LYNN — Essex Media Group honored eight residents for their work creating long-lasting impacts on their communities at EMG’s 7th annual Persons of the Year ceremony at the Lynn Museum Thursday night.
Among those in attendance were the recipients’ friends and families and local leaders, including state Sen. Brendan Crighton and state Reps. Jenny Armini, Donald Wong, and Daniel Cahill who also awarded the citations to the honorees.
First, EMG recognized bilingual educator Magalie Torres-Rowe as Lynn’s Person of the Year for her work in the community. Torres-Rowe founded Latina Center Maria in 2016 and has been its executive director since. The organization started with bi-weekly English classes and has since expanded to citizenship workshops, childcare, a book club, and creating opportunities for Latino families to bond more through movie nights and parenting classes.
In her speech, Torres-Rowe thanked her mentors and reiterated the purpose of Latina Center Maria.
“When we offer different classes for Latino workers, they say: when we leave our jobs at 5 p.m., all schools close, so we open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.,” Torres-Rowe said. “When you learn how to speak English, you get good grades, you get scholarships to colleges, and most importantly, we want to reduce dropouts.”
Next up on the stage was Craig Stone, who led the Lynnfield tennis and wrestling team to conference titles, state championships, and 1,200-plus victories. Besides such significant achievements, he is even more praised for his unwavering support for students, while teaching and mentoring them to be good people and to have good sportsmanship.
Stone thanked school athletes, administrators, and parents from the Lynnfield community, and his students for the “opportunity to play a part in their lives, but also for them playing a bigger part in his life.”
Jodi-Tatiana Charles was selected as Marblehead’s Person of the Year for the countless hours she has spent working to improve and expand the reach of the Marblehead Festival of Arts as its president.
While she was unable to attend, state Rep. Armini accepted the award on her behalf and described Charles’ contributions as “something that cannot be underestimated.” Armani also encouraged the audience to come to Marblehead on the 4th of July to experience the arts festival, enjoy music, and view different art mediums like paintings and sculptures.
For the next award, The Daily Item Publisher Ted Grant spoke about Virginia Fiske, who was unable to attend the event. Grant spoke about her time serving her country during World War II and her lasting service and dedication to Nahant while working for the Town Assessor at Nahant Town Hall.
EMG also posthumously awarded Henry Breckenridge, a well-loved police officer who served Peabody. His mom, Charlotte, along with Breckenridge’s dad, Leon, accepted the award on his behalf. She described him as someone who loved everybody, helped everybody, and was a “force to be reckoned with.”
“I miss my son so much,” Breckenridge’s dad said. “I love him so much. He has done so much for Peabody.”
The next award went to Gene Decareau of Saugus. He is an all-around contributor to his community as he has happily volunteered everywhere, from senior centers to food banks and the Lions Club. His experiences during the Great Depression and the life principle of constantly keeping busy guided his desire to serve.
Showing no signs of slowing down at the age of 94 and with lots of phone cameras pointed at him, he gave a short speech thanking everyone.
The ceremony concluded with the final award going to the founder-duo of the Save King’s Beach movement, Andrea Amour, and Elizabeth Smith of Swampscott. Despite being new to town at that time, Amour was enraged at the lack of response to the sewage-infested waters and wanted to take action against the level of pollution in the waters. Amour joined forces with Smith shortly after, who strongly felt the same. Amour knew that Smith’s knowledge and determination were paramount if they wanted to raise awareness and gain more support.
In their speeches, they thanked each other and the public’s support despite this huge undertaking to save the beach and expressed hope that they will be able to see and experience a clean King’s Beach in their lifetimes.
