Last week, on the day that we honored the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's memory at an event hosted by WARE at the Ohmann Theatre in Lyons, I was privileged to present several citations to Essie Barnes of Lyons. Two were from an event in August that she could not attend at the Brooklyn Bridge that honored one person from every county in New York State who exhibited resiliency and dignity, reflected in 400 years of struggle in the African-American community since the induction of slavery in the U.S

Essie, who is in her 90s, was my choice for Wayne County. A lifetime of service to her whole community regardless of color, becoming a special education teacher so she could help her clients at the Newark Developmental Center, a proponent of Special Olympics and many other causes, I was proud also to offer her my own resolution in her honor. Essie never did anything she didn't want to do, and she didn't do it for the recognition; she did it, always, because it was the right thing and it made her happy. Photo Credit: Times of Wayne County via Nancy Ghertner.