Rotary Club names Citizen of the Year

After evaluating 12 nominees, an eight-member committee of the Warwick Valley Rotary Club has selected Warwick Valley Humane Society’s Suzyn Barron as the 2024-2025 Warwick Citizen of the Year. In addition, Garrett Durland and John McGloin were selected as this year’s Outstanding Community Service award recipients.

The three will be honored Wednesday, October 23 at the Landmark Inn. The event, sponsored by the Warwick Valley Rotary Club, will begin with a one-hour open bar and hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m., followed by the awards program. Tickets are $60 per person and are available at warwickvalleyrotary.org.

Co-chairing this year’s event again are Cindy Vander Plaat and Patti Lurye Dempster. Proceeds from the evening will be donated to Rotary International’s Polio Plus project to eliminate polio worldwide. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match the donation two-to-one. What made these local citizens worthy of this honor? The committee would like to share the following.

Suzyn Barron

Suzyn Barron moved to Warwick in 1980. She has been married for 45 years to Mitchell Barron, a seventh-degree grandmaster in Tae Kwon Do, while she holds a second-degree black belt. They’ve co-own NorthEastern Martial Arts Academy, Inc. in Chester, for 34 years.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Secondary Education and taught high school math before dedicating herself to volunteer work with the Humane Society, where she has been president since 2000. Over her tenure, she led multiple projects, including building a new shelter, developing play areas for dogs, and establishing programs like spay-neuter-return (SNR).

A typical day for her involves fostering kittens, handling administrative work, overseeing shelter operations, and responding to animal control cases, all while not being compensated.

Garret Durland

Garret Durland is a lifelong Warwick resident. He was born at St. Anthony Community Hospital and moved to 14 Grand St., a home his grandfather, Harry Seely, built in 1948. He and his wife Rachel reconnected in 1985 after spending some time apart after graduating from Warwick Valley High School. They married in 1989, and have two sons, Benjamin and Lucas. Lucas recently blessed them with their first grandchild, Amaiia, born on their 35th wedding anniversary.

Garrett has worked at Seely & Durland since December 1980, continuing his grandfather’s legacy. Garretts niece, Brianna Smith, joined them in 2015, extending to their four-generation tradition.

Garrett has served on the Bon Secours Warwick Health Foundation Board at St. Anthony’s Community Hospital for 11 years and has been involved with the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce since 1996, including 25 years with the Applefest Committee. He is known to be the ‘core’ of the apple for Applefest.

John McGloin

John McGloin is also a lifelong resident of Warwick and was born at St. Anthony Community Hospital. He graduated from Warwick Valley High School before continuing his education at Paul Smith’s College, earning his degree in 1978. He built a successful career as a land surveyor and founded John A. McGloin Land Surveying in 1986, serving New York State for nearly four decades.

He has been a member of the NYS Association of Professional Land Surveyors since 1986, where he also served on the Board of Directors. He also served as president of the Delaware Hudson Land Surveyors.

McGloin joined the Warwick Valley Rotary Club in 1992. He held the presidency during the 2001-2002 year, was honored as Rotarian of the Year in 2002-2003, and later served as assistant district governor from 2003-2004. He continues to serve the club as vice president of the Warwick Valley Rotary Club Foundation, after previously holding the position of president.