Seven Decades of Service – And Counting
Lifetime of Giving Back Earns Ada Seaman Celebrate New Britain! Award
(May 8, 2008) Back in the 1930s, New Britain was not unlike most American communities of the day: The Great Depression was taking its toll, and families struggled to make ends meet. As if times weren’t hard enough, young Ada Ferre was enduring nearly three years of recovery from disfiguring leg surgery at the then-Newington Home for 
Crippled Children due to a bone marrow infection.
“It was a difficult time, but I was fortunate they caught it early,” says the now-86-year-old New Britain native, whose married name is Ada Seaman. “Let’s just say I had a little bit of a different childhood than some.”
As difficult as times were, the lessons learned were valuable, says Ada. Among them was learning about the reward to be had in helping those in need. That particular lesson was one she learned well and has dutifully applied throughout some seven decades of giving back to her community.
That lifetime of dedication will be rewarded on May 29, as Ada will be presented with the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain’s Celebrate New Britain! community service award at the New Britain Chamber of Commerce’s 10th Annual Volunteerism Luncheon at Zabbara’s Restaurant. (For ticket information, call the Chamber at 860-229-1665.)
Ada’s inclination toward community service first emerged during her Girl Scout days. Then in World War II, Ada worked as a volunteer nurse’s aide at New Britain General Hospital. Later in life, she spent many years volunteering at New Britain Memorial Hospital (now the Hospital for Special Care); helping citizens learn to read as a volunteer with Literacy Volunteers; and cooking meals for the homeless and recruiting additional volunteers at the Friendship Service Center (where she still volunteers once a month).
But it is Ada’s lifelong dedication to the New Britain Area League of Women Voters (LWVNB) that has been her particular passion.
Ada, co-president and membership chair, has been at the forefront of all things LWVNB since the local chapter’s “rebirth” in 1973 after a decade on hiatus. Her husband’s passing several years earlier inspired her to make an even larger commitment to the community she loved.
“When I was married, I didn’t pay attention to anything political. I never really made my own mind up – but that’s the way it was for many married women in those days,” Ada says. “After my husband died I saw in the newspaper that the League was reorganizing and I wanted to find out more, so I went to a meeting. I was hooked.”
Ada’s specialty with the League is promoting the importance of voting. But she does much more: She’s helped resident councils of public housing conduct council elections; she coordinates volunteers for the annual public works hazardous waste collection day; she has conducted voting machine demonstrations and led numerous voter registration drives; and she has been the League observer of the New Britain Common Council Meetings since 1974. In short, Ada is dedicated to doing all in her power to promote the empowerment of ordinary citizens in the political process.
“The decisions that impact our lives are made and influenced by people who get involved,” says Ada. “If the common citizen is not involved, than decisions made may not be in the common citizen’s best interest.”
John McNamara of New Britain, who nominated Ada, says, “Ada Seaman’s quiet and unassuming manner belies a passion for service and citizenship that is appreciated by all who come to know her. Her most valuable contribution may be that she has set an extraordinary example of community service that continues to inspire others.”
Ada was one of 15 individuals and/or couples nominated for this year’s Celebrate New Britain! award. Other nominees were: Frank Bradley; William (Randy) Clair; Dr. Bruce and Mrs. Kris Fletcher; Victor and Elizabeth Fumiatti; Ted and Nancy Howe; Linda Karalus; Sue LePage; Jim Nason; Pam Riley; Arnold Schwartz; Marilyn Slate; Stephen Varga; Lindsley Wellman; and Cindi Whitham.
Serving on the 2008 Celebrate New Britain! Award Selection Committee were: Co-Chair William Millerick, President, New Britain Chamber of Commerce; Co-Chair Robin Sharp, Executive Director, YWCA of New Britain; Gerry Amodio, Vice President, Amodio Worldwide Moving & Storage, Inc., and Board Member, Community Foundation of Greater New Britain; Todd Bower, Business Development Sales Manager, TD Banknorth; Geraldine Brown-Springer, retired Principal, Slade Middle School and Board Member, Community Foundation; Angelo D’Alfonso, Business & Training Services Coordinator, New Britain Chamber of Commerce; Ed Gunderson, Publisher, The Herald; and Mark Rembish, Esq., Partner, Sheehan, Rembish, LaSaracina & Bizzarro, LLC.
As award recipient, Ada earns the right to designate a $2,500 Community Foundation grant to the New Britain community program or agency of her choosing. The grant award will be announced at the Chamber luncheon.
Established in 1941, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. For more information on the Foundation, please call (860) 229-6018 or visit www.cfgnb.org.
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