WESTBOROUGH – Two longtime residents were honored during the Select Board’s meeting on Nov. 28.
The Veterans Advisory Board presented Paul Freeman with its Veteran of the Year award.
A 20-plus-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Freeman has served on several local committees, including the MIA/POW committee and the multicultural committee. He was a 25-year member of the Veterans Advisory Board until his retirement from that role in 2023. Freeman has continued to be an active member of Veterans Outreach Metro West.
He was also instrumental in starting the Veterans Corner at Westborough TV, was on the design committees for the Veterans Grove Memorial in Pine Grove Cemetery and the Persian Gulf memorial at Forbes, and has provided designs for the new Nourse Street Cemetery.
Freeman received a plaque, along with citations from the state House of Representatives and Senate.
“I am very humbled and very honored to receive this,” he said.
Soon after the presentation, the Select Board approved a motion to name the athletic fields at the former state hospital at Lake Chauncy after Earl Storey.
“He takes care of it like his own backyard,” said Jen Kirkland, director of the Recreation Department.
Bill Linnane made the request on behalf of Storey, who converted former farmland into athletic fields.
The town’s Employee of the Year in 2022, Storey recently retired from the Department of Public Works and the Recreation Department.
“I’m blown away by this,” said Storey after the vote. “It’s a great honor for you to do this.”
According to Kirkland, a formal dedication and ceremony could be held this spring.