Costantino named Citizen of the Year

Chris Costantino receives the Milford Historical Society’s Citizen of the Year award from President David Palance during the Pumpkin Festival’s Friday-evening ceremonies.

MILFORD – Hikers and bikers, children and the town’s fauna and flora should thank this year’s Citizen of the Year, said David Palance, as he introduced Chris Costantino during the Milford Pumpkin Festival’s opening ceremonies Friday evening.

Palance is president of the Milford Historical Society, which chooses the town’s top citizen each year.

In letters to the society, colleagues praised Costantino, who has been an active member of the town’s recreation and conservation commissions and a trustee of the Wadleigh Memorial Library for more than 25 years.

“One of the most hardworking, loyal and dedicated people I know,” said Deb Faucher, a recent co-chairwoman of the library board in a letter to the historical society in which she called Costantino an “energetic and honest servant of the Milford community.”

In the past, she has served as coach for the Odyssey of the Mind, and was an environmental and health educator in the Milford schools, a youth soccer coach and a Milford High School cross country coach for nine seasons.

More recently, she was a trail worker for the Milford Rail Trail upgrade and co-creator of New Hampshire’s only ultra-race, the Ghost Train Rail Trail race, which has raised $48,000 since 2009 to benefit the Milford and Brookline conservation commissions. She also operates the Milford aid station during the overnight race, supplying “300 runners with food, humor and railroad spike souvenirs,” wrote library trustee Judy Gross in a letter to the historical society.

Costantino also spearheaded the planning and construction of the Hitchiner Pavilion in the Hitchiner Town Forest and serves as one of three town representatives on the Nashua Regional Planning Commission.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.