Nancy English, left, and Thomas Bernard were recognized for their volunteer efforts at the veterans services office at City Hall. Tina Samson is behind English.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Two volunteers who have been working in the veterans services office at City Hall for several years were recognized on Monday morning for their efforts.
Nancy English, widow of a Korean War veteran, and Thomas Bernard, a former educator and Korean War veteran, were presented with proclamations from Mayor Richard Alcombright and a cake with an American flag on it.
Alcombright said many people had helped in building up the veterans office as it has come to represent a number of North County towns over the past few years, particularly Veterans Agent Stephen Roy and his assistant Tina Samson, but English and Bernard also have been instrumental in its success.
"I truly believe it's the volunteer effort that you two bring to this office that allows [Roy and Samson] to focus on serving the veterans in the way they do ... if we didn't have you guys we'd be in a bad way."
In the proclamation, Roy described English as "just about the sweetest and feistiest lady any of us are likely to encounter anytime soon."
He recalled how she had come into the office one day, back when he had been working alone, with "the phones ringing off the hook, there's people lined up at the counter." She'd offered her time and, since, has been entering records into the computer system and giving "significant assistance" dealing with veterans on the phone.
"It's an amazing amount of work she's done," he said, adding the 82-year-old had quickly become adept at Excel.
English had recently taken a fall but it hasn't slowed her down.
"I'd always come down to help Steve because he works so hard and our veterans deserve this office and I'm glad it's here for them," she said.
Bernard's been pecking away on a more low-tech typewriter as the office's archivist, going through stacks of old boxes of records from North Adams, Adams and, soon, Williamstown.
"There are literally hundreds of thousands of old records, old files, old military discharge records," said Roy. "What Tom has done with an old typewriter is nothing short of astonishing."
The veterans agent said some records go back to the 1898 Spanish-American War but was quickly corrected by Bernard, a former history teacher in the North Adams Public Schools.
"We go back all the way to the French and Indian War, back to the 1750s," Bernard said, adding that he volunteered as the office historian, because "I had the time and I guess I thought I should do something for my fellow veterans."
The event and the small party that followed was attended by family members, including English's daughter, Terri English-Murach, and Bernard's wife, Jane, and son Tom, and City Hall employees.
"My mother always told me that the greatest gift that you can give anyone is the gift of time," said the mayor. "That's what you two give each and every day here for the veterans and for the community."
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Nancy English, left, and Thomas Bernard were recognized for their volunteer efforts at the veterans services office at City Hall. Tina Samson is behind English.
