JAY – Only one person is honored each year by the North Jay Grange as Community Citizen, and this year’s recipient, Brad Crafts of North Jay, was also presented with a Legislative Sentiment, recognizing his many years of volunteer service to the community.

Family and friends gathered for the presentation last week during a program led by Marilyn Morse, who introduced the guests, state Reps. Raymond Pineau of Jay and John Patrick of Rumford, and state Sen. Bruce Bryant of Dixfield.

Pineau recalled the many photos Crafts had taken over the years, and his more than a half-century as a firefighter. “He has helped build up the Fire Department to what it is today,” Pineau said.

Crafts, who admitted that he has been known for talking, said, “It’s hard to talk on an occasion like this. Everyone has special things they like to do; taking pictures was a natural, and the Fire Department was a pleasure,” he said.

In addition to those two passions, Crafts is also an avid historian, widely recognized for his knowledge of Jay and the surrounding area. He has made available many old-time scenes to fellow historians through the glass plates he has developed in his home dark room.

He was instrumental in forming the Jay Historical Society, which now has Crafts’ childhood home, the Holmes-Crafts Homestead on Jay Hill, as its museum. Next to that building is the Jay Firemen’s Museum, which houses the town’s oldest fire truck, a 1936 McCann Diamond T, the second one the town owned.

After looking far and wide for two years, Crafts found the rusted vehicle in 1979, parked behind a church in Garland. Painstaking restoration by the department followed. The museum in which it is housed was dedicated to Crafts.

A longtime volunteer for the town, Crafts has also been recognized by for his 56 years of service to the North Jay Water District.

“I’m so pleased the legislature has recognized my father,” said Crafts’ son, Charles, recalling that his father had worked very hard to get him home from captivity in Vietnam in 1967.

The younger Crafts said he and his father are one of few father/son pairs to be recognized by the Legislature.

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