Connie Larrabee. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
This year’s Harvard Citizen of Note, Connie Larrabee, will ride in the Fourth of July parade in style—in a bright red Jeep with a cadre of Harvard seniors marching behind. Larrabee’s work in getting Phase 1 of the Hildreth House renovation designed, funded, and built won her recognition as Citizen of Note at the 2017 Annual Town Meeting. But according to Lucy Wallace, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, Larrabee would “rather have it be about the seniors than her,” hence Larrabee’s decision to extend an open invitation in the Council on Aging newsletter to “any senior who wants to march.”
The Citizen of Note is chosen each year by the Board of Selectmen, and a plaque is presented to the recipient at Annual Town Meeting. Wallace said that the chairperson typically asks the board for possible candidates in the fall, and Larrabee’s work on the Hildreth House Improvement Committee (HHIC) put her in the minds of the selectmen about a year ago. Larrabee will ride in the parade in her friend Carlene Phillips’ red Jeep, driven by Larrabee’s husband, Bryce, and accompanied by fellow HHIC member Laura Andrews, who Larrabee said was a huge help during the Hildreth House project. Invitations to march with the Jeep were also extended to the COA men’s group, women’s group, knitters, and the Friends of the Council on Aging. “The idea is to make the whole Citizen of Note thing more inclusive and recognize the contribution of all seniors in Harvard,” said Larrabee.
Apple packer to police dispatcher to writer
A native of West Philadelphia, Larrabee moved to Harvard in 1972 and raised two children while working as an apple packer at Westward Orchards. When her children went off to college, Larrabee took a job as night dispatcher at the police station, working from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. On her days off, she had difficulty staying awake, so she added a job delivering the Harvard Post to newsstands and the post office. She began to get small writing assignments, which gradually grew until she was writing regularly for the Post, including covering the Finance Committee. Larrabee left the Post shortly after editor Ann Levison retired, but came back to newspaper work in 2006 to work for the Harvard Press as a copy editor, which she continues to do.
Larrabee’s work with the COA began in the early 2000s when she started driving the van. While transporting patients from Harvard to Massachusetts Eye and Ear, she accidentally drove the van into the overhead supports of a parking lot. Despite that mishap, her career as a van driver continued, minus the trips to Boston.
Larrabee was asked to join the COA board in 2008, and she recalls the Hildreth House as a “dark and quiet” place at that time. There were only two part-time employees and few programs. “There was no money, and the senior center needed a lot,” she said, “but I liked the building and thought there must be a way to spruce it up.” She went to work with fellow board member Mike Peters, and together they transformed the upstairs parlor from a storage room to a freshly painted welcoming space. Little did she know that this was just the beginning of her quest to “spruce up” the Hildreth House.
HHIC is born
When Larrabee became chairwoman of the COA in 2012, she was invited to a selectmen’s meeting to discuss the Hildreth House renovation plan created under the Municipal Building Committee. The price tag for that plan was $5.5 million, and her discussion with the board led to the creation of the Hildreth House Improvement Committee, charged with downsizing the project. After months of redesigns, new cost estimates, and endless meetings with other boards and committees to get support for the project, Larrabee brought a plan for Phase 1 of the renovation to Town Meeting and the ballot box in 2015. The renovation included safety and accessibility modifications at a cost to taxpayers of $1.4 million. It passed handily, and construction was recently completed.
Now the COA is focusing on Phase 2, an addition that would include a larger dining room and more space for programs. The addition had been part of the MBC’s original plan, and the HHIC’s first downsized plan, but it was split off into a separate phase when it became clear to the COA that there was not enough support from the selectmen and other town boards for doing the entire project at one time. Larrabee said she won’t be leading the charge for Phase 2 because of the stress and the sleepless nights she spent while getting Phase 1 approved and funded. She told the Press that she recently spoke to the Charter Commission about how difficult it is for the average citizen to wade through the design and funding approval process and hopes that the town will provide more guidance in the future.
Larrabee is currently an alternate member and recording secretary of the COA board. She plans to stay on as an alternate member and to continue to help COA Director Debbie Thompson with tasks such as editing the monthly newsletter.
She also plans to become active in the League of Women Voters again. “It was the first organization I joined to meet people when I moved to Harvard,” she said, “and I really enjoyed it.” She plans to help the League track the state Legislature’s debates on the “Medicare for All” bill, which, if passed, would create a single-payer health insurance plan for all Massachusetts residents.
The Fourth of July parade begins at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Depot and Ayer roads and continues to the grounds of the library. The rain date for the parade is July 8.
