By Dan Murphy
Two longtime community leaders, Duane Lucia and Louise Thomas, along with the husband-and-wife architectural team of Benjamin Ascher and Yenna Chan, were feted at The West End Museum’s annual Honoree Night on Friday, Dec. 6, at the museum.
Lucia first got involved with the West End Civic Association (WECA) shortly after relocating to the West End from the North End in 1989. His work with WECA led to Lucia to The West End Museum, which had recently installed its ‘Last Tenement’ exhibit. Through the Museum, Lucia soon met Jim Campano, who along with a group of former West Enders, headed up the Old West End Housing Corporation (OWEHC).
As Lucia dug deeper into the West End’s history of urban renewal, he began volunteering at the Museum, eventually becoming the first non-West Ender to join the OWEHC Board. In 2011, Lucia helped incorporate the Museum as a separate entity from OWEHC, and he would go on to serve the museum in a number of roles, including Board President, Executive Director, and Curator.
In receiving the accolade, Lucia thanked Campano and Sebastian Belfanti, now serving as The Museum’s first Executive Director, and said his goal has been to help establish common ground between the community of the old West End and newcomers to the neighborhood.
A West End resident since 1997, Thomas is one of the original founders of WECA. She served as the organization’s president in 2005 and 2010, as well as on the Supermarket Committee and the Leverett Circle Committee, which resulted in getting an elevator installed at Science Park/West End Station.
Thomas, who was unable to attend the Honoree Night event, was also instrumental in getting the city to officially recognize the West End neighborhood by that name again, beginning in 2007, Belfanti noted.
“The West End wouldn’t be called the West End without Louise’s work,” said Belfanti .
Ben Ascher (son of museum president, Lois Ascher) and Yenna Chan are founding partners at Chan Ascher Architecture, a small, New York architecture and interior design firm. The couple started volunteering with the Museum in 2019 to create exhibition materials with historical letters and photographs for the ‘Hosting Memories’ exhibition.
Working on a pro bono basis between 2021-24, the couple redesigned the Museum interior to house its permanent collection and updated exhibits. As part of the Rebuilding Committee, which was convened following The Museum flooding in January 2022, they also consulted on the initial plans for renovation at the present location and assessed potential expansion sites.
This year’s Honoree Night also included the inaugural Silent Auction, which raised funds to benefit The Museum.