Words for service

June 28, 2015 9:24 AM

I need ideas for how to word a brief inscription honoring someone's work of N duration, for X cause/ Y institution. Failing that, any ideas for compact inscription-y alternatives to the words "dedicated," "service," or both?

This needs to be fairly brief-- think ~15-25 words-- and phrased to include the person's name, the specific term of labor and the nature of the cause. The tone is community-memorial-and-recognition, not direct-address or personal-thanks (so, NOT "We are so thankful for your help...", but "John Doe, in recognition of N years...")

Previous drafts have foundered on the dearth of ready alternatives to the specific phrase "dedicated service to...," which means EXACTLY the right thing, but for logistical Reasons can't be used in this context. Any ideas-- either for full wordings or for substitutes for that particular phrase-- would be accepted, and I'm happy to chime in with more specifics if it'd help. Thanks!!

posted by gallusgallus to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Can you describe the nature of the relationship? Were they a volunteer? Rank-and-file or in a more leadership (board member, etc) position? It might help figure out the alternatives if we had a better sense of what we were describing.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:34 AM on June 28, 2015

Response by poster: The person is leaving an institution/organization they have worked for for a term of years, and that term is what's being recognized here (thus, "outstanding commitment" or "dedication" don't feel quite right to me because they place emphasis on the intensity of the commitment, vs. the chunk of time rendered, the way "service" does). This was paid/career labor, but it's work directed pretty clearly toward a particular cause. Intensifiers like "outstanding" and "exemplary" are difficult because the recognition is coming laterally, not top-down (even though, of course, the service here was certainly exemplary).
posted by gallusgallus at 9:57 AM on June 28, 2015

John Doe, in recognition of their X-year contribution to furthering to the cause of Y/working toward the goal of Y.
posted by jaguar at 10:15 AM on June 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Perhaps then "inspiring"/"inspirational" instead of "outstanding" and the like?
posted by teremala at 10:37 AM on June 28, 2015

"Longstanding"? I feel like dedication implies longevity moreso than intensity, so I don't think I'd avoid that word in particular. So "longstanding dedication" would double down on length rather than intensity.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:48 AM on June 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Is this person largely not liked? Because if there's some other adjective that can describe his particular way of being, relating, helping, comforting, etc., that would be most meaningful.

For example, if he was great at mentoring, you could say "In recognition of 35 years of service and mentoring". This is _really_ a nice thing to do, because it tells Joe that his extra efforts were _noticed_ and appreciated. It gives meaning to all those times he had to work a little late because he spent 20 minutes helping someone learn their job, or the times he patiently explained things even though he was actually super tired staying up feeding his baby, or whatever.

So, what have you _noticed_ about him? What has he particularly put his heart into? What do his actions demonstrate about his values?
posted by amtho at 12:28 PM on June 28, 2015

Also, by demonstrating as a group that you notice and value this person as an individual, you show each other that you care about each other as individuals and that you also value, in the example above, mentorship, or kindness, or dependability, or creativity; and that when other people act to support these qualities it's likely to be noticed also.
posted by amtho at 12:31 PM on June 28, 2015