Raymond G. Allen Jr. named Derby’s Citizen of the Year

By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
Register Correspondent
DERBY >> At nearly 90 years old and a volunteer firefighter with Hotchkiss Hose Co. No. 1 for more than six decades, resident Raymond G. Allen Jr. was honored Thursday as Derby’s Citizen of the Year.
Allen, who will celebrate his 90th birthday Jan. 25, had no idea when he was asked to attend Thursday’s Board of Aldermen meeting that he’d be the star of the show.
Allen was coaxed to City Hall by his family, who told him his son, Ross, a birding enthusiast, was going to give the aldermen a special talk on birds. The jig was up when Mayor Anita Dugatto rose from her seat in Aldermanic Chambers and presented Allen with the Citizen of the Year plaque, lauding him for his many years of volunteering and dedication to Derby and its residents.

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