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Dunkirk takes time to thank ‘Skeeter’ for her service

Community activist honored

OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward Harriet “Skeeter” Tower was honored on Tuesday at the Dunkirk Historical Museum on Washington Avenue for her service to the community and the city of Dunkirk.

Harriet “Skeeter” Tower made an impact on all she touched in the city of Dunkirk.

From organizing events such as the saving of a stained glass window from an Eagle Street house, to spearheading the planting of corner pocket gardens to help beautify the landscape, there isn’t a place in Dunkirk where this woman has not made a difference.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth,” Diane Andrasik quoted from Mohammed Ali as she gave a moving tribute to the departing Tower, better known as “Skeeter” to those around her.

Skeeter, who first signed on to the Dunkirk Historical Society in 2011, will be moving to Florida to live with her sister in a retirement community this year. She, however, leaves behind a long legacy for a relatively short period of time.

According to Andrasik, Skeeter has helped in creating historic house tours, which became an important part of the historical society in regards to raising money; she helped found the Academy Heights Group as well as created the design for the signage there and organized a grant to help plant trees.

OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward Diane Andrasik, former president of the Dunkirk Historical Society, speaks about the endless contributions Harriet “Skeeter” Tower has made to the city of Dunkirk Tuesday evening.

She also wrote grants, which helped procure amenities for Dunkirk High School’s Bicentennial Park; organized garden tours, the yard of the week program and was integral in obtaining grants administered by the county soil and water conservation district to remediate the Crooked Brook stream bed and remove invasive species from its banks. Along with all of that, she worked on listing historic homes in the area and designating them with plaques as well as spearheading efforts to save The Adams (formerly the Adam’s Art Gallery).

In 2012, she was honored with the resurrected Julia Brooks Award, which recognized her for her generosity and commitment to the city.

“She is a constant and a very persistent individual who feels a sense of duty to her community and a sure sense of things needed to make it better,” Andrasik added.

City of Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas, attended the gathering Tuesday and presented Skeeter with a Certificate of Recognition, given from the city, in recognition of her dedication to making a difference in the community.

“Every mayor, in every community, always wants to know that we have community minded members in our community,” Rosas started. “The city of Dunkirk had been blessed to have Skeeter in our community.”

Rosas went on to joke about how when he first came into office and met her, he knew right away that she was someone that he was just going to have to learn to work with.

“Skeeter has volunteered her time, and I can tell you that as mayor, we always have to look to better our community; without volunteers, we can’t do that,” Rosas said. “She has worked constantly for the betterment of Dunkirk’s economic, cultural and aesthetic development.”

In addition to the certificate, Skeeter was also presented with a metal locomotive, symbolic of the Brooks Locomotive Industry the city was built on and it was engraved with “Thank you from Dunkirk N.Y.”

It’s no doubt that Harriet “Skeeter” Tower will be missed by her many friends as well as the community as a whole, but it’s true that the legacy she left behind will last generations.

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