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Street Renamed To Honor Longtime Holyoke City Clerk

WAMC

  A woman who dedicated the majority of her adult life to public service in a western Massachusetts city was honored at a ceremony today. 

  Part of a street that runs by Holyoke City Hall was dedicated Wednesday in memory of former city clerk Susan Egan. More than 75 people including family, friends, former colleagues and elected officials came to honor Egan, who worked for the city for 43 years, more than 20 as clerk. She retired in 2013, and died two years later at 65.

  Former mayor Elaine Pluta, a close friend of Egan, was among the speakers.

"  It will be our pleasure to drive down this street and remember Susan's love for and her commitment to the city of Holyoke and its  residents," said Pluta.

  Speakers praised Egan’s professionalism and dedication to the job of city clerk, which has more interaction with the public than most other municipal departments. The clerk’s office issues birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, and dog licenses.  It registers voters and supervises elections.

  The clerk is also the parliamentarian and record-keeper for the city council.  Council President Kevin Jourdain, who was first elected in 1993, the same year Egan was elected clerk, said her knowledge about the city charter and council rules was unsurpassed.

" Throughout her tenure she showed tremendous poise and a quiet steeliness," he said. " She easily won reelection after reelection. I always had a much harder time getting reelected than Susan ever did."

City Councilor Diosdado Lopez is credited with proposing that a portion of Dwight Street in front of City Hall be named in honor of Egan.

"  I hate to say this, but we don't have  a lot in this city named after females, so we needed something visible and this is what we came up with," said Lopez.

      Egan was the first woman elected city clerk in Holyoke.  City Clerk Brenna Murphy McGee said Egan is a role model and mentor.

" There are so many days I have questions that I know only Susan can answer. It makes me so sad to not be able to pick up the phone and call her," she said.

In addition to recounting her dedication and professionalism, colleagues also recalled her sly sense of humor, such as when she put a jar of mushrooms on the desk of a city councilor who had been quoted in a newspaper story complaining about being kept in the dark on a financial issue.

Susanne Mead, who worked for Egan for many years, revealed that they spent their lunch hours together playing cards.

" I loved her. She was a great person, a great boss and a great card player. We had a lot of fun together," said Mead.

William Egan said he used to joke with his sister that perhaps after she retired a small room somewhere in the basement of city hall would be named for her.

" We were all shocked to have a  street named after her. She would say ' you are all craze to name a street after me. You've gone crazy'," he said.

In addition to the dedication of Susan Egan Way, her framed picture was put on the wall of the clerk’s office next to those of her predecessors.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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