New Veterans Agent Learning The Ropes

Wellesley's former veterans agent and the new one are teaming up for a little while.

Poke your head into the in the L-shaped, first-floor Veterans Services office next to the elevator, and you might hear Stanley Spear, the new agent, on the phone. Last week, his kindly voice  was the audible half of a conversation about when his schedule is free.  The call lasted a few minutes - Spear's been in high demand since he was sworn in to aid veterans in Weston, Needham and Wellesley June 10.

"This is a job, there's something different every day," said Spear. You come in, spend 30 minutes on something, and the phone rings, bringing a completely different challenge to iron out. "You have to go out on that," Spear said.

The other guy in the room, Richard Dillon, the former veteran's agent, knows how Spear must be feeling. He first took the job in 1994. "It was never the same thing," said Dillon. You're called on to help out a veteran's widow, a vet from World War II, or a more recent vet trying to get financial aid for school. (Vets can attend state schools for free in MA, Dillon mentions, though many don't know that.) "There's a whole slew of things that could come up," Dillon said.

For a little while, Dillon said, he'll be in the office with Spear, helping him deal with the situations as they arise. In one town, there's a vet who's looking for a job. In another town, there's a second vet with a child who's also looking for work. It's a common theme for veterans, who aren't immune to the recession. At a recent Disabled American Veterans (DAV) convention in Fitchburg June 24, Spear said, he spoke with two vets who had been out of work for a year. All they needed, they said, was a job.

There are many veterans services available (listed at mass.gov) to help them out today, Dillon said. It's not at all like when Dillon, a combat engineer with the 82nd Airborne from 1959-1962  and Spear, a Marine from 1962 to 1965, left the service, when military officials just sort of asked if you were OK. "And that was the end of it," Dillon said. 

Now, he said, there's a much more involved process, and vets are encouraged to detail any problems they might have when they're discharged, however slight, so that in 10 years, if the slight problem becomes major, they've got it on record. Even so, Spear said, sometimes people slip through, and need help from veterans agents to get them the help they're entitled to.

Spear, who spent 44 years in insurance, the last nine with Corcoran & Havelin before retiring, finds his expertise comes in handy. When one couple from Weston walked in to ask for help with their medications, which were costing 70 percent of their income, Spear knew how to help get them signed up for the right service. "So, they needed help and they're going to get help," Spear said.

Dillon said he'll assist Spear with providing that kind of help to local veterans, "As long as he needs it." After that, the former veterans agent said, there's traveling and his love of photography. "I've got some things I want to do," he said.

Spear's office hours are Monday and Wednesday in Wellesley, 9 a.m. to noon, Thursday in Needham, 9 a.m. to noon, and Friday in Weston, 9 a.m. to noon. Veterans in all three towns can reach him at 781-431-1019, ext. 2209.