Meet Tom and Tammy McClure, Hillsborough's 2011 Citizens of the Year. Tammy is a native of Hillsborough and Tom is practically a native, having grown up nearby in Bennington and living in Hillsborough since he and Tammy married.
Their involvement in the town began early. Tom served as a Park Board member for 7 years, a volunteer fireman for 12 years, a selectman from 1978 to 1981, a member of the Jaycees and a Little League coach. Tammy has been a champion for youth athletics and adult recreation for more than 20 years. It’s Tammy who organizes the tennis camps every summer at Grimes Field and Tammy who runs adult volleyball on Wednesday nights at the high school.
Together, Tammy and Tom started a Babe Ruth baseball program, and Tom solicited lamps from Sylvania, wiring from Mamakating and help with the layout from PSNH to make the lighted field down at Grimes.
Along the way, this couple built the former Chalkboard Restaurant, that stood where Dunkin Donuts is today, and then started up the High Tide seasonal eatery that we all like to visit in the summer. Incidentally, on Labor Day of 2000, Tom and Tammy, donated the day’s proceeds from the High Tide to the Hillsboro-Deering Elementary School’s new playground project.
Tammy made reading possible for illiterate adults in the Hillsborough area. It was Tammy who saw the need and found funds to start up the Project LIFT Program to match trained tutors with people who grew up without learning to read, and it was Tammy who raised funds year after year to keep the program going until federal and local government funds because available. The Project LIFT program has expanded and now assists adults seeking a GED.
More recently, Tom coordinated the construction of the Hillsborough Heritage Museum, serving as clerk of the works and giving innumerable days to building, wiring and finishing the project. In 2011, Tom’s volunteerism was directed to the new Clifford and Dorothy Blanchard Children’s Room of the Fuller Public Library. Tom moved shelving, painted and remodeled during the remodeling of the space.
For Tammy, being the director of the Fuller Public Library goes way beyond the job. She and the “Bookettes” performed their song and dance in the town’s annual parade for years, and she works with the Friends of the Library on her own time, organizing fund raisers and enrichment events.
Tom and Tammy McClure embody the contagious spirit that infuses inviting communities with connected and caring residents who work together to make life better for each other. Tom and Tammy, the Chamber is proud to recognize all your contributions and it is an honor to present you with the 2011 Citizens of the Year award.