MONROE, CT — Republicans honored three Monroe members for their contributions to the town during their annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner at Testo’s Ristorante Friday night. Local dignitaries, family and friends were among the guests, and there was a moment of silence for Keith Romano, a loving father of a young son and late chairman of the Monroe Inland Wetlands Commission, who the town lost this past year.
Bruno Maini, who serves as vice chairman of the Monroe Planning and Zoning Commission, was the master of ceremonies.
“We have some amazing honorees tonight,” Maini said from the podium. “They’re constantly working for us. If you look around at the town of Monroe, you see how wonderful it is, how it’s getting better. The leadership from the top to the bottom is phenomenal and tonight we’re going to honor three people who’ve been a huge part of that.”
Vida Stone, Monroe’s popular town clerk and a longtime town employee, was honored as the 2024 Republican of the Year, Town Councilman Vincent Duva as the Rising Republican Star and Deborah Heim, the town’s tax collector and an active volunteer, earned the 2024 Kay Antrim Lifetime Achievement Award.
Among the Republicans in attendance were Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, Monroe First Selectman Terry Rooney, former Monroe first selectman, Ken Kellogg, State Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-21st, State Rep. Tony Scott, R-112th, Christopher E. Silhavey of the Connecticut Republican Committee, and Chris Carrena, a candidate for the Connecticut 22nd Senatorial District seat.
Republican of the Year
Rooney introduced Stone as the 2024 Republican of the Year.
He recalled how long he has known her and how she encouraged him to run for first selectman when Ken Kellogg decided not to seek another term.
Rooney said anyone who has worked with Stone will tell you she is the sweetest person in the world, but that does not mean she has a problem speaking her mind on how things should be done at Town Hall, he added, describing her as someone who is detail oriented.
“We love, we admire, we respect Vida Stone,” Rooney said.
Stone is serving her 10th year as town clerk and is a certified Connecticut town clerk and registrar of vital statistics. She and her husband Jon, who is chairman of the Monroe Parks and Recreation Commission, married in 2005 and their blended families include four children and seven grandchildren.
Stone owns the administrative services firm Sincerely Yours, and has worked for several years as a Realtor and as assistant manager for the local Monroe Kennedy Center group home supporting individuals with disabilities.
She volunteered for the school system when her children went to school, was a member of the Monroe Jaycees, a charter member of the Youth Commission and served as vice chair of the Monroe Historic District Commission.
In 1997, she helped found the first women’s slow pitch softball league in Monroe, serving as director and as a player for 10 years.
Stone coached girls basketball and softball with the Parks and Recreation Department and has served as a catechist at St. Stephen’s Church in Trumbull and as a scout leader with the Girl Scouts of Connecticut.
In 2004, Stone was administrative assistant for the first selectman, working under town leaders from both political parties over the years, before becoming the town clerk in 2015.
Stone serves as Monroe’s municipal veteran’s representative with the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, is chair of the Monroe Memorial Day Parade Committee and most recently served as chair of the Monroe Bicentennial Committee to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the town.
In the booklet for Friday evening’s program, Monroe Republican Town Committee Chairman Ryan Condon said of Stone:
There is no one more deserving of the honor of Republican of the Year than you. Stepping up to fill the big shoes of Vacancy Chair, continuing your crucial role as the Town Clerk, and the outstanding job you did coordinating the Bicentennial celebration and as always, the Memorial Day Parade, are only a few of your recent accomplishments. Your dedication to the town of Monroe and the Republican Party is something others look up to. Thank you.
“This is a really great honor. I’m not used to this though, I really appreciate it,” an emotional Stone said in her acceptance speech. “I just really want to thank the town committee for trusting me with the town clerk position. I really appreciate that. You have trust in me and that means a lot.”
“Bob Tranzillo, your being here means a lot — everybody at this table means a lot to me, my family and my friends,” Stone said. “It’s a great honor.”
Stone reflected fondly on her long career of working at Monroe Town Hall.
“Terry has been amazing at Town Hall. Ken as well. I’ve really worked with a lot of wonderful first selectmen,” she said, “and it’s an honor to do what I love to do, which is to give back to the community that we all love so much. Monroe is wonderful. We all love Monroe and that’s why we do what we do.”
Kay Antrim Lifetime Achievement Award
State Rep. Tony Scott introduced Heim as the recipient of the 2024 Kay Antrim Lifetime Achievement Award.
While reading Heim’s bio, Scott told the audience how he was struck by all of the community organizations she is involved with. He affectionately called her a professional volunteer. “You’re doing it as a job! That’s what you’re doing,” Scott told Heim.
Among the few titles and organizations he shared, Scott said Heim is a justice of the peace, a member of the Monroe Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Monroe Women’s Club.
Scott joked about how Heim takes everyone’s money in her role as Monroe’s tax collector and praised her for Monroe’s high collection rate, which is critical to making the town run smoothly.
Scott said he does not know if there is a better person to be recognized for the Kay Antrim Lifetime Achievement Award, because Heim’s lengthy resume makes her so deeply involved with and well known in the community.
“It’s about all you do outside your core responsibilities as town tax collector,” he said.
Heim thanked the committee for the honor and her family, “who I think has spent almost their entire life campaigning with me — and my grandkids and my great grandkids.”
Heim, who is a Monroe native, and her husband, Ken, a retired Monroe police officer, have blended families that include four daughters and six grandchildren.
She retired as tax collector for the town of Stratford in 2019 before being elected as tax collector for Monroe. She credits former Monroe town attorney Jack Fracassini, who attended Friday’s dinner with his wife, for getting her involved in town politics.
Heim first volunteered at Monroe Town Hall with the police department when she was 14-years-old, got a full time job at 17 and ended up working at almost every office of Town Hall.
She recalled running for tax collector as a single mother. “That meant if I didn’t get elected, I had no job,” Heim said, adding she won the election with the help of her mentor and the award’s namesake, Kay Antrim.
“Without her and Jack and everybody in this room, I would never be where I am today,” Heim said, her voice cracking with emotion, “and I just want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart.”
In Monroe, Heim has served as tax collector, treasurer, as vice chair of the Town Council and on the Planning and Zoning Commission. She is a certified municipal officer for Connecticut and belongs to the Fairfield County Tax Collectors, Connecticut Collectors and Northeast Regional Tax Collector associations.
In addition to her long term leadership on the Republican Town Committee, she has had leadership roles on the Monroe Women’s Club, Connecticut Junior Women, the Monroe Historical Society, the Cutlers Farm Elm Street Cemetery Association, the Stepney Volunteer Fire Department, Aspetuck Land Trust, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Colonists, New England Women, Women of St. Stephens, Think Pink Monroe, CERT, Medical Reserve Corps., Connecticut State Fire Police, Harmony Grange, Save Our Stepney, the Monroe Food Pantry, Monroe Rotary Club, St. Stephen’s Parish Council and the St. John XXIII Columbiettes Auxiliary.
She has also served as a Girl Scout leader and had participated in local softball, basketball and volleyball teams in the past.
In his congratulations to Heim, Condon said, “lifetime achievement seems like an understatement when honoring you. What you have done for the Republican Party is only eclipsed by what you have done for the town of Monroe. Your dedication to volunteering is enough for multiple lifetimes. I don’t know how you find the time. Thank you.”
During Friday’s dinner, Silhavey, who is from Stratford, read a proclamation from Mayor Laura R. Hoydick recognizing Heim for her service as tax collector for their town.
Rising Republican Star
Vincent “Vin” Duva is a lifelong Connecticut resident, who grew up in Trumbull and briefly lived in Bridgeport before moving to Monroe in 2015. He and his wife, Amy, have four children, who are enrolled in Monroe public schools.
He is currently an attorney for the state of Connecticut.
Duva always had an interest in politics and became a member of the Monroe Juvenile Review Board when his children were older. He then served as a commissioner on the Monroe Housing Authority before a successful run for a Monroe Town Council seat.
In his congratulations to Duva, Condon said, “you have come out of the gate swinging. You are not just a Rising Star, you are a shooting star. Your move from the Housing Authority to Town Council has been great for the town of Monroe. Your dedication to the Republican Party and your willingness to get involved with everything we do has been admirable. Keep up the great work. Thank you.”
Jim Weinberg, a local businessman who has been deeply involved in Republican politics in Monroe over the years, introduced Duva during Friday’s dinner. He recalled meeting his neighbor, who wanted to get involved in town politics three years ago.
Weinberg said Bernie Sippin had told him he is a little bit to the right of Attila The Hun. After talking to Duva for a half hour, Weinberg said, “I realized Attila was a little to my left and Vinny’s a little to my right.”
“The more we talked, the more I realized that he was a down to earth Republican of the old Republicans,” Weinberg said of Duva. “He wasn’t a RINO. He was a real Republican and his heart was in the right place.”
On Town Council, Weinberg said Duva is thriving, serving on committees and doing everything asked of him. “He’s an asset to the town,” he said.
“I decided to get involved in local politics in 2022 after we went through COVID and I saw what various public officials did with the power they had, and did with the power they didn’t have and just chose to create those powers,” Duva said. “Not here in Monroe though. Ken was good.”
“It would have been simple for me to let someone else worry about the problems that we all see, and go about my life as it was,” Duva said. “The old saying though got to me, ‘evil thrives when good people say nothing and do nothing.’ So I was not going to let others control what my and my family’s destiny was. So if I could have a say in it, I was going to. That’s how I became involved.”
“I’m proud of what we’ve done in Monroe in my short time of being involved,” he said. “The taxes are being kept in check, the schools are still excellent, the services are excellent, we have a great team of dedicated people that will maintain this town in the future.”
“In my opinion, I see Monroe as an oasis of rationality and common sense in a sea of madness surrounding us,” Duva closed. “We will keep it that way.”
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