Pynchon Awards

Presentation of the 2023 Pynchon Medal to Tania M. Barber

The presentation of the Pynchon Medal and celebration will take place

Monday, November 13, 2023
at the Top of Our City Conference Center
Scibelli Hall, Springfield Technical Community College.

For more information email cecco@davidcecchi.com.

Tickets may be purchased at $35 per person.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE BEFORE NOVEMBER 7

5:00 Social Hour
6:00 pm Induction and Ceremony

More than 200 citizens have been inducted into the Order of William Pynchon since its founding in 1915.

The Order of William Pynchon
The Order of William Pynchon was established in 1915 by the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts (then known as the Publicity Club) for the purpose of giving public recognition to those citizens in the region who have rendered distinguished civic service.

Nominees are brought forth each year by members of the community and medalists are chosen by unanimous decision of the Pynchon Trustees. The Trustees of the Order of William Pynchon are the current and five past presidents of the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts.

Trustees for 2023 are: Teresa Utt, David Cecchi, Mary Shea, Scott Whitney, Brenda McGiverin, and Kelly McGiverin.

The Pynchon medal bears the name of Springfield’s founder, whose life and achievements typify the ideals of promoting citizenship and the building of a better community, qualities the award is intended to recognize and encourage. Recipients are presented with a bronze medal bearing Pynchon’s likeness and inscribed with the quotation: “They honor us whom we honor.”

2023 Pynchon Medalist Announced

by Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts 

Region’s oldest public-service award to be presented to a local healthcare and community leader.

Presentation of Pynchon Medal set for Monday, 

November 13, 2023 at Springfield Technical Community College; Springfield, MA

The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts’ Trustees of the Order of William Pynchon announced today their selection of a local resident as this year’s Pynchon medal recipient. Brenda McGiverin, chairperson of the Pynchon Trustees, stated, “This year’s recipient embodies what this award is about—a commitment to public service and improving the lives of everyone in our region.” 

 

Slated to receive the Advertising Club’s Pynchon Medal at a November 2023 event is the following recipient:

 

Tania Barber, nominated by Yvonne Williams: Tania Barber serves as president and CEO of Caring Health Center (CHC), a Springfield-based care provider of affordable and equitable healthcare services. Barber began her career with CHC as a part-time switchboard operator in 1996. Through regular promotions during her 24-year tenure, she rose to become the organization’s leader in 2013. Even in a position of executive leadership, Barber retained her connection to the organization’s frontline staff and a commitment to CHC’s on-the-ground mission. “I realized I could have a greater impact in an executive management role,” said Barber. “It was a chance to make positive changes to the issues I saw first-hand.” As a servant leader, Barber guided CHC to dramatically increase the number of patients served, tripled its staff level, and introduced many new services, including substance-use treatment and behavioral health. 

 

In addition to enhancing the organization’s service offerings, Barber expanded CHC’s reach with an expansion to three facilities, as well as the addition of mobile services and pharmacy delivery for those who are homebound or experiencing mobility issues. Following devastating damage to the organization’s flagship facility due to a 2011 tornado, she oversaw an $18 million construction project to restore—and expand—CHC’s reach in the community. She also enhanced the delivery of services for the area’s refugee population; as a result, CHC is now the Commonwealth’s number one provider of refugee and immigrant patients outside of Boston.

 

According to Barber, her lived experience is responsible for her becoming the empathic and informed healthcare provider she is today. As the daughter of a young single mother, Barber sees herself in many of the women CHC serves. Her belief in empowering women through education led her to establish the Tania M. Barber Learning Institute in 2023. Students of the institute will earn a salary as they receive training for careers in the healthcare field. In addition to providing a talent pipeline for an industry in dire need of trained workers, it will provide students with a pathway to well-paying jobs that also benefit the community. “We are helping with equity gaps [within] the community, particularly [for] people of color,”  Barber told WWLP news.

 

In addition to leading CHC, Barber is the founder and pastor of Living Water Global Ministries, a nondenominational Christian church; EST.HER, a leadership consulting firm; and Daughters of Shared Vision, a faith-based counseling service for women. She has also served on a variety of local and regional boards, including the Springfield Technical Community College Science Degree Program Advisory Board, Health New England, Florence Bank, and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. 

 

In all of her endeavors, Barber looks to maximize the potential of those she serves, whether employees, patients, or mentees. “My personal philosophy can best be summed up by the acronym ‘HELP’: healing every last person,” she said. 

This year’s recipient was chosen from a pool of nominations received last spring by the Advertising Club. All nominees are researched by the trustees, who then deliberate before selecting final recipients. Pynchon medalists are chosen by unanimous decision of the Pynchon Trustees, who are the current and five past presidents of the Advertising Club. Pynchon Trustees for 2023 are Teresa Utt, David Cecchi, Mary Shea, Scott Whitney, Brenda McGiverin, and Kelly McGiverin.

The presentation of the Pynchon Medal and celebration will take place on Monday, November 13, 2023 with a 5 p.m. social hour and a 6 p.m. ceremony. The program will be held at the Top of Our City Conference Center on the seventh floor of Scibelli Hall, Springfield Technical Community College. Scibelli Hall is located at One Armory Square, Springfield, MA. 

For additional information on this year’s Pynchon recipient, please contact Trustee Chair Brenda McGiverin at 413.250.2094 or via email at Brenda.McGiverin@wwlp.com.

The Order of William Pynchon

The Order of William Pynchon was established in 1915 by the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts (then known as the Publicity Club) for the purpose of giving public recognition to those citizens in the region who have rendered distinguished civic service.

 

Nominees are brought forth each year by members of the community and medalists are chosen by unanimous decision of the Pynchon Trustees. The Trustees of the Order of William Pynchon are the current and five past presidents of the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts.

 

The Pynchon medal bears the name of Springfield’s founder, whose life and achievements typify the ideals of promoting citizenship and the building of a better community, qualities the award is intended to recognize and encourage. Recipients are presented with a bronze medal bearing Pynchon’s likeness and inscribed with the quotation: “They honor us whom we honor.” More than 200 citizens have been inducted into the Order of William Pynchon since its founding in 1915.

 

The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts

The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts is the premier organization for marketing and communications professionals in western Mass and northern Connecticut. The club offers members the ability to advance and enrich the advertising community, by acting as a catalyst for idea exchange, professional development, and creative energy. The club offers its members a forum to learn, network, recognize achievement, and build a stronger advertising and marketing community. The club also supports future generations of creative professionals with an annual scholarship awarded to a Western Massachusetts high school graduate pursuing a degree in the communication arts.

Pynchon Recipients

YearName
1915Marcus Perrin Knowlton
1915George Dwight Pratt
1915Donald North
1915George Walter Vincent Smith
1915Charles Goodrich Whiting
1916F. Sturgess Allen
1916Joshua L. Brooks
1916Horace A. Moses
1916Elijah A. Newell
1916Frank A. Perrett
1917Embury P. Clark
1917Solomon Buckley Griffin
1917Robert O. Morris
1918Edwin C. Parsons
1919Harold R. Buckley
1919Thornton W. Burgess
1919Frederick H. Gillett
1920Harold A. Ley
1921A. Willard Damon
1922Mary A. (Ann) Booth
1922Eliphalet T. Tifft
1923William G. Ballantine
1924William W. McClench
1925George M. Hendee
1926Nathan D. Bill
1927Charles E. Duryea
1928Dr. William N. DeBerry
1928Lucy W. Mallary
1928Henry L. Bowles
1929Hiller C. Wellman
1929Charles L. Long
1929Reverend Thomas
1929Frederick Davis
1930David Allen Reed
1931Joseph B. Ely
1931William J. Quilty
1932William H. Daggett
1932Maude Irving Tait
1933Wallace R. Heady
1933R. Nelson Hatt
1934Elbert E. Lochridge
1934Edward A. Hall
1935Frederick B. Sweet
1935William H. Stuart
1936George S.L. Connor
1936Frederic Whitmore
1936Herman Isenburg
1937William Orr
1937William F. Adams
1938Frank D. Korkosz
1938Albert Steiger
1939John C. Garand
1939Ida F. Farrar
1940Waldo L. Cook
1941Alexander Hughes
1941Grace Pettis Johnson
1942Gilbert H. Steward
1942Edwin C. Bartlett
1942John H. Nolan
1943Margaret C. Ells
1943Edward H. Thomson
1944Chester Bowles
1944Thomas C. Fleming
1944Fred Stephenson
1945Henry A. Field
1945Hazel Clark
1945David J. Manning
1946Dr. Chester S. McGown
1946Colonel Burton A. Adam
1947Edward H. Marsh
1948Alice l. Halligan
1948Edward S. Bradford
1949James H. Higgins
1950Sally Leeds
1950Dr. William Hill
1951Cordelia S. Pond
1952Dr. Paul M. Limbert
1952John J. Duggan
1953Paul Samson
1958Dr. William B. Kirkham
1959Mary J. Foley
1960James J. Shea
1960Samuel G. Simons
1960Edward Kronvall
1961Bernard H. McMahon
1962Edward H. Breck
1962Dennis J. Brunton
1963Dr. Garry deNeuville Hough, Jr.
1963Leone E. Avery
1964Lt. Joseph A. Budd
1964Magnus F. Peterson
1965Frederick B. Robinson
1965Alfred G. Zanetti
1966Paul Craig
1967Charles M. Healy, Jr.
1967Maxwell H. Tasgal
1968Judge Donald Malcolm Macauly
1969Herman O. Grimmeisen
1970Sidney R. Cook
1970Rabbi Dr. Herman Eliot Snyder
1971Edmond P. Garvey
1971Charles H. Schaaff
1972Herbert P. Almgren
1972Jeremiah M. Finn
1973Dr. Frank E. Hurley
1973Romeo J. Cyr
1974Richard Booth
1975K.F. Broman
1975William A. Lieson
1976Dr. Robert W. Emery
1976Solomon D. Freeman
1976James J. Shea, Jr.
1977Mary H. Weckwerth
1977Richard C. Garvey
1977Donald O. Reichert
1979Paul J. Greeley
1979Alexander B. Mapp
1979Graham King
1980James R. Martin
1981Joan F. Putnam
1981Charles V. Ryan
1982Gordon Cameron
1982Rita M. Tremble
1983Emma Wilder Anderson
1983Alfred A. LaRiviere
1983Sr. Mary Caritas
1984Benjamin F. Jones
1984Edward B. Landis
1984Michael P. Pagos
1985Edward P. Boland
1986C. Norman Peacor
1986Robert J. Van Wart
1987Roswell L. Derby
1987Rev. Joseph F. Maguire
1988William J. Clark
1989Judge Sidney R. Cooley
1989David Starr
1990Robert S. Carroll
1990George R. Ditomassi
1991Anne V. Cooley
1991Gerald E. D’Amour
1991Helen Smith Fuller
1992Randolph W. Bromery
1992Dr. Leon M. Kruger
1992Richard A. Stebbins
1993Sr. Mary Dooley
1993Barbara Rivera
1994Robert Fowler
1994Harriette Michaels
1996John H. Davis
1997Frank D. Gulluni
1998Frances Gagnon
1998John Gallup
1998Peter Picknelly
1999Dr. Edward Bailey
1999Richard Milstein, ESQ.
2000Albert Ferst
2000Sr. Jane Morrissey
2001Janee Friedmann
2001Eric Bachrach
2002Raymond J. Chelte
2002Edward M. Clark
2003Teofilo Alvarado
2003Carol W. Kinsley
2003R. Lyman Wood
2004Carl G. Erickson
2004Lucia M. Guiggio
2004Rabbi Jerome S. Gurland
2005Stephen T. Clay
2005Paul S. Doherty
2006Steven D. Botkin
2006Kimball W. Howes
2006Brenda J. Lopez
2006Vincent McCorkle
2007Dr. Carol A. Leary
2007Allen G. Zippen
2007Dan Roulier
2008Dianne Fuller Doherty
2008Michael J. Ashe, Jr.
2008Frank W. Anderson
2009Gary L. Fialky
2009Susan R. Jaye-Kaplan
2009Marie M. Stebbins
2010Barbara C. Bernard
2010Mary Reardon Johnson
2010York Mayo
2011Aaron Lansky
2011Mary Pat McMahon
2012Ellen Freyman
2012Steve Hayes
2012Bob Perry
2013Jean C. Caldwell
2013Jean E. Gailun
2013Joan Kagan
2013Sirdeaner L. Walker
2014Kathy Picard
2015Gary R. Bernice
2015Harold Grinspoon
2015Ronn & Donna Johnson
2015Sue Ellen Panitch
2016Michaelann Bewsee
2016Jack Dill
2016Gale Kirkwood
2016Brian Tuohey
2016Angela Wright
2017Susan Canning
2017Bob Greeley
2017Judy Ingis
2017Paul J. Sears
2018Craig Carr
2018Sally C. Fuller
2018Robert Stacy McCarroll
2018Ronald Phillip Weiss
2019Charles R. Casartello, Jr.
2019Robert Charland
2019Heriberto Flores
2020Janine Fondon
2020Elizabeth Wills-O’Gilvie
2021Victor Rojas
2021Helen Caulton-Harris
2022Carol Moore Cutting
2022Sherry Elander