Lyme Citizen of the Year

About the Citizen of the Year Award

In 1999, a gift from Rachel Miller created the Lyme Citizen of the Year award, to be bestowed on someone who has provided outstanding service to the Town of Lyme. This award honors those who have had an impact in our town in a variety of ways. It is not a rite of passage, one that is given each year to the next person in line. Rather, it is an award that is earned by members of our town who give their time in government, organizations, and service, working in a multitude of ways to make Lyme the engaging, dynamic, and caring community that it is. These ordinary people doing extraordinary work not only make this town thrive, they also inspire others through their dedication and often quiet service.

Judy Russell - 2024

Our 2024 “Lyme Citizen of the Year” is described by her nominators as a major presence in every aspect of town life. She shares her time and skills in a friendly, knowledgeable, and generous way making Lyme a richer community, with a better informed citizenry. She connects people. She encourages community. For some newcomers to Lyme, she is a face to welcome them. Oh! And she also spends quite a lot of time at the library. This year’s recipient is Judy Russell, known fondly as “Miss Judy” to many.

Long before Judy became our Library Director, she served our community for more than 20 years as a library volunteer, a member of the Friends of the Lyme Library, and a Board Trustee. In those early years, her babies would crawl around the library while she volunteered wrapping books for shelving! She has now been the Library Director for 11 years. Under Judy’s leadership, the library has become the heart of our community. It serves as an incredible resource in more ways than books. Judy has taken on the mantle of disseminator of information, promotor of literacy, and provider of valuable technical services. When there is an urgent need Judy quickly responds with information and initiatives that keep us in touch with one another. More than once during widespread power outages, Judy has opened the library to one and all during hours when it is usually closed. In the worst of times, Judy helped to keep us informed by organizing an online forum providing information about school policies and closures. This was a deeply resourced and informative event that both brought people together in a time of isolation and worked to spread understanding when most of what everyone had were questions. She went even further to organize brown bag book pickups and hosted additional Zoom programs to keep us connected.

Judy keeps us an engaged and civically minded community. When the pandemic suspended Little Town Meeting, she created and facilitated an online forum inviting candidates for office to introduce themselves to the community and state their intentions. Judy has functioned as an excellent community ambassador connecting us to regional and state library organizations, including serving on the NH Librarians Sustainability Committee. Through her efforts as co-author of “Images in America” and co-editor of “We Had Each Other,” she has facilitated an understanding and appreciation of life in small town America.

Peers, coworkers, and patrons of all ages are effusive in their praise for “Miss Judy” noting her expertise, dedication, energy, grace, compassion and generous spirit.

We celebrate Judy Russell for her caring leadership. As one nominator wrote, “She is not just performing a job. She is an exceptional person with a deep love for our community & the people who live here. She cares about preserving our past, living in the present, and equipping our community with the tools to move into the future.”

The Lyme Foundation would like to thank Judy’s husband Andy, and her children Emma, Jane, and Andrew for sharing their wife/mother/librarian extraordinaire with the town of Lyme for more than three decades; we are pleased to recognize her as Lyme’s Citizen of the year in 2024.

Former Citizens of the Year:

2023 Mike Mundy and Aaron Rich

2022 Kathy Sherrieb

2021 Michael Whitman

2020 Jim and Dale Mason

2019 Pat and Tony Pippin

2018 Ellen Thompson

2017 Peggy Little and Paphanh Sithavady

2016 Nancy Elizabeth Grandine

2015 Kenneth Uline

2014 Earl and Beverly Strout

2013 Michael Hinsley

2012 Jean and Mike Smith

2011 Charles Balch

2010 Patty Jenks

2009 Carola Lea

2008 Bill Murphy

2007 Laura DeGoosh

2006 Betty Lee

2004 Fred Phillips

2003 Albert Pushee

2002 Don and Julia Elder

2001 Becky Franklin

2000 Kenneth Elder

1999 Dorcas Chaffee