Monday’s Maybrook Village Board meeting was a night to recognize long-time Church of the Assumption volunteers as Deacon Edward Grosso and his wife Barbara received the Joseph E. Dineen 2022 Award.

Since 2005, the village board has awarded the Joseph E. Dineen Award for volunteerism. Dineen was a former Maybrook mayor who had long-time volunteer roots in the village before his election. The award is to recognize a village resident, explained Mayor Dennis Leahy, “who goes above and beyond as a volunteer”.

“There were several candidates to choose from this year, and unfortunately the Village Board is faced with the difficult decision of narrowing it down to one, Leahy continued. “This year is unique in that the Village Board of Trustees decided it was fitting to make this a co-recipient award.”

Deacon Edward Grosso and his wife Barbara “established their roots in Maybrook in 1974. Both were very active in the Church of the Assumption and, in 1993, “Deacon Ed” (as he has been known) was ordained a permanent deacon and assigned to the Assumption parish. Both Deacon Ed and Mrs. Grosso were involved in the parish religious education program from 1975 until the 2015 merger of Assumption with the Holy Name of Mary Church in Montgomery. Mrs. Grosso led the Assumption religious education program as director until the merger.

“It’s one thing to move into a community,” Mayor Leahy said of the couple, “but these two individuals did more than just establish their roots. They put their heart and soul into the Religious Education Program of the Church of the Assumption and made a tremendous impact in the development of children in our village. I know this from a personal perspective because my children, Sean, Alyssa and Dylan attended and received their sacraments through the Religious Education Program at Assumption. This husband and wife team mentored many through the program and it’s only fitting to bestow this award onto them in appreciation for their 40-plus years of service.”

Many in Maybrook see the award as a fitting coda to the soon-to-be demise of the Church of the Assumption. The beloved church will be the site of its last Mass on January 8 and the Homestead property comprised of rectory, stone church and church hall faces an as-yet undetermined fate. The Archdiocese of New York attributed the January closing of Assumption to declining attendance, number of available priests and increasing financial burden.

Joseph Zwilling, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of New York, said it was too early to speculate if the Assumption property will be sold or “put to some other parish use”.

While the Maybrook village board has no official “say” into the decision to close Assumption, its action to award the Joseph E. Dineen Award to the Grossos has been seen by some as unofficial support of efforts to stave off the closing.