Connie Hamilton has a personality that can fill up a room. She is vivacious and strong. It’s difficult to be around her and avoid the feeling of being nourished and uplifted. If there is music playing, she will be dancing and making up her own words to the song. Her secret to success is this: stay busy serving others, especially children.
Price City is honoring Hamilton as citizen of the year. The accolades make her uncomfortable, she is much more excited to talk about her next project than she is to chat about herself. “Serving is just something you do, it’s not for the recognition. If you’re not involved in the community, what is your existence?” she asks.
A personal melting pot flows through Hamilton’s veins. She is the granddaughter of Greek immigrants and Mormon pioneers, and is proud of the virtues both legacies bring her. She works like a pioneer woman and understands the platitude, “there is the right way to do something, the wrong way, and the Greek way,” she says with a laugh.
Greek Festival
One of Hamilton’s favorite events is the Greek Festival in Price. Each year she spends hours working before the festival to organize and prepare. “It’s not just for the Greek people, it’s an event where many denominations and cultures come together to make it happen.” One of her favorite parts of organizing the festival is listening to the conversations buzzing around her as volunteers make pastries. “There is some politics, talk about families and a lot of laughing,” she adds.
Elementary school students were shocked on the first day of school when Hamilton wrote her home phone number on the board. She told them that she wanted them to be prepared and she was there to help them with a difficult math problem or spelling word. Every student knew that Hamilton was willing to help them. One single mother worked as a dispatcher and wasn’t home to get her girls get ready for school. Hamilton came early to do their hair. It wasn’t a big deal, it was just part of her job.
“We live in a ‘what’s in it for me?’ society. People don’t want to do things unless there is an end profit for them. I tried to instill in my students that they should to watch for someone else to help. The American way is to open our doors and share what we have,” Hamilton says. Now retired, she seeks to support children in other ways. She is the chairwoman of the Children’s Justice Center board.
One of the events that defines Hamilton the most, is the life and death of her mother, Edna. When her mother couldn’t live on her own any more, Hamilton moved in. She fell out of community service and put her focus on taking care of her mom. “I knew that I would not regret a minute of the time that I spent with her, and I don’t. It was precious,” she adds.
Marion Bliss, Hamilton’s grandfather, was a Carbon County Sheriff who was killed in the line of duty in 1944. Near the end Edna’s life, she asked her daughter to honor her grandfather’s legacy by getting involved in the sheriff’s campaigns. Edna died two weeks after Connie signed on as a campaign manager. It was her mother’s’ way of pushing her daughter back into community service.
At 68, Hamilton is irrepressible. She plans on living in the same spirited way. “I really just feel like I’m in highschool,” she adds with a laugh. Her plans for the next twenty years are to avoid complaining, laugh often, work in her yard, and continue volunteering as much as possible.