Posted by Bob Wicks on Nov 12, 2021
 
At the first annual ‘Celebrate Our Heroes’ event hosted by Rotary District 7930 on Thursday evening in Danvers, two local heroes nominated by the Ipswich-Rowley Rotary Club were honored.  
 
The Ipswich hero for 2021 is Lt. Colonel Meghann Plumlee, a graduate of West Point and the historic first ever female commander of the 101st Engineer Battalion of the Massachusetts National Guard.  The unit was established in 1636 and is one of the oldest serving regiments in the US Army.  Plumlee’s active duty assignments included deployments to Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan.    
 
Honored from Rowley was Nerissa Wallen, a long-time member and past Chairperson of the Triton School Committee, and an advocate for Rowley based youth programs such as scouting.  A graduate of the Triton school system, Nerissa began serving on the school committee in 2015 and co-founded ‘Support MA Regional Schools’, a grass roots group that advocates on behalf of regional schools at the state level.          
 
Seen in the photo are District Governor Terry Rezendes Curran, Ipswich-Rowley Rotary President Clint Dalton, Rowley recipient Nerissa Wallen, Ipswich recipient Lt. Colonel Meghann Plumlee, and Past District Governor Joan Arsenault.  The photo was taken by Keith Harris.