By Amy Batista, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR — Mayor Janice Mironov presented the 2015 “Sylvia Weiss Senior Citizen Award for Outstanding Service as a Volunteer” at the council meeting on July 7.
“Tonight we are going to award and honor citizens in our community,” said Mayor Mironov, adding that the award is presented annually. “It’s always a tremendous event and a great opportunity to recognize an individual who has gone above and beyond in service in their senior years to people or organizations or other programs within our community.”
The award is one of the highest recognitions that the township provides to its citizens during the course of the year, Mayor Mironov added.
The award was “bestowed posthumously” to Liston Abbott and Joyce Abbott, who both died in 2015, and was accepted by their son, Wayne Abbott. He thanked the council.
“I think everyone knows how much this community meant to my parents,” said Mr. Abbott. “It’s not often that you stay in a community for this many years and in almost all those years actually put that much effort into the community.”
He said they felt strong about the impacts that they needed to have on the community.
“For the things that they were able to receive in their life, they wanted to make sure they gave that back,” he said. “As we talk about legacies, I think that is a good law for us all to follow.”
Mayor Mironov said, “All of us remember them fondly and with great respect and admiration. Both Liston and Joyce passed early this year within 30 days of one another.”
She continued, “In light of their contributions and in sadness of their passing this year, it’s really a special opportunity here tonight to come together and have so many of their friends and people who work with them and volunteered with them to join with us and council who were all so found of them and honor them tonight in a very special manner.”
“They lead two amazing lives and left two amazing legacies,” she said. “They are two people that we as a community will always be grateful for so many years.”
A committee including Commission on Aging Chairperson Ondina Jeffers, Councilman Perry Shapiro, and Planning Board Chairperson Edward Kelley oversaw the selection process for the award.
Ms. Jeffers took a few minutes to reflect on the couple.
“What more can I say about Joyce and Liston Abbott,” she said. “Two gentle, unassuming, easy going, happy people continuing their joy of life as givers not takers always smiling.”
Ms. Jeffers said it was her pleasure to have known them for over three decades.
“Top of the line members of our community,” she said. “Never seeking recognition or acknowledgement for what they contributed to us. Just content and happy to do whatever.”
It was a blessing to have known them and an honor to honor their memory, Ms. Jeffers said.
Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Better Beginnings Childcare Center Dennis McClary said that their memories will always be treasured at Better Beginnings.
“I have always admired Liston and Joyce and I feel honored to have known them both,” he said.
Sylvia Weiss is a former East Windsor Township Council member, past council senior citizen advisor and chairperson of the Commission on Aging and was instrumental in the original formation of the senior citizen program.
“Liston and Joyce Abbott lived in our community of East Windsor 47 years,” Mayor Mironov said.
They were both born in the Virgin Islands, knew one another before their elementary school days, married in 1963 after moving to New York City and were residents of East Windsor since 1968.
“They had a very long and deep commitment to service and acts of kindness to others reflected in their many diverse areas of involvement and accomplishments over their lifetime,” Mayor Mironov said.
She said they cared deeply about helping others and left their mark on very large numbers of people.
“Better Beginnings Child Development Center, an important and prime focus of their lives, remembers them as two very special people who changed our world for the better,” the mayor said.
Liston Abbott served as chairperson of the Board of Directors of Better Beginnings Day Care Center since 1974, she said.
“His extensive activities ranged from writing many of the computer programs the organization relies on even to this day and his tireless efforts in fundraising to ensure that the doors remained opened on a very vital childcare facility within our township,” she said.
He also volunteered for a variety of other organizations over the years including the United Way, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Mercer County and the Hightstown Human Relations Council.
She said that Liston Abbott has also received numerous awards and honors including the United Way Lambert Award, Better Beginnings Shining Star, Kappa Alpha Psi’s Men of Achievement, Council of Community Services and a proclamation for his contributions to electrical engineering by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands.
Mr. Abbott graduated from the City College of New York with a degree in electrical engineering.
“He was employed by RCA/GE/SRI International as technical staff specializing in communication systems including television, radio, telephone, microwaves, satellite and digital processing where he had an instrumental role in the development of the digital HDTV,” she said. “Liston, who retired from Sarnoff in May 2000 and was co-founder of the Minorities in Engineering Program at David Sarnoff Research Center, served as an instructor for 40 years.”
He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Research and Technology Park of the University of the Virgin Islands, she added.
“His beloved wife of many years, Joyce Abbott, received a degree in sociology from Trenton State College, now the College of New Jersey, and worked as a social case worker for the Mercer County Board of Social Services for many, many years,” she said.
She has always been well-known in many of her activities within her profession as well as throughout the community for her “tremendous compassion and religious commitment,” according to Mayor Mironov.
“She was always involved in the community throughout her life from Girl Scouts to tutoring young students,” she said.
Ms. Abbott was co-founder of “Our Kids,” an organization dedicated to immersing children in cultural activities and education on African-American History.
“She was a long time member of the Central Jersey Network of Black Woman where she also served as president,” she said.
Ms. abbott was also made a deaconess of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church and received the Betsey Stockton Award from the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, she added.
“What’s really special about Liston and Joyce is they were very different people,” the mayor said. “They were both tremendously giving people. They were interesting people. They were fun people and they made such a difference in the lives of so many institutions and organizations and individuals within our area.”
