Charlestown woman named Springfield Senior of the Year

Life-long New Hampshire resident Mary Gray has been named 2015 Springfield Senior of the Year for her dedication to the Springfield Senior Center.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150430/NEWS02/704309897

Mary Gray, 86, named Senior of the Year By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | April 30,2015 Mary Gray SPRINGFIELD — Mary Gray and her husband used to come over to the former Idlenot Farm Dairy in North Springfield for milk — bottled milk for Gray’s Dairy in neighboring Charlestown, N.H. Gray, who is 86 (almost 87) has continued coming over to Springfield since long after the family’s milk route stopped. On Wednesday, she was named Springfield’s 2015 Senior of the Year. She was was serenaded by the 2014 Senior of the Year, Frank Forcier, with a song he had written about Gray to the tune of “Give My Regards to Broadway” — “Give My Regards to Mary.” Gray was the top choice of her fellow members of the Springfield Senior Citizens Center. The Grays had a milk route for two decades, she recalled Wednesday. “We delivered house to house for 20 years,” Gray said. “They don’t do that anymore,” she said with a sweet smile. She said that she had been responsible for handling the dairy’s books. Other seniors honored were Val Woodbury, who was runner-up, and Cindy Wooton, who was elected to the honor roll. A native of Francestown, N.H., Gray moved to the Connecticut River Valley with her husband in 1949. Together they raised eight children — five of their own, and three from her husband’s first marriage; his first wife left him a widower. “I had a big family,” she said, noting that two of her children still live in the area, including Gary Gray, who just retired as president of the Connecticut River Bank. Gray said she started coming to the Springfield Center about 10 years ago for the exercise classes — aerobics and strengthening. And, she said, after being crowned with a tiara and dressed with a corsage, the people seemed so friendly that she kept coming back. When Springfield Senior Center Director Terri Emerson announced Gray’s selection Wednesday afternoon, there was a loud gasp, and even louder applause. As Emerson’s tribute noted, “this recognition is long overdue.” “Mary is a great example of what the Senior Center is all about — she has a warm and welcoming smile and she is willing to do whatever needs to be done,” said Emerson. “Her cooking is always so good and she ‘swims the river without any fuss,’” he added. In addition to bragging rights, Gray received gifts from area businesses. Emerson noted that Wednesday marked the 44th annual senior award, which was started a few years after the senior center was founded 52 years ago. During those 52 years, Emerson said, it has only had three directors: founding director Eleanor Hilliard, who was director from 1963-1990; Katherine “Kay” Mitchell, director from 1990-1999, and Emerson, who has been director since 1999. Emerson said that 23 seniors received votes in the balloting for the top senior award, with 78 people casting votes.