2025 Lessler Citizenship Award Winner Annoucement

By Bob Lessler

October 2025

Lessler Citizenship Award Presentation Announcement

I am pleased to announce that the second annual Robert Lessler Citizenship Award presentation will take place on Saturday, November 22nd at 2:30 PM in the Easton Library Community Room. All are invited to attend to support good citizenship in our town.

The award is given each year to acknowledge outstanding service to the town of Easton in improving the lives of our citizens through exemplary acts that foster the common good. The winner(s) must demonstrate an accomplishment of public benefit which is extensive both in time and reach. The winner need not be a government official nor a town resident. In addition to honoring a winner(s) at the presentation ceremony, the winner(s) name(s) are inscribed on a permanent plaque in town hall and there is a collection of free-to-borrow books in town hall reflecting Easton history, politics and citizenship.

The selection committee members are, in addition to myself: John Cunningham, Jim Riling, Maureen Williams and Wendy Bowditch. I want to thank each of them for their efforts in advancing this project. Each one of them is a long serving, dedicated and accomplished citizen of Easton. In addition, past winners are invited to join the committee. Therefore, last year’s winner, Adrienne Burke, is now also a member of the committee.

This year, the committee received 13 nominations. All of the nominees display notable dedication to improving the lives of our townspeople through their exemplary deeds, service and respectful acts of public service. Selecting a winner from amongst these amazing people was no easy feat.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that this year’s winners are John and Phyllis Machledt. The Machledt’s have lived in town for 47 years. John and Phyllis have been lifelong volunteers in numerous organizations. John is a retired physician who specialized in endocrinology. Phyllis is a retired educator.

John was in private practice from 1975 until he retired in 2014. He was Chief of Endocrinology at Bridgeport Hospital for ten years, during which time he was the president of the medical staff and chairman of the executive committee. For several years, he was served on the Easton Emergency Medical Service Commission. After retiring, he served eight years as a volunteer with Americares Free Medical Clinic.

He is an Eagle Scout and continues to serve the Boy Scouts for over 40 years and counting. He was a scoutmaster for Troop 66 in Easton for ten years. He has been recognized and honored for his deep and lengthy service. He has mentored ten Easton Eagle Scouts.

John is a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity participating in building projects in Bridgeport, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina and Maryland. He and Phyllis have hosted many exchange students through the American Field Service. He and Phyllis are members of the Golden Hill Methodist Church in Bridgeport where they participated in missions to Jamaica and Bolivia. John is a church trustee and has served on numerous church committees including the current one handling the renovations to the 1929 church building.

Phyllis served six years on the Easton Board of Education with one year as chair. She served on the Region 9 Board of Education for one year. She served on the Library Board of Trustees for 8 years and the Friends of Library for many years. She is a 30+ year member of the Easton Democratic Town Committee. She taught in Columbus, OH, was a substitute teacher in Easton for 9 years, and was employed as the Director of Service Learning and Volunteer Programs for Sacred Heart University for 14 years. She was an exchange student herself with the American Field Service and later hosted exchange students. She has worked with the American Field Service since 1962, including serving as president of the Easton Redding chapter at Joel Barlow High School from 1978-1994. She was a Girl Scout leader in Easton for eight years. She was a member and past president of the Easton Parent Teacher Association.

Phyllis was a founding member of Habitat for Humanity in Bridgeport serving as a volunteer coordinator and past president. She recently celebrated 20 years as co-advisor to the Youth United division of Habitat and started the Youth United division of Habitat at Sacred Heart University which grew to over 100 participants in five different communities over spring break. She participated in multiple building projects. She coordinated volunteer building projects for many years with the Easton Community Center, the Democratic Town Committee and Joel Barlow High School. In 1986, she involved members of the high school AFS club to become the first high school students to regularly work at Habitat for Humanity in Connecticut.

She was on the board of the Mercy Learning Center and the School Volunteer Association of Bridgeport as a classroom reader, mentor and tutor. She is a member of the Golden Hill Methodist Church in Bridgeport where she co-chairs the Society and Missions Committee overseeing the Community Supper Program. This program has been serving a hot meal to anyone in need every Wednesday for over 41 years. Phyllis has involved students, teachers and parents from Helen Keller Middle School, Joel Barlow High School and Scared Heart University in serving meals. John and Phyllis collect “gently used” bicycles to refurbish for the church’s annual Bike Giveaway. She coordinated the Sunshine Kids Mentoring Program between the church and SHU, as well as a collaborative “Adopt a Family” program for over 25 years with SHU and the church providing Christmas food and gift baskets for 80 needy families.

Phyllis has won numbers awards including the Anne Lindquist Award from the Easton Friends of the Library in 2023, JBHS “Extraordinary Volunteer” Award 1992, Outstanding Leadership Award from AFS for Easton-Redding 1994, various Habitat for Humanity Awards in 1996, 2000, 2011, numerous awards from SHU in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, Al-Aziz Islamic Center Award 2000, Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen Outstanding Women of CT 2001, Girl Scout Woman of Distinction 2002, Alpha Home Unsung Hero Award 2002, Goucher College Award for Excellence in Public Service 2002, Groundwork Bridgeport Community Service Award 2004, Bridgeport City Council Citation for Bridgeport Community Gardens 2006, Bridgeport Board of Education Excellence in Leadership Award 2008.

This year, John and Phyllis showed how their contacts can work together when scouts and their parents from Troops 66 and 25, girls and moms from the National Charity League and members of the Friends of the Easton Library moved 308 boxes of donated books from Jesse Lee United Methodist Church to Easton Library, involving Easton volunteers ages 12 – 80 in a wonderful community effort they spearheaded.

Congratulations and thank you to John and Phyllis. Please join us on November 22nd as we present them with the award and celebrate their work promoting the common good in Easton.