Person of the Year honor a big surprise for Walpole woman

Hutchinson Road resident Beth Verderber Pelick will be honored next month by The Friends of Christopher Columbus as Walpole's Person of The Year.

About a month ago two of the Friends, Peter Betro and Joanne Forsberg, came to her office at Verderber Real Estate and told her she was being honored on Oct. 17.

"I was like, 'What!"' Pelick recalled. "Then I got scared."

She said she went into "panic mode" thinking of all the people she would be presented to.

Betro did his best to calm her, she said, telling her, "You'll be fine."

The reaction to the news was "typical Beth," said Betro. "Very, 'Why me?"'

Pellick will be honored Oct. 17 at Raffael's during the Friends of Christopher Columbus' 20th annual Festa Italiana Luncheon.

"All the things she does really typifies the type of person we look for," Betro said.

Holding high ranking positions in the Walpole Chamber of Commerce, Pellick said she was more accustomed to informing people they were being chosen as Citizen of the Year. "Now it's turned on me."

"It's an honor, totally an honor," she said.

Pellick said she first became involved in community service at a young age - helping her father, Ted Verderber, run for School Committee.

"I grew up here, fourth generation," she said. "I can give back and hopefully it's all good. It's important to me."

"She's a townie," said Betro. "She comes from a wonderful family."

Along with her involvement in the Walpole Chamber, Pelick is part of several other organizations and committees including the Walpole Lions Club, Walpole Council on Aging and Zoning Bylaw Rewrite Phase Two Committee.

Her big project she said was securing lantern lights on the Common, but she is quick to point out that was a team effort. Pellick is still working to add lanterns to the Common across from the post office and along Rte. 1A - a project that she started in late July and is almost half way done.

About two years ago, Pellick was contacted by a State House organization to run for state senator. After flip-flopping in her mind on the decision, she ultimately decided not to run because she did not want to detract from her other activities.

Still, she said, "It was really cool to be asked."

"Through her efforts she has made a big difference in a lot of people's lives in Walpole in a quiet manner," Bertro said.

She has also been walking for several charities. Perhaps her most memorable was walking in the Avon Three Day Breast Cancer Walk with her two sisters after losing her grandmother to cancer.

Pellick lost her other grandmother to ovarian cancer. She is looking to become more involved in Ovations - an organization searching for the cure for ovarian cancer.

"It's something dear to my heart," she said.

With her job and with taking care of her 4-year-old son, Pellick admits that serving the community on top of other commitments is a lot of work, but "I love it," she said. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it."

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