Reading Looks To Honor Sally Hoyt With Select Board Resolution

READING, MA — The Reading Select Board may add another recognition in a summer of celebration for local centenarian and longtime public servant Sally Hoyt this week as it considers a resolution to mark Hoyt’s 100th birthday.

The board is set to meet on Tuesday. In the meantime, its draft resolution is included in its agenda packet, noting Hoyt’s decades of work in Reading.

“Sally Hoyt is and always will remain an integral part of the Reading community and created a legacy of positive change and tenacity,” the resolution says in part.

Hoyt was born on Aug. 20, 1922 and grew up in Somerville. She’s since lived in Reading for more than 75 years, raising her children with her late husband Brendan, as noted in the draft resolution.

Hoyt has served numerous roles in town including time as Reading’s constable. Hoyt was elected to what was then known as the Board of Selectmen in 1990 and has separately served as the president of the Silver Haired Legislature, which works to protect the rights of the elderly, women and people with disabilities.

Hoyt still serves on the Council on Aging.

Community leaders already gathered earlier this month for a celebration of Hoyt on Aug. 17 in the Hoyt Great Room, which bears her name, at the Pleasant Street Center in town.

The event featured visits from State Legislators Richard Haggerty and Brad Jones, as well as Town Manager Fidel Maltez, Select Board Member Mark Dockser and Select Board Member Chris Haley, among many others.

Jones and Haggerty together presented a state House of Representatives citation honoring Hoyt.
Jones then joined Sen. Bruce Tarr a day later to give Hoyt an additional set of honors.

Maltez called Hoyt an “inspiration to all of us” in comments on social media earlier this month. He then shared similar sentiments in comments attached to this week’s Select Board agenda regarding the board’s draft resolution.

“This resolution is a great token of appreciation from our Select Board for her dedicated service to the betterment of our community,” Maltez said.