New veterans agent takes the helm in Lenox

By Claire CoxPrint Story | Email Story
Sean Ward (Photo By Claire Cox)
LENOX — The more than 430 veterans living in Lenox have a new friend in need and deed in Sean Ward, a police officer who served in the Marine Corps in war-torn Somalia. Ward, a 33-year-old patrolman who cruises the streets from midnight to 8 a.m., was appointed Lenox veterans service officer on Sept. 8 by the Selectmen. He succeeds Brig. Gen. Marie Field, who had served on an interim basis for more than two years. His duties are listed on three pages of instructions that call for providing veterans with benefit information, helping them apply for benefits, determining benefit eligibility and acting as their liaison with government officials. Ward is also responsible for “managing” the display and disposal of the American flag and making sure that veterans are recognized on national holidays such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Also among the list of 29 duties are “serving as burial officer for indigent veterans and their spouses,” “ensuring all veterans’ graves are suitably kept and cared for” and visiting veterans who are homebound or in hospitals, nursing homes and extended-care facilities. The town has budgeted $6,000 this year to cover expenses of the veterans service officer, with $1,000 allocated to pay him for his part-time duties. Funds used for serving veterans are paid by the town. The total accounted for at the end of each year are reimbursed by the state Department of Veterans Affairs, Ward started working on his first veteran’s case as an agent the day he was appointed. “Right now, a Vietnam veteran is applying for disability benefits or a pension,” Ward said. “My job is to look into what he can do, what he can apply for, and help him with his paperwork. I have a lot to learn about this job, the most important things I have to do. Every case is going to be different.” Ward was born in Aurora, Ill., and came to Lenox for his final year of high school while living with Timothy S. Face, then a Lenox patrolman and now retiring as police chief. Face’s wife, Kathy, is Ward’s cousin. While in high school, Ward decided on a career as a police officer and after graduation started taking Berkshire Community College’s criminal justice course and working part-time in the Police Department in traffic control. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1992, served on guard duty at Virginia and California military bases and spent a year helping to guard a U.S. naval base in Iceland. In 1995, he was in a detachment sent to Somalia, where United Nations forces were being withdrawn. “It was at the end of the turbulence,” Ward said. ‘We went ashore when there was some fighting going on. I was a mortarman, so I was back a little bit behind the lines. The Somali clans were all fighting with each other, but when we had our backs turned, they were aiming at us.” After six months in Somalia, Ward went to Camp Pendleton in California for temporary assignment as a military policemen. He left the Marine Corps as a corporal in 1996 and returned to Lenox to work part-time for the Police Department while completing his criminal justice course at BCC in 2000. When Ward became aware of attempts to revive the Lenox Veterans of Foreign Wars post, he offered to help. He attended meetings held to organize the nucleus for a new post. He became interested in applying for the veterans position when he learned Field was looking for someone to replace her. Ward and his wife, Jan Miln Ward, who were married a year and a half ago, have a son, Michael, born in June. The family also includes Jarred Gigliotti, 15, and Jacklyn Gigliotti, 9, Jan’s children by a previous marriage.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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