UPDATED Jan. 3: Barbara Thornton, a longtime Arlington resident, submitted this letter about the late Donald R. Marquis, at right, who served as town manager from 1966 to 2000.
I missed the December “celebration” of Don Marquis’ life, at right. And given the activities of these past holiday weeks, I’m guessing others may have missed this news as well. I’d like to share some of my memories of Don Marquis.
In the late 1970s I was on the staff of the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) working with Executive Director Kennedy Shaw. Shaw had negotiated a monthly meeting for the leaders of the key MMA groups, about 12 people in all, including the Town Managers’ Association representatives, with Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Then, as now, there were many tensions between local and state government. “Municipal overburden” (too many state regulations that drove up costs to municipalities), unfunded pension liabilities for public workers, inequitable distribution of state aid for local schools and more state policies that hurt municipalities like Arlington.
As a leader in the state’s Town Managers’ Association, Don Marquis never missed an opportunity to clearly and forcefully represent the interests of local governments and of Arlington. And the state was responsive to his concerns. He was one of the leaders that created a good state-local partnership in those years.
When the time came for my family to move out of Charlestown, we moved to Arlington. No other communities were considered. Don Marquis was the best town manager in the state, and I thought probably in the Northeast. We moved to Arlington in 1986 to be in his town, and I was not disappointed. He could be feisty and argumentative. But it was all for the town and the job he loved.
After we settled in, he asked me if I would serve on the town’s Capital Planning Committee, which I did happily for many years.
At one point in our relationship, I asked him why he had wanted to become a town manager. He told me he’d grown up in Maine. In his town there was a day each year when leaders of the high school were assigned to “shadow” the leaders in that town’s government. He was assigned to shadow the town manager. From that day on, it was the only job he ever wanted. He trained for the job and he landed here.
I suspect he also had a strong leadership role in the International City Management Association. I know Don Marquis was a leader for municipal interests at the state level and a consummate professional in the management of civic interests in Arlington. We were lucky to have him, and I remember him fondly.
Nov. 23, 2024: Donald R. Marquis, longtime town manager, has died
This letter was published Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024. It was updated Jan. 3, to correct the date of the link to the obituary.
