The North Yarmouth Events Committee is happy to recognize Phyllis Smith as North Yarmouth’s Distinguished Citizen for 2008. This award is given to a resident who has made a significant contribution to the improvement of our town through volunteer civic activities. Over the years, scores of North Yarmouth volunteers have given valuable expertise, assistance and time to guarantee that our town grow and develop thoughtfully and effectively. These are people who have looked around and seen the need for change and have taken the next step: They have pitched in to get the work done. North Yarmouth volunteers continue to lay the groundwork for citizen participation yet to come.

Phyllis, with a history of nearly seventy years volunteering in North Yarmouth, has come to exemplify the meaning of “volunteerism.” When Wescustogo Hall was nothing more than a foundation and a dream, she worked alongside others to plan and hold suppers to raise money for its completion. That same hall comes alive almost every day with Boy and Girl Scout troop meetings, teen groups, family events, classes, and town meetings and functions. Starting with those early Wescustogo fundraising days, Phyllis made her famous “homemade biscuits”—and untold numbers of happy diners continue to anticipate and enjoy them at bean suppers and chicken pie suppers.

As a founding member of the Fire Company’s Ladies Auxiliary, she is active to this day. When North Yarmouth’s Fire Company originally conceived of an annual town celebration, Phyllis came up with the title of “Funday.” The Ladies and the Grange worked together to organize this happy event for many years, laying the foundation for an ongoing tradition.

Throughout the years, Phyllis worked hard for the town and its organizations while bringing up three daughters; serving as a “right hand woman” to her husband Hermie (our town’s Fire Chief ); working for a time as North Yarmouth’s Town Treasurer and Tax Collector; and organizing and caring for her family and many in our community. She is the best example we have of deciding that volunteering is a “choice” and that life is never too busy to give back. We are grateful that she chose to make North Yarmouth a better place to live.

Thank you, Phyllis!