The Honored Citizen's Reception will take place on Saturday April 30th at the Harvey Wheeler Community Center. Congratulations to Joanne Gibson, Concord's 2022 Honored Citizen! Joanne was born into a US Navy family in 1941. In the early 1960s, her family settled in Wellesley where she graduated from Wellesley HS and furthered her education by graduating from Middlebury College. 

She moved to Concord in 1969 to make a home with her husband Chuck and 3 children (Kate, Tim and Phil). With 3 children born in a 4 year period one of many committees she has served in which she has a great passion is education by serving on the parent teacher association.

Joanne has always been a strong advocate for historic preservation and for preserving Concord’s churches, historic houses, neighborhoods, and landscapes.

The following Honored Citizens will be also be honored alongside Joanne Gibson at the Reception on Saturday:

Elise Woodward (2021):

Elise is a former Consulting Principal at Shepley Bulfinch, an architectural firm based in Boston, where she participated as a senior member of the firm's education and healthcare clients. She served for nine years on the firm's board of directors, including four terms as board chair.

Although not a native of Concord continues to volunteer, as a nominator of Elise said, "Since coming to Concord in the 1980s and serving the town since 1991 in many organizations and committees including; the concord Board of Appeals, founding member of concord's Finance Committee, moderator of Trinitarian Congregational Church even serving as a member of the Select Board, just to name a few of her many accomplishments, speaks volumes of her personal character, having steadfast commitment, integrity of purpose and thoughtful organization."

Elise studied at the College of William and Mary and the University of Texas in Austin, and received her bachelor's degree in architecture from Columbia University in New York. Elise and her husband Alan live in a house she designed. They have two grown children.

Jonathan Keyes (2020):

A proud lifelong Concord resident, Jonathan has served the town and many of its organizations/institutions since leaving his four years of active duty in the Navy as a Lieutenant in 1961.  In 1961 he immediately became and continues to be a member of the Independent Battery.  In 1972 he began serving on town committees, first on the Future School Sites Committee (1972-75) and the Deferred Tax Plan Study Committee (1973-74), and then the Local Option Income Tax Committee, the NRC’s Trails Committee, and most recently as the chairman of the Tax Fairness Committee (2016-2019).

Jonathan has also been a devoted and active supporter of four important Concord organizations/institutions: The Fenn School, the Concord Museum, the Old Manse, and the Land Conservation Trust.

Beyond Concord, Jonathan has devotedly served Mass Eye and Ear, Community Builders, and The Trustees of Reservations, playing a critical role in the passage of the Rivers Protection Act in 1996.

Jonathan and his late wife Judy raised their three children, Philip, Jared, and Herrika, at his Liberty St. home that has been in the Keyes family for 160 years.  As a fixture at town meetings, League of Women Voters’ breakfasts, and Land Trust meetings, Jonathan continues to be a model citizen.  His record of faithful service to the Town and its institutions make him deserving of the Town’s highest volunteer honor.