
Outside her shop, Cupola Hollow, Kathy proudly holds her certificate of appreciation from the State of Connecticut honoring her many years of dedicated work in Suffield.
Many people in Suffield know Kathy Dunai, our Town Clerk since 2014, who retired in December. She has been an integral part of the Town Hall, where she and her crew were responsible for keeping the official records for the Town. She was responsible for recording, maintaining and certifying land records, vital statistics, minutes and agendas of Suffield’s Boards and Commissions as well as other Town records – an important job. She remembers first working with Town Clerk Elaine O’Brien back before modern technology was available, and they had to handwrite ballot information. During COVID, Kathy and her department continued to go to work at the satellite office on Ffyler Place as they handled regular and COVID recordings, in addition to overseeing the renovations of their offices in town hall.
The Town Clerk handles lots of marriage license requests, sometimes coming from a resident who is looking to get married to an inmate at our local prison. License requests require both parties to apply together so it wasn’t unusual for Kathy to go to the prison to see this was accomplished. Kathy created procedures that made this process more uniform for local town clerks who had similar requests. Kathy is very proud of the work she did as Town Clerk.
Kathy grew up in town on her parents’ farm. She has had a farming mind-set her whole life and appreciates the hard work, perseverance and joy that working the land brings. She has two grown daughters, Amanda, Ashley and her husband Dan, and her two grandchildren, Casey and Mackenzie.
Early on in her career, Kathy was a school bus driver to finish out her father’s contract with the Town of Suffield. In 1977, she became a Medical Response Technician on the newly formed Suffield Ambulance, where she would return to volunteer in 2012 alongside her daughter. In 1978 she joined the Suffield Police Department as one of the first Civilian Police Dispatchers. In 1980 she became one of the first part time Supernumerary police officers with the Suffield Police Department continuing part time for the next 10 years. She graduated from the CT Police Academy spanning 580 hours of training over a five-year period. Some of her best memories were of working alongside the policemen in town. She does remember that it took a while before she was given any kind of real police work, though, as she was low on the totem pole as a newer police officer, which made her work all that harder. Early on, she took the jobs of overseeing school dances and basketball games at the high school and working on New Year’s Eve to get her time outside the station in the cruiser.
Kathy was involved in the building of the new police station on Mountain Road, and she remembers lots of interesting parts of her police work including plane crashes, power outages, a murder, a Sweet Life strike, Oktoberfests and accidents of several kinds.
Never one to let any grass grow under her feet, Kathy and her sister Donna, ran the Farmer’s Daughter restaurant for years which provided dough for the fried dough booth at the Fireman’s Carnival for years. She and her daughter Amanda ran the Fire Department 5K for several years that took place in May. As an appreciation for all her service, Kathy was made a lifetime member of the Suffield Firefighters Association.
Cupola Hollow, Kathy’s farm stand, is celebrating its 20th year in business, providing delicious jams, jellies, baked goods, pies and cookies along with other local delicacies.
A party to celebrate Kathy’s retirement was held by her friends and family at the VFW hall on December 13 and was enjoyed by all who came to show their love and congratulations to a member of the community who’s only retiring from Town Clerk, not from her connection to the Suffield community. Enjoy your retirement, Kathy!