Departing Princeton Township committeewoman never planned to be a politician.
By: David Campbell
Roslyn Denard never planned on being a politician.
Her lifelong commitment to volunteerism led her to join the board of the Princeton University Center for Jewish Life and to help found Community Without Walls, an association that helps seniors age in place.
Ms. Denard’s volunteerism generated some unexpected turns, like in 1995 when local Democrats asked her to throw her hat into the political ring.
"It was out of the blue," she said. "I had just retired and I got a telephone call from someone saying have you thought about running for office. I laughed. And so I ran."
After two terms on Township Committee, Ms. Denard decided not to seek a third. At a ceremony planned for noon Sunday at the Valley Road building, Ms. Denard will step down and Committeewoman-elect Casey Hegener will be sworn in to fill her seat.
Looking forward is much like looking back on her retirement six years ago. She worked for The Princeton Packet for 32 years, first in the advertising department, where she rose to become the department’s director, and then as the newspaper company’s general manager.
"When I left The Packet I didn’t know where I was headed, either," Ms. Denard said. "But as they say, one door opens when another closes, and we’ll see what that door is."
When she ran for office in 1995, there were no senior citizens on Township Committee, which made her choice of platform clear.
"I looked at the composition of Township Committee and said to myself, there’s a field I could serve," she said. "It was a much younger committee when I came on. Younger folks have full-time jobs and families to consume their time. Being retired makes it much easier to take on the issues.
"I felt the seniors were neglected in this town," Ms. Denard continued. "There was no housing, no transportation, no senior center."
Ms. Denard and running mate Mayor Phyllis Marchand won the election by a 2-1 margin, and Ms. Denard vowed to make good on her pledge to bring more senior housing and services to Princeton.
During her first term in office, she helped create the joint Human Services Commission, which brought together existing civil rights, welfare and aging commissions, and created a new youth services component.
The commission has since made some strides in transportation for seniors, such as the Crosstown 62 taxi service, and in senior services, like renovations to the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center in Princeton Borough, which she said may soon go out to bid.
Ms. Denard voted in 1996 in support of senior-housing overlays near the Princeton Shopping Center, on the Hulfish North site near Palmer Square, and near the existing Elm Court affordable- and senior-housing complex off Elm Road.
Recently, she voted in favor of two additional overlays for three parcels off Mount Lucas Road and Bunn Drive.
"The overlays in the past didn’t work," she said of the 1996 initiative that has not brought the desired housing. "This time, hopefully it will work."
Ms. Denard also has been an advocate of the township’s deer-management plan and has served on the building committee for the new municipal building currently under construction on Witherspoon Street.
"All have been contentious issues," she said. "Deer has not been pleasant. We did what we thought was right."
Ms. Denard added, though, that no one can fault Township Committee for its roadway improvements.
"We’ve done wonders with township roads," she said.
What was the best part of her two terms on the committee?
"The township staff," Ms. Denard said. "I don’t know if residents realize how fortunate they are with this staff. They are willing, anxious and polite, and it has been a wonderful experience for me to meet these people and to see who is running Princeton Township."
As for the future, Ms. Denard hasn’t picked her agenda yet.
She will continue volunteering as a reader for Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, and she plans to audit an anthropology course at Princeton University this spring and perhaps take up the piano again.
"There are so many things to do," Ms. Denard said. "And I still want to see a senior center in Princeton Township. Every community here has one except Princeton. We haven’t got one, so hopefully that will be on a future agenda."