Helen Gibson Uguccioni

Founder & President 
Term June 2023 to June 2026

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Helen Gibson Uguccioni has lived in Montague for 39 years. Before retiring, she worked in public education for over 30 years. She was a classroom science teacher in Greenfield for 10 years before going back to college to earn her Doctoral degree in Science Education, after which she became the Science Administrator for the Holyoke Public Schools. 

After retiring, Helen volunteered for the Meals-on-Wheels program for over 6 years. Not only was she bringing food to individuals in the local area, but she also formed meaningful relationships with many people living in isolation. This experience showed her the importance of helping others in the community in which she lives.

Helen is one of the "Founders" of Montague Neighbors and has boundless energy devoted to ensuring that the organization is successful. She enjoys meeting people and creating new connections with others. Helen says, “Meaningful relationships with others gives me energy.” When she is not volunteering for Montague Neighbors, she spends her time gardening, quilting, going for walks with her husband and spending time with her family, granddaughter and friends.

Kristi A. Bodin

Clerk
Term May 2024 to May 2027

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Kristi A. Bodin, who lives in Turners Falls, says she is interested in supporting her town and community through volunteer service. She has lived in Montague for twenty-two years, is a town meeting member for Precinct 3, and is currently on the Montague Cable Advisory Committee and the Finance Committee. She is the current Vice President and an active member of the Rotary Club of Amherst, and a past president of the Rotary Club of Franklin County. She has served on the Boards of Directors of the Greenfield Community College Foundation and the Franklin County Community Development Corporation.

Kristi recently retired after thirty years as an attorney, and has worked in the areas of small business law, commercial real estate, municipal law, zoning and land use, construction law, and civil litigation. She started her legal career as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to attending law school, Kristi worked in manufacturing management for several large Massachusetts companies which produced industrial and consumer products for domestic and international markets. She grew up in Amherst, and is a graduate of Greenfield Community College, the University of Massachusetts, and Western New England College School of Law. She lives with her black lab, Marty. She enjoys weightlifting, swimming, and indoor rowing. She also a student of Russian iconography.

Roberta Potter

Treasurer

Term May 2024 to May 2027

 

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Roberta Potter who has lived in from Turners Falls for forty-five year is the Director of the Montague Council of Aging and an individual who has supported Montague Villages from the very beginning. She has welcomed Montague Villages to hold its monthly meetings at the Gill Montague Senior Center and also made the center available for informational meetings for those who want to know more about the organization. She is a representative linking the Montague COA and older adults in the community.  

She said, “I joined the Board hoping to contribute whatever I can personally or on behalf of the Montague COA and to help this venture succeed and involve a large number of Montage older adults as members and volunteers.”

She is hoping that that membership grows to include everyone who needs help as well as those who have help to offer. When she is not working, she enjoys gardening, knitting, and hanging out with her dogs.

Barbara White

Term December 2025 to 2028

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Barbara White has lived in Montague Center for the past 25 years.  She says, “I am so happy to call Montague “my home.” I’ve laughed many times when I came into town and read the sign “Slow Village Ahead”. That’s my town and I love it! “ 

She says she is honored to be on the Board of Montague Neighbors and looks forward to sharing her past experiences and skills in any way she can to promote the organization. Barbara has had a few different careers in her life including public school teaching, counselor to teenagers and adults, mental health administrator, and private school administrator and fund raiser. Many people in the area know her as the co-owner of the Blue Heron Restaurant which she and her wife, Deborah Snow, opened and ran for 25 years. 

Explaining her interest in Montague Neighbors, she says, “I have been retired for quite a while now and I know and understand some of the issues we all deal with as we age. During this time, I have volunteered at the Amherst Survival Center and served on their Board of Directors, helped to organize a group called Bridge for Unity and contributed to other local community organizations. My interest in Montague Neighbors centers around my own desire to stay in my beloved town and in my beloved home for as long as possible but I also know that we, as we age, need lots of support in different ways.  To “age in place” most of us need help.  Montague Neighbors is a great way to assist seniors to stay in their homes for as long as possible.  We, as a group of neighbors, have many skills and more free time at this point in our lives to give to others.  "I am looking forward to helping to promote and grow this most worthwhile organization.”

Linda Emond

Term December 2025 to 2028

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Norma Mackey-Bovat

Term December 2025 to 2028

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Susan Dorias

Founder & Treasurer from June 2003 to November 2025
Term June 2023 to December 2025

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Susan Dorais lives in Montague Center and worked in Human Resources in nearby towns for most of her professional life. When she retired from Human Resources, she went to work part time for The Literacy Project as an education and career counselor until she retired in May, 2023. She was elected as a town meeting member in 2021 and says, “It’s my way of giving back to the community I live in.”

Her decision to be involved with Montague Villages comes from a place of personal responsibility and interest in helping others, especially the elderly. She says, “Watching my parents become isolated and unable to live on their own any longer made me so aware of the shortcomings of places that don’t have organizations that will reach out and help on the very basic level of needs.”

Susan loves to hike, swim, snowshoe, and until recently biking. Her other interests include travel, cooking, reading, making watercolors, working with pastels, making collages, watching movies, and she loves music. Susan also has a great love of dogs and her most recent companion, a Cockapoo, named Kiki, keeps her entertained and active. She says, “I continue to keep very busy filling my days with friends and walking/hiking and hope to continue to travel.

Eileen Mariani

Founder
Term from June 2023 to August 2024

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Eileen Mariani has lived, with her husband Paul, in Montague Center for fifty-four years. It is where they raised their three, now adult sons, (Paul, Mark, and John). Eileen became active in the community almost immediately. She established a pre-school in Montague Center with a close friend, was a member of the Montague School Committee (before it joined with the town of Gill), and joined the former St. Mary’s Church, now Our Lady of Peace.

For twenty-six years Eileen taught Preschool and Kindergarten at Erving Elementary School. Education has always been a passion for Eileen, and she ended her teaching career at the Greenfield Center School. For the next twelve years she was a consultant for the Responsive Classroom and traveled to small and large cities on the East Coast to bring this approach to teaching to other school communities. Eileen was a founding member of Montague Catholic Social Ministries, which is based in downtown Turners Falls.

Now in her 80’s, Eileen is a Town Meeting member, and she contributed to the statewide Mass in Motion initiative this past year. That involvement ignited her concern about the issues of our senior citizens and how a community can help elders age in place. Working on the board of Montague Neighbors seemed the natural place to make the vision of Mass in Motion come to practical reality.

Lee Wicks

Founder
Term from June 2023 to July 2024

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Lee Wicks is a writer who has lived in Montague Center since 1986. She is deeply committed to her community of friends and neighbors. Her interest in Montague Neighbors stems from her desire to age in place near people she has known for more than thirty years and to help others do the same.

Before retiring she worked in communications at nearby independent schools. She has been a contributing writer to the Montague Reporter for many years, and now writes a monthly column called Elders Connect. In addition to her work with Montague Neighbors, she has served on the Greenfield Community College Foundation Board and volunteered at the Amherst Survival Center. For recreation and exercise, she enjoys swimming and walking, and she appreciates Montague’s natural beauty. She is also an avid reader and a great fan of the library. Lee lives with her husband Roy Rosenblatt and Ziggy, a mischievous Great Pyrenees who tests her patience daily. She says, “I am lucky to have family nearby, and spend as much time as I can with my daughter and grandchildren.”

Mary Kay Mattiace 
Term September 2024 to October 2025

Susan Sylvester 
Term January 2025 to August 2025

Jill Ingham 
Term August 2024 to April 2025

Paula Graffius
Term November 2023 to June 2024

 

Terry Eaklor 
Term July 2023 to April 2025