News & Features
April 2005

Lucy Stone Award to honor Brookfield’s Ron Couture
By Marguerite Geis
Quaboag Historical Society Secretary

The Quaboag Historical Society, in recognition of the Commonwealth's designated Lucy Stone Day, March 8, 2005, is pleased to announce the winner of the annual Lucy Stone Achievement Award. Lucy Stone Day, honoring one of West Brookfield's most renown citizens, was signed into law by then governor, Paul Cellucci, on Dec. 22, 1998, the result of a bill co-sponsored by State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre.

Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield, Aug. 13, 1818. She was one of the first women in Massachusetts to receive a four-year college degree. After graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio, she returned to the Commonwealth to work as a lecturer for the abolitionist movement in the years prior to the Civil War. She expanded her field of endeavors to include being an active participant in the 19th-century crusade for equal rights for all individuals, and establishing The Woman’s Journal, the foremost women's suffrage newspaper of the time. When she died in October 1893, her last words to her daughter, Alice, were "make the world better.” The Quaboag Historical Society has used those words as a guideline for recognizing and honoring a resident of the Quaboag Plantation area who has given outstanding voluntary services to the local community.

The 2005 recipient of the Lucy Stone Achievement Award is Ron Couture of Brookfield. Mr. Couture received a number of nomination letters from residents of Brookfield, listing his many community service activities.

Mr. Couture will be honored at the Historical Society's Annual Meeting Luncheon, Sunday, April 24, to be held at Ye Olde Tavern, Main Street, West Brookfield from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Mr. Couture will receive a personalized trophy and a $100 U.S. Savings Bond from the Society in recognition of his outstanding and selfless community service over the past years.

Other nominees considered for this year's award were: Ms. Susie Mulliken, New Braintree; Mr. John J. Murphy, West Brookfield; Mr. William Simpson, Brookfield; Mrs. Barbara Wilson, Brookfield; and Mrs. Sylvia G. Buck, Warren. Their dedicated efforts "to make the world better" enhance the quality of life for all the residents living within the original Quaboag Plantation.

Previous winners of the Lucy Stone Achievement award are: Mrs. Connie Small (1999 - New Braintree); Mr. Paul Walker (2000 - New Braintree); Mrs. Gertrude Dill (2001 - West Brookfield); Mrs. Jane Dolan (2002 - Warren); Mr. Richard Fiske (2003 - North Brookfield); and Mr. Philip Peirce (2004 – Brookfield).

The Quaboag Historical Society Annual Meeting Luncheon is open to the public. Anyone interested in attending the luncheon honoring Mr. Ron Couture may call the Historical Society secretary at 413-436-9212 for additional information.