Photo by Lester Smith
Lauren Life, who was honored for exceptional service and recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow by the Suffield Rotary Club on June 28, responds to the honor with happy gratitude.
The following material is excerpted from Scott Seabury’s remarks to the Suffield Rotary Club when Lauren Life was named a Paul Harris Fellow.
Rotarians designate a Paul Harris Fellow as a tribute to a person whose life demonstrates a shared purpose with the objectives of this club and the Rotary Foundation. It is one of the most prestigious awards in Rotary . . .
Lauren was appointed to the Suffield Board of Education in September of 2005 and served on the Policy, Facilities, Transportation and Personnel subcommittees. . . . She is a past member of the Friends of Suffield and has been Chairperson for the Suffield on the Green, and Relay For Life. Lauren is a Board member of the Suffield Public Library foundation. . . .
At The Suffield Observer, she is a past Editor-of-the-Month, a Board member, present Chairman and Volunteer Manager. . . . Lauren is a past President of the Suffield Foundation for Excellent Schools, and she also chaired the very first SFES auction dinner dance fundraiser, which cleared over $50,000. . . .
Along with being a Youth Ministry teacher at Sacred Heart Church, Lauren has been a teacher and the Lead Administrator at the Heritage Academy in Longmeadow. . . . [She has been a] Soccer and field hockey coach for the Suffield Recreation Department; assistant coach of the Suffield Travel Basketball Club; and past President of the Suffield Platform Tennis Association.
In addition to all of this, she is the loving wife to Larry, and mother of two wonderful daughters, Lindsay and Leah.
I’ll conclude with some eloquent remarks from Johanne Presser: “Lauren is not just a person who hops from one committee to another, but is loyal to, and serves her organizations for many years – often simultaneously – and she usually takes over the reins (to everyone’s delight) because she gets things done. . . . She is one who has done much more than her fair share to better life in Suffield. She is loyal, level headed, hardworking, funny, optimistic, and enthusiastic, but beneath that friendly and supportive exterior beats a competitive heart which makes her a great team player.”