The year 2018 marks the conclusion of Peg Curtin’s 60-plus years of public service, which has proven invaluable to New London.

First gaining prominence as an under-secretary to the nation’s initial de facto female governor, Peg served a quarter-century of leadership on the City Council and Board of Education with contributions too numerous to cite here.

Though a woman of means, she worked for decades as a taxi driver, statistically the most dangerous job in America (cabbies are violently wounded more than any other vocation) so dedicated was she to people in need.

Her street experience augmented her position on the SEAT Board of Directors where she strategized today’s remarkably efficient New London bus service.

She inveterately epitomized the virtues of compassion, courage and commitment, and fought doggedly for the rights of minorities.

As a St. Mary’s Church usher for years, I observed no section of the Mass was more earnestly engaged in prayer than that circumjacent to Peg. It’s obvious from where her prodigious strength of character emanated.

When introduced to my college graduate son she was even prouder of him than I was. She bequeaths a legacy that will reverberate in New London’s brick and concrete canyons for decades and perhaps even generations to come.

I miss her already.

Martin Crane

New London