FRANKLIN After years of hard work and dedicated service to the borough, both Harold and Sally McGrath literally had their day in the sun at Firemen’s Park Sunday. With cooler and dryer temperatures on a picture postcard afternoon, the McGraths were taken by surprise when they were named the borough’s 2008 Senior Citizens of the year. Which is, of course, precisely the way borough officials and others in on the project wish it to be. “Thank you so much, everyone,” said Sally McGrath after the award was announced by Mayor Paul Crowley. “This is quite an honor and quite a shock. This is our town and I don’t ever plan to leave.” The McGraths were presented with both a plaque and street signs to commemorate the occasion, and those signs will be hung at each end of the wrap-around driveway at borough hall for the next year. Last year’s honorees, Bob and Betty Allen, were on hand to congratulate the McGraths, who are among their colleagues in the Franklin Historical Society. “We’re in all the same things together,” Betty Allen said. “I think we all have the interests of Franklin at heart. They’re looking and trying to improve our town.” The event has become part of the town’s annual picnic to commemorate all the volunteer members in borough government, including the planning and zoning boards, the fire department and members from the recreation department and board of public works. Begun by former mayor Ed Allen five years ago, the event has since included senior citizens, many of whom have spent the better part of their lives in the “Model Mining Town of the East.” “It’s all about community service, and Sally and Harold have been in community service all their lives,” added State Sen. Steve Oroho (R-24), a former borough councilman and county freeholder. “It’s always about them helping people, and we’re all proud to have them here in Franklin.” The picnic, attended by about 100 borough residents, was coordinated by councilman Joe Limon, who credited colleagues Jim Williams, Jack Stoll and Gilbert Snyder, as well as former Senior of the Year Claude Paddock and the borough fire department for their assistance in planning the event. Limon pointed out that food and other materials were provided by Weis Market, Wal-Mart and Wendy’s. The McGraths were also surrounded by numerous well-wishers, including their daughters Karen, Linda and Barbara, as well as their four grandchildren, Monica, Rebecca, Sarah and Anthony. “We’re so pleased,” added Sally McGrath, a former Sunday school teacher who is still the Wallkill Valley Board of Education treasurer. “It’s totally an honor to be recognized by the town that we love.” Longtime residents “Franklin was a wonderful town to grow up in,” said Sally McGrath, who grew up in a home on Nestor Street, a home that had to be moved to LaRue Street in 1949 due to the subsiding ground conditions caused by the mining beneath. “We had everything we wanted, which was supplied by the New Jersey Zinc Company. There’s so much history in this town. I wish we could do more.” Harold McGrath, who was born in Hamburg but moved to Franklin after the couple’s wedding day on April 14, 1956, has been a member of the borough fire department since January 1960, and is now a board of trustee member of the borough’s historical society, with his wife serving as treasurer.