For the past 32 years Anna Mae (Rizzo) Knack has been the person everyone in the Town of Eden went to if they had a question about what was happening.

That came to an end Friday, April 30, as she officially retired as the full-time administrative assistant to the town.

A lifelong resident of Eden, Knack, 63, grew up on the Rizzo family farm on West Church Street, graduated from Eden Central High School in 1966 and went on to graduate from Bryant and Stratton from the executive secretary course.

“I lived in Buffalo for a time, including staying with the Freudenheim family and that was such a wonderful experience,” Knack said. “Nina was a fashion coordinator for stores in Buffalo and wound up owning a gallery. Bill had a printing company and I learned a lot about fashion, the arts and music from them.”

Knack worked for a while in the City of Buffalo and was downtown during the civil rights movement marches and riots.

“My desk was right by a big plate window and a brick came through, shattering it while I was sitting there,” she said.

She met her husband of 40 years, Bill Knack, when they both worked for Smith Carona Marchant.

“It was funny, we actually met at the Dew Drop Inn, which was along the lake, not at work,” she said. “I was there with another girl from work and there he was. We loved dancing then and we still do.”

The two married, moved to Eden and started to raise a family. They are the proud parents of two daughters, Michelle (Kevin) Foley and Teresa (Chris) Sybulski.

When the girls were young she worked for a couple in the town who ran a mail-order photography film developing service.

“Then it was sold and I went looking for something else and answered an advertisement for a part-time secretary at the Eden Town Hall,” Knack said.

She was hired and appointed as confidential secretary by newly elected Supervisor Gale A. Denn on Jan. 1, 1978 and began a career of over three decades which spanned the election of five different supervisors and many changes in the town. Denn, who held office for 12 years, later changed her title to administrative assistant and she has held that title ever since.

“She was great and I often said the best decision Gale Denn made was when he hired her,” said former Eden Supervisor William Feasley, who had served as supervisor previously to Denn and was elected again in 1990. “She could do most anything and I really depended on her.

“She knew so much, was trustworthy, honest, I can’t say enough about her,” Feasley said.

Sentiments shared by former Councilman Gerald Neifer, who served on the board for 28 years.

“Anna Knack had a knack for knowing who to call and what to do to get things done,” said Neifer. “She was so good at what she did. She compiled data, knew so much about the town’s codes, regulations, finances and pulled that all together so we could have that information when we needed it.

“She was the unofficial liaison to all the departments, because everyone felt comfortable talking to her and bouncing ideas off her because she treated everyone with respect,” Neifer said.

“She had a drawer full hats and wore the appropriate ones at the appropriate time. She was the person to go to,” he said.

Along with working with Denn and Fealsey, she worked with Suzanne Bissonette from 1992-95, John Tsakos from 1996-97 and with current Supervisor Glenn Nellis since his election in 1998.

“She one of the most professional, knowledgeable person on municipal government rules and regulations that I know,” said Nellis. “On top of that she has a great sense of integrity and caring in regards to our citizens.”

Nellis added that over the years he has had many people compliment her abilities and how pleasant she is to work with.

“People feel quite comfortable to call her and ask her questions and they know she will get back to them.

“We are all in this together and she provided the cohesiveness that binds us all together,” he said.

“She has been a huge help to us over the years and we’ll miss her, ” said Police Chief Michael Felschow.

“Anna has been an instrumental liaison to this department, the town board and the supervisor,” said Police Sgt. Shawn Bishop.

“We’ve spent a lot of Wednesday night working together, at the board meetings, ” said Town Clerk Mary Jo Holquist. “She is a wonderful person to work with, and I’ve enjoyed our times together,

Over the years Knack has helped establish the town’s new water districts, earned the nick name of “Garbage Guru” for her work in establishing the town-wide garbage pickup program and served as secretary to the Eden Planning Board for 20 years.

She worked on many of the town’s Community Development Block Grant Programs, as well as the first low-interest business facade improvement load program.

Knack helps prepare the annual town budget, served on the town’s revolving loan committee and for the past 16 years represented the town on the Sewer District No. 2 Board of Managers, serving as chairman and is the chairman of the United Way for the town employees.

Away from the town hall, for the past 10 years she and her husband have been the Catholic Charities chairs for Immaculate Conception Church and worked on the fund-raising committee for ICC’s new Parish Center.

She sang with the Heritage Chorale for years and continues to sing with ICC’s Witness Choir, something she had done for over 25 years.

She has been involved with the Eden Ecumenical Food Pantry (now located at Holy Spirit Church in North Collins) since its conception 31 years ago and headed up the Surplus Government Food Distribution for Eden residents.

With retiring Knack is looking forward to spending more time helping with the Food Pantry and spending time with her husband, children and three grandchildren, 3-year-old Grace Anna Foley, and 7-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Ajay Sybulski.

“We are looking forward to camping with our family and friends, like Jerry and Jean Donahue (who was the bookkeeper in Eden for over 20 years) and having a good time,” said Knack.

It won’t be all fun and games because she has agreed to help with the transition and will stay on part-time for awhile.

“This will work out well for me because it would be very difficult to walk away totally,” she said.

“I can’t imagine hiring a better person and I’m glad she is staying for awhile. She will be sorely missed when she does leave for good,” said Nellis.

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