Honoring those who serve behind the scenes

'Unsung' women to receive awards

Catherine Thompson is recognized for her contributions to the community. (Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

As the wife of one of Georgetown's most active community leaders, Catherine "Buffy" Thompson has been the woman behind the man - as well as their six kids - for years.

She has also been the woman behind the camera, the longtime photographer and videographer of community and sports events.

"I was on the [middle-high] school council, and was responsible for letting people know what was going on," said Thompson, 72, who is married to former 18-year selectman Paul Thompson. She and her friend, Starr Anderson, "felt the best way to do that was to video things and put it on cable. Anything that was going on, we would record it the best we could."

For that record of community contribution, Thompson will be among many women honored this spring as one of the commonwealth's "Unsung Heroines," whose quiet contributions make their communities a better place.

"It's an important award," said Representative Harriett Stanley, Democrat of West Newbury, who nominated Thompson. "People like me get all the recognition we'll ever need, but there are people who do just as much work as we do who never get a mention."

Across the region and the state, women from nearly every Massachusetts community will be honored for contributions that until now have been given little fanfare.

In all, 287 women will be honored at the State House in a May 14 ceremony sponsored by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, which created the event five years ago.

"There was a desire to create a signature event, and [we] wanted to do something different from what other people were doing," said Linda Brantley, executive director. "Keeping with our mission, we fell upon this 'unsung' concept. Rightfully so, there are many women getting accolades all the time for the good work that they're doing. But we also know that there are lots of women who are quietly volunteering or doing good work for their organizations and their communities that go too often unnoticed, unrecognized."

Originally the event was a small one. Three years ago, at the direction of new commissioner Helen Corbett of Middleton, the agency expanded the event to honor a woman from every community in the state.

"It's a hard goal to meet, but it's been wonderful learning about what women are doing, every day across the commonwealth, to improve the lives of others and the communities they live in," Brantley said.

Those who have been honored run the age range from 16 years to those in their 90s, Brantley said.

The winners are selected by an independent committee that selects from nominations that come from boards of selectmen, school superintendents, state legislators, business owners, and churches. Frances deLacvivier was nominated by the Wenham Board of Selectmen for her work establishing the Wenham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Janet James of Rockport, chairwoman of the board of trustees at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, was nominated by Perkins president Steven Rothstein, who wrote that "her contributions can be seen on almost every aspect of life and program at Perkins."

Conservation activist Polly Bradley was nominated by Kathy Leahy, director of North Shore advocacy for the Massachusetts Audubon Society headquarters in Wenham. Bradley was a cofounder and remains an active member of the Nahant-based environmental group Safer Waters in Massachusetts, which has advocated for clean-water efforts on the state and federal levels.

"Polly has just been a grass-roots environmentalist as a volunteer leader in a way that few people I know have," Leahy said.

Rewards such as this are a good way to continue to motivate grass-roots advocates who take on challenges that they often don't win, Leahy noted.

As Stanley noted, most do it not for the recognition, but simply to contribute to their communities.

"I'm very humbled, but have never actually given it a thought," Thompson said. "Both Starr and I have done things for the town and our families and never even thought about it. It's just been part of being a mother, and a good, active person in the community."

• Searched
• E-Mailed