Nineteen years ago when I first moved to Harvard, I had the pleasure of meeting Janet Vallente on my many trips to Town Hall. We had just moved from Colorado with two young children, a dog, and two different last names, and we had bought a house that needed a lot of work and a lot of permits.
Things were crazy and a bit hectic. That first summer we were on the Cape and our dog escaped. I had no idea where he was and my two small children were devastated and I was very pregnant with the third. We were beside ourselves and could not find our dog or figure out how we would find our dog. A couple of hours into a very stressful day the phone in our house rang. It was Janet Vellante calling to let us know that our dog was safe at a Cape Cod emergency dog rescue. I asked her how she found me, and she said she remembered that I mentioned we went to the Cape and she spent her afternoon calling information until she found our name and took a chance. She was calm and collected and it meant the world to us.
We had been living in a small city and were not used to that level of care from a town official. Over the years and many permits and documents later, I realized this was just her way: calm, competent, and kind. It is people like Janet that make Harvard such a special place to live. Thank you, Janet, for always going out of your way to make it a little easier for everyone else.
Hellie Swartwood
Fairbank Street
