The Six Greatest People In Waterford

For the past two-and-a-half years, there are many people I’ve met in my time covering Waterford. I’ve liked most of them, revered a few, but there is a select handful – specifically, six – that have stood out above the rest. 

Who are these people? They come from different walks of life, but they share some very important characteristics: integrity, honesty, a sense of zest for life and a deep understanding and compassion for the people they touch.

One might point out that these six are the six judges of Waterford, So You Think You Can Dance tonight, an event this author is competing in. But I think we all can agree that the person who would point something like that out is a skeptic at best or, at worse, a competitor who suddenly is realizing the benefits of running an online newspaper the day of the event.

Who are these people that both I and the majority of the Waterford community have gained such an unabashed affinity for? Why they are - and I'm sure you've guessed them by now, because you share the same list - Angela Pezzello, Betsy Ritter, Murray Pendleton, Erik Pawlak, Joyce Sauchuk and Pat Fedor.

Let’s take them one-by-one. I’ll start with Pawlak, a mountain among men, a master of his own universe. Pawlak, a Waterford fireman, risks his life every day – every single day – for the good people of Waterford. He is a selfless provider of safety and hope who has literally saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow Waterford residents while not asking for a second of glory. Simply put, Erik is a hero who hates to be called a hero, a saint in the truest sense of the world.

Then we get to Sauchuk, the town’s intrepid human resources director. Waterford is one of the few municipalities in the state that has one human resource director for both Board of Education employees and general government employees, more than 600 people in all. 

Every time any of those people have an issue or a grievance of whatever, it is up to Sauchuk to fix it. And yet she handles the burden with a permanent smile on her face, a sense of optimism in her heart and a deep sense of duty and professionalism in her manner. She is that exemplary employee, a woman with no equal in a job of endless demands.

Next is Angela Pezzello, a cheerleader at Waterford High School. Now, admittedly, I personally don’t know Angela very well. But here is what I do know in my brief observations of her: she’s smart, breathtakingly gorgeous and is poised beyond her years. She is the personification of everything that is right with the youth of Waterford.

That brings us to Betsy Ritter, Waterford’s dedicated state representative. In my years of covering politics, I have rarely met a more clear-thinking, levelheaded representative than Ritter. She’s smart, she’s tough when she has to be and she gets what is important. I am not normally one to adore politicians, but Ritter is a diamond in the rough.

Then, one of my favorites, the irreplaceable Pat Fedor, principal of Great Neck Elementary School. There are few people in all the land who, despite countless evidence to the contrary, can match her high level of confidence. 

She is a trendsetter both in style and class and there are few principals who demand the respect and the attention of Fedor. And perhaps most impressive of all, she was willing to dance twice – TWICE – in front of hundreds of her adoring students, overcoming any sense of shyness and her inherent lack of talent. Obviously, she has no fear.

And finally, I saved the best for last, my friend Waterford Police Chief Murray Pendleton. I see my relationship with chief the same as the relationship my cat Bruce has with me. 

Let me explain.

When I got Bruce – more accurately, when my live-in girlfriend at the time got Bruce – I couldn’t stand him. I didn’t like cats, it just meant more work for me and the stupid thing would not leave me alone. I cursed its existence, wished it would go away and hoped for the day I would never see the cat again.

Well, me and my girlfriend split up, and it was time for her to move out. And when it was time for Bruce to leave, I just wasn’t ready for that. Although he had annoyed me, we had spent entirely too much time together over the past nine months and I realized I would miss him if he was gone. So I kept Bruce, and while he still drives me crazy and steps on the keyboard and hits random keys when I’m typing, I know deep in my heart I’d miss him if I he was gone.

Obviously, I’m Bruce in that metaphor, and Waterford’s police chief – who has been at his job twice as long as I’ve been alive – is, well, myself. Truly, the chief is a good man, and the town is lucky to have a strong, sensible leader to keep it straight (or else we’d have to rely on Steward, and we know how that would work out).

Again, I can hear the cynics crying that this is little more than a last-ditch effort to butter up the judges. Nothing could be further from the truth. These are just people I wanted to highlight, for no particular reason other than I think they are wonderful, on a date that is completely arbitrary.

And on a completely unrelated note, I hope you all come to Waterford, So You Think You Can Dance tonight. Or at least watch the videos of it on Patch Monday morning. And remember, cheer the loudest for the reporter. He is going to need it.

p.s. Jessica Freitas is a special person as well. Just check out this award-winning YouTube video we made together.