Grange honors Citizen of the Year

Observer photo/Mike Lange  CITIZEN OF THE YEAR – Matt Hackett, center, was honored as the Valley Grange Community Citizen of the Year on May 15. Pictured, from left, is his wife Rachel; Hackett and Grange Master James Annis. The plaque was made by Grange Assistant Steward Roger Ricker.

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

  NORTH GUILFORD – Matt Hackett almost spoiled his own surprise party.

 The retired educator showed up early at the Valley Grange Community Citizen of the Year potluck dinner and award ceremony on May 15, not realizing that he was the honoree.

 “Usually, the honored guest shows up at the last minute,” joked Walter Boomsma, the event chairman. “But Matt fooled us.”

 Hackett was presented with a certificate from the national Grange and a wooden plaque made by Valley Grange Assistant Steward Roger Ricker with the inscription: “Saving one child does not change the world; but for that one child, the world changes forever.”

 Hackett’s friends and family who attended the celebration all agreed that he always put the needs of the children first. “He wasn’t the type of person who liked to speak in front of large groups of people. He was a ‘boots on the ground’ principal,” Boomsma said.

 Hackett, a Dover-Foxcroft native, was the assistant headmaster at Foxcroft Academy for 14 years where his wife, Rachael, served as a substitute teacher and later as his secretary. Later, he became assistant principal at Central High School in Corinth and principal at Penquis Valley Middle/High School until his retirement in 2013.

 In July 2014, Hackett was presented with the Tillson Thomas Award, which is given annually to a former faculty or staff member who, in the opinion of his or her former students, “served the students of Foxcroft Academy with the highest degree of professionalism.”

 He also had 26 years of combined service in the Army, Army Reserve, Air National Guard and Army National Guard.

 Hackett was praised by several of his former coworkers and, ex-students as well asnd Grange members at Friday night’s celebration. “If you did something wrong, he would talk to you at your level,” said Darcy Burgess, who attended Foxcroft Academy from 1999-2003. “We had great respect for him because he had the same respect for us. Those four years at FA were very good.”

 The honoree said he was “humbled and grateful” for the award, citing some of the reasons he enjoyed his academic career. “Parents would come into the office angry and sometimes even threatened me. But I never minded that,” he said. “Why? Because they cared about their children. It was the parents who wouldn’t come in that disturbed me.”

 Boomsma quipped that if Hackett ever got the urge to get back in the field on a part-time basis, “We can always use good substitute teachers.”