A chapter of Harriman's history closes with Evelyn Nazzaro's retirement

Harriman - An era ended Tuesday night at the Harriman Village Hall: Village Clerk Evelyn Nazzaro is retiring after 26 years. She came to the village of Harriman in 1985 following more than eight years as treasurer/clerk for the Woodbury Town supervisor. “I told the new Harriman Mayor Mike Frerichs,” Nazzaro recalled this week, “(that) I’ll do the job for two years only and that’s it.” Former Village Justice Philip Caiazza remembered what Nazzaro stepped into when she was hired. “It was a mess,” he said. “But she got us back in shape.” She started everything from scratch. She set up office procedures, requisitions, capital accounts and check vouchers. She reconstructed all the records and got the village’s finances back in order. “Without Evelyn,” Caiazza said, “the village of Harriman wouldn’t have survived.” Seven mayors That seems to be a universal assessment. “With Evelyn,” wrote former Mayor Mike Frerichs in a message from his home in Alaska, “it was simply a matter of giving her the job and getting it out of the way.” Calling Nazzaro one of the finest people he ever had the honor to work with, Frerichs added: “I could always rely on her advice in managing the village.” The fact that she continued to be appointed village clerk for all these years, Frerichs concluded, is a clear indication of how valuable she has been to the Village of Harriman. Nazzaro served under seven mayors. Another former mayor, Bruce Chichester, who Nazzaro served under during the early 1990’s and who now is on the Board of Trustees, recalls knowing how the village was in good hands. “She was my right hand when I was the mayor.” And to the present mayor, Steve Welle, “she was a wealth of information.” Knowledge and information That point was affirmed by Monroe Town Clerk Mary Ellen Beams. “The knowledge that Evelyn has - as did Monroe’s former Town Clerk Judy Dise and soon to be retiring Blooming Grove’s clerk Barbara Decker, made them unique. “Clerks like that broke the mold,” Beams added. “They don’t make them like that anymore.” The Village of Harriman was like a second family to Nazzaro. She is leaving a family that considers her a great friend, a team player with a great sense of humor and one who cared for just about everybody. Career and public service is a most admirable way to spend one’s working years, added Monroe’s Village Clerk, Virginia Carey. “Evelyn Nazzaro’s shoes will be hard to fill,” she added. “She is history for the Village of Harriman.”

With Evelyn, it was simply a matter of giving her the job and getting it out of the way. I could always rely on her advice in managing the village.” Former Harriman Mayor Mike Frerichs