■Frederick C. Tilley, principal at the Florence Grammar School, was feted at a retirement party in his honor yesterday at the school. Mr. Tilley is looking forward to his retirement and plans to use some of the time to engage in fishing, his favorite sport.
■Dr. Thomas F. Corriden has been reappointed medical examiner for the First Hampshire District, having completed 35 years in this capacity. Dr. Corriden is reportedly the senior medical examiner in the state, having first been appointed in 1936 by then Gov. James M. Curley.
■Martha Nelson has sold Pride & Joy, a gay and lesbian gift shop she opened in 1991, to Beth and Karen Bellavance-Grace. Karen Bellavance-Grace has been the manager of Pride & Joy since its opening as a small holiday booth in the Thornes Marketplace complex. Shortly after, it moved to its present location at 20 Crafts Ave.
■After 38 years as the headmaster of the Clarke School for the Deaf, Dr. Bill Blevins attended his final graduation ceremony as the school’s leader on Thursday. Blevins, 62, will retire in August. He arrived at the school in 1958 from the North Carolina School for the Deaf, where both he and his wife had taught.
■A regional emergency dispatch center for Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown and Pelham will move ahead even though South Hadley officials opted against joining. Amherst Town Manager John Musante said a new center could be up and running in two years, if all goes according to plan.
■The rooms and hallways of the Anne T. Dunphy School were packed with well-wishers as the community gathered on Wednesday to celebrate “Fred Venne Day.” Venne, principal of the Anne T. Dunphy and Helen E. James elementary schools for the last 16 years, resigned in mid-March to take a position as museum educator of the Museum of Natural History and Bassett Planetarium at Amherst College.