Paul Harris Presentation

The club was honored today, to present Lucy Miller with her third Paul Harris Award.  Lucy's generosity and kindness have resulted in her receiving the Masonic "DeWitt Clinton" Award, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation Axel Carlson Award, the Woman of the Year Award, and three Paul Harris Fellows among others.  She loves music, playing the saxophone, trombone, hand bells, organ, and the piano of course, playing for Little Theatre, Junior Guilders, Jamestown High School and many area churches.  Lucy not only loves music but her community and her family.  She is the mother of 5, grandmother of 11, great grandmother of 20 and also has a great great grandchild. Her volunteer service includes St. Susan's Center, Audubon, the Humane Society, Lutheran and Tanglewood.  But nowhere does Lucy's love of music and her love for her community shine more than with her involvement with the Lucille Ball Little Theatre and the Junior Guilders program.

 

Lucy's good friend of 50 years, Helen Merrill, came to the Rotary meeting to honor her friend, what she didn't realize was that Lucy was also honoring her.  As a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Lucy can present a Paul Harris Award to someone else of her choosing.  Lucy chose her friend and colleague Helen for that honor.  Lucy and Helen are similar in their love for family, community and music.  Helen is the mother of 2 sons, and has two grandsons.  Her husband and high school sweet heart is our own Norm Merrill.  She volunteers at WCA Hospital, the American Heart Association, Easter Seals, the cancer center, PTA, and of course at Little Theatre, where she is a full time volunteer.  She has received many awards including the Masonic "DeWitt Clinton" Award, the Sertoma Service to Mankind Award, the American Heart Association Friend of Heart, S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. Award of Harmony and the Woman of the Year Award.  Although she has worked as a real estate salesperson and a beautician it is her work with Little Theatre that Helen is best known for.  She has directed 6 plays, acted in 12 plays and musicals, directed over 40 musicals and co-founded the Junior Guilders over thirty years ago.  Together Lucy and Helen have taken the Guilders to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Universal Studios, Disney World (4 times), the Kennedy Center, the White House, England, and Paris, and they aren't finished yet.