Young retiring from public works

By Ethan Forman
Staff writer

August 21, 2008 05:30 am

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DANVERS — When a water main broke or sewer line backed up overnight anywhere in Danvers, Ray "Bobby" Young was the one to wake.

Not anymore.

Tomorrow will be Young's last day as the town's water/sewer supervisor of the Department of Public Works.

Yesterday, officials, friends and family took part in a retirement party for him at the Danversport Yacht Club.

Young worked for Danvers for 36 years and seven months, having started as a laborer making $2.80 an hour in 1972 to overseeing a system that today supplies 9,380 service connections.

"He used to be a guy digging the hole, and now he's telling the guys to dig the hole," said his daughter Jessica Smith of Haverhill, who attended the party with her 3-year-old son, Brendan.

"I just think you know when it's time to step down," Young said, "You know when it's time to make a graceful departure." Young had reached the 60-40 "magic number" for retirement, 60 years old with 40 years of service.

Counted in his years of public service time were the four years he spent in the Navy, from March 1968 to December 1971, serving aboard the carrier U.S.S. America during the Vietnam war.

"I was actually the guy who shot the planes" from the deck, said Young, who worked the No. 2 catapult.

Young graduated Danvers High in 1966 as part of the school's first senior class, and he's been married to his wife, Mo, for 39 years.

"I'm happy that he is retiring," Mo said. "I'm happy he is young, I'm happy that he is in good health, that is key in retirement," his wife said.

She said her husband was not someone who needed to work from blueprints, but absorbed his knowledge of the system through his hands-on experience. He knew the system by heart.

Smith said she remembers handling the late-night phone calls growing up.

"He's been doing this so long, we are all schooled," she said.

Also at the party was Young's son, Jason Sr., father of Jason Jr., 11. Jason Sr. is following in his father's footsteps as a 10-year town DPW worker employed at the town's transfer station.

Young plans to take a month off before figuring out what to do. He may play some golf at the Wenham Country Club, where he is a member, and where he scored a hole-in-one last year.

"He's probably one of the most knowledgeable people about our water system. He will be sorely missed," Town Manager Wayne Marquis said.