Trudy Roberts, Vernon Town Hall Fixture for Nearly Four Decades, Retires
Gertrude “Trudy” Roberts, a fixture at Vernon Town Hall for the past 37 years, has retired. Trudy’s last official day was Friday.
Trudy is well-known to just about anyone who had reason to visit Vernon Town Hall. Since 1987, she has been the Town Hall receptionist and from her post in the lobby answered phones, sorted mail and handled any number of tasks. Most of all, Trudy welcomed visitors with a kind word and her cheerful and chatty manner.
Trudy Roberts during her 90th birthday party.
Trudy, 92, grew up in Vernon and is fiercely proud of her home town. She frequently engaged visitors in conversations about her memories of life in Vernon.
“It’s hard for me to imagine Town Hall without Trudy,” Mayor Dan Champagne said. “Long before I became a police officer in town, Trudy was greeting people at Town Hall. We are going to miss her.”
Trudy was often the first person visitors to Town Hall would meet when they arrived to visit the Town Clerk, Social Services, the Probate Court or another Town Hall office.
“Trudy was the face and voice of Vernon for generations of residents,” said Diane Wheelock, Mayor Champagne’s assistant and a former mayor. “Anyone who visited Town Hall during the past 37 years knows Trudy. She loved talking to people and often lent a sympathetic ear to those who were having a bad day or struggling in general. She has an extremely kind heart.”
And she used her pulpit in the Town Hall lobby to do good. One year the Rockville Rotary Club honored her for helping it sell roses during its annual fundraiser.
When Trudy turned 90, she was summoned to the mayor’s office and arrived to find a surprise birthday party and her colleagues wishing her a happy birthday. For a few minutes, Trudy was speechless.
“Trudy has so many wonderful and detailed stories about growing up in Vernon,” Interim Town Administrator Dawn Maselek said. “One felt like they entered a time portal of days gone by, hearing about Trudy and her neighborhood friends swimming in the Hockanum river on a hot day, or attending community dances and basketball games on the third floor of Town Hall.”
Assistant Finance Director Frank Zitkus, who joined the town in 1989, said it’s hard to overstate the role Trudy has played at Town Hall.
“She is obviously an integral person at Town Hall,” Zitkus said. “I think people really enjoyed coming to Town Hall because of her and her cheerful way of guiding them to where they needed to go. She is a special person. And she will be missed.”