Commentary
Pawtucket to Celebrate Their Own
By Herb Weiss
Making a difference in your community can be as simple as helping your family member, neighbor, friend or work colleague, one-to-one, who are in need of a little assistance. Yes, simple acts of kindness like shoveling a side walk for an elderly or disabled neighbor, donating canned goods or even giving a donation to feed the needy, or even the act of networking to help a long-time unemployed neighbor find work, or even being a volunteer for a nonprofit or civic group, are other ways to reach out.
But some Pawtucket residents (or even former one’s, too) excel in their motivation to “go the extra mile” to making a positive impact on their beloved Pawtucket community. Enhancing their home town to strengthen its social fabric becomes their life’s mission. Founded in 1986 to commemorate the City of Pawtucket ’s 100th Anniversary, today the Pawtucket Hall of Fame has recognized 98 inductees who have made an extremely positive impact in the Birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution. Over 26 years, 18 historical figures were recognized, too.
In two weeks, the following five inductees will be recognized by the City’s Pawtucket Hall of Committee, for making a significant impact on the City as a whole.
A Voice for the Voiceless
Semi-retired businessman and philanthropist Paul Audett brings his love for the City of Pawtucket, a detailed historical knowledge of the community, combined with 50 years of work experience, to come to the aide of those in need, notes Patty Zacks, who nominated the 83 year old inductee. “He never wants or expects to be recognized for his help,” Zacks adds.
“His actions [to help] are led by his heart and done for the right reasons,” Pat says, who believes that he has been the ‘glue” that help keeps this community working together.
Mayor Donald R. Grebien, notes “He is a self-described ombudsman for the city and has worked in many instances to insure that a potential new business can navigate its way trough the “red tape” to become a successful Pawtucket business.
Former President of the Pawtucket Rotary Club, Colin Murray, also recognized Audette’s efforts to help others. “Because of his determination for making Pawtucket a better place to live and work, the Pawtucket Rotary Club awarded him the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Award, the highest civic recognition that the civic group bestows upon a individual,” he said.
s
According to Murray, as an advocate for the “voiceless” Audette served as a volunteer ombudsman for the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care, was Chair of the City’s Affirmative Action Committee, and worked for decades assisting the down and out in the community, providing financial assistance and helping them navigate the State’s regulatory process. Audette, a Pawtucket Rotarian, exemplifies the Rotary International’s motto, “Service Above Self,” Murray says.
Murray adds, since 2006, as co-founder of a nonprofit group, Helping Hands, Audette has continued assistance to local organizations that help at-risk Pawtucket youth, the homeless, and the helpless. Organizations receiving assistance include Cross Roads, Pawtucket Boys and Girls Club, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Pawtucket Salvation Army and the American Cancer Society.
Bringing Winter Wonders to Pawtucket
Janice McHale and her good friend, Jean Steizpeck, of Pawtucket , will also become 2012 inductees into the Pawtucket Hall of Fame.
Pawtucket Resident Dawn P. Goff, who chairs the Winter Wonderland Committee, recognizes McHale and Steizpeck, for creating Pawtucket ’s premier winter event. After experiencing a winter festival in California , they brought the idea to Mayor James E. Doyle, who gave her the green light to become the driving force to organize Winter Wonderland in Pawtucket .
For over a decade the two Pawtucket residents directed the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. Goff noted that last year, Winter Wonderland turned 13-years-old, showcasing 425 lighted Christmas trees, along with 20 Victorian Houses sponsored by local businesses, with a number of lighted displays. The two December weekends were jam packed with festive holiday entertainment, Goff says.
Winter Wonderland, drawing thousands of Rhode Islanders into Slater Park each December, come from two people who had a vision in 1999, Goff adds.
Besides her activities with Winter Wonderland, McHale has served on the Pawtucket Riverfront Commission, the City’s Parks and Recreation Commission, and was even the 2000 Grand Marshall of the St. Patrick Day Parade. .
America’s Legendary Jockey
John “Red” Pollard rode into American history, overcoming a physical disability of partial blindness, accepting intense physical pain caused by severe riding injuries that fractured his bones, while humbling accepting his role in racing history, as the man who rode Seabiscut, considered to be America’s most recognized thoroughbred racehorses in the nation’s history.
Lawyer John J. Partridge who nominated the late Pollard, who in his later years resided on 249 Vine Street in Darlington and worked at Narragansett Race Track, says “It is not often we can honor someone who lived a relatively quiet life while as a resident of Pawtucket, but was internationally acclaimed and twice memorialized in a motion picture, and more recently in a best-selling book [on the Tmes bestsellers list for a total of 42 weeks]. Pollard and his wife, Agnes, raised their two children, Norah and John, in Pawtucket and that the Pollards’ final resting place is in the city’s Notre Dame Cemetery .
Supporting this nomination, Mayor Grebien noted, “Between August 1936 and March 1940, Pollard rode Sea Biscuit 30 times, winning 18 races including his final start in March 1940, the year the horse and rider won the San Anita Handicap and Seabiscuit was the nation’s top money-winning thoroughbred.”
According Mayor Grebien, Pollard, “an outstanding athlete himself in a very demanding sport, mentored countless young jockeys who rode at Narragansett Roace Track.” He often provided shelter and a hot meal to many of the young jockey’s who needed a hand as they aspired to what Pollard had achieved as one of horse racing’s all-time best jockeys, the Mayor said.
.
A native of Alberta , Canada , Pollard was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1982, says Tom Cosgrove, Archivist Tom Cosgrove, who says, “his name will be forever linked to the days when thoroughbred racing, boxing, and baseball were the only sports in America that truly mattered.
Terence J. Meyocks says that Pollard “holds a special place in Jockey’s Guild history because he was one of the founding fathers of the Guild in 1940. He joined other leading jockey’s at the time including Eddie Arcaro, John Longden and Charles Kurtsinger, to create the Guild, which represents the health and safety interests of jockeys everywhere.”
Unsung Civil War Hero
Finally, Pawtucket resident, Dale Rogers, nominated Lt. Colonel Henry Harrison Young, who becomes this years’ historical inductee. “Young distinguished himself and his unit throughout the war by furnishing excellent intelligence on Confederate troop movements and by oftentimes even donning Confederate uniforms to either kidnap southern soldiers or gather valuable information for General Sheridan.
According to Roger’s the Civil War veteran was dispatched at the war’s end to the Texas border to round up Confederate renegades who were making raids, where he lost his life in an ambush. A statute was dedicated to this Pawtucket resident in the City of Providence in Burnside park (across from the Biltmore, near the skating rink), for his heroics.
To purchase tickets ($30 each) for the Friday, October 26th Pawtucket Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony, scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Lefoyer Club on Fountain St. , call Rick Goldstein, at (401) 728-0500, Ext. 348.
Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who covers aging, health care and medical issues. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.
