WESTFIELD – As the Westfield Historical Commission’s annual Preservation Awards will be formally given to Bruce Cortis and Gene Theroux this month, each recipient reflected on what sparked his passion for local history.

Cortis and Theroux are each receiving their awards on Feb. 22 for their work involving local cemeteries. Cortis recently completed the first iteration of a comprehensive list of all documented burials in the Old Burying Ground on Mechanic Street, where many historically prominent Westfield residents are buried. That list can be found at the Westfield Athenaeum, and Cortis said that he plans to release an updated version with some corrections and additional names in June.

He said he got his love for local history from his father, who he helped to write a history of the town of Russell in 2013, shortly after Cortis retired.

Cortis lives in Feeding Hills, but was born and raised in Westfield, and still considers the Whip City his home. His father had been into genealogy research in the days before ancestry websites and Google searches.

“Genealogy was something my father did too, and I picked up a lot of his work and continued on with it,” said Cortis.

His father passed his local genealogy research on to him, and Cortis picked it up with the benefit of online resources, and has been doing so for 25 years.

Theroux’s passion for local history and genealogy came from his late mother and great aunt, who, like Cortis’ father, did genealogy research of their own family and community without online resources that make it easier. Theroux’s family has extensive roots in Westfield, and he said his ninth great grandparents are buried in the Old Burying Ground.

Theroux is receiving his award in part for his years-long effort in cleaning Westfield’s gravestones, but mostly because of his effort this year in restoring several of Westfield’s statues and monuments. Several monuments, like the Gen. Shepard statue at the Park Square Green, had become corroded over the decades and developed a green “patina” that contributes to the further erosion of the metal. Using Community Preservation Act funds, Theroux was able to hire a conservator for the city to remove the corrosion and preserve several such statues.

Theroux credited the cooperation of several city departments with being able to get the work done quickly. He said that conservators regularly have wait lists of as long as a year.

“To get it done as soon as we did was incredibly lucky,” said Theroux, “The important thing is that we learned a lot about recurring maintenance. You can’t do it and walk away and think it will take care of itself.”