Grand Island Chamber celebrating community pride

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

The Grand Island Chamber of Commerce will celebrate its 58th annual Citizen of the Year Awards Dinner from 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Niagara Falls. It’s a ticketed event that is open to the public. Islander Scott Swagler is general manager of the DoubleTree.

Pride of Grand Island – Part II

This year, in a new feature, the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce has decided to celebrate past winners from each decade of the Citizen of the Year event.

So, too, will this publication.

Here’s a cavalcade of winners, a snapshot in 2025 of honorees from nearly 60 years of the Chamber giving awards to Grand Island’s heroes. The biographies in various categories represent the achievements and zeal of the past winners. Some of these winners commented anew for this article. The intent is to provide an inspiration for choosing those honored this year and in years to come.

•1970s: Veronica Connor (1972), Education: The Grand Island Schools website carries a biography of Veronica Connor, first supervising principal of Grand Island schools:

She was born in 1910 in Ransomville, where she attended a one-room school house. Later, she would ride a train into Niagara Falls walk to Niagara Falls High School each school day until her graduation in 1928.

She began her teaching career at the Porter Center school in Niagara County. She was then recommended to become a supervising principal on Grand Island. She was instrumental in moving the schools from one-room schoolhouses to larger schools. 

Until her retirement in 1973 as superintendent of schools, she oversaw the Grand Island schools through many changes in education, including the creation of shared services with other school districts (BOCES).

Affectionately called “Big Red” because of her striking red hair and an enthusiastic and vibrant personality, she was well-known for her unwavering dedication to the education of the children on Grand Island.

•1880s: Jimmy Arias, (1981), Young Man of the Year: (By Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame) Grand Island’s Jimmy Arias, a tennis prodigy in his youth, evolved into perhaps the rarest of all athletic phenomena; a child star who, instead of “achieving” burnout by his teens, developed into the type of player his early talent predicted.

He dominated juvenile tennis in Western New York in the 1970s. As a pre-teen, he began to accumulate state and national trophies in the 14-and-under age bracket, frequently besting players two or three years his senior. It soon became apparent that in Buffalo, only top adult players could provide meaningful competition.

Jimmy’s father, Antonio, realized that his son’s career had reached a crossroad, and that that career could progress only if the young player left Buffalo in search of world-class competition.

Accordingly, at age 13, Jimmy moved to Florida to train with established pro Nick Bollettieri. The young star soon, once again, found himself beating older players. By age 14, Arias was competing with college stars. At 15, he became the youngest ranked player in the world, and turned pro a year later. In 1980, at age 16, he became the youngest player to play in the men’s singles competition at the U.S. Open.

In 1982, his ranking on the pro circuit jumped from the 70s to the top 20. In 1983, he captured four singles titles, including the U.S. Open Clay Courts Championship and Italian Tennis Championship.

He also reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Open singles competition and finished that year ranked fifth in the world, behind only John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Ian Lendl and Jimmy Connors.

Although plagued by injuries during much of the remainder of his career, Arias continued to compete gamely until 1994. Throughout his career, he was sustained by a mental toughness often noted by contemporaries, the same discipline which allowed him to maintain perspective as a child star in the midst of adulation.

•1990s: Mary Cooke (1995), Government: Mary A. Stang-Cooke was born in Perrysburg, the second of nine children to Werner and Olive Stang. She and her husband, Jeff, moved to Grand Island in 1988. She is the mother of Jeff Jr., Jesse, James “Cap” and Jane, proud grandmother of nine and, as of last week, became a great-grandmother for the first time.

She earned a bachelor’s in home economics education from State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s at Niagara University. She taught in public schools from 1981-2011.

She was elected and served as Grand Island council member from 1994-2011, was deputy supervisor from 1995-97, and was elected in 2011 to a four-year term as supervisor of the Town of Grand Island.

As supervisor, Cooke completed a townwide full-value assessment project; maintained the town’s excellent bond rating; negotiated five-year collective bargaining agreements for two unions; implemented the 95-gallon, covered wheeled cart for recycling; and secured many grants for the town, including funds for the West Five Trail, Fisherman's Landing and Buckhorn State Park.

She also served on the Historic Preservation Advisory Board, Human Rights Commission and the Sidewalk and Bike Path Committee.

Cooke is president of the Friends of Grand Island Memorial Library board, a member of the Grand Island Historical Society, and a longtime lector at St. Stephen Church, where she also assists as a bereavement liturgy planner.

When she worked on the DeGlopper Memorial Expansion Committee, she responded to an earlier request from ConWeld founder John Gast to find a way to honor Grand Island’s Civil War soldiers killed in action. She said that led to an arduous but ultimately unsuccessful process to try to identify those particular soldiers. Ultimately, brick pavers were established to the right of the DeGlopper statue for all 86 Islanders who served in the Civil War, not just those who were killed in action.

Although she calls herself “retired,” effective in 2015, Cooke has continued a very active life in community service.

“It has been joyful. I’ve been able to do many things that have brought great satisfaction and joy to my life and my family’s life,” she said.

Cooke added, “I still stay fairly active with a few projects that I started as a supervisor, and they relate, pretty much, to the supervisorship. One of the big ones is the Erie County Correctional Facility horticulture program. The inmates grow plants and make Christmas wreaths.”

Cooke said that, in May, she and Town Hall Caretaker Jim Linenfelser usually bring back as many as 40 flats of plants – flowers and vegetables, too – for town facilities, including Town Hall, the library, Veterans Park and the Golden Age Center. In November, they get the Christmas wreaths.

She explained, “The inmates do the work to try to repay the community for which their transgressions took place.” Cooke spoke to an older man who takes care of the horticulture program. He told her, “I only treat them like inmates if they make me. Otherwise, we’re all equal.”

Cooke has a leadership role as secretary of the Niagara Military Affairs Council. NIMAC supports the growth and prosperity of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and is credited with saving the facility during a time when many air bases were closing. Cooke said the Falls reserve station is of strategic importance for this community because its only entrance and exits are the bridges.

She said the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year program represents a very important role that a chamber can provide in a community: “To honor people is a very positive effort that I think some communities miss out on. I’m really glad that Grand Island does it.”