Katonah and Lewisboro residents named to Senior Citizens Hall of Fame

SOUTH SALEM, N.Y. - Two folks from Katonah and one from Lewisboro are among Westchester County’s Senior Citizens Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025.

E. Annette Nash Govan, Dolores Vidal-Roy, and George Scott – and 58 other seniors from across 33 municipalities -- were honored for their achievements and contributions to their communities at a ceremony on Friday, Dec. 5 in Tarrytown.

County Executive Ken Jenkins said he was “deeply honored” to recognize the Class of 2025 and praised the Hall of Fame as “one of the county’s most meaningful traditions” because it gave Westchester the “opportunity to express our gratitude to the seniors whose leadership, service, and dedication have strengthened our communities.

Mae Carpenter, commissioner of the Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS), echoed that sentiment. “This is what building communities is all about!” she said, thanking honorees for “their incredible contributions to improving the lives of others.”

Nash Govan

Ella Annette Nash Govan, 72, of Katonah, is being honored for her many volunteer roles.

She is a trustee/treasurer for the Antioch Baptist Church in Bedford Hills, is a member of the board of Antioch Homes Housing Development Fund, which created 12 affordable housing units in the community; and is chair and treasurer of Rehabilitation Through the Arts, which helps incarcerated people become productive members of society after their release.

She serves with state Assemblyman Chris Burdick on the state Committee on Correction.

Nash Govan belongs to the Friends of the John Jay Homestead and is its program lead for the bicentennial commemoration of the abolition of slavery, which is set for 2027.

As coordinator of her church’s quilting and sewing ministry, she made and donated lap quilts, wheelchair bags to senior centers and nursing homes and also put together a community quilt that had been created by local children and adults at a Juneteenth Celebration at Caramoor. It was displayed at Bedford Town Hall for a year.

Known for being a thought leader in the fields of financial services, media, entertainment, and venture capital, and with larger nonprofits, she uses those experiences to help smaller organizations, said Burdick, who nominated Nash Govan for the county award.

Scott

George Scott of South Salem, a hamlet in the town of Lewisboro, has been deploying his green thumb to enhance the community’s natural beauty for nearly 20 years, says town Supervisor Tony Gonçalves, who nominated the 80-year-old for the Senior Hall of Fame.

He’s an active member of the Lewisboro Garden Club and chairs the Golden Roads Daffodil Program Committee.

Scott also serves on the town’s Open Space and Preserves Advisory Committee and is head steward at the Leon Levy Preserve, where many of the volunteers are retired professionals.

He is a former member of the Trails Committee.

Thanks to the contributions of Scott and other volunteers from the local Scouts and high school students to town residents and gardeners, Golden Roads has so far planted and maintained more than 65,000 roadside daffodils.

He is a retired respiratory therapist and clinical instructor and the founder of a medical gas testing company serving hospitals, pharmaceutical firms, and nuclear power plants nationwide.

Vidal-Roy

Katonah’s Dolores Vidal-Roy, 82, is a retired social worker and a fierce advocate for underserved communities in northern Westchester.

Up until its closure, she had served for many years in the county Department of Health’s clinic in Mount Kisco.

She has been involved with the village/town’s Drug and Alcohol Prevention Council as a coordinator, as well as with the Emergency Shelter Partnership and the Mount Kisco Providers, a professional group dedicated to developing strategies and plans to better serve the growing Latino community..

As an advocate for the area’s large Hispanic population, the Puerto Rico native is known for “being wherever she’s needed to help her community flourish,” said county Legislator Erika L. Pierce, who nominated Vidal-Roy for the Hall of Fame.

In 2024, she received the “Legado Latino Influence Award” and has been recognized by Pierce and state Sen. Peter Harckham for her work.

Vidal-Roy was also named as a “Notable Woman” by Mount Kisco last year.

Good to Know

Over the past 43 years, more than 1,700 seniors have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Hosting this year’s ceremony are the DSPS, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation, and the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services.

Sponsors are New York-Presbyterian, Wartburg, and the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services.

For more information, visit www.westchesterpartnership.org/hall-of-fame/ or contact Angelique Morelli at AngeliqueM@EventsRemember.com or (914) 218-3968.