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It is a pleasure to present this year’s Senior King, Joseph Meekins, and Senior Queen, Claire Nicolosi. The Senior King and Queen honors are part of Newburyport’s annual Yankee Homecoming celebration.
Our Senior King, Joseph Meekins, or “Joe”, has been a twenty-year resident of Amesbury, Massachusetts. Born May 3, 1947, he is father to three children, two sons and a daughter, and grandfather of four. Words like “gentlemen” and “friend” frequently are mentioned when others speak about Joe. As a communicant at the Holy Family Parish in Amesbury, Joe was instrumental in organizing the church’s shipments of clothing and furniture to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. For weeks, his own home was a drop-off center for donations to the relief effort, and because of his efforts, three tractor trailers full of clothing, furniture, and other goods were sent to Katrina victims. Joe has also traveled to New Orleans on several occasions to help the victims rebuild their homes. He has opened his home in Amesbury to many of those families, offering them a break from the monumental task facing them in New Orleans.
Closer to home, Joe has been a wonderful neighbor, helping neighbors out however possible, including helping them repair yard equipment. He also volunteers his time driving a fifty-year-old friend who is blind and deaf to Watertown three or four times a weeks to allow him to volunteer at the Braille and Talking Book Library at the Perkins School for the Blind.
Our Senior Queen, Claire Nicolosi, is a resident of Newbury, Massachusetts, residing on Plum Island Born April 18, 1934, Claire moved to Plum Island with her husband in 1986, becoming a permanent resident in 1989 upon her retirement from the Andover School System. Dedicated to helping others, she soon realized after making the island her home that there was no affordable childcare or even a schedule of playtime opportunities available, particularly during the winter months. To fill this need, she started the Plum Island playgroup, charging only one dollar per family to purchase materials for the children’s playtime and artistic ventures. With the help of her husband and a few other mothers, Claire was able to gather donated items and build easels, tables, and chairs for the group, which continued to provide opportunities for families on the island for ten years. In addition to the Plum Island playgroup, Claire and her husband used their artistic talents as woodcarvers to create the sign currently on the Bartlett Mall as well as the sign at the Plum Island Taxpayers Association (PITA) Hall. Carved with gold leaf, both were donated by the Nicolosi family to the community.
In the late nineties, Claire and a neighbor volunteered to list every property on Plum Island’s Newbury side to ensure that all houses had a visible number. They also met the challenge of naming the streets that had gone unnamed for years so that the town’s new 911 system would be able to be effective to the island’s many residents. Claire’s devotion to her husband was evident to all those who know her, as she nursed him at home through the last ten years of his life during his battle with Alzheimer’s. She remains active in her church and community, continuing her lifelong devotion to children by donating a number of hours each week to childcare and, last year, volunteering as a reading aide for first-graders in the Newbury School System.
For all their efforts, Joseph Meekins and Claire Nicolosi have been named this year’s Senior King and Senior Queen. We look forward to your joining us as we gather to celebrate this recognition of their volunteer endeavors.
The Senior King and Queen will be honored at Atria Merrimack Place on July 30th, 2008 from 4:00PM. Also, they will ride in a convertible in the Yankee Homecoming Parade August. 3rd, 2008.
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