“Our award winner’s achievements have helped shape Washington into the coveted "small-town American" community we enjoy.  Her contributions have been critical to many of the core organizations that lay the foundation for the services and events we have all come to depend on in Washington.  While her contributions are far too many to count, I would like to highlight a few of them:

• As a 12-year member of the Washington Fire Department Auxiliary, an organization she is currently the Treasurer of, she has raised countless dollars for the Washington Fire Department through the annual pumpkin and soda bread sale and the Washington Volunteer Firemen’s Carnival for which she is a key organizer. She has also helped to feed our busy firemen, cooking meals for them while they are out in the field.

• In her role as Director of the New Preston Boys Club, she was the driving force that kept this organization thriving for years.

• She was also a beloved den mother for our local Cub and Boy Scout troops and has organized and volunteered at the annual Relay for Life and Swanson/Horrigan Tournament.

• As an active Committee member for the Shepaug Youth Association, she has.....

One of the things I find most admirable about our winner is that she has never shied away from projects that require mostly behind-the-scenes work or physical effort. She is always the first to volunteer for those tougher projects, and she does so happily, putting her heart and soul into everything she does. 

As this award has highlighted over the years, we are truly blessed with countless citizens who give of themselves day after day. Our award winner this year, stands among you, proudly and humbly making the Washington of tomorrow greater than what it was yesterday. Her positive approach to life and her ability to make things happen without the need to be showcased is inspiring to all that know her.

Please join me in congratulating this year’s winner of the Major Stephen Reich Award for Exceptional Citizenship: Clair Wilber.”