Danvers Celebrates its Longest-Serving Town Meeting Members

It's really Town Meeting members who control the purse strings in Danvers and vote up or down important projects or policies for the town -- those are a couple reasons Andrea Daley felt it was important to create a fitting tribute to the longest-serving members of the elected body.

Collectively, the 56 people celebrated Thursday at Town Hall have given 1,900 years of service from the time a representative form of Town Meeting was established in 1932 until today.

Daley said she, her husband Michael Daley, Assistant Town Clerk Kathy Woytovich, Ann Freitas and volunteer Claire Rosenberg spent months researching all the names and dates to assemble into a plaque delineating Town Meeting members who served 25, 30, 40 and 50 years.

Both Daleys' names appear on the plaque, each with 30 years.

She said the plaque, which will hang in the Toomey Room at Town Hall, will be updated every five years and the records will be catalogued in the town library.

All told, about 1,100 residents have served in those 83 years and there was always a Clark among them, Selectman and 40-year Town Meeting member William Clark reminded everyone with a smile.

A number of those honored last week have since passed on, but there was still a sizable crowd of longtime Town Meeting members on hand Thursday; in fact, the two longest-serving members are very much still with us.

Bob Osgood and Bruce Eaton have contributed a total of 110 years to town government and they shared a few stories with the eager listeners, including the strong debate in 1949 when the Town Manager Act was first adopted and when Eaton and current Town Moderator Patricia Frazier authored a minority report in the late 1990s to keep in place a strong manager form of government. They won that one.

"There is not another town in the United States that is not as well run as Danvers," said Eaton, who is a longtime water and sewer commissioner and former town engineer as well.

He rarely missed a Town Meeting over the years; in fact, he would fly home from New Jersey at times to make the annual meeting. He recalled running a company with corporate offices in the Garden State, but still living in Danvers. He said he spent a week in New Jersey every three weeks.

There was one time circumstances prevented him from attending Town Meeting, even though he had authored a warrant article that year. Eaton, who is the president of the Danvers Veterans Council, said he was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps on the Rhine in Germany at the time.

Osgood, who spent a long career on the Danvers Fire Department, urged his younger peers to always listen to constituents who bother to pick up the phone about an issue. Their points of view may not be popular, he said, but they oftentimes have good ideas and are paying attention to the issues.

"Even if you get beat the first time, then run again, and again," Osgood said. "And if you don't get elected, tough."

He said he actually decided to run in 1959 on a dare from his captain in the Fire Department. There was a contentious issue up for debate at Town Meeting that year.

"If you have something to say, get up and say it. You may change minds," he said.

You can find the list of the 56 people honored in the PDF file attached to this article.