By Kevin McDonough (The Avenue News, 9/24/2015)
On a rainy Saturday morning in September, just inside the doorway of an old 1920s brick firehouse, which adorns the bustling commercial corridor of Eastern Boulevard in Essex, sits a woman shuffling through receipts and checks preparing fora trip to the bank to make a deposit for the upcoming Essex Day street fair in two weeks.
June Donovan is a busy woman. The 77 year old crosses off “bank deposit” on her to-do list and looks at the remainder of her list with angst. She is credited as being the glue that over the last few years has held together two longstanding community institutions for her Essex neighborhood and saved them both from the brink of extinction.
Although she is not an Essex native, she has lived in the area for more than 25 years and has become enthralled in the area’s history and goings on.
“When I entered this community, it became my community and I wanted to be a part of it,” Donovan said.
