Lessler Citizenship Award Winner Announcement
The third annual Robert Lessler Citizenship Award presentation ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 21st at 2:30 PM in the Easton Library Community Room.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that this year’s winner is Paul Lindoerfer. Paul moved to Easton some 23 years ago when he married lifelong resident Mary Chrzanowski Randolph, whose family has lived in Easton for six generations. They have three children and five grandchildren. Paul has been an active participant in Easton's civic life since he moved to town. He is a retired computer systems engineer with degrees in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton and in Systems Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA from UCONN. Paul served as an officer in the US Navy for four years during the Vietnam era. He was a high school All-American swimmer.
Paul has served on the Tax Relief for the Elderly Committee since 2007, and as chair since 2011. This program assists elderly homeowners by providing a credit against property taxes. It has afforded many of our seniors the ability to stay in their longterm homes. Paul has been instrumental in the re-authorization and re-writing of the program rules every three years since joining the committee. Until the practice ended due to COVID, seniors had to apply for tax relief in person at Town Hall. Paul interviewed the applicants and got to know each of them. He misses that personal contact with our seniors.
He was a member of the Board of Finance for 10 years from 2012 through 2021. In addition to this role, he chaired the 2010 Tax Analysis Task Force which compared Easton’s town spending (schools, police, fire , EMS, roads, etc.) and taxes to other towns with similar characteristics and delivered the results to the Board.
He chaired the Volunteer Honoraria Committee from 2010 – 2012. The committee recommended ways to encourage volunteer firefighters and EMS staff to work during difficult-to-cover times and revised the criteria for volunteers to earn financial credits based on their hours of work.
Paul has served on the Commission for the Aging since 2023. The Commission develops and coordinates numerous programs for seniors in Town. One of their annual events is to prepare Thanksgiving turkey dinners in the Senior Center kitchen and deliver them to seniors. He is the official turkey carver for this event. He also helps deliver the Easton Directory once it is completed by the Senior Center.
He has been a member of the Task Force for the Protection of Town Volunteers and Officials since 2024. This task force was established to address concerns that town officials and employees were being disparaged on-line and at public meetings.
Paul has been an active member of The Friends of the Library for the past five years helping to sort books and prepare for the Annual Library Book Sale and working on the annual Holiday Market and Tree Lighting at the library.
Paul also served as a substitute teacher at Hellen Keller from 2009 - 2011 and as a member of the Democratic Town Committee since 2008. He has served as a poll worker for the past six years. You can usually find him standing by the tabulator on election day as you place your ballot in the machine.
In his spare time, Paul enjoys carpentry, traveling, motorcycle riding, hiking, camping, bicycling and kayaking. He built a 17 foot wood sea kayak that he has been paddling in for the past 20 years. He also carved a “Greenland Style” kayak paddle out of a 10 foot cedar 2 by 4.
Paul says each of these board, committee and task force efforts has given him an opportunity to serve Easton and support its residents. Whether helping seniors, or supporting the library, or helping ensure that our citizens can trust that their votes are counted and their finances are well managed, he is very grateful for the opportunity to help Easton to continue to be a very unique and special town.
Congratulations and thank you to Paul Lindoerfer.