By Bruno Matarazzo Jr.
Staff writer
March 28, 2008 05:45 am WENHAM — When Larry Kavanagh was a teenager, his father gave him a bit of advice one summer while he worked for his painting company. "'If you find a job you love, you never have to work a day in your life,'" Kavanagh's father, James, told him. The advice stuck. Kavanagh, 55, retired Feb. 1 after more than 30 years with the Wenham Police Department. The longtime lieutenant was feted by his colleagues and friends at a retirement party at Danversport Yacht Club. Kavanagh worked for a year as an auxiliary police officer in Wenham in 1970, when he was 18 years old. Starting in 1971, he served three years in the Army and returned to Wenham as a reserve police officer. He worked as a full-time patrolman in Hamilton in 1976 until a job opened up in Wenham two years later. "I found the job I loved, and I never considered it having to work," Kavanagh said. "There were times that obviously were not the best of times, like fatal accidents, but I always looked forward to going to work." Kavanagh is the second longtime police officer to retire from Wenham this year. Weeks before Kavanagh retired, Patrolman David Doyle retired. "I will say that it is also an emotional time to see dedicated people like Lt. Kavanagh and officer David Doyle leave," police Chief Ken Walsh said. "Clearly, they paved the way for the rest of us. I can only hope that we can live up to the standards that Lt. Kavanagh demanded not only of others, but also of himself." Helping to pave that way is Kavanagh's son, Shane, who is now a full-time patrolman, a position that opened up after his father retired. Kavanagh comes from a long line of public servants. His father was an auxiliary police officer and a call firefighter in Wenham for many years, and his grandfather was also on the Fire Department and was chief in the 1930s.
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