put things in perspective.

The nominations came via email and the post office. We even had several that were hand-written. The most helpful were from those who wrote about the nominated person at length rather than just “I nominate (fill in the blank).”

Several people received more than one nomination — a few, many. However, this was not a case of whoever gets the most votes wins.

Those who were nominated tell a lot about Franklin County and the North Quabbin area, that there are so many people who use their talents and resources for their communities and often times, way beyond. And many did it on a volunteer basis.

This year’s Citizen of the Year will be the 37th. That’s a great number of people doing good for the rest of us.

The past winners will give you an indication: David Chichester of Conway (now of Greenfield); Joan Vander Vliet, Al Dray, Elizabeth Hollingsworth and Philip Gilmore of Deerfield; Pearl Care of Erving; Theodore Martineau of Montague City; Rolland Gifford, Marion Taylor and Marvin Shippee of Shelburne Falls; Ann Hamilton, Amy Clarke, Marjorie Reid, Edward Tombs, Irmarie Jones, Jean Cummings, David McCarthy, Charles Carter and Arline Cohn of Greenfield; Marie Putala, the Rev. Stanley Aksamit, John Carey, Shirley Lovett and Richard Kimball of Turners Falls; Albert Diemand and Theodore Lewis of Wendell; Frank R. “Bud” Foster and William Shores of Bernardston; Marian Holbrook and Raymond Zukowski of Northfield; Allan Adie of Gill, Clifford Fournier, Marty Picard and Geneva Lawson of Orange; and Adelia Bardwell of Whately.

As for this year’s Citizen of the Year, that person has been chosen and will be notified shortly.

Unfortunately, we could only pick one. And we encourage fans of those who were not selected, to resubmit next year. We will also hold onto this year’s letters and take them into consideration next year.

The formal announcement will be made at the Dec. 20 breakfast hosted by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, where the Citizen of the Year will be the guest of honor.

And look for a story in the Recorder in the future. You can read for yourselves why this person was deserving of being Citizen of the Year.