Thursday’s St. Patrick’s Day lunch sponsored by Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development (LHAND) employees hit just the right note by reserving its top annual honors for City Councilor at large Buzzy Barton and longtime Community Development Department employee Ann Marie Leonard.
Both honorees have helped shape the city by straddling so many different social circles and shouldering so many public service projects across the decades. Naming Barton Irish Person of the Year is a tribute on LHAND’s part to Jimmy Lyons and Tom Muldoon, the two selfless local individuals the award is named for.
The legacies of John Sullivan and Ralph Cronin were also recognized Thursday when Leonard received the annual Sullivan/Cronin Community Award.
Barton is so well known that his entrance into politics in 2011 almost seemed like an afterthought. He coached at English High School, carved out a career in the fire department that saw him honored for a fire rescue, and he is someone people approach for advice and help.
With almost 50 years service to the city, Leonard’s list of accomplishments include the annual fireworks fund and helping to construct the neighborhood outreach program that assembled crime watches and helped people from different Lynn neighborhoods find common ground.
Like Barton, Leonard is one of those local residents who never stops thinking about the city. She “retired” two years ago but continues working part-time overseeing Veterans Memorial Auditorium concert ushers and serving as community development liaison to the police department.
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At its heart, the LHAND St. Patrick’s Day lunch is not so much a recognition of the city’s most popular residents. Although Barton and Leonard fit that description, they are also perfect examples of people who reach their hands out to help others.
In their own low-key, often humorous ways, Sullivan, Muldoon, Cronin and Lyons took the time to listen to the problems of other people and made suggestions or made a few phone calls to help them. Most of the assistance they provided was not related to their city jobs or professional occupations — their advice came from the heart and from personal experience. Barton and Leonard are cast from the same mold and their service to the city has outlived their paid professional lives.
After retiring from the fire department with a pension, Barton asked himself, “How else can I serve Lynn?” and he sought and won a council seat. Leonard continues her involvement in many of the community development initiatives she carved out during her career. Her grace in dealing with people is only exceeded by her determination not to give up on solving someone’s problem.
Lynn is truly at its best when it pauses on a Thursday in March to salute some of the city’s most generous residents.