Mary Reid distinguished by her activism

By SHERRY HALBROOK
Recently, state Sen. Owen Johnson (R/C-Babylon) formally recognized something countless PEF members and retirees have known for many years: Mary Reid is truly a “Woman of Distinction.”

Reid, first vice president of PEF Retirees and president of its Long Island Chapter, was formerly PEF Region 12 coordinator, an Executive Board member and council leader of PEF Division 233 at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

Johnson honored Reid at a ceremony on June 20 in Albany.

The senator said he chose Reid to be one of the women from throughout the state to receive the Woman of Distinction honor in 2006 because of her long and exemplary history of community service and activism.

“About 40 women were honored and I was really pleased to be among them,” Reid said.

“As an active member in the community, Ms. Reid has played a major role in labor relations, dedicating her life to advocating for the pension, health care and economic security rights of union retirees,” Johnson said.

Johnson also praised Reid for her unstinting volunteerism, highlighted by her current service as president of the Brentwood Library Board of Trustees, as commissioner of the Town of Islip Housing Authority and as a member of the steering committee of the Long Island Association of Retired Americans.

In April 1995, Reid retired from state service and her position as a counselor with the NYS Youth Opportunity Program (YOP) at Pilgrim PC, where she worked to recruit and guide high school age students in volunteer programs serving mentally ill and disabled children.

Nearly every year, the state budget called for funding cuts to the YOP that would have eliminated her job. So, Reid learned early to lobby state legislators earnestly and effectively and became a member of the PEF Region 12 (Long Island) Political Action Committee. She was soon on a first-name basis with many state lawmakers, state comptrollers and congressmen, among others.

She has never let that network of powerful contacts slip, and it is still paying off for her community.

“I call and invite our state legislators to attend our PEF Retirees chapter meetings to discuss pension reform and health insurance issues,” Reid said. “And I chair the political candidates committee at our church, so I bring in candidates to meet with it.”

As president of the Brentwood Library board, she convinced Sen. Johnson to give the library a $15,000 grant this year for career education services, and then got Sen. Caesar Trunzo (R/C-Hauppauge) to match it with another $15,000.

No one appreciates the importance of the library as a resource to the community better than a voracious reader, such as Reid.

“I read everything, including PEF stuff, newspapers, and e-mail,” she said. “I forward information to our retirees and just about anybody I think will read it, to get feedback from them.”

In short, Reid’s idea of retirement means she has free rein to work harder than ever for the ideals, the people and the community she loves.