DEERFIELD — While it’s named the Greenfield Recorder’s Citizen of the Year award, it sometimes ends up serving as a lifetime achievement recognition and, perhaps, Friday’s recipient embodies that distinction of a life well-served more than anyone else.

Russell Deane, the 96-year-old, do-it-all Bernardston resident, was honored as the Recorder’s 42nd Citizen of the Year Friday morning at Deerfield Academy, where his nearly eight decades of service to his community and Franklin County were recognized.

Pioneer Valley Executive Editor Dan Crowley laid out the laundry list of Deane’s accomplishments and commitments over the decades as he noted the 2024 Citizen of the Year joins previous recipients as one of the “most extraordinary among us.”

“It wasn’t a difficult decision. What was difficult was trying to figure out how to convey the mind-boggling amount of community and volunteer service that Russell Deane, at 96, has brought and continues to bring to Franklin County,” Crowley said. “Asked what it is that drives him to give so much to those around him, his reply was pretty straightforward: ‘If you belong to something, you should contribute.’”

In short, and certainly not all-inclusive, the lifelong Bernardston resident has served on nearly every committee in town and is still on the Board of Assessors and Zoning Board of Appeals; helped found the Gas Engine Show, Flea Market & Craft Fair through his lifetime with the United Church of Bernardston; helped found the Bernardston Kiwanis Club and was one of the charter members of The United Arc with his late wife of 67 years, Lillian.

“What an honor to have this happen. When [Crowley] went on reading all that stuff, there must be another Russell Deane around here that he’s talking about,” Deane said. “I don’t know how I ever earned this award and I appreciate it very much.”

Deane said the thing that keeps him going after all these years is the pure satisfaction of seeing a job well done that has a positive effect on the community.

“The only thing I could come up with was that you see some accomplishments that you have done and you feel that you were the one that was responsible for having that happen,” Deane said, before joking that sometimes folks like him only stay on town committees out of necessity. “The only reason you stay on is because you can’t get anybody else to take the job.”

In closing, Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jessye Deane — who is distantly related, as Russell Deane is her husband’s great-uncle — highlighted the dozens of times Russell Deane made it into the Recorder, with stories big and small from 2020, 2006, 1978, 1942 and everywhere in between.

It was that 1942 story, though, that she pulled out from the rest, as it described Russell Deane’s eighth grade graduation from the Powers Institute and his prize for best essay, which was in response to the prompt, “My Dream for the U.S.A.”

“I have to believe the little boy with big dreams, who made the paper in 1942, and every single year after, might have been pretty impressed with the man that made the front page in 2024,” Jessye Deane said, turning to Russell Deane. “I hope you look around and you see all of these faces and you’re so proud of the work that you’ve done, of the profound impact you’ve made, and the community and county that you’ve helped shape.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.