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Date: 2/1/2024
AGAWAM — The Agawam St. Patrick’s Committee will honor three Agawam residents with prestigious awards at its coronation gala on Feb. 3 at Oak Ridge Country Club in Feeding Hills.
The committee will present the awards at the gala where the four colleen contestants will learn which one will be crowned the 2024 Agawam colleen. Agawam’s 22nd colleen coronation will begin with a cocktail hour at 5 p.m., followed by the ceremony at 6 p.m. Tickets for the Saturday event — which are $50 — can be purchased by emailing agawamstpatricks317@gmail.com.
Sullivan Award
The Agawam St. Patrick’s Committee has named Abaigeal G. Malouin as the recipient of its 2024 Anne Sullivan Award. This award is presented to a female committee member who epitomizes the values represented by Anne Sullivan, who was born in Feeding Hills in 1866 and became the companion and teacher to Helen Keller.
Malouin graduated from Holyoke Catholic High School in 2016, the same year she was chosen for the Agawam colleen’s court. She received a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education and a bachelor of arts in theater design from Westfield State University in 2020.
At WSU, she was historian and president for the Kappa Delta Pi National Honors Society in Education. Last year, Malouin completed her master of education degree in special education from Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee.
Malouin has been a kindergarten teacher at her former elementary school, St. Thomas the Apostle School in West Springfield, for four years. She loves making an impact on her students’ lives — getting to see them have a “lightbulb moment” is truly something special. Malouin also is the drama club director for the upper grades at St. Thomas.
A member of the Agawam St. Patrick’s Committee since 2020, she’s currently president and “colleen mom.” Malouin said she’s “incredibly honored” to receive this award and to march in the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade.
This July, she will marry her high school sweetheart, Nikolas Fiore. Malouin loves music, theater, the beach and spending time with her family and friends.
Parade marshal
Frank Benson will serve as the Agawam parade marshal in the March 17 parade in Holyoke. This award is presented to an Agawam resident who has contributed to the growth of the Agawam St. Patrick’s Committee.
A native of Canada, he completed his bachelor of arts degree with a specialization in philosophy in 1989 at Concordia University in Montreal. Coming to the United States in 1990 on a student visa, he graduated from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 1993 with a master of science in nursing.
Benson worked as a gerontological nurse practitioner until his retirement in 2020. Shortly after retiring, he was invited by Partners in Health to serve as a case investigator and contact tracer during the coronavirus pandemic.
Although his parents are no longer living, he visits and regularly contacts relatives and friends still living in Canada. In 2011, Benson met his wife Kay — “the love of his life” — through social gatherings at a Catholic church. With the marriage he gained six children, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Kay Benson, a longstanding member of the Agawam St. Patrick’s Committee, introduced her husband to the club. Since joining, he’s assisted with float building, has been vice president and currently serves as treasurer.
Benson’s interests include music, reading, being connected to nature, visiting with family, especially the grand- and great-grandchildren, as well as domestic and international travel. He said he’s “proud and honored” to represent Agawam as parade marshal.
Citizenship Award
The Agawam St. Patrick’s committee will present City Councilor Anthony Russo with the Vera Conway Citizenship Award. Presented to someone who has made substantial contributions to the community, the award was renamed last year to honor Vera Conway, a longtime committee member who died in 2022.
After winning re-election in November, Russo was chosen this month by his fellow councilors as their vice president. The 1996 Agawam High School graduate grew up in Agawam with his parents Louis and Gail and his older brother Vinny. He attended Springfield Technical Community College, where he took classes in liberal arts and construction management.
Following college, Russo joined the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union. He has been a member for 25 years and served as the union’s chair for the past 14 years. Russo has worked on a number of large construction projects in Massachusetts, including Gillette Stadium and MGM Springfield. In addition to his construction career, he started his own residential concrete business in 2010.
He’s an active member of the Agawam Knights of Columbus 5585 and Sons of the American Legion, and serves as a trustee for the Captain Charles Leonard House in Agawam. He also volunteers for several different veteran groups, including the Agawam Veterans Council and the Friends of the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam.
Following his father’s footsteps in public service in Agawam, Russo was appointed to the Planning Board in 2021, and elected later that year to his first term on the council.