NOTE (Wednesday, August 14, 2024): This article has been updated to reflect the correct relationship between Bronson Hawley and Mary Elizabeth Hawley.

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The Mary Hawley Service Award Committee has announced Gordon Williams as its inaugural recipient.

The public is invited to join the committee for a ceremony to present the award and celebrate Williams on Thursday, August 22, at 5 pm. The event will be at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street. Refreshments will be served.

Admission is free, but reservations are requested and available by contacting Newtown Savings Bank AVP-Community Relations Officer Julia Douglas at 203-426-4440 extension 3042 or community@nsbonline.com.

Named in honor of Newtown’s beloved benefactress, The Mary Hawley Service Award was established to promote volunteerism by recognizing an individual who, through lengthy and exceptional public service to Newtown, best represents the selfless commitment and spirit of its namesake.

The date of the ceremony coincides with the anniversary of Mary Hawley’s birth.

Williams will be presented with the award later this month. Additionally, his name will be added to a plaque in The Mary Hawley Room within the town hall, and a $1,000 donation in his name — provided by Newtown Savings Bank — will be given to a recipient of his choosing.

The Mary Hawley Service Award Committee made the announcement June 26.

As written on the nomination form received by the committee, “the name Gordon Williams is synonymous with volunteerism in Newtown. He is a devoted husband and father, and friend to generations of people in and around Newtown. He has given his time to this town for decades, providing exactly the kind of time and talent to Newtown that The Mary Hawley Public Service Award was created for.”

Williams’s tireless efforts have significantly benefited numerous local organizations, including Newtown Lions Club, Newtown Historical Society, and Newtown Congregational Church. His leadership in coordinating events such as History Camp and The Great Pootatuck Duck Race, as well as his role in community initiatives such as Lose the Litter and HomeFront, exemplifies the dedication that the Mary Hawley Service Award seeks to recognize and honor, according to a statement from the committee.

Bronson Hawley, a selection committee member and distant relative of the award’s namesake, said he and the committee were impressed by Williams “and how immersed he is in Newtown. Like Mary Hawley, he has made meaningful contributions to the community.

“As our first recipient, he sets an exemplary standard for the caliber of candidates the award attracts. We’re honored to acknowledge his service and dedication,” Hawley added.

‘The Necessity Of Volunteers’

Gordon and Lina Williams moved to Newtown in 1966. They had one son, Christopher, when they arrived in town; daughters Cara and Emily came later. The family lived on Baldwin Road for years, before moving to Main Street and within view of C.H. Booth Library, the flagpole, and The Meeting House, among other very familiar locations.

Within a year of moving to town, Williams said this week, he and Lina had joined Newtown Congregational Church “and I joined a group called Newtown Jaycees.”

That group, he said, “launched you into the community. Your eyes are opened to different things, including the necessity of volunteers,” he said. “That’s exactly what it did for me.”

Williams eventually served as president of Newtown Jaycees, ran a Great Books Discussion Club at Fairfield Hills Hospital while still within the club, and helped launch a Newtown Big Brothers chapter during that time.

He was retired from the Jaycees when he turned 35.

“It’s a young person’s group,” he said with a laugh, adding “They kicked you out when you hit that age.” That’s when he joined Newtown Lions Club.

Williams’s contributions extend beyond volunteerism. A retired history teacher from Hillcrest Junior High School in Trumbull and a former Fulbright Scholar, his commitment to education is further demonstrated through his continued involvement with Newtown Historical Society, where he served as president.

Additionally, Williams’s long-standing service with the C.H. Booth Library Board of Trustees and his foundational role in The Newtown Men’s Literary Club highlight his lifelong dedication to fostering community connections and enriching the cultural fabric of Newtown.

Surprisingly, Williams and his wife have not lived in Newtown for over a decade. The couple moved from their historic Main Street home to neighboring Southbury 13 years ago, yet both continue to maintain schedules that keep them in town nearly as often as when they lived here.

“I have a friend who moved to Brookfield years ago, yet she and her husband stayed so busy in Newtown I used to tell them, ‘You may sleep in Brookfield, but you still live in Newtown,’” Williams said this week. He was enjoying a cup of coffee at Sandy Hook Café, one of his favorite local haunts. Seated on the café’s deck, Williams took in the view of Heritage Park and the Pootatuck River, commenting on how well the river was moving and recalling the earliest days of The Great Pootatuck Duck Race. He has been on the duck race committee since the event’s inception 20+ years ago.

“I say the same thing about myself now,” he said, continuing his thought. “I sleep in Southbury, but I still live in Newtown.”

As recently as 2016, Williams co-founded Interfaith Partnership for Refugee Resettlement. He served as the initial vice chair of the group and continued to lead ESL classes — which he’s been doing for decades.

Williams learned he would be receiving The Mary Hawley Service Award a few weeks ago, over lunch with Bronson Hawley and another friend.

“I was surprised,” he said this week. “Stunned, really. I meant to nominate a few people and time got away from me.

“I hadn’t been thinking about it at all in relation to me,” he said. “I honestly hadn’t thought about it that way. I was thinking about others, these people who do so much good for this town and everyone in it.”

When asked what the name Mary Hawley means to him, Williams said the town’s benefactress is “the epitome of a giving person.”

Ironically, many say the very same thing about Gordon Williams.

‘A Love For Newtown’

Readers were invited last September to nominate current or former Newtown residents for the honor, established in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Society of the Hawley Family.

Newtown Benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley co-founded the society with Samuel Hawley, grandfather of Bronson.

“Mary had no brothers or sisters. She had no children. From what we know, she had few, if any close friends. What she did have, was a love for Newtown,” Bronson said in September 2023 upon the call for nominations.

“For all that she gave the town, nothing bears her name. Now it will. The Mary Hawley Public Service Award will serve as an enduring tribute to this extraordinary woman, while honoring a current or former resident who has made exceptional contributions to Newtown through selfless volunteer service,” he added.

Mary Hawley was the first child born to Sarah (Booth) and Marcus Hawley, on August 22, 1857. She was a descendant from one of the oldest families in New England.

Her father, Marcus Hawley, died in 1899, leaving several million dollars to his wife and daughter. Her mother, Sarah Hawley, died in 1920, at the age of 90.

That year, the town’s academy building burned under mysterious circumstances. On the advice of Newtown Savings Bank Treasurer Arthur T. Nettleton, who was also a trusted friend and financial advisor, Mary Hawley financed the construction of a joint elementary-high/consolidated school. That building became The Hawley School at 29 Church Hill Road, named in honor of her parents.

The next decade marked the start of Mary Hawley’s philanthropy that residents today still benefit from.

Having inherited Ram Pasture from her mother’s side of the family, Mary began to focus on that and the neighboring Newtown Village Cemetery.

Following the advice of her trusted friend and financial advisor Arthur T. Nettleton, Mary in 1924 donated a tract of land to the cemetery, extending the cemetery grounds to the west. She later funded preservation of the oldest section of the cemetery, financed the front entrance gates off Elm Drive, financed The Hawley Memorial Vault, financed “solid roadways” within the grounds, and saw to the construction of a bridge connecting Main Street to the cemetery. In 1928, her funding created a small lake, Hawley Pond, to the east of the cemetery.

Also in 1928, honoring her great-grandfather, Judge William Edmond, Mary funded the construction of Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street. She laid the cornerstone of that building on May 1, 1929.

“She really came out after her mother was gone,” Williams noted this week. “She flourished and grew, and so many things are here thanks to her.”

Even Mr Williams’s beloved Newtown Congregational Church continues to benefit from Miss Hawley’s foresight.

“Our church still gets a dividend from Mary Hawley’s planning,” he said.

As Bronson Hawley noted last year in the call for nominations, for all that she gave the town, nothing bears the name of Mary Hawley.

“Now it will,” he said. “The Mary Hawley Public Service Award will serve as an enduring tribute to this extraordinary woman, while honoring a current or former resident who has made exceptional contributions to Newtown through selfless volunteer service.”

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.