Healing & Looking Ahead
Plus Essex Heritage Announces Heritage Hero Award Recipients to Be Honored this Spring

It is a tremendous pleasure to once again be able to contribute my reflections about the people, places and rich resources that together, comprise all that is truly wonderful about this region and its designation as the Essex National Heritage Area. I have so much to be thankful for...

In December, I contracted a serious blood infection that severely compromised my vital systems. On the morning of December 8, 2010, my family was faced with the decision to save my life, and at my medical’s team recommendation, doctors removed my part of my left leg. Each day since has been a gift.  We are extremely pleased with my progress to date and I have already begun the process of being fitted for prosthesis.   It has taken many weeks, but I have begun to recover my strength and abilities and return to a few of my favorite activities – like writing this column and my Essex Heritage Blog.

My family and I want to personally thank all of my friends and associates for the incredible outpouring of cards, messages, mass intention, thoughts, prayers and other mementos that we have received since I was hospitalized.  We are also most thankful for the wonderful medical support and therapeutic care I have received during my ordeal. I have set a series of goals for myself and with the help of a loving family and a strong group of friends and associates; I am certain I will achieve most of or all of my goals. Thank you all once again for your kind thoughts but particularly for your prayers which to date have been answered.

I am therefore most pleased to assist Essex Heritage and the National Park Service in announcing the names of the 2011 Heritage Hero Award recipients. Mark your calendars to join us on Thursday evening, May 19th at the Daversport Yacht Club, Danvers, when honors and accolades are bestowed on Dr. Wayne Burton, President of the North Shore Community College, The Honorable Kimberley Driscoll, Mayor of Salem, and Mr. Wayne Marquis, Town Manager of Danvers. All three of these individuals are personally known to me and are widely recognized as dedicated public servants whose individual and collective contributions have fostered regional initiatives that overcome traditional barriers, promote collaborations across communities and help to advance our quality of life in the Heritage Area.

I have had the privilege of knowing Dr. Wayne Burton since he arrived on the North Shore to become Dean of the School of Business at Salem State College, before becoming President of NSCC in 2000.  Wayne recruited my participation in a Business Advisory Group that was charged with promoting the Business School program within the North Shore corporate community. When Wayne became President of North Shore Community College, I had the honor of speaking at his inaugural ceremony, and I continued my association with him as a member of the NSCC Foundation Board. Concurrently, Dr. Burton lent his support to the early years of the Essex National Heritage Commission as a founding Trustee and continues to provide counsel as a Trustee Emeritus. We applaud his focus on regional initiatives, like expanding the NSCC campus across the region, to include Lynn and Beverly; for his role in expanding the Essex Agricultural and North Shore Voc Tech educational opportunities and for his leadership in helping to launch the North Shore Alliance for Economic Development.

Mayor Kim Driscoll has become a rising star among elected public servants in our region, in large measure due to her can-do approach to many of the challenges facing local government today. Mayor Driscoll recognizes the value of public-private partnership, working closely with the Salem Partnership, Salem State University, local and regional Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations and Essex Heritage to help drive economic development and cultural tourism in our region. She holds our National Park Service sites and assets in high esteem and works closely with all levels of government to advance the quality of life for Salem and regional residents.

As a Danvers native, I have had the pleasure of working closely with Town Manager Wayne Marquis for many years, on the Danvers Council on Aging and as a member of the Town Finance Committee.  Year after year, Wayne works tirelessly on behalf of the public good and is considered by many to be among the best municipal administrators in the region. He continues to work behind the scenes promoting regional initiatives that improve our quality of life and is recognized for his role in organizing cross-municipal support for the North Shore Voc Tech effort.

Essex Heritage and the National Park Service applaud the professional public service of these esteemed regional leaders and look forward to honoring them as Heritage Heroes this spring. More information about the Essex Heritage hero Event and our Honorees can be found here.

In addition to a much broader use of the website, Essex Heritage also communicates using traditional methods like this monthly column and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as well as using other non traditional methods like the Essex Happenings BLOG that I post information to three times a week that can be accessed at www.essexhappenings.blogspot.com.

Thomas M. Leonard is President Emeritus of the Essex National Heritage Commission, Inc., the nonprofit management entity of the Essex National Heritage Area, and can be reached by clicking here.