Tom Riley was more than 3,000 miles away from the Sheraton Harborside in Portsmouth when his name was called in the hotel ballroom as the 2019 New Hampshire REALTOR of the Year, but he was quick to respond via text from across the Atlantic.
"Wow. Such an honor," Riley typed from Spain at 2:35 a.m. Central European Summer Time Thursday. "I love the New Hampshire Realtors so much. Thank you all."
Riley, the 2010 NHAR President and 2017-18 National Association of Realtors Treasurer, was unable to attend the Wednesday evening ceremony due to a long-since-scheduled, 500-mile European pilgrimage, Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of Saint James, with his high school sweetheart and wife of 48 years, Diane. But more than 100 of his peers, their family and friends were on hand to celebrate the accomplishments, volunteerism and civic activities of the 14 local board Realtors of the Year.
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2019 REALTOR OF THE YEAR VIDEO
There was plenty to be proud of. In addition to hosts Jim Lee and Diana Mancuso calling attention to Riley's stint as NAR treasurer, the audience was told of the Capital Region's Melanie Paskavitch, the board's president-elect and five-year chair of its community outreach and hospitality committees. And the Contoocook Valley's Sadie Halliday, she of the Jaffery-Rindge Rotary Club, Rindge Chamber of Commerce, Monadnock Mountaineers, Cheshire County Advisory Council and Cathederal Pines.
And Greater Claremont's Viola Lunderville, a 27-year member of the Philanthropic Education Association, who before her work as a Realtor was administrator of security at the State Prison for Men in Concord. And Granite State South's Mark Oswald, co-founder of the board's diversity committee and former member of the Londonderry town council, planning board and budget committee.
And there was Tammy Dubreuil of the North Country Board, the recent NHAR Good Neighbor Award winner for her work with the Whitefield Lions Club, of which she was the first female member. And Strafford County's Karen Mairs, who loves to mentor young agents as much as she uses her Realtor status to raise awareness for worthy causes.
And Penny Chauvette of the Greater Manchester/Nashua Board, a cancer survivor who, along with her husband, has fostered - get this - 109 (that's one hundred and nine) children. And the Lakes Region's Debbi Ward, and her affiliations with the local veterans home, Family Resource Center, American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Homane Society and Relay for Life, to name a few.
And the singing, dancing, column-writing Josh Greenwald of the Monadnock Region Board, an incoming NHAR member liaison and current member of the third NHAR Leadership Academy. And NHAR communications committee chair Adam Gaudet of the Seacoast Board, who's slated to be the New Hampshire Realtors President in 2023 and currently serves as the association's Federal Political Coordinator.
And the Sunapee Region's Joanie McIntire, who has served as her board's president for the last two years and as the Concord City Auditorium's hospitality committee chair for the last four. And Upper Valley's Susan Cole, the incoming board president who is the ninth generation to live on her family farm and has worked with the local 4-H, Grange, Ag in the Classroom, city master plan committee, and as chair of the Christian education committee at her church.
Last to be recognized was the White Mountain Board's president Jim Lyons, the Association's foremost champion of the Realtor R and all it represents, five-time local Realtor of the Year, and NHAR president in 2008, during which time he spoke these often-quoted words:
"Our Realtor values are not mere platitudes, but our living ideals, and they are, in fact, the foundation on which we conduct ourselves in our day-to-day business affairs. We are community-builders in the most literal sense, not just putting customers in houses but putting neighbors into homes. More than just sellers, we are providers. More than just agents, we are friends."
Tom Riley awoke Thursday morning to continue his European trek when he posted to social media, calling Realtor of the Year the "highest honor" he could receive. "Words can not be said or enough thanks given," he wrote. "Many thanks to all that have helped me and advised me along my path."