WINDHAM — The past year has taken some getting used to for "Smokin" Joan Tuck, voted out of office in March after 42 years as town clerk.
Truth be told — and the Brooklyn-born 71-year-old is no shrinking violet — Tuck still isn't used to waking up with nowhere to go. But she feels better after last Saturday.
Surprising recognition and a spontaneous reconciliation at Saturday's deliberative session means more to her than most people realize, she said.
At the session, Tuck was working at the supervisor of the checklist table when she heard the town administrator announce that she was the recipient of a special award. Her jaw dropped and she wiped away tears.
Tuck thanked everyone, singling out her replacement, Town Clerk Nicole Merrill.
"Especially the girl who has stolen your hearts," Tuck said.
The two hugged. The cathartic moments came a little less than a year after Tuck's defeat.
In voting for the three-year post last March, then-Deputy Town Clerk Merrill received 2,230 votes to Tuck's 584. Elizabeth Dunn got 332 votes.
Tuck was stunned by the results. A familiar question after the election was: Who did Joan Tuck tee off? Tuck has an answer for that.
"Probably half the people in town," she said yesterday.
She counts among those people residents who came to Windham and complained about registration fees they were charged, saying that wasn't how it was done in Massachusetts or Connecticut or New York.
"I got news for you, honey, that's the law," Tuck said she would tell them.
She also gave the bum's rush to foulmouthed teenagers in the office.
"I do admit, I'm not the most congenial person in the world," she said.
Tuck, an on-call firefighter in Windham for 16 years, sees herself as a strong-willed woman, but, nonetheless, quick to help others.
"If someone needs me, I will be there," she said.
She enjoyed her job, seeing townspeople and answering their questions.
In her tenure, she figures the office registered tens of thousands of cars, filed a thousand death certificates and 2,000 birth certificates. She saw people grow up and grow old.
She said she especially enjoyed working with town boards early in her career. Many of those people have since died.
In his presentation at the deliberative session, Town Administrator Dave Sullivan said Tuck had a reputation for being "outspoken," in positive and negative ways, but epitomized a public servant, and he wished her well.
In an interview later, Sullivan said he was not surprised by Tuck's reaction. And, probably, neither were many of the people who know her.
"She's a very emotional person," Sullivan said.
Tuck, a divorced mother of two grown children, was given her nickname "Smokin" Joan by a firefighter friend from Hudson.
Since the election, Tuck has joined a fitness center, visiting it with a friend a couple of times a week. She walks her dog, Spencer, a 9-year-old sheltie, and has volunteered for an animal rescue group. She also has done furniture stripping and looked for work.
She chose to work on a fee basis while she was clerk and has no retirement. Originally, Tuck had planned to retire last year and travel. But a review of her finances convinced her to run for office again, she said.
Saturday was the first time she and Merrill have spoken since the election. Tuck was stung by some things that took place during the campaign. Other than to say Merrill is not a source of anger, she does not want to go into detail.
Tuck said the reconciliation was a relief, and maybe the two of them could sit down and talk. Merrill also said the reconciliation felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
"It was a beautiful moment," Merrill said.
She said Tuck had been a mentor to her, a mother figure. She said she had tried, unsuccessfully, to reach out to Tuck.
Saturday, Merrill offered Tuck a part-time position as a ballot clerk during elections. Tuck accepted.
