Manlius — The 17th annual Distinguished Citizens of the Year award reception soon will be held to recognize outstanding citizens and organizations in the town of Manlius.
The reception is sponsored by the Greater Manlius Chamber of Commerce and recognizes local citizens and organizations that have shown exemplary actions in four categories — non-profit of the year, public servant of the year, educator of the year and citizen of the year.
The dinner awards will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 11, at Drumlins Country Club, 800 Nottingham Road in Syracuse. Tickets are $43 per person and reservations can be made by calling 637-4760 with a credit card. Reservations must be made before the event.
This year’s recipients that will be honored at the dinner are: the Manlius Historical Society, non-profit of the year; Dan Kinsella, public servant of the year; Shawn Heber, educator of the year; and Jeannine Masucci, citizen of the year.
The Manlius Historical Society was officially dedicated in 1976 with the purpose of creating a local history museum that local citizens could enjoy and utilize. The Manlius Historical Society received its absolute charter from the NYS Education Department in 1990.
The Cheney House Research Center, a late 1920s bungalow, was donated to the Manlius Historical Society in 1978 by the Cheney family. It contains the Manlius Historical Society office, the Channing Soule Library, collections storage, research and meeting space. The library now has over 500 volumes and more than 8,000 documents and photographs related to local history.
The Manlius Historical Society is located at 109 Pleasant St. in Manlius. To learn more about it, call 682-6600 or go to manliushistory.org.
Public servant of the year recipient Kinsella is a lifelong resident of the village and a former mathematics educator at Chittenango High School, where he worked for 37 years and served as coach for many sports. While at Chittenango High School, Kinsella met his wife Joan, who was an art teacher, and the couple raised three sons, Even, Bret and Ryan, and now have five grandchildren.
continued — Kinsella has served on the Fayetteville Village Board as a trustee for the past 36 years, and has been involved as a volunteer with the fire department and as an usher at Immaculate Conception Church.
Hebert was named the educator of the year for his work as musical director at the F-M High School at Christ Church. Hebert graduated with honors from the Crane School of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree and earned a Master of Music in Music Performance from Miami University. Hebert is on faculty at F-M High School where he conducts the chorale, concert choir, “Basses Loaded” (men’s a cappella) and a swing jazz choir. Among his other duties at F-M, Hebert teaches A.P. Music Theory, voice class, voice lessons and is the vocal music director of the musical and stage director of the musical.
Citizen of the year Masucci is the owner of Manlius Jewelry and Repair, located at 131 W. Seneca St. in Manlius. She is active in her local church and has served the community as a 4H leader, a Canastota School Board member, a member of the WBOC women’s organization for 12 years, a member of the Manlius Historical Society Board for five years and has been a part of the Oneida Area Civic Chorale Board for four years.
Masucci currently serves the Greater Manlius Chamber of Commerce as first vice president, and she has been a member of the board of directors for more than 10 years.
