Hello friends and neighbors!

Last week’s New Year Potluck Social at the Town Office was well attended and lots of fun. Thanks to Gaye, Dedee, and Martha for spearheading the event, as well as all of those who contributed food to make the evening both enjoyable and delicious! The History Committee provided a beautiful sheet cake sporting the town logo along with a congratulatory message for Westport’s own Bill Cooney, who is retiring from that group.

Westport Island is fortunate to have a lot of folks who volunteer their time to make the Island a better place. But perhaps no one has made more quiet contributions than Bill Cooney. Bill is a modest person who does not seek the spotlight, so having George acknowledge his efforts last week may have been difficult. But Bill should be recognized for the years he has spent unassumingly working behind the scenes to make things happen.

Over the years Bill has served on the Island’s Cemetery Committee to help maintain the 50-plus graveyards containing many deteriorating headstones on Westport. Bill is also part of the Town Hall Committee, which means he helps clean and maintain our historic building as well as providing support for the many activities held there sponsored by the Westport Community Association (WCA). Bill was the muscle behind the beautiful quilt display at the recent WCA Summer Anniversary Celebration. Not only is Bill a good sport about participating in square dances and Halloween parties, but also he sticks around to the bitter end to help clean up, sweep up, and close up the building. Furthermore, Bill and his wife Jill are probably the most consistent workers at every annual spring Island Clean Up. If there is trash along the road, Bill stops to pick it up regardless of the day.

Last week’s recognition, however, was all about the efforts Bill Cooney has given to the History Committee from 2008-2017. Bill has been an invaluable resource for preserving, researching, and documenting the history of Westport Island. He has written historical pieces for annual town reports, found and organized historical material from every storage spot imaginable, facilitated a grant to digitize lantern slides, scanned letters of Sarah Tarbox, transcribed journals of Susan Greenleaf-Hodgdon, documented the history of Captain John Tibbetts, provided assistance to visitors researching their ancestors’ history, scanned historical news columns, and recently helped during the highly successful WCA Cemetery Tour. All this and more, Mr. Cooney has humbly and willingly contributed.

An official Thank You was presented to Bill from the town, the History Committee, and the Board of Selectmen for Bill’s research, enthusiasm, and generous gift of time and expertise to the activities of the Westport Island History Committee. Congratulations, Bill! You are an incredible role model in how to be a good citizen.

If you have events, news, or accolades for anyone on Westport Island, contact your newshound pat-dick@midcoast.com or call 231-4049.