With facilities in Newburyport and Haverhill, Opportunity Works is a 501(c)3 private, non-for-profit corporation serving more than 300 men and women, ranging in age from 22 to 85, who come from 24 Merrimack Valley/North Shore communities. The agency operates with a staff of 150 professionals who bring a broad range of experience in working with people with disabilities. Additionally, hundreds of volunteers participate in fundraising and outreach events, serve on advisory committees, and volunteers in programs. The agency has consistently earned exemplary recognition for setting leading standards of excellence in the provision of employment, specialized day rehabilitation, community, and recreational services and programs for adults with disabilities
26 Feb 2025
Life long resident Todd McGrath walked us through images of the sparsely known parts of Amesbury’s history- our cemeteries. He presented the legacies of 50 local men & women who have served America.
Todd has served on the Amesbury Cemetery Commission.
Over the last five years he has traveled each of these grounds many times, logging names and service records into a digital data base. Existing base maps of St Joseph, Union and Mt Prospect are dated 1940. Todd and the Cemetery Commission believe it is critical to provide visiting family and / or visitors with a plot location and a service record for a loved one.
The City has funded a drone overflight mapping with data entry to digital data set in 2025.
The 5 municipal cemeteries are under the control of the DPW Director with a commission budget of $1,000. The City has two openings on its appointed three member Commission. Ms. Jane Snow is the Chair and long term appointee.
The largest cemetery is Union on Rt 110 ( Haverhill Rd) with 900 veteran plots. Mt Prospect cemetery is on Elm St @ the top of the hill : with 500 veterans interred. Old Corner is also on Elm St at the Cumberland Farms, with 25 +/- veterans : some Revolutionary and Civil War veterans are here.
The small pox cemetery on Kimball Rd at the Elec. easement is un-marked and is a 17 the century parcel.
The Tuxbury family plot is also on Kimball Rd at the highest spot on the hill with 2-3 Veterans.
There are also 4 private cemeteries;
Bartlett on Main St adjacent to the Macy Colby house. There are 116 Veterans interred here.
Salisbury Point on Clarks Rd behind Burger King. There are 66 Veterans here.
ST Joseph on Rt 110 across from Andy Mans Bakery. There are 852 Veterans here from the Civil war through Iraqui Freedom.
Salisbury Plains is found on the Amesbury Salisbury town line on Monroe St. It is owned by the Bartletts.
The goal is to have each of 2,350 Veterans marked with a branch specific PVC flag holder identifying
his/ her service. Currently only St Joseph has a full set of flag holders with 605 new PVC medallions
and 150 +/- to be funded, purchased and installed in place ( $ 1,950.)
We estimate $ 19,500 is required to provide service markers for the 1450 unmarked headstones.
To date, all the funding has been provided by one benefactor.
Jane and Todd’s time is all volunteer.
If you wish to support this worthy and ongoing project please contact Todd directly at tmmcgrath@comcast.net.
On January 22, 2025, Jor Buckley, Amesbury Director of Public Works, gave us a very interesting overview of the DPW and his career in the public works departments of Worcester, where he managed the Sewer Operations Division for 12 years, the as Director of Public Works in the Town of Rutland, MA. He accepted the position of Director of Public Works in Amesbury in 2023. Joe earned a BS degree in Civil Engineering at UMass Lowell, is a Registered Professional Engineer, and received a Graduate Certificate in Local Government Leadership and Management from Suffock University.
January 8, 2025 Andrea Lacroix has been interested in trash and recycling for as long as she can remember. She has served on her town’s Waste Reduction Committee for the past 10 years and is active in community events promoting sustainability. In October, 2022, she took Judith Enck’s master class on plastic pollution and was stunned by the extent not only of plastic waste but of the health issues faced by humans as a result. She joined the Speakers’ Bureau to do her part in educating as many people as possible. She lives in Ipswich, MA.
Rewilding Inside and Out -
Flags are proudly displayed at the Amesbury Servicemen's Memorial Honor Roll on Main Street (across the street from Amesbury Middle School). Flags will be on display starting May 25th through Flag Day, June 14th. The honorees are veterans, active-duty service members, first responders, police, firefighters, EMTs, teachers, coaches, essential workers, family members, humanitarians, or best friends. Hero's names are personalized on a medallion, which are attached to a full-size American flag, and which will be given to each flag sponsor as a remembrance, when the display is taken down.
To learn how Amesbury Rotary puts the support of this project to work in our community, please click on the "Read More" button.
42nd. Annual Award
The 2024 Educator of the Year is Derek Bent, who has been make a difference in his students lives at the Amesbury Middle, for 27 years. Derek was nominated by Julie Sisson, who's letter read by Amesbury Rotarian; Madison Barns. Joining Derek for the award presentation were his daughter Lily, and son Ethan. Recognition of Derek's work, contributions and accomplishments were Amesbury Superintendent (and Amesbury Rotarian); Elizabeth McAndrews, and Amesbury Middle School; Jayne Vilandenis. We were honored by the presence of past recipients of this award; Marianne Curry and her husband Mike, 2000, and Stacey Fijalkowski, 2001.
Previous Recipients:
| Barbara Leary 1983 |
| Barbara Foster 1984 |
| Peter Hoyt 1985 |
| Patricia Hoyt 1986 |
| Rose Marie Bailey 1987 |
| Linda Young 1988 |
| Nina Tassinari 1989 |
| Maria Ferrandini 1990 |
| Glenn Peterson 1991 |
| Geraldine Minihan 1992 |
| Marcia Stellmach 1993 |
| Bill Claffey 1994 |
| John Swistak 1995 |
| Marlene Schroeder 1996 |
| Kathy Scholtz 1997 |
| Peggy Laufer 1998 |
| Albert MacDonald, Jr. 1999 |
| Christopher Perry 2000 |
| Jim Cassidy 2001 |
| Billie McLane 2002 |
| Steven O’Connor 2003 |
| Tom Horan 2004 |
| Karen Iworsky 2005 |
| Suzanne Morin 2006 |
| John Lyman 2007 |
| Patty Bradley 2008 |
| Bruce McBrien 2009 |
| Maureen Hardin 2010 |
| Anita Marsh 2011 |
| Gale Regis 2012 |
| Liz Morris 2013 |
| Mark Casto 2014 |
| Bethany Noseworthy 2015 |
| Maryanne Dower 2016 |
Leslie Barnaby 2017 Jessica Regis 2018 |
| Dr. Kristen Walsh 2019 |
| Marianne Curry 2020 |
Stacey Fijalkowski 2021 Courtney Lovett, 2022 Diedre Vachon, 2023 Derek Bent, 2024 |
The Amesbury Rotary Club is committed to serving the youth of our community. We sponsor scholarships and offer interest-free loans to Amesbury students. We also honor one of the many outstanding educators in our school system each year. This award recognizes professional excellence and the performance of outstanding service in the Amesbury School System. Eligibility requirements as follows:
Must teach in the Amesbury School System - this includes all classroom/special education teachers and specialists in technology, art, music, library, guidance counselors, etc. Administrators are not eligible.
Must have been employed in the Amesbury School System for at least five years.
Must not plan on retiring within the next two years.
Must not be a previous recipient.
42 years and counting
“This is the 42nd.. year that the Amesbury Rotary Club will be giving an Educator of the Year award,” said Donna Collins, who heads the nominating committee., “which recognizes professional excellence." The Amesbury Rotary Club takes nominations from students, parents, co-workers, anyone in the community, Collins said. “We get all these letters and I screen them. The teachers have to have taught in Amesbury for at least five years and not plan to retire within the next two years.”
After Collins sifts through the nomination letters and verifies eligibility with the school department, the committee, which includes three or four Rotarians and four past winners, reviews all eligible nominations. Rotarians make the final decision,” she said, “but the input from the teachers is very valuable to us in making that decision.”
For event pictures, please click on the READ MORE button on the lower right of this screen
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Service Above Self
Amesbury, MA 01913
United States of America