2025 Gilbert Wade Citizenship Award
Description: Introduced in 2024 this award is presented annually in honor of our colleague and friend Gil in recognition of the qualities for which he is well admired and respected, and for the positive professional and personal impact he has made on our colleagues, neighbors, friends, the Southington Chamber of Commerce, and the greater Southington community.
The Southington Chamber of Commerce Gilbert Wade Citizenship Award is not established so much for personal achievement, as it is for how Gil lived his life in helping others achieve; it does not recognize a single effort, but rather a long-term, continuing commitment Gil demonstrated to the Chamber and community; it is about Gil ‘being there’ when there is service called for; it is about Gil being the one everybody wants on the committee when there is a job to be done and for being the first person to ask where help is needed and then committing to action; and it is about how Gil always looked toward the positive and how he would lead and encourage others to be positive as well. It is about action for positive impact and not personal acknowledgment or public recognition.
Gil was the Chamber’s biggest cheerleader and was a natural in his role as facilitator of Chamber in the Morning Networking with the Pros. He loved connecting with people and helping to promote their businesses and our community. Gil was a strong leader on the Chamber Board of Directors, contributing greatly to the success of the organization.
As a business owner and resident Gil understood Southington was his home and his life, and its future and his were the same, and he would do whatever he could to make them better.
This is the legacy Gilbert Wade leaves to our community.
Winner’s Circle: 2025 Honoree: J. Patrick Byrne – Southington Bread for Life | 2024 Honoree: Award Named for Gilbert Wade received by his wife Diane Wade | (All listed honorees are current Chamber members.)
For more information on the Southington Business & Community Achievement Awards Program call the Chamber office at 860.628.8036.