{"id":31,"date":"2011-01-25T00:25:27","date_gmt":"2011-01-25T08:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/wordpress\/?p=31"},"modified":"2011-01-27T08:53:29","modified_gmt":"2011-01-27T16:53:29","slug":"citizen-of-the-year-dinner-celebrates-amy-and-glenn-putnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=31","title":{"rendered":"Citizen of the Year Dinner Celebrates Amy and Glenn Putnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Amy and Glenn Putnam were recognized as Sierra Madre’s 2010 Citizens of the Year at the Chandelier Room at Santa Anita Park on Saturday, Jan. 22nd, 2011.\u00a0 More than one hundred people turned out, many of them representatives of organizations that the two have volunteered with.\u00a0 On hand were members of the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society, The Civic Club, The Sierra Madre Garden Club, Friends of the Library, the Library Board of Trustees, Kiwanis, The Chamber of Commerce, and JPL, where Glenn works<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mayor Joe Mosca served as master of ceremonies, opening the evening by recognizing people in the crowd from City administration, among them Mayor Pro Tem John Buchanan, Director of Library Services Tony Buckner, Community Services Commissioner Pat Alcorn, Volunteer Services Coordinator De Alcorn, and former Mayors Bart Doyle and George Maurer.<\/p>\n

Also on hand to congratulate the Putnams were former Citizens of the Year\u00a0Louise Neiby \u2013 2009,\u00a0Carol Canterbury \u2013 2001, Marilyn McKernan \u2013 2000, Judy Webb-Martin \u2013 1998, and\u00a0George Maurer \u2013 1974.\u00a0 Former COTY Shirley MacGillicuddy was a last minute cancellation when she became ill the day before the event.<\/p>\n

Civic Club president Carol Cerrina, Friends of the Library president Margaret Quigley, Sierra Madre Garden Club President Jerry Durgerian and Kiwanis President Susan Henderson were also in the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glenn Putnam has been a member and Board member of the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society for more than five years, and is currently the marketing director for the organization.\u00a0 For more than ten years, he has been a vine docent and assisted with bus\u00a0coordination at the Wistaria Festival.\u00a0 He was named a Library\u00a0Trustee in 2010, a position which actually caused him to resign from the Board of the SMHPS to avoid conflict of interest.\u00a0 He is past\u00a0 president of the Sierra Madre Garden Club (2003 – 2008), and has been active with Creative Arts Group, serving as a docent at the Home and Garden Tour and helping to staff their annual Flea\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Market.\u00a0 In addition to all of these Sierra Madre volunteer efforts, he is also involved with the Tournament of Roses serving for more than ten years as one of their White Coat volunteers.<\/p>\n

His wife Amy is also active with the Sierra Madre Historical\u00a0Preservation Society.\u00a0 She has been a member and Board member for more than five years, and is currently serving as treasurer. She assisted with recruiting volunteers for the Society’s booths at the Wistaria Festival, the Art Fair, and the Fourth of July festivities in 2010.\u00a0 She was appointed to the Senior Community Commission in 2010, and has also served as a Wistaria Vine docent for more than ten years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to serving as president of the Civic Club in 2009\/2010, she served as \u00a0Parliamentarian \u00a0in 2003-2004, Treasurer \u00a0in 2004-2006, and Education Awards Chair from 2006-2008.\u00a0 In the past, she has served as a docent on the Garden Tour for Creative Arts and filled a variety of leadership roles with the Friends of the Library, as\u00a0president in 1997 and 1998 and on the Board for ten years in various\u00a0capacities.\u00a0 She also served as chair of the Friends’\u00a0\u00a0 annual \u00a0Wine Tasting for two years (1997 & 1998) and sat on the Wine Tasting Committee for 10 years.\u00a0 In addition, she has\u00a0\u00a0volunteered at the Chamber, and in 2005 even won the Chamber’s Chili Cook-off.<\/p>\n

In addition to all she does in Sierra Madre, she is newly on the Board of Los Voluntarios, the volunteer group which supports the LA County Arboretum.\u00a0 She’s in charge of coordinating the\u00a0volunteers who staff the Visitors’ Services Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Susan Henderson introduced the Putnams, and informed the crowd that Amy Putnam is the third consecutive member of the Tri-Delta Sorority to be named\u00a0Sierra Madre’s Citizen of the Year.\u00a0 Last year, Dr. Paul and Louise Neiby were\u00a0Citizens of the Year\u00a0, and Louise is a member of the Tri-Deltas.\u00a0 In 2008, Angel Throop won the award.\u00a0 Mrs. Throop is also a member of the sorority.<\/p>\n

After receiving certificates sent to the event from Congressman David Dreier, State Senator Bob Huff, Supervisor Michael Antonovich and the City of Sierra Madre, Amy Putnam got up and spoke briefly, long enough to make a joke about a role reversal taking place on stage, saying that it “really has been\u00a0fun, becoming fun, and working with you all, and I look forward to a lot of years of the same, but I’m not going to speak a lot tonight, because actually, my husband has written a marvelous speech,\u00a0so since you rarely get to hear him speak, I’m going to turn this over to him…”\u00a0 Glenn Putnam then thanked the audience.\u00a0\u00a0 “…it has\u00a0been very special…it means a lot to both of us to share this honor with colleagues, such as my colleagues\u00a0over at\u00a0JPL who are sitting over here, and friends from the Arboretum, the Civic Club, the Sierra Madre Library, the Sierrra Madre Garden Club, the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society, and friends from out of town, and also our family.”\u00a0\u00a0 He noted that he and Amy had moved to LA in 1992.\u00a0 He said that a relocation agent had suggested a house in a town adjacent to Pasadena, and they looked at a house on West Alegria which was the best house they’d seen, was in the right price range, and “then there was this crazy neighbor across the street\u00a0by the name of\u00a0Roger Keith, who seemed actually glad to see us… I rented the house, and the rest is history.\u00a0 We put our roots down and we bought two years later.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

He discussed their early years in town, including his encounter with “the welcome lady.”\u00a0\u00a0 He discussed misperceptions he and Amy had about L.A., such as the idea that there are no small towns, that L.A. is always warm and you don’t need a jacket, and that the crime rate would drive you back to the midwest.\u00a0 He expressed appreciation for the fact that small towns such as Sierra Madre DO exist, and added “what can I say about the Sierra Madre police force, this has been wonderful, it has made us feel very secure in our town, thank you so much Marilyn for such a wonderful job that you do.”<\/p>\n

He noted that the reason they had gotten involved in volunteerism was “pure and simple, curiosity, a want to give back to organizations that helped us when we were growing up, and a desire to learn more about topics that interest Amy and me.”\u00a0 He noted that we as a community need to involve more people in volunteering, especially the young people.\u00a0 He noted that the most dangerous phrase in the Putnam house is “Wouldn’t you like to…”\u00a0 He acknowledged his role as “Amy Putnam’s husband,” and added that “being known as Amy Putnam’s husband is not a bad thing to be known as in Sierra Madre, and I thiak Amy for the honor it has been to me throughout our marriage.”<\/p>\n

Mayor Mosca\u00a0then presented Matt Krantz, president of the Chamber with Certificates from the city, the Supervisor, Senator Huff and Congressman Dreier.\u00a0 Earlier in the evening, Krantz had introduced the 2011 Board of Directors of the Chamber, consisting of Allyn Colbert, Henderson, Krantz, Sue Lamb, Janette Ledea, Kate Lee, George Maurer, Maddie Romo and Neil Vance.<\/p>\n