This annual honor usually recognizes a resident for their volunteer efforts with town events and organizations in a given year. Because the pandemic has necessarily precluded those activities, this year afforded us an opportunity to instead award someone for their decades of service to the town.
Kathi Newcombe has contributed to nearly every facet of our community, serving on boards and committees, in education and government, with town and social organizations, through local politics and political activism.
“Kathi is a very unselfish person,” says Margaret Haraghey, who has worked with Kathi in many capacities. “She uses her knowledge and skills to help others become stronger and do a better job. Kathi is always willing to help and offer her assistance, whether it be to help the Town or to help an individual.”
Currently, Kathi is serving as an alternate member of the Board of Finance, appointed by the Board of Selectmen in 2019. “Kathi has been a tireless advocate for Hampton taxpayers,” says First Selectman Al Cahill. She has served on some of the finance board’s important committees, including the By-Laws Committee that aligned the finance board’s governance with the Town ordinances and State statutes, and the Policies and Procedures Committee that recently developed guidelines for officials to follow. Originally, Kathi served as the finance board’s secretary, recording thorough Minutes of the issues that came before this new fiscal authority, so that residents who couldn’t attend meetings could learn of the role, and debate, of the fledgling organization. One of the things Kathi is known for is a commitment to transparency. “Kathi has served our community for decades on various boards, committees, and town organizations. As a board of finance member she is irreplaceable,” says Chairman Kathy Donahue. “She is the first to volunteer and her historic knowledge base and research skills are invaluable to the board. Hampton is truly blessed to have her as a member of our community.”
Elected in 1993, Kathi also served on the elementary school Board of Education for six years. During her tenure, she advocated for students and taxpayers alike, and was always willing to explore educational opportunities and innovations. Admired for her judiciousness, her decisions were dependent on research, and on listening to all stakeholders. Kathi also served as an Officer of the Community for Parish Hill for many years.
Kathi was active in our local cub scouts, reporting on their activities and achievements in The Hampton Gazette. Although not a member of the editorial board until 2007, Kathi wrote many articles for the town newspaper, covering a range of subjects from summarizing town meeting discussions to introducing new school staff to the community. An accomplished cook, she also contributed a series on vegetarian dishes, providing a dozen recipes which included several international cuisines.
The Gazette was one of the fortunate recipients of Kathi’s multitude of skills. “Dependable would be among the many accolades that one can use to describe Kathi. Whenever she accepted an assignment, it was a given that it would be researched and well-written,” says Chairman Juan Arriola. “Her participation with the Gazette delayed her recognition, which is due, and well deserved. We are grateful for her numerous contributions and talents which clearly demonstrate a role in the betterment of the community.” During the seven years Kathi served on the editorial board, she filled nearly every role – as secretary, circulation, and subscription coordinator, stepping up to the plate when we needed a production manager to put the newspaper together for publication every month. As chairman and spokesperson, she represented us with honesty and integrity in editorials on our pages, and at state and local forums. She wrote many articles: human interest stories – recognizing Citizens of the Year and public employees on their retirements; announcing town events; and covering divisive subjects such as the gun range, school test scores, and regional studies, penning articles under headlines like “Dueling Ordinances” and “Who Knew What When?” Another established fact – Kathi is not afraid to tackle a project, or a controversy.
Most recently Kathi volunteered to serve as the Senior Club’s Treasurer when a vacancy occurred for that important role. One of the original volunteers to revitalize the Annual Super Bowl Grinder Sale years ago, Kathi also provided the Seniors with all the information required when the group assumed the yearly responsibility. “It’s all here!” Stan Crawford said at the time. Organized to the letter – lists of phone numbers for grinder orders, ingredient amounts and costs, volunteers for everything – calling, slicing, assembling grinders, advertising, cashiering, delivering, cleaning – every last detail included. Kathi’s organizational skills are unparalleled.
Kathi was also instrumental in revitalizing the Memorial Day Chicken Barbecue when the Gazette decided to revive what was once a tradition of the Little River Grange. Over the years, Kathi has shopped for the ingredients, prepared salads, served the chicken, baked cookies, and supervised the entire event, ultimately organizing everything – the shopping lists, the recipes, the names of volunteers and bakers – for future use. Kathi would always insist on a ‘post-mortem’ after every event for committee members to visit over coffee at her house to review, revise and improve the process.
“Kathi and I worked together on several town issues and I always admired her ability to exercise due diligence to any issue. We spent a lot of time over lunch discussing the town and its character,” says Sue Hochstetter. “But what I really enjoyed most was her Christmas cookie and gift exchange. I would see people there that I didn’t routinely run into. It was a fun way to get introduced to new cookie traditions and just have fun.”
Kathi has opened her home frequently for social gatherings and committees, where neighbors are treated to the hospitality and the comfort and coziness of the Newcombe’s 19th century home. They also have invited families to the pond that the Newcombes have so carefully maintained and that so many of us learned to swim in when we were children, allowing us a tangible slice of nostalgia.
+Kathi has also been very active in local politics, serving for many years, and currently, on the Republican Town Committee, and at one time as its Chair. For many years she was a Registrar of Voters, facilitating the several technical and legislative changes which occurred during her tenure. She assisted election officials and voters alike in transitioning from the old machines to the tabulators, distributing information and developing procedures in order for everyone to cast their votes with confidence in the process. “As a new Registrar, I was especially fortunate to benefit from her experience,” says ROV Mary Oliver. “There was never a need to ‘recreate the wheel’, and what she put in place then is still the gold standard.”
Kathi also served as a certified moderator. When she presided over referenda and elections, there was never a question or challenge raised. Her name is nearly synonymous with integrity. She never assumed the role of moderator when she posed a public opinion on a referendum matter, when she knew she needed to take a stand, believing that involvement is a civic responsibility, too, during those debates that consume residents for weeks, or months, or sometimes years. A believer as well in informed rather than emotional decisions, Kathi helped produce informational flyers for CORG, an organization founded to distribute information on many of those difficult deliberations for the benefit of residents unable to attend meetings. Instrumental in researching, collecting, and organizing information into graphs and charts easily understood, she insisted on sourcing everything to encourage people to check the facts themselves. It’s never easy to put one’s name on an opinion that will inevitably be unpopular with some of one’s neighbors, but Kathi volunteered her own frequently. And whenever her name was on it, taxpayers voted for the position advocated, one hundred percent of the time. People trust her.
Thank you, Kathi Newcombe, for your years of commitment to the town and to transparency, for your willingness to volunteer, for your diligence, judiciousness, dependability, organizational skills, integrity, hospitality, honesty, and for keeping us informed.