Bench on Reading Common Dedicated in Memory of Former DPW Director Edward 'Ted' McIntire

In a classic children’s story, Mike Mulligan and his trusty steam shovel dig the foundation for a town hall – and then provide the building's warmth.

Director Ruth Urell read the story to a group of about 50 people – mostly adults -- on Reading Common late last week as part of the dedication of a bench on the Common in memory of Edward "Ted" McIntire, retired former director of the . He died this past Jan. 17, of cancer.

Employees from the Reading DPW, the Reading Public Library, where McIntire’s widow, Mary, works, and other town departments and family attended the half-hour ceremony. So did a group of active and retired DPW heads from nearby communities.

Supervisor of the town’s Cemetery Division Robert Keating and Assistant Town Manager and Finance Director Robert LeLacheur spoke briefly.

The last time Keating talked with McIntire on what Keating remembered as a beautiful fall day last autumn, they inspected the bench placed on the Common, Keating said, in memory of McIntire’s parents, Edward Sr. and Florence McIntire.

“We solved all the problems of the world,” Keating said.

Both benches were placed next to each other, facing west. That‘s so Ted, who grew up in Reading, Keating said, can “keep an eye on Town Hall.” McIntire hired Keating, according to Mary McIntire.

LeLacheur described McIntire as the town’s welcoming wagon.

“He’d come visit me at my desk and I wondered why,” LeLacheur said.  Then he understood.

“Ted will welcome you to this bench,” LeLacheur said. “You’ll leave happy.”

Town employees and McIntire’s friends contributed, Mary McIntire said, to cover the bench's cost.

McIntire had a "long and close relationship" with the library, Urell said, through Mary.  “His love for Mary was very beautiful,” she said.

Ted felt fortunate that he spent his whole career here, Mary told the gathering. In his retirement speech, Ted remembered three events during that his career, she said: the gas spill on Route 93 just over the Reading line, in Wilmington, in 1993; the Blizzard of 1978; and his first 28-inch water main break. He was hired by the town, she said, when he was in his early 20s, on the survey crew.

Mary and Ted’s son, Timothy, also attended the dedication. He’s a high school chemistry teacher in Evanston, Illinois, according to his mother. He was in Reading last week, she told Patch, to spend some time with her.

Don DeHart, who has retired from the Danvers DPW, had known McIntire since college. He told Patch a number of DPW directors from other communities came to the dedication. DeHart held an umbrella to protect himself (and the Patch reporter) from the occasional drizzle.

McIntire was “a good person,” DeHart said, “one of the good guys.”