Longtime Worcester lawmaker Harriette Chandler to receive Harvey Ball Smile Award
Harriette Chandler, whose long career on Beacon Hill followed a stint on the Worcester School Committee, will receive the 2025 Harvey Ball Smile Award.
The honor gets its name from the Worcester graphic artist said to have created the familiar smiley face.
The Museum of Worcester announced Monday that Chandler was this year's honoree, due to be recognized at the annual Harvey Ball slated for Oct. 23.
“Harriette Chandler is one of the most accomplished and historically important politicians in the history of the city of Worcester,” said museum Executive Director William Wallace.
Chandler, a Democrat, spent 28 years in the Massachusetts Legislature, 22 in the Senate and six in the House of Representatives. Before that, in 1991, she entered electoral politics with a successful run for School Committee. Three years later she captured the 13th Worcester District seat in the House. She spent time as the president of the Senate, the second woman to hold the post.
She announced in late 2022 that she was stepping aside from politics.
It was her advocacy for women's rights that prompted the Museum of Worcester to select her for the Harvey Ball Smile Award. This year, the city is marking the 175th anniversary of the National Women's Rights Convention held in Worcester.
The Harvey Ball Smile Award dates to 2001, created after Harvey Ball's death. The Coghlin family, the multigeneration electrical contractors, were honored a year ago. Past winners included comedian Denis Leary, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Murray, singer Dale LePage and Michael V. O'Brien, former city manager.
The annual Harvey Ball will be held at Mechanics Hall.
Harvey Ball is largely credited with inventing the smiley face in 1963 to raise employee morale at the State Mutual Life Assurance Co. after it purchased Guarantee Mutual Co. of Ohio.