Every year the Quincy Exchange Club presents the Golden Deeds Award to a dedicated volunteer who gives endless hours of their time and talents toward making our community a better place to live. That award was presented last Friday to Phil Conover.

Conover, a 30 member of the Quincy Exchange Club and former Exchangite of the Year, has served the community as a teacher, coach, administrator, broadcaster and counselor, and he has been a member of numerous boards and organizations, including the Great River Economic Development Foundation, Blessing Hospital, Quincy University, Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce, John Wood Community College Workforce Development Program and the Quincy Notre Dame Foundation.

Phil Conover was born in Quincy and grew up in the Loraine/Mendon area. He is married to Bonnie Schafer Conover and has just celebrated 50 years of marriage. He and Bonnie have three children... Eric, Marc and Anne. Bonnie and Eric were in attendance along with Phil's brother Leigh and his wife Jane as well as his other brother Joe and his wife Janet.

Conover was nominated with the help of the Herald Whig, who graciously ran articles asking for nominations. The community got to nominate deserving persons for the award. All of the nominating letters were reviewed by our Golden Deeds Award committee, who chose Phil Conover as the most deserving nominee this year. The nominating letters were placed in the "Book of Golden Deeds" and presented to Conover at the noon banquet held at the Stoney Creek Inn in Quincy.

The Book of Golden Deeds is the National Exchange Club's longest running project, dating back to the first award, sponsored by the Exchange Club of Huntington, Indiana in 1919. Friday's presentation by the Quincy Exchange Club made Conover the 63rd recipient of the prestigious award.