By Maggie Gordon

ALTAMONT — The Altamont Community Tradition presented three awards for Citizen of the Year Sunday, at the organization’s annual picnic.

The community turned out in force for the games, food, music — and to honor three of its own. The selection was easy, according to Beth Shaw, president of the ACT.
"There was a small committee," Shaw said. "We discussed General Citizen of the Year, Business Citizen of the Year, and Youth Citizen of the Year...We came to a consensus pretty quickly."

Dean named Youth Citizen

This was the first year the category Youth Citizen of the Year existed, Shaw said. The award went to Andrea Dean, a 21-year-old student at Russell Sage College, majoring in criminal justice.
"She is a very busy young woman, who is extremely involved in the community," Shaw said. "It’s heartening to see a young person in the community take such an active interest as well as working hard at school and in the work force."

Dean has worked at Hungerford Market for six years, and she is also the office manager at Altamont Physical Therapy. On top of her two jobs, and her status as a full-time undergraduate student, she is also an Emergency Medical Technician, and a member of the comprehensive planning board committee for the village.

Earlier this year, Dean was named Altamont’s Emergency Medical Service Provider of the Year, and she serves on the board of directors for the organization.
"During the school year, I work and do all these other things for probably about 50 hours a week on top of my course load," Dean said.
"It was s complete shock," she said of being named the Citizen of the Year. "I didn’t expect to be picked. I’m glad that the people appreciate what I do, but I don’t think that it’s anything anyone else couldn’t."

Dean told The Enterprise that her favorite part of living in the village of Altamont is "seeing people I know wherever I go — and I’ve met a lot of people working at Hungerford — and familiar faces."

McIntyre named General Citizen
Tim McIntyre was named the General Citizen of the Year at the picnic. "He goes above and beyond what he needs to do as the head of public works," Shaw said.
"I’ve been involved with the public works for quite some time," McIntyre told The Enterprise. "I give as much time as I can, about an hour here, three hours there, just to be able to help out."
McIntyre said he has tried to start food drives for the less fortunate members of the community and "little things here and there to help out."
One of the "little things" that McIntyre did to help his community was calming residents during the recent road construction in the village. "That was a great feeling," he said. "I really can’t put into words how I felt after that."

McIntyre was extremely thankful to be honored as the Citizen of the Year.
"It’s a great feeling, to have one person be picked by so many people as to be a great citizen — it’s an amazing feeling," McIntyre said. "I’m glad I could be able to do things to improve my community... I’m just glad to be a part of a community such as Altamont."

DeLucia named Business Citizen

Gilbert DeLucia, the former owner of the village’s pharmacy was honored as the Business Citizen of the Year, as was his late wife, Anna.
"It was a lifetime achievement sort of award," Shaw said. "He’s done a lot of community service work."
"This award came out of the blue," DeLucia said. "It was based primarily on the fact that I’m one of the old-timers here, and I ran the pharmacy for about 40 years. I guess therein lies the reason for them wanting to give me the award."

Gilbert and Anna DeLucia ran a pharmacy on Main Street in the village for decades. They were known for dispensing care and advice along with drugs. Mrs. DeLucia died in January, 2004.

DeLucia’s daughter, Michelle Perras, said that her father is involved with the Altamont Seniors and his church, St. Lucy’s.
"I’ve lightened the amount of work I do with the church," DeLucia told The Enterprise. "I do work with Altamont Seniors, but I have let the younger people do their thing lately.
"I was flabbergasted, and happy to see all those young people at the picnic. There was a good sense of community...We’ve known so many people for so many years and it’s more like family than it is a community in that sense."
DeLucia is 78 years old. "It’s very nice to be recognized. Quite frankly I don’t think I did anything special besides my work and my job. A lot of it was my wife. She was really my partner through all these years. I was very pleased to know that they thought about her."