The sixth annual Wild Women of Westford event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Westford Museum, 2 Boston Road.
The fundraiser combines local history with wine from Aaronap Cellars and appetizers from Sweet Visions Patisserie and Classic Kitchen Cafe. The program highlights women whose work in education, public service, health care, the arts and community organizations has contributed to Westford’s history. Tickets to the event are $60 per person and $45 for Westford Historical Society members.
This year’s historical figures include May Emma Day, Jean G. Downey, Sarah Elizabeth Keyes and Virginia M. Strong Kimball. Day spent more than four decades working at the J.V. Fletcher Library. Downey, a World War II Cadet Nurse Corps graduate, contributed to Westford through nursing, the arts, advocacy and community service. Keyes traveled to North Carolina following the Civil War on behalf of the Westford Freedman’s Aid Society, and Kimball was a teacher, author and mentor whose work spanned theology, journalism, poetry and other forms of writing.
The museum says the annual Wild Women program continues that effort to preserve and share women’s history.
Last year’s fifth annual event recognized historical figures including professional golfer Pat Bradley, World War I Army Nursing Corps member Eva Mae Lord, scientist and Westford Academy graduate Ellen Swallow Richards and Nancy Heywood Richmond, who inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “For Annie.”
Emily Teller was honored as the 2025 contemporary Wild Woman of Westford. This year, Sarah Fletcher, Executive Director of WestfordCAT, joins that continuing tradition as the museum’s 2026 honoree.
Fletcher has spent much of her life bringing people together, from supporting businesses and the arts to helping residents stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her connection to Westford stretches back generations. Fletcher grew up in town and lives in the house her parents built on land she said was once part of Fletcher Farm.
Fletcher’s path to community leadership, however, was not always clear.
She experienced significant loss while young, including the deaths of her father, grandfather, aunt, best friend and a neighbor.
“I just had a lot of loss early in life and I feel like it kind of shocked me or something,” Fletcher said.
She eventually enrolled at Middlesex Community College, which she said helped her find direction, before studying psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. While in college, she worked with people with developmental disabilities and mental illness, experiences she said broadened her perspective and strengthened her empathy.
Her career has been similarly varied. Fletcher worked in retail, taught martial arts, became a Reiki master and operated a wallpapering and painting business before building a career largely centered on nonprofit organizations.
“I don’t feel like I’ve directed my life as much as my life has directed me,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher has worked with the Roudenbush Community Center, Middlesex West Chamber of Commerce, Parish Center for the Arts and finally, at WestfordCAT, where she serves as Executive Director. She said those roles allowed her to experience different parts of what she views as Westford’s larger community “ecosystem.”
That commitment became particularly visible during the pandemic.
When the Parish Center for the Arts needed to livestream its Charlie Brown Christmas concert, Fletcher said the building lacked an internet connection capable of carrying the broadcast. She purchased a 300-foot fiber cable and ran it to the former fire station, allowing the concert to be streamed to residents.
The cable was also used for broadcasts of football games, graduation and Town Meeting.
Fletcher said her desire to create community spaces can be traced to her childhood. Her parents organized square dances for families and teenagers, sometimes moving furniture out of their kitchen so people could gather and dance.
Today, Fletcher hopes WestfordCAT can serve a similar purpose, offering a place where residents can explore podcasting, video production, games, performances and other creative interests. Likewise, The Westford Villager weekly newspaper brings readers hyper-local news unavailable elsewhere.
“I hope I leave Westford just a little better than I found it,” Fletcher said. “I hope it was a kind and peaceful legacy.”
