By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


A select number of movers and shakers in the Brighton community were awarded engraved plaques and the thanks of the local veteran community Sunday at the American Spirit Center.

Six individuals and their families were presented the plaques for their contributions – financial and otherwise – when the Spirit Center was in a recent financial crisis.

The award winners include George Moses of the Marketeer, Corrigan Enterprises and the Corrigan Family, John Conely of Conely Auto Sales, the estate of Charles J. Kelly and Mary E. Vogt, the architectural firm of Pucci & Vollmar and the First National Bank of Howell, which was represented by Vice President James Johnston.

Steve Conaway, commander of VFW Post 4357 in Brighton, tells WHMI the award recipients and the First National Bank together were instrumental in getting the organization – which serves veterans in all of the American armed forces – back on the right track to financial stability.

Besides Commander Conaway, other post officials at the ceremony included fellow Commander Mike Omstead and Captain Tim Maher. VFW Post 4357 accepts any veteran who was honorably discharged from a US military service between 1941 and the present, with the caveat that to be a member of the VFW specifically, the person must have served in a foreign war.



In the photo are, from left; James Johnston of the First National Bank; John Conely (center) of Conely Auto Sales, and George Moses (right) of the Marketeer. Representatives of the estate of Charles Kelly and Mary Vogt, the Corrigan family, and the architectural firm of Pucci and Volmar were unable to be present when the photo was taken.