Historian, ‘Research Addict’ to get Silver Award

Judy Coy, who for years has supervised the documenting of San Anselmo’s town history, has been named a Silver Award winner.

The Quality of Life Commission, at a recent session, voted unanimously to give her the award. It will be presented at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10 at the Town Council meeting.

Says Coy, “People collect things. I collect lists of information that might solve a historical puzzle. I call myself a research addict, and I love the thrill of the hunt that ends with all the pieces coming together in one of those ‘eureka’ moments.”

Dick Miner, a member of the Historical Commission, says she spends “long hours developing programs and creating exhibits that will interest the people of San Anselmo.”

Coy, who’s lived in the town since 1980, was appointed to that commission in 2002 and has been its chair since 2008.

She was instrumental in fashioning the town’s 2007 centennial presentation and producing a self-guided walking tour and ancillary booklet. And she’s made local history available to residents and non-residents alike by creating displays outside the museum and posting photos and 20 stories under the rubric ‘Now and Then’ on Patch.com. 

She says she’s proudest, however, of the commission reopening the Historical Museum after it had been closed more than a year following the flood that devastated the downtown area the final day of 2005.

She cites the museum’s historical timeline and diorama as particularly noteworthy items, and is gratified by “our having refurbished and reconstructed the model train station.”

Coy’s labors of love jump-started when she volunteered for the Marin History Museum in San Rafael, where she co-authored a book, “Images of America: Early San Rafael.” Now she’s signed a contract with Arcadia Publishing to produce another: “Images of America: Early San Anselmo.”

She has a September deadline, with publication expected shortly after the first of the year. Although she’ll do the work, royalties will go to the Historical Society, the nonprofit museum parent that has dues-paying members and can raise funds.

For the past two years, Coy’s also been a board member and treasurer for the Marin State Parks Association, a nonprofit dedicated to saving and supporting China Camp, Olompali, Samuel P. Taylor and Tamales Bay parks.

The University of California employed the award-winner, now 67 and retired, for 30 years, mostly in the office of the president. Her specialty: information and technology recording.

A U.C. Berkeley grad, she says her least favorite aspect of being commission chair is the difficulty of recruiting new panel members. In contrast, she loves being able to help folks — through in-person, phone and e-mail conversations — with their questions and requests.

One of her “most heart-warming experiences” recently was driving two men around town “so they could look back. Many years before, they’d been orphans at the Presbyterian Orphanage in San Anselmo.”

History “repeats itself,” Coy notes, “with the town facing many of the same issues now as in the past, including the condition of our roads, lighting in the streets and flooding. But Town Council meetings now, even when they’re contentious, are conducted with civility and no one storming out. We’ve come a long, long way.”

She will become the 22nd winner of the Silver Award. Previous recipients were Kathy Thornton, Dick Stutsman, Nancy Vernon, Barbara Dwyer, Peter Penhallow, the husband-and-wife team of Teri and Alex Rockas, Eli Welber and Steve Lee, Grace Komo, Ben Burtt, Royce Truex and Jo Gross, Michael Schwab, Deborah Cichocki, Kay Peacock, Frank Ortiz, Tom Boss, the husband-wife team of Patricia and Chuck Swensen, Bill Abright, Cynnie Barrows, Marilyn Girodo, Sophia Spencer and Dollie Frauens.

Silver and the more environmentally oriented Green Awards are handed out in alternate months. Nominations for either can be e-mailed to voodee@sbcglobal.net or townclerk@townofsananselmo.org — or mailed or hand-delivered to the Quality of Life Commission c/o the Town of San Anselmo, 525 San Anselmo Ave.