Cornelius Community Honors Jack Conard Jr.

Photo courtesy of Town of Cornelius via Instagram

By Dave Vieser — When the town board meeting room at Cornelius Town Hall is filled to capacity that usually means a controversial subject or zoning issue is on the agenda. But Monday, with virtually every seat filled by residents holding signs, was a notable exception. The reason?

Jack Conard Jr.

The community gathered to honor Jack Conard Jr. as the recipient of Cornelius’ Outstanding Citizen Award for the second quarter of the year. Everyone in the room agreed that Jack is a very special part of Cornelius and deserved the award.

Conard is well known as the unofficial historian of Cornelius. In fact, he has amassed a sizable collection of historic Cornelius photographs in his home, and has also had a significant number of photos on display at Town Hall.

His collection of photographs show what Cornelius was like before the lake and modernization. He was known to talk for hours about the loss of land and the growth of homes that replaced the treasured woodlands. He can now add the Outstanding Citizen Award to his sizable collection.

Unfortunately Conard is resting in hospice and couldn’t be at Town Hall. However, a live feed of the meeting was shown in his room so he could watch the presentation and acknowledge the award, even mustering a little laugh.

“Thanks for looking after everything. Hopefully everything’s going to work out for the best, for some of us. So I’ll just leave it at that,” he smiled. “I love y’all and have a great town meeting. I can’t imagine the town without me being there, but you’re all with me all of the time.”

The new award is presented each quarter by Mayor Denis Bilodeau.

“Monday night was a beautiful reminder of what this community is all about,” said Bilodeau.