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Wohlforth Named Greenwich Sentinel’s 2018 Award Winner

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Susan Wohlforth has been given the 2018 Greenwich Sentinel Award. (Anne W. Semmes photo)

By Anne Semmes
Sentinel Correspondent

Susan Wohlforth has deep roots in the town of Greenwich. She was not “planted” in Greenwich from birth, but she has indeed planted many trees in her volunteering way and “loved doing it,” she says.

On June 28, Susan is to be celebrated with the 2018 Greenwich Sentinel Award for her “unassuming, loyal, and stalwart leadership, and her sustained commitment to family, friends and community,” so endorsed by Debra McLaughlin, president of the Junior League of Greenwich. “She is a first rate community leader,” echoes former League president Karen Royce. “It is an honor to know her and a joy to see her recognized.”

Susan is “honored and surprised” she says to receive this award. Still fresh in her memory, with the loss of her husband Martin “Buff” Wohlforth in 9/11, was her experience of “being the recipient of the generosity of this town.”

“The day it happened,” she says, “the Junior League and the Red Cross were in my living room along with my wonderful family trying to help me, mentally, physically, emotionally, financially,” she says. And here she shares her favorite quote: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” “I did not plant those trees [those organizations],” she says, “but I was the beneficiary of their shade.”

At the time of 9/11 Susan was president of the Junior League of Greenwich, and chose not to step down. “It was that extraordinary support I received from the women of the Junior League. I got the benefit and blessing of sitting underneath that tree.”

Former Selectman Lin Lavery and League member early on recognized Susan’s potential for the League, not long after the Wohlforths moved to Greenwich in 1982. 

“Sue is a strong mentor to others, encouraging and grateful for the work that others do.” Mother of then two-year old Chloe, Susan already had the skills and instincts for volunteering.

As a young teenager living in New Jersey,  Susan had often accompanied her mother, Marilyn Vecchiotti to a home for women where she learned the gift of “giving time and listening.”  At Vassar her extracurricular activity was volunteering at a Senior Center.” I did it because I loved it!” she says, and she learned “volunteering time and effort has always done more for me than I ever did for the organizations and people I tried to serve.”

Being resourceful was another string to her bow. An interest in art took her to the University of Florence in Italy where she got her masters in art history, then landed a coveted salesgirl job at Gucci. But Susan’s destiny was to marry stateside and bring her resourcefulness to Greenwich.

“You know what I’m really good at,” she says, “being a cheerleader. I’m the person that people ask to ask someone to do something. And I usually get them to do it.” What’s key is, “I believe in what I’m asking them to do and I believe in them.” League member Marietta Contadino attests to that. “Susan reintroduced me to the League, and the joy of participating in and executing impactful projects as my new work schedule allowed. Her support and guidance have been immeasurable in all facets of my life.”

“Any time I’ve ever done anything it’s been an incredible amount of teamwork,” Susan notes. She recalls cutting the ribbon on the Children’s Day School as League president, but credits the “countless presidents” before her as well as “the entire body of the Junior League.” Yet there’s no hiding the joy she felt that day after working on the League’s Skate Park project, when she encountered that “adorable boy” on Greenwich Avenue with a group of boys carrying skate boards who cried out, “Oh my God there goes the skate board lady – thank you so much!”

Partnering with other organizations in Town on League projects has given Susan a greater appreciation of how such agencies as United Way contributed to the Town. “The Greenwich United Way gave the JLG seed money,” she says, “towards creating the Children’s Day School as an affordable child care center for working parents.” That partnership brought Susan to the United Way board, where her cheerleader skills brought others to United Way’s board. “I applaud and respect their mission,” says Susan, “to assure that our citizens are healthy, educated and self-sufficient.”

But it’s the personal connections that speak loudest to Susan. In her work for the League’s Lend A Volunteer project she signed on for visits to the Parsonage Cottage.

Reaching out to a resident she was met with, “Huh, another do-gooder. Why don’t you just count your hours, go get a coffee and don’t come back.”

Resourceful Susan to the rescue, noticing the woman resident had Hershey Kisses by her bedside, returned another day with Hershey Kisses. “She took them and looked at me and said you brought these to me?”  The friendship lasted until the resident moved away.

Another of Susan’s mantras she often included in her President’s Messages in the League’s monthly newsletter is “We are ordinary women who accomplish extraordinary things.”

She points to the League women who are helping to realize the soon-to-open Byram Park Swimming Pool, and who brought into being the Boundless Park Playground in Bruce Park that accommodates handicapped children. But Susan has her eye on the more ordinary the need for civility she sees in downtown Greenwich. “There’s so much traffic… why not let someone go in front of you,” she suggests. She wishes for, “a kinder gentler place where people care about each other.”

Strategically placed around Susan’s home are the listings of the Greenwich Sentinel’s 23 Acts of Kindness. “These acts are so fundamental, so easy and yet so critical,” she says, “as are the simple words of ‘thank you.’”  She was able to pay tribute to her late husband’s kindness, when not long after he was lost in 9/11 she received a letter from a resident who had run out of gas, who was rescued by her husband. She printed the letter in the League newsletter.

The resident wrote, “I was so appreciative, and asked if I could do something for him in return. He smiled and said, ‘No. Nothing at all. It was my pleasure to be able to help you.’”

Now as a sustaining board member of the League, Susan keeps abreast of the needs of the town. From the Commission on Aging she learned of the growing needs of the elderly.

She cites Greenwich as a “most inclusive community, but we do have a population where English is the second language, where mental illness and depression is huge.”

But she also sees, “We have wonderful organizations and agencies that do great work: the United Way, Red Cross, YWCA, CCI, Abilis, Pathways, and Child Guidance.”

Building awareness of these needs she believes should start with the young.

“I wish in school they could take a month, a week, a day, and have someone from Pathways or Social Services come in and talk to kids at an age when it can really hit home. When you drop off clothes at Neighbor to Neighbor this is what you are doing, you’re helping these people.”

Susan Wohlforth is indeed a cheerleader for Greenwich. “Greenwich is good people who are fortunate to live in a town like this. I want this town to remember how fortunate we are. To know that and understand that is to be grateful and show it in our everyday lives. Some people wake up and make a list of what they are grateful for. I wake up and I say, I hope I am able to show my gratitude. Part of that comes from – when 9/11 destroyed my daughter and me –  the kindness, the caring, the generosity was overwhelming. I really feel I can never pay it back and in small ways I try.”

If you would like more information about the Greenwich Sentinel Foundation Awards or to purchase tickets, please visit: https://www.greenwichsentinel.com/sentinel-award/. Thank you!  

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