Longtime volunteer Peter Uhry saluted for community work
GREENWICH — A longtime volunteer who has worked on community improvement projects in Old Greenwich and elsewhere for decades was honored last week.
Peter Uhry was presented with a proclamation from First Selectman Fred Camillo, a plaque and a bottle of Champagne at the Sound Beach Fire House Monday.
“He’s absolutely an inspiration,” said Carolyn E. Petersen, president of the Old Greenwich Association, a neighborhood and civic group, “He’s a font of information and seems to know everything about Old Greenwich.
And he’s eager, thoughtful and dedicated.”
Uhry has been active in environmental causes since the 1970s, when he joined the local chapter of the Audubon Society, and later became its president. He has been active in long-range planning and preservation for Binney Park and other natural resources in the area.
“Binney Park has extraordinary bones,” Uhry said. “It was an award-winner when it was first built, and it continues, even when it needs attention, to be rewarding to anyone who is able to get into it.”
He helped organize efforts to clean, clear and maintain trails in Old Greenwich.
Uhry was instrumental in beautification projects in the Old Greenwich business district. He enabled the Old Greenwich Association to fund the first installation of holiday lights on the new light poles in Binney Park, and he assisted in other beautification projects.
Still active as a volunteer, Uhry is a longtime member of the Old Greenwich Yacht Club and he was a past president of the Retired Men’s Association. He is on the board of Greenwich Green and Clean, and working with the town Parks and Recreation on pickleball options.
Uhry is working on longrange planning and preservation efforts at other nature areas in town.
The longtime volunteer was president of the Old Greenwich Association three times in the past. Petersen said the association was reviving a previous tradition of bestowing a volunteer service award, and Uhry was a natural choice.
Uhry worked as a magazine sales representative and a publishing manager before retirement. He and his wife, Sydney, enjoy hiking, travel and art, according to the Old Greenwich Association. The couple live in the Riverside neighborhood, moving out of Old Greenwich after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.