The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Activist garners Citizen of Year honor
Since Alice Fish moved to Concord Township more than 15 years ago she has steadfastly worked to enhance the community in numerous ways.
Her efforts were recently recognized by the township trustees who named her the 2019 Concord Township Citizen of the Year.
The honor was bestowed during the Concord Township Community Day celebration last month.
“Alice is quick to volunteer her time and energy to community needs,” said Concord Township Recreation Director Debra Esker. “Through her dedication to our community, she sets an example of the values of good citizenship.”
Many of her contributions grow from leadership in the Concord Garden Club, an active community group since its inception in 1961.
Fish has led the club in several capacities including president, and continues to collaborate with members on multiple initiatives.
“Alice…has been instrumental in information gathering and acting upon decisions the long-range planning and giving committee has made,” said Concord resident and garden club member Arlene Toivonen. “It is gratifying to count her as a friend as well as an outstanding member of the Concord Garden Club.”
Fish chairs the committee which considers donations to area organizations, initiating community projects and other endeavors.
She also employs her extensive knowledge of nature and gardening to beautify the township by selecting appropriate sites and suitable plantings.
Recently she assisted with choosing and installing new landscaping at Concord Hills Park situated off of Hoose Road.
“(Concord Township) is a nice place to live and to retire,” she said. “I hope they take care with the development to protect it. That’s why I think it’s so important to keep planting things. I wanted to carry on what those past presidents had started.
“People don’t want to step up to leadership, but it’s really not hard when you have a group that’s so wonderful to work with.”
In 2017 Fish’s environmental handiwork earned her the club’s Gardener of the Year honor.
Looking ahead to Concord’s Bicentennial Celebration in 2022, the community activist is an integral part of the planning committee that will help to shape the event.
“I really am on (the committee) because I like living in Concord,” she said. “It still feels like a small town where you can feel involved, where you can still work with the trustees and administrators. They’re good people.”
Fish is also actively involved at St. James Episcopal Church in Painesville.
In addition to working with other church members raising funds to feed the needy, she also serves as a Eucharist visitor and provides pastoral care, reaching out when help is needed with transportation, shopping and more.
Betty Leiby, who was named Concord Citizen of the Year in 2018, says that Fish is well-deserving of her recent honor.
“Alice…is a very capable person, open minded, and willing to dedicate the time necessary to accomplish whatever the goal for a particular project,” Leiby said. “She investigates thoroughly any project she takes on, and supports it to its end.
“She lives a Christian life and considers others before herself,” Leiby added. “She is concerned for the ecology and promotes any worthwhile effort to make Concord a wholesome community.”
Citizen of the Year nomination forms are available on the Concord Township website in early spring each year, and the honor is awarded at Community Day every August.
The process of selecting Citizen of the Year starts with the nomination process. Anyone can nominate a Concord resident, and once the nomination form is completed by a deadline date, the selection committee then reviews the forms and selects a person based on factors such as commitment to community and volunteer work.