ANSONIA – It was standing-room only in the Aldermanic Chambers in city hall March 10 as the city honored three women for their contributions to the community.
Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Shortell Lynch, Diane Stroman, and Beverly Tidmarsh received proclamations from state and city officials celebrating their history of service to the community. Mayor Frank Tyszka presented the proclamations shortly before the night’s Aldermanic meeting.
Lynch has been Ansonia’s town and city clerk since 2019. She was also town clerk from 2013 to 2015, and has served in various city departments since around 1999. Her family’s name is also synonymous with Ansonia history – she is one of 11 children of the legendary Matthew ‘Pop’ Shortell.
Lynch received her award while wearing a brooch to honor her mother, Bernice Kiley Shortell, who tragically passed away in the 1985 River Restaurant explosion, along with Lynch’s sister, Dorothy Bernice Shortell.
Lynch carried her family’s legacy forward with the brooch, which she had originally purchased for her mother when she was a senior in high school.
As she received her award, she joined Tyszka and the assembled crowd in a cheer of “faith, family, and friends,” a set of values handed down through her family.
Next to receive her award was Stroman, the former executive vice president of TEAM, Inc. who also formerly served on the Board of Aldermen and board of education.
Stroman’s more than two decades of work at TEAM were instrumental to programs including ‘Toys 4 Kids,’ which helps distribute holiday toys throughout the Valley, and ‘Men Who Cook,’ an annual fundraiser which helps the agency meet its core mission of addressing poverty throughout the region.
She is also a past president of the Derby-Shelton Rotary Club and has served on boards of directors for nonprofits including the Valley Boys & Girl Club, the Valley Community Foundation, and Julia Day Nursery.
Now working as the Ansonia Public Schools Mentor Coordinator, Stroman is a regular fixture in the audience at city school board meetings.
Stroman also received the Valley NAACP’s President’s Award last December in recognition of her service to the region.
After Stroman was Beverly Tidmarsh, a former school board member who now leads the city’s school building commission as chairwoman. That commission is responsible for overseeing the city’s effort to build a new middle school on Pulaski Highway.
Tidmarsh served seven years as president of the Ansonia Board of Education in the early 2000s. She has been involved in various school initiatives and committees over the years, including a school regionalization committee which was formed in 2018.
Tidmarsh also serves the community through her roles as administrative chair at First United Methodist Church on Franklin Street, and as a justice of the peace.
Each of the three proclamation recipients received bouquets from Aldermanic President Frank Pergola after posing for photos.
After the awards, Tyszka said the evening’s honorees represent the best of Ansonia.
“Elizabeth Lynch, Diane Stroman, and Beverly Tidmarsh embody the strength, resilience, and leadership that have always driven progress in Ansonia. Their contributions remind us that when women rise, our entire community rises with them,” Tyszka said.
March is celebrated as Women’s History Month across the country. It began as a local celebration in California in 1978, according to the National Women’s History Museum. Since 1995, presidents each year have issued proclamations each year marking the month nationwide.
