For Nancy
Talbot, a woman who has lived all her life in Deep River and who has an
interest in both process and politics, the position of town clerk “is
just the right fit for me,” she said.
Talbot is out on the campaign trail
these days knocking on the doors of registered Democrats. She is in the
midst of a primary contest, seeking to win the town clerk’s spot on her
party’s ballot in the upcoming November municipal election. Although
she received the endorsement of the Democratic Town Committee and won a
ballot vote at the party’s nominating caucus in late July, she is being
challenged by Stella Beaudoin. The two will face one another in a Sept.
15 primary.
Talbot is comfortable campaigning.
Politics, particularly local politics, is a familiar place. Her father
Dick Daniels served as Democratic selectman and Democratic Town
Committee leader for years.
“When I was growing up, on Election
Day Democratic headquarters was always at my house,” she recalled. Her
brother Rick Daniels has also served for years as a selectman “and,
when I was growing up, my mother was the assistant town clerk.”
If politics is in her blood, she
said, so is community service—from delivering Meals on Wheels to
working with the Shoreline Soup Kitchen to serving as president of the
elementary school PTO to being the leader for her daughters’ Brownie
troop. She is married with two daughters and for several years was a
stay at home mom who built her own home-based Internet business.
For the past year and a half, Talbot
has worked as a secretary in the town’s Building Department while also
working as parks and recreation director. It wasn’t until incumbent
Town Clerk Jeanne Nickse approached her that Talbot considered running
for that position. Nickse retires later this year.
“When Jeanne asked me if I would be
interested, I was surprised, then excited,” Talbot recalls. “This is
just the right job for me. I am very statute-
driven, very
organized, very good at recordkeeping. I definitely have the background
and the knowledge. I have been an election moderator for the past 15
years and a deputy registrar of voters for nine years. Also, I worked
for a time with the Chester town clerk. I know what the job is like and
the skills it requires.”
She was not surprised by the
primary—the first in memory—and she is pleased by the responses she is
hearing from her door-to-door campaign.
“Having grown up here, I know so
many people. I think I probably know someone at just about every other
house I visit,” she said.
In addition to the job experience
already mentioned, Talbot added that she is a graduate of Valley
Regional High School and Central Connecticut State University. She has
served as a justice of the peace for eight years, a notary public for
10 years, an elected member of the Board of Assessment Appeals,
designer and webmaster of the town’s website, and treasurer of the
Democratic Town Committee.
“This is the town I love and I am excited about an opportunity to serve its citizens as town clerk,” Talbot said.