LOWELL — Growing up in the Acre’s North Common Village public housing, Phil Shea would set up shop on the nearby Market Street bridge and shine shoes for 10 cents a pair. Now, that bridge is named after him.
“And I still have the shine box,” Shea, 79, said.
Shea, his entire family from across the country — and even one person who came from Ireland — and local dignitaries past and present gathered at Market and Lewis streets Sunday afternoon for the dedication of the new Philip L. Shea Bridge, which fittingly has a plaque emblazoned with the words, “Never forget where you came from.”
Standing feet away from where he lived on Lewis Street as a child, Shea certainly hasn’t.
Now the chairman of the Lowell Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, Shea paused, speechless and overcome with emotion, upon seeing the unveiled plaque for the first time Sunday. He called the experience “very humbling,” and that it “means the world to me and my family.”
“It was amazing what an upbringing we had here in the Acre,” Shea said, sharing memories of his youth and the lifelong friendships he made in the city’s most diverse neighborhood.
LHA CEO/Executive Director Gary Wallace said he’s known Shea for 40 years, and nearly every conversation, no matter the topic, always refers back to Shea’s life experiences in the Acre.
“Phil never forgot the Acre, and he continues to give back,” Wallace said.
“It’s truly appropriate that a bridge across the street from where Phil grew up is being named in his honor,” said Kevin Murphy, the former city manager and state representative, and a longtime friend of Shea, who served as emcee for the event.
In a citation proclaiming June 27 Phil Shea Day in Lowell, Mayor John Leahy outlined the long political career that brought Shea from the City Council to the state Legislature in the 1970s and 1980s, serving as a representative and then a senator. Since the city adopted its current model of government in 1944, Shea is the only Lowell politician to be elected to all three of those positions, Leahy said.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin worked with Shea for many years, first when both were state representatives in the 1970s and then as Shea rounded out his career in public service as chief financial officer under Galvin.
Galvin said it was apt to name a bridge after Shea because he is a builder of bridges. Shea is known for forging many partnerships that benefited the city, and for mentoring young public servants.
“In many ways, Phil represents the spirit of the city of Lowell,” Galvin said. “He’s a guy that never went down for the count, always comes up, all the time, continuing to work for the city of Lowell.”
City Councilors Daniel Rourke and William Samaras, who entered the motion passed unanimously by the council in March to name the bridge in Shea’s honor, said Shea’s accomplishments and impact in the city go far beyond his political and professional service.
Rourke said that when his uncle died tragically young in 2000, Shea was the first person that he saw come and comfort his grandparents through the difficult time. Samaras said Shea, a fellow 1959 graduate of Lowell High School, has been a good person as long as he’s known him, and he has worked hard to raise money to provide scholarships for LHA youth, “so that he can make sure that they get their ticket out of poverty, because he knows education is the route to go.”
Shea has served on many city boards and commissions over the years, but there was one entity that always stood out from the rest. Shortly after she became city manager, Eileen Donoghue said the “irreplaceable” Shea came to her and made it known that he would give up all of the others if he could have the opportunity to serve on the Lowell Housing Authority board, to give back to the youth living in LHA properties today.
Wallace said that under Shea’s tenure, the LHA has invested millions of dollars in its properties and in Acre residents, and formed a scholarship foundation in his name that has granted more than $250,000 to LHA youth.
Recalling the message he gave to Lowell High School students five years ago when he was inducted into the school’s Distinguished Alumni, Shea said if he can succeed, so can they. When he was a young man, he said he doubted his potential, but he had an opportunity to study accounting at then-Bentley College. Now, he does his part to help the city youth who grew up like he did to realize their potential, too.
Wallace also presented a bouquet of flowers to Shea’s longtime girlfriend, Anne Farley, who cared for Shea following the major heart attack he suffered last fall. Eight months after his near-death experience in October, Shea said he’s grateful for his improving health and to see his four children, their spouses and 10 grandchildren thriving.
After the ceremony, Shea became the first person to ride over the newly dedicated bridge, as a passenger in an LHA truck.
The ceremony was immediately followed by a reception at the Olympia Restaurant, along with the presentation of the 2021 Philip L. Shea Lowell Youth Activities Program Scholarship awards. This year’s recipients are Victoria Berrio, Steven Doung, Benjamin Ortiz and Kiss Quick, all students at UMass Lowell, and Danisha Ramirez, a student at Middlesex Community College.
The Link LonkJune 28, 2021 at 08:11AM
https://www.lowellsun.com/2021/06/27/in-lowells-acre-neighborhood-a-reminder-never-forget-where-you-came-from/
In Lowell’s Acre neighborhood, a reminder: ‘Never forget where you came from’ - Lowell Sun
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment