CRESTVIEW — No one was more surprised when Mayor David Cadle announced this year’s Mae Retha Coleman Citizen of the Year recipient than the honoree himself.
“I couldn’t imagine why my wife told me to get up here,” Malcolm Haynes said Monday evening when Cadle read his name. “I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years.”
“He has proven himself over and over and over again,” Cadle said. “I was so pleased when I heard of the committee’s selection of this year’s winner.”
Haynes has served in multiple capacities over many years, including as a driving force behind the annual No Child Without Health Care Fair and community educational programs.
He’s an active member of the Crestview Kiwanis Club, and is a past master of the J.R.L. Conyers Lodge, Third Masonic District, and current deputy district grand marshal of the Most Worshipful Union Grand Lodge of Florida.
“What a great individual and gentleman,” City Councilman JB Whitten said. “He knows everybody in town and can get things done.”
“There’s no better choice in my opinion,” Councilman Joe Blocker said.
“He’s so low-key, he doesn't make a lot of humpty-hurrah about anything,” Council President Shannon Hayes said. “He’s such a great organizer; he makes sure the people who should be doing things are doing what they should be doing.”
Hayes encouraged residents to participate in selecting the annual Citizen of the Year by completing and submitting applications to the city clerk each spring.
“The city has great people doing good things all over,” Hayes said.
WANT TO NOMINATE SOMEONE?
Applications for the Mae Retha Coleman Citizen of the Year Award are available at the Crestview City Clerk’s office in City Hall.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Malcolm Haynes named Crestview's Citizen of the Year (VIDEO)