The Townsman 10, 2005: Part II
Thursday, January 6, 2005

The Townsman 10 are your neighbors, friends, and co-workers. They are the people who make the headlines, and the quiet folks whose names rarely appear in print - but who find ways to change their community or the world.

Each year since 1993, the Townsman staff and readers have chosen 10 people or groups that have had an impact, for better or worse. Past nominees have ranged from an entire football team to a talented young composer. One year, a cat made the winners' list.

The first five winners of 2004 appeared last week. They were: Jerry McCarty, Gwen Ganog, Larry Shind, Cynthia Howe, and Dr. Joseph E. Murray.

Christopher Clark

In 2001, Christopher Clark, then the assistant director of general government, said he would someday like a shot at taking over when Executive Director Arnold Wakelin retired in order to "preserve what he's already built."

While the circumstances are different than anybody would have wanted, Clark is now getting that opportunity. If the sign of a good leader is somebody who is prepared to take charge at a moment's notice, Clark, now Wellesley's acting executive director of general government services, has proven that he is capable of just that.

In October, when Wakelin went on medical leave for an anticipated four to six months, Clark stepped into the role Wakelin had mastered for more than a decade. Clark quickly proved himself a well-spoken, knowledgeable and amicable leader. He prepared the preliminary fiscal 2006 budget presentation for department heads and listened thoughtfully to developers as he assessed the impact those projects could have on the town.

In November, Wakelin unexpectedly passed away, and Clark was asked to continue as acting executive director indefinitely until a search committee selects a permanent replacement; Clark has confirmed that he is a candidate for the permanent position.

Clark's path to Town Hall was a bit of a winding road to begin with. In 1997, he came to Wellesley as assistant director of general government, but left three years later because his wife wanted to return to her native Kansas.

A year and four months later, after finding the Midwest was not what he and his wife thought it would be, Clark was back at his old post. During his time away, he gained valuable experience as second city administrator in Tonganoxie, a western suburb of Kansas City.

Clark grew up in Easton, earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Bridgewater State and a master's degree in public administration from Suffolk University. Before coming to Wellesley, he worked as an assistant in municipal government in Westborough and Walpole.

When Clark came to Wellesley, he clicked immediately with Wakelin. "I think he and I do a good job [together]. We have similar mindsets and similar philosophies," Clark said in 2001.

Now, as he oversees all of Town Hall's business, Clark's colleagues say he is proving himself an adroit and intelligent leader with Wellesley's best interests at heart.

"I think he's done a great job stepping into Arnold's shoes as acting director and he very quickly got up to speed on the financial aspects of the job and made sure we knew exactly where things stood with the closing of last year's books," said Selectman Larry Shind. "He brought everyone together on the staff very quickly and has been a great help."

"The thing with Chris that has always impressed me is his calm manner," Shind continued. "He's really been able to calmly handle a lot of things being thrown at him and a lot of additional responsibilities, and he's done that very well."

- Rachel Lebeaux

Eleanor Ottobrini

When Eleanor Ottobrini believes in a cause, she's passionate about it. What's more, she does something about it - and with dogged determination.

For this reason she's one of the 2004 Townsman 10.

For 10 years, Ottobrini's been the driving force behind the effort to build a community bandstand in Wellesley. In what started out originally as a Wellesley House and Garden Club effort, Ottobrini, along with the Friends of the Wellesley Bandstand Inc., of which she is chairman, have been marching year after year to the beat of a drummer they can hear to get the job done.

Having raised the necessary funds to erect, landscape and maintain a bandstand at no cost to the town, Ottobrini and her committee can already hear the music playing in Simons Park.

However, securing all the necessary approvals for a bandstand has been another thing.

After years of hearing objections from the Natural Resources Commission to building a bandstand on some of the more visible parkland they oversee in the town, the NRC agreed in January 2002 to the building of the stone-and-wood structure in Simons Park.

Three years later, there is still no bandstand.

In addition to having the NRC's approval for a bandstand, the School Committee; Dr. Matthew King, superintendent of Wellesley Schools; Dr. Sandra Nicolucci, director of the Performing Arts; community organizations; and a good number of Wellesley residents have also endorsed the idea.

Citing concerns about traffic, parking, trash, restrooms and the notion that a bandstand might become a hangout are neighbors in the area around Simons Park and Library Trustees.

On June 17, the Zoning Board of Appeals held its third and final public hearing on the special-use permit for a bandstand to be built in Simons Park. At that time, ZBA member Richard Seegal asked for an extension until Oct. 31, in order to have time to review the town's traffic report.

At a meeting on Sept. 30, the ZBA told bandstand proponents that a traffic study done by the BETA Group Inc. of Norwood was not responsive to its request.

The study, requested at a prior meeting, was a peer review of the bandstand committee's earlier traffic study done by Conley Associates of Boston.

The NRC, which is sponsoring the petition with the Friends of the Wellesley Bandstand Inc., was given the choice of allowing the ZBA an extension on a vote until a deadline of March 31, 2005, to give the BETA Group time to revise its study and for the ZBA to evaluate it. Or, they had the option of having the ZBA render a decision on the proposal as it stands.

The NRC decided on the extension.

The final decision on whether a bandstand will be built in Simons Park rests with the ZBA. The NRC has approved the location and design for the bandstand.

ZBA approval is needed because the parkland is zoned as a single-residence district.

Ottobrini sees the bandstand as something as American as apple pie. In a letter to the editor in the Sept. 25, 1997, issue of The Townsman, at which time Morton Park was being proposed as the prospective bandstand site, she defined the purpose of the bandstand: "Its purpose is to give Wellesley residents an informal place to gather and share their talents. It will be utilized by school choruses and bands, chamber ensembles, Wellesley 'Pops in the Park,' veterans' events, including reviews (appropriate for a field), art shows and senior gatherings ....

"Other New England towns have one. Why not Wellesley?"

The question is, will this be the year a conductor will strike up the band?

~ Anne-Marie Smolski

Rabbi Moshe Bleich

Around the holidays, religious leaders are often in the spotlight as they lead their communities in celebration. This December, Rabbi Moshe Bleich and his bold efforts to promote the celebration of Hanukkah garnered the attention of the town and much of the MetroWest community.

Bleich, who is the rabbi at the Wellesley Weston Chabad Center, considered filing a lawsuit against the town this November after he was told by acting executive director Chris Clark that he could not light a menorah on Town Hall property. Doing so violated the existing town policy on religious displays, which was intended to "promote diversity" and ensure the separation of church and state.

Bleich and his lawyer, Rob Meltzer, countered that the Supreme Court had ruled in 1989 that a menorah can be considered a secular symbol of the holiday season when surrounded by other secular holiday symbols.

After Town Counsel Al Robinson conducted research into the subject and consulted with town officials, the selectmen agreed to allow Bleich to erect and light his menorah in front of Town Hall on Dec. 14, the last night of Hanukkah. Bleich did so, in a ceremony that drew at least 100 people, both Jewish and not, from around the MetroWest community.

But even as the candles' glow died out, the issue remained a hot one in Wellesley. The Greater Boston chapter of the American Jewish Committee wrote a letter to the selectmen disagreeing with their decision to allow the menorah on town property. Several residents and college students flooded the Townsman's editorial pages with letters of support or opposition.

Bleich, his wife Geni and their son Mendy moved to Wellesley in 2000 and established the Wellesley Weston Chabad Center for those of any denomination. He has been an inspirational leader whose Torah classes and commentaries have encouraged many to reexamine and relate to the Judaic faith.

Bleich comes from a family of rabbis, including his father, brother and several cousins. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. and studied at a yeshiva until he was 15. He was already serving as a rabbi in the Ukraine by the time he was 18, and has traveled extensively around America and the world.

He is currently leading a group of young adults on a 10-day tour of Israel.

- Rachel Lebeaux

St. James vigilers

When the Archdiocese of Boston closed their parish on Oct. 31, a group of St. James the Great supporters quietly refused to leave the church when Father Daniel Crowley locked the doors for the last time.

Instead of walking away from their beloved church, they took up an around-the-clock vigil to call for the archdiocese to reverse its decision and reopen their spiritual home. And while few expected the campaign to last very long, more than two months later, St. James supporters persevere with grace and dignity.

"We're going to do what we can for as long as is necessary," said Suzanne Hurley, one of the vigil organizers. "All we want to tell people by our presence is that the true value of a church is what it gives to each member and to the community. St. James had - and still has - such value. Such real, powerful, miraculous value."

Other than Hurley, who serves as the media liaison, and parishioner and attorney Paul Hughes, who represented the vigilers in their appeals to the archdiocese and their subsequent appeal to the Vatican, the St. James supporters are made up of about 30 to 40 core former parishioners. They are the faithful who sign up for one, two, or more hours each week to keep the vigil alive. They are moms and dads who leave their families at night to sleep alone in the choir loft or basement on a simple air mattress. They are senior citizens in their 60s, 70s and 80s who have sustained the church through good and bad and who now find themselves arriving at 4 a.m. to relieve people who have spent the night in opposition to the archdiocese's decision. They are heroes to some. To others, they are simply well-intentioned folks who refuse to face reality.

And since they began their pursuit, St. James vigilers have drawn attention to their cause, but have yet to reach their ultimate goal of reopening the church. The archdiocese has twice denied their appeal, prompting them to take their case to the Vatican. Despite the setbacks, they have persevered by organizing weekly prayer services, and two weeks ago they held a Christmas Eve vigil attended by more than 100 who back their cause.

Now, as the calendar turns the pages of a new year, this closely knit spiritual community continues to sit and wait and to hope and pray that someday the archdiocese will hear their pleas and that their attempt to save St. James will not be in vain.

- Michael Cox

R. Arnold Wakelin

This is not R. Arnold Wakelin Jr.'s first selection as a Townsman 10. In 1994, soon after he became executive director of general government services, the Townsman wrote, "the new position's higher profile status goes against Wakelin's low-key manner ... Wakelin is more focused on the day-to-day details of running government than broad policy strokes, more concerned with the how of providing residents with services than the political maneuvering and polemicizing associated with some elected leaders."

It's a standard that Wakelin upheld not only over the past decade, but during all of his years in Wellesley town government reaching back to 1957. It is only appropriate, then, that Wakelin, who died unexpectedly on Nov. 8, be honored in these pages once again.

At the Nov. 12 memorial service for Wakelin at the Wellesley Congregational (Village) Church, Rev. Martin Copenhaver recited from a Bible passage that stated, "whoever would be great among you must be your servant." As a public servant, Wakelin was constantly proving his devotion to the town.

Wakelin, who lived in Natick, started working in Town Hall in 1957 and served at various times as town accountant, comptroller and director of financial services. In 1993, he was named executive director of general government services and chief financial officer, positions that were combined in order to suit his strength in both town government management and financial matters.

"[Wakelin] was head and shoulders above most of us in terms of fiscal management and finance," said selectman David Himmelberger during his board's tribute service for Wakelin on the evening of Nov. 8. "This town has its fiscal footing in large part due to his knowledge and foresight."

Wakelin was known best for his respect for the town and its institutions and his venerable presence at town meetings and within the corridors of Town Hall.

Even after he went on medical leave on Oct. 8 to undergo surgery and rehabilitation, the town of Wellesley remained his unfailing concern. Selectman Chairman Vincent Juliani visited Wakelin at the Youville Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Cambridge on Nov. 5.

"I'm in his hospital room, and I don't see a book or a magazine, but the Wellesley Townsman and capital budget information sitting next to him," Juliani said.

Wakelin's contributions to the community stretched far beyond the constraints of a 9-to-5 job. As treasurer of the Kiwanis Club of Wellesley since the early 1960s, he oversaw and contributed to many service projects. Teresa Touey, president of the Kiwanis Club, said that Wakelin was "an excellent role model for the community and really cared about the future direction of the town." He was particularly passionate about getting younger members of the community involved in service efforts, "so that the legacy of community service would continue when his generation passed," Touey said.

Wakelin never married, but there were many people in his life who treasured his friendship and became his family. And, of course, the town was Wakelin's baby.

"Arnold was a surrogate father to the town and the townspeople - and he spoiled us," Juliani said.

- Rachel Lebeaux

Past winners were:

2003: Andrea Wiley, Hope Boghosian, Deputy Police Chief William G. Brooks, III, Judy Lucarelli, Lou Malerba, Sajida and Karim Khudairi, Bill Benjes, Debra Healy and Gordon Kingsley, Natural Resources Commission, E.A. Davis.

2002: The Birthplace at Wellesley, Wellesley Veterans' Council, Suzanne Hansmire, Liz Fahey, Fred Livezey, Lamars Hughes, Derek Ellerman, Lawrence Maguire and Phyllis Wiggin, Katherine Babson Jr.

2001: Wellesley School Committee, Roche Bros., Leah Cremonini, Addison Hall and Denise Bacon, Lou Malerba, the Markoff family, George Kidder, Beverly Morrison, the Chabad Center, and Wellesley Police and Firefighters.

2000: Deucie and Ann Batchelder, Alexei Wagner, Lisa Stone, Richard Forbes, Larry Kaplan, Officer Janice Guild, David Wagstaff, John Schuler, The kids' team (Laurie Whitley and Richard Schwartzstein), Lauren Ehrlichman.

1999: Wellesley Celebrations Committee, Terry Cunningham, the Rev. Chapin Garner, Jon Laughhead, Laurel Nilsen, Dr. Lindsay Norman, Marisa McCoy, Edward Pawlick, Ben Schwartz, Wellesley High School football team.

1998: Sharlene Harris, Alice Peisch, Julia Scott Carey, Nina Walsh, Albert Robinson, Judith Boroschek, Mike Perez, the Rev. Martin Copenhaver, Terry Blaser, Richard Joyce.

1997: Sheila Tucker, Ken and Peggy Levin, Greta Crisley, Kurt Hoffman, Judy Nicolson, Thomas O'Loughlin, Tory DeFazio, Lynn Surum, Richard Schwartzstein, Billy Starr.

1996: Nicholas Burns, Ronald M. Druker, Cynthia Good, Rina Spence, Donna McCabe, William Glavin, Kent Stasiowski, Lynn Novogroski, Richard Brown, Patty Hickey.

1995: Frank Shea, Paul Ash, Vickye Kivett, John Gautschi, Dr. Lawrence William Smith, Richard McGhee, Jeanne Lukas, Dick Dillon, Kim Goestaneh, Pitfall the Cat.

1994: Kimberly Smith-Cofield, Billie Tolles, Katherine Macdonald, the Rev. Ann Adams, Arnold Wakelin, Aneesh Venkataraman, Billy DeLorie, Dennis Sax, Wha Kyon Jung, Officer Tom Komola.

1993: Rita Allen, Sister Maurita McCluskey, Donna Carr, Renee Spencer, John Hamill, Andy Levin, Eric Stover, Michelle Gibbons Carr, Sue Webb, Rev. Dr. Pashington Obeng.