Wendy Coleman Dixon Hilboldt will be honored for her many years of community service at the 63rd annual Gridiron dinner on April 24 and 25, 2025 at the Country Club of New Canaan. The event is open to the public, and more information on tickets and pricing will soon be available on the Gridiron Club of New Canaan website (www.gridironclubofnc.org) and Facebook page.
Since her youngest days, Wendy has been a volunteer. At New Canaan High School, she organized school dances and proms, worked the football concessions, and served as class officer. Wendy graduated from Skidmore College, where she was an RA and Head Resident, and a skiing and tennis instructor on weekends. At Skidmore, she also caught the EMT bug, earning an A in Advanced First Aid. Wendy graduated with a BS in Elementary Education with Department Honors.
Returning home to New Canaan in 1978, Wendy quickly began giving back to her community. She became a resident tutor at the ABC House, worked at NCHS as the coordinator of Student Activities, and served as a Director of the Teen Center where she choreographed two productions. Wendy also joined the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, where she has served with distinction for 46 years. She earned an MA in Early Childhood Education from Fairfield University, and has been a Kindergarten teacher, Math teacher, tutor and long term sub over the years. Wendy helped launch and grow the New Canaan Food Pantry. She has served on the board of the New Canaan Community Foundation and is currently on their Behavioral Health committee.
Wendy and her husband, Jim, have three grown children, Emily, Molly and Andrew and six grandchildren. They are long-time members and choristers at St. Mark’s church, where Wendy has also been a stalwart May Fair volunteer for more than forty years. No stranger to Gridiron, Jim was in the cast of the 1995 show honoring Wendy’s father, Harry Coleman.
Each year, the Gridiron Club of New Canaan celebrates a local citizen who has set a great example of community spirit and leadership, with a dinner and roast, as the life of the “Fall Guy” is portrayed on stage in an original musical. The cast features a group of businessmen-by-day New Canaanites who shed all modesty to sing and dance their way through the life and times of the Fall Guy – this year, “Fall Gal” – and the evening is sure to prove entertaining for all. The Gridiron Club donates net proceeds from the show to a charity of the honoree’s choosing. Hilboldt has chosen the New Canaan High School Scholarship Fund, where she has served on the Executive Board and Grant Committee since her father passed away in 2006, to be the 2025 recipient.
All are welcome to attend the event on Thursday and Friday April 24th and 25th, 2025.
Tickets will be available beginning March 13, 2025 by visiting www.gridironclubofnc.org.
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