Constance Messerly Kehoe
Profession/occupation: Retired educational sales and consulting
Volunteer and Leadership Roles:
President and a Director, Revolutionary Westchester 250, Inc.: 2018-present
Elected official, Village of Irvington: March 2009 to present
Village Board of Trustees and additional serve as Deputy Mayor, and liaison to business community and tourism, historic district committee, Town Hall Theater
Board of Directors, Historic Hudson River Towns: 2017 –present
I am a 1969 graduate of Vassar College, and received a Master’s in Teaching degree from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. She lived in South Bend, Indiana from fourth grade through twelfth grade, where a high school social studies teacher sparked her love of all things historic and her college major was, no surprise, history.
Public service began for in 2009 when I was first elected as Village Trustee in Irvington, NY. I continue – 11 years later – to serve as Trustee and Deputy Mayor in Irvington. I retired from my own educational sales and consulting business, Literacy Warehouse, in 2007 after a stimulating 20-year career.
As Village Trustee over the last ten years, I have supported many initiatives, some of critical importance to the protection of the historic character of Irvington. In 2014 I was a part of the team that helped move the Irvington Historic District application through to successful State and National recognition. In 2017, I championed the adoption of the “Irvington Historic District Design Guide and Recommendations” a critical reference tool for the public and the Village Boards.
In 2017 I was honored by the Irvington Historical Society, for contributions and received special recognition by State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins and others.
The path to becoming President and a director of Revolutionary Westchester 250, Inc. began first by dismay that the public had little knowledge that the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail bisected the entire Village of Irvington. An Irvington Board of Trustees’ resolution was eventually passed acknowledging the Trail’s significance.
In 2017 I championed the inclusion of a new granite plaque at the renovated Irvington Veterans Memorial Plaza recognizing the military service of each of the early Dutch, English and French tenant farmers who were critically important to the Patriots’ cause. The organization of the research on the 9 families, done primarily by an Irvington colleague Dr. Erik Weiselberg, led to their partnership, which in 2018 became RW250.
I work closely now with Westchester County and serve as “special liaison” for the planning of the 250th commemoration, and have been recognized by the New York State Historian, the Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and the Deputy Commission of the New York State Parks Department for early work on the semiquincentennial. RW250 is now, though collaborative efforts, a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charity with a RW250 Advisory Committee of key stakeholders and leaders in the County. Westchester County Executive George Latimer is serving as the Honorary Chairperson and members include State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. RW250 presented numerous successful programs during 2019 across Westchester County and received funding from the County in the 2020-21 budget.