RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

Lowell Politics: July 24, 2026 (Lowell Mayors pt IV)

There was no Lowell City Council meeting this week so I will return to my biographical sketches of the mayors of Lowell. This is the fourth installment which covers the second group of mayors who served under the Plan E form of government from1984 to the present.

For those who missed the first installment of this series, it was published on my website, richardhowe.com, on June 14, 2026. The second installment was published on June 28, 2026. The third installment appeared on July 12, 2026.

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Brian Martin was mayor in 1984-85. A star athlete at Lowell High School and UMass Amherst, Brian began his professional career as a teacher and coach at Greater Lowell Vocational High School. He was elected to the Lowell City council in 1981 and was elected mayor in January 1984 at age 33, making him the youngest mayor in the city’s history to that point. He served on the city council until 1988 when he became assistant city manager and then city manager. In 2000, he left City Hall to work for the Lowell Lock Monsters hockey team. In 2005, he became Athletic Director at Lowell High and in 2013 became Lowell High’s Head of School until his retirement in 2017.

Robert B. Kennedy was mayor in 1986-87. He was born in Lowell on February 6, 1940, and graduated from Lowell High, Bentley University, and Lowell Technological Institute (now UMass Lowell). He worked for Trans World Airlines, American Airlines, Vespa of America, and New England LNG Corporation. He served on the Lowell City Council for three stretches: from 1971 to 1975; from 1981 to 1985; and from 1988 to 1990. He was elected mayor on January 6, 1986, on the first ballot by a five to four vote. He also served as a state representative from 1975 to 1979 and as a governor’s councilor from 1989 to 1995. For ten years before his retirement, he was the executive director of the Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA). He died on May 1, 2018, at age 78, and is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Tewksbury. He was honored by the LRTA, which named its new bus terminal the Robert B. Kennedy Bus Transfer Center.

Tarsy Poulios was mayor in 1992-93. He was born in Lowell on May 13, 1926, to Greek immigrant parents. He graduated from Lowell High in 1943 and served in the US Army in the Pacific during World War II. After the war he worked in textile mills and at the Boston Navy Yard. In 1951, he became a letter carrier with the US Postal Service, a position he held until his retirement in 1984. He became a neighborhood activist with the Acre Model Neighborhood Organization (AMNO) and was on the city of Lowell Board of Appeals for 12 years. He was elected to the Lowell City council in 1987 and served until 1995. He was elected mayor on January 6, 1992, on the second ballot. He died on December 13, 2010, at age 84. He is buried in Westlawn Cemetery. The city of Lowell dedicated the street leading from Adams Street to the Murkland School after him as Tarsy Poulios Way.

Edward “Bud” Caulfield was mayor in 1996-97, and in 2008-09. He was born in Billerica, but his family moved to Lowell when he was a teenager. He began work at Raytheon immediately after high school and remained there until his retirement decades later. He was extremely active in the Little League and the Highland Players performance troupe. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1987 and served continuously until 2011 when he did not seek reelection. On January 2, 1996, he was elected mayor on the first ballot by a five to four vote. On January 7, 2008, he was elected mayor unanimously on the first ballot.

Eileen Donoghue was mayor in 1998-99, and in 2000-2001. She was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, graduated from UMass Amherst, and moved to Lowell while attending Suffolk University Law School. She worked as a federal public defender and then established her own law practice. She was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1995 and served until 2007 when she ran for US Congress. She was elected to consecutive terms as mayor in 1998 and 2000. In 2012, she was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate and served there until 2018 when she was hired to be Lowell City Manager. She held that position until 2022.

Rita M. Mercier was mayor in 2002-03. She was born and raised in Lowell, and together with her late husband raised four children in the city. She was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1995 and has been reelected in every election since. In 2002, she was elected as mayor, the third woman to hold that office in Lowell. In 2004, she began working for the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department where she remains employed. She continues serving on the Lowell City Council.

Armand P. Mercier was mayor in 2004-05. He was born in Lowell on November 8, 1933, and graduated from St. Joseph High School. For most of his life, he operated a real estate office in the Pawtucketville neighborhood. Prior to being elected to the city council in 1997, he served as a commissioner and then as executive director of the Lowell Housing Authority. He also served as the executive director of the Lowell Historical Preservation Commission. He was elected to the city council four times, serving from 1998 to 2008. He died on January 13, 2012, at age 78. He is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Chelmsford. The Lowell Housing Authority dedicated its community building on Salem Street after him as the Armand P. Mercier Multi Service Center.

William F. Martin Jr. was mayor in 2002-03. He was born and raised in Lowell and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and Boston College Law School. After working at a Boston law firm for several years, he returned to Lowell to open his own legal practice which he continues to this day. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1999 and was continuously reelected until 2015 when he did not seek reelection. In January 2006, he was elected mayor. He continues to live and work in Lowell.

James Milinazzo was mayor in 2010-11. He was born in Lowell and graduated from Lowell High School. In the 1980s, he served as the city’s director of planning and development and then as the executive director of the Lowell Development and Financial Corporation. He also was executive director of the Lowell Housing Authority. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 2003 and was elected mayor in January 2010. He did not seek reelection to the council in 2019. He continues to live in Lowell.

Patrick O. Murphy was mayor in 2012-13. He was born in Lowell in 1982. He graduated from Phillips Academy and attended Tufts University and Trinity College, Dublin. While working as a stone mason, he ran for Congress in 2007 as an independent. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 2009 and reelected in 2011. On January 3, 2012, he was elected mayor in a five to four vote. He was 29 years old, making him the youngest mayor in Lowell’s history. He did not seek reelection in 2013 but moved with his family to Vermont where he works as a state transportation official.

Rodney Elliott was mayor in 2014-15. He was born in Lowell in 1960 and received his education at Plymouth State University, Suffolk University and the Catholic University of America. He previously worked as a Lowell city planner and then as a legislative aide to State Senator Phil Shea. Later he worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency. He was elected to the Lowell City council in 1997 and held that office until January 2022. On January 6, 2014, he was elected mayor on the first ballot. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022 and was reelected in 2024. He continues to hold that office although he is not seeking reelection in 2026.

Edward J. Kennedy Jr. was mayor in 2016-17. He was born on March 24, 1951, and was educated at Boston University and Framingham State University. He worked as a probation officer and then as a commercial real estate appraiser. He was first elected to the Lowell City Council in 1978 and served until 1985. He served as a Middlesex County Commissioner from 1992 through 1996. He returned to the city council in 2011 and was elected mayor on January 6, 2016. He was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 2018 and served there until his death on October 1, 2025, at age 74. He is buried in St. Patrick Cemetery.

William “Bill” Samaras was mayor in 2018-19. He was born in Lowell and graduated from Lowell High School. He received degrees from Boston University, Salem State University and Northeastern University. He worked as a classroom teacher and an administrator until becoming Headmaster of Lowell High School in 1991, a position he held until his retirement in 2010. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 2013. On January 2, 2018, he was elected mayor on the first ballot by a five to four vote. He continued to serve on the city council until 2022. He remains active in Lowell, serving as a commissioner on the Lowell Housing Authority and in several other community service roles.

John Leahy was mayor in 2020-21. He was born and raised in Lowell and operated a painting business in the city. He was elected to the Lowell School Committee in 2001 and served on that body until 2011 when he was elected to the city council. He was elected mayor on January 6, 2020, on the first ballot by a seven to two vote. He continued to be reelected to the city council but resigned in July 2024 to become deputy facilities director for the Lowell Public Schools, a position he continues to hold.

Sokhary Chau was mayor in 2022-23. He was born in Cambodia but came to the United States at a young age with his widowed mother and siblings after living in a Thai refugee camp for several years. He attended the Lowell Public Schools, Phillips Academy and Macalester College. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 2019. On January 3, 2022, he was unanimously elected mayor on the first ballot, making him the first Cambodian mayor of Lowell and in the United States. He continues serving on the city council and is currently a candidate for state representative.

Daniel P. Rourke was mayor in 2024-25. He was born and raised in Lowell and graduated from University of Massachusetts Lowell. He works for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the Assistant Chief Probation Officer at the Lowell District Court. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 2013. On January 2, 2024, he was elected mayor by a nine to two vote (the council had expanded to eleven members in 2022). He continues to serve on the city council.

Erik R. Gitschier has served as mayor since January 5, 2026. He was born and raised in Lowell, graduating from Greater Lowell Technical High School and UMass Lowell. Professionally, he has worked for several municipalities in a variety of operational positions. He was elected to the Greater Lowell Technical High School Committee in 2011 and to the Lowell City Council in 2022. He was elected mayor on January 5, 2026, and continues to serve in that office.

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This week in my Seen & Heard column, I commented on an article suggesting the voters of Massachusetts might repeal their earlier vote to legalize marijuana; I reviewed the book “The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840”; I commented on an article about the death of a Boston city planner who was struck while riding her bicycle; I commented on an article about the Canadian wild fire smoke that turned our sky yellow; and I noted the obituary of the actor Sam Neill.

Time of the End of the Season Part VII

Time of the End of the Season Part VII

By Bob Hodge

Bob Hodge grew up in Lowell and went on to graduate from Lowell High (1973) and University of Lowell (1990). He was (and still is) one the greatest runners to come out of this region. He’s also a writer whose 2020 memoir, Tale of the Times: A Runner’s Story, is available at lala books in downtown Lowell and in Kindle format from Amazon. The following is an excerpt from his novel-in-progress.

Already published:

Time episode 1

Time episode 2

Time episode 3

Time episode 4

Time episode 5

Time episode 6

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London Calling

I had a little nest egg so I bought a tent. After a few days sitting around plotting out my plan I packed up my rucksack while everyone was out and left them a note and then I hit the road hobo Willy again.

I got down the road a piece and stuck out my thumb. I headed for the Great Smoky Mountains for some forest bathing.

The memories weigh and come, go and sometimes overwhelm.

I awake disoriented in my little tent in the White Mountain National Forest of NH remembering my long hike through the Smokies with Jared the “Mississippi Mule.”

All those years ago.

I had caught a couple of quick short rides that left me stranded and then I walked along with my thumb out worried the State Police might hassle me. In the late afternoon after I had walked for an hour or so a beat up pick up stopped and a friendly face peered out.

“You headed for the Smokies?” “Yup.”

“We should be there by sundown if Nellie here don’t get too cranky.” “I am Josh, I am meeting my brother Jared who started at Springer and is hiking the AT.”

“I’m Willy, been down in Atlanta just looking for a little escape for a week or so hiking and camping.”

Josh was bringing Jared supplies and camping out at Fontana Dam where Jared would continue his hike through the Great Smokies. I figured I would do the same.

When we were nearly there Josh said, “Just so you know, Jared ain’t much of a talker. Guess I ain’t neither.” We found Jared sitting at the entrance to the campground and then drove around looking for a site. I set up my camp and made a fire and sat down for a bowl of soup and some crackers.

I was feeling at peace with myself. I didn’t even think about going for a run and decided right then to hike the AT through the Smokies for a week and think things through. Hiking close to twenty a day will keep me fit and clear my head.

As I was about to hit the hay Josh came over with a few beers and offered me one. I laughed when I saw it was the same “skunk piss” I drank. “Jared is taking off early around 5 A.M. and he is pretty tired so he is asleep. I’m going to hike with him for a few hours and then head back here and back to Georgia.”

“I appreciate the ride and the beer, I may see you in the morning or out on the trail. I am planning to go the entire trail seventy miles over the next week or less.”

I hit the hay but couldn’t get to sleep right away thinking about the last phone call with my Dad who had been contacted by some meet promoters and AAU officials regarding my invitation to run a big mile race in London the first week in August.

I knew that some thought that my 3:55 mile I had run was a fluke and I doubted myself as a miler but since my reputation as a racer could not get any worse I was thinking “what have I got to lose? Go to London town, see what you got.”

Fact was if I ran like Sal thought I should instead of the reckless abandon I had in that race, I would be a 3:59-4:00 miler and never would have got to 3:55.

Nationals were different and maybe Sal had been right, a ten k in the heat was a different animal.

I awoke with the sun in my eyes and knew it must be close to mid-morning. I slugged down some water and a few slices of bread while I quickly packed up my gear. From the time I first opened my eyes to hitting the trail was about twenty minutes.

If Josh and Jared hit the trail at 5 A.M. They were four hours ahead of me but I would likely see Josh on his return trip.

I walked slowly at first limbering up then began steady climbing and as my heartrate rose so did my pace and my mind and body clicked into a solid groove in this for the long haul. I passed some hikers taking a break and they were eating hard boiled eggs and man they looked delicious and I wondered if I had brought enough real food.

I would be surviving on peanut butter, chocolate, cookies, apples and soup.

Josh came down the trail toward me in the early afternoon. “Jared is heading for Mollies Ridge Shelter that is eleven miles from Fontana, I guess you’d be about half way there.” “Thanks, that is my goal for today if I can make it by dark, I did not bring a light.”

Josh handed me a flashlight. “You can have this, I won’t need it today.”

I stopped once late afternoon to eat and rest and then pushed on. I knew I was approaching Mollies when I saw the light of a fire and smelled the smoke, I had been on the trail for ten hours. But I wasn’t prepared for the scene I was about to witness.

As I approached I could see people dancing wildly around the fire chanting and banging on pots and pans, like a scene from “Lord of the Flies” I was passed a bottle of whiskey by a guy who was chewing tobacco. No thanks.

Someone else passed me a fresh bottle so I took a tug and took them all in, a motley crew. Jared came over and introduced himself. “Will, they will all be in their bags asleep shortly, a bunch of peckerwoods.” “Me too, that was a long day. I’m going to get set up yonder and come back here and heat up my soup.”

One by one they scattered off to sleep and I sipped my soup by the fire. It became deafeningly quiet and the night sky brilliant with stars. I thought about Annie, the fire plug would probably be worried about me and it was a good feeling knowing someone gave a shit.

The next morning, I awoke late again around mid-morning, everyone who was there the night before was gone. I would follow this routine for the next five days where I would get a late start and then come upon the wild scene after dark at the next shelter when I arrived. Someone nicknamed me “two-step” but I never figured out why.

I met two women hiking together, at first, they seemed kind of leery of me but at the next shelter we camped out close to each other and shared some food. Sadie was from Vermont Connecticut River Valley and Mary Jo was from North Carolina. I told them of my adventures over the last six months or so but I’m not sure if they believed me.

Sadie said, “Well Willy, you just snub your nose at everything and everybody, don’t you?” “Well, that’s a harsh girlie, you don’t even know me.” We went on like this for a while before I realized the girl was flirting with me.

I hit the hay early and planned to go all the way to Hot Springs the next day, the end of the line. I was anxious to get back to my running routine. In the morning I slept late again and Sadie and Mary Jo were gone so I hit the trail alone.

I arrived in Hot Springs after dark and debated whether to spend the money for a hotel. I found a little dive hotel and crashed after eating several fast food burgers.

I watched a ball game on television and read the local newspapers. In the morning I would call Pete in NYC and hitchhike to Gatlinburg to catch a bus. My future plans are still evolving just as I like it.

Wild and crazy dreams again getting older no one told me I would have to re-live everything, all the trauma and joy every time I closed my eyes at night.

My old coach with the Beantown Bombers I will never forget our first meeting he just called me 355. “Hey hotshot you think we’re buying that 3:55 mile you ran at the rinky-dink palace track meet in southern east bumfuck?”

I arose early unlike out on the trail and I took in my surroundings. I went for my first run in over a week an easy hour and I felt pretty good, just a bit sore in spots and weary. I took a quick shower and then headed to the coffee shop for the lumberjack breakfast. The pretty waitress asked me if I was a thru hiker and I said

“Ya, I’m all through hiking and heading for NYC.”

I hit the road and stuck out my thumb and right off the bat a VW Bug pulled over and Sadie from the trail a few days ago sticks her head out, “If it ain’t Willy our old friend.”

Somehow, I got squeezed into the back seat amongst all the hiking gear. We talked over the last few days experiences and then Mary Jo said, “Hey Willy, when you need to be in New York because we have decided to head to Vermont but we are planning to go to the coast and hit a few beaches and other sites on the way.”

“I’m in. I just need to be able to run as we travel.”

I called Pete in New York with my revised plan and told him I had accepted the invitation to run in London three weeks from now. “That’s great Willy, got news as well, I got married.”

Sadie and MJ were smart cookies learned college students and they talked non stop so it was hard for me to keep up but sounded interesting like “hey, maybe you do learn some things in those there ivory towers of higher ed.”

They were also sexy and beautiful, about as different in appearance as two women could be but definitely stimulating in their little shorts and t-shirts. I was hoping they packed their bikinis. I managed to get stretched out a bit in the back seat. We were headed for the Chesapeake Bay about five hundred miles.

We would spend a day resting up and enjoying the beach before leaving the following day for Atlantic City and then on to New York.

We stopped in the late afternoon in West Virginia and I went for a run. Sadie started out running with me and I was shocked that she had no problem running five miles at a decent pace, I mean I almost started to push it just to see what she got.

I confessed to the girls my apprehension about competing against the top milers in the world as an unproven kid. Sadie said, “Willy, I can’t believe what you have gone through trying to reach your potential as a runner, man you like a hound dog and once you get the scent you sure gonna stay after it.”

Why not? All of life is a gamble.

Hitch a ride

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AHbQoJ9IUbw&ra=m

American Poet Carol Frost: The Lowell Connection

In the August issue of The Atlantic magazine, Carol Frost has a short poem about being alive titled “The Scrubbed and Simple Moon,” which is a big deal because the magazine typically publishes one poem per issue. Twelve poems a year. I’m sure the poetry editor gets thousands of compositions submitted for consideration each year. Kudos to her. A great get, as they say in tennis and pickleball.

Poet Carol Frost was born in Lowell in 1948. She is not often mentioned locally when the subject turns to writers connected to the city. So it is worth noting that she has roots in Lowell. She posts on Facebook occasionally, and today put up a link to a new interview she did with Sean Singer on his Substack newsletter. Here’s the link for readers who want to know more about her. 

And here’s her listing on the website of the Poetry Foundation based in Chicago. Click this link for more information. 

Carol Frost has had a distinguished career as a writer and teacher. I don’t know a lot about her life in Lowell or after, beyond what has been reported in short profiles online. I never heard that she has a connection to Robert Frost, who also has roots in the Merrimack River Valley—Lawrence. The Shenandoah Literary Magazine website has this information: ” . . . as a child she spent a year in her mother’s hometown of Vienna, so German was the first language she spoke. She studied at the Sorbonne and earned degrees from the State University of New York at Oneonta and Syracuse University.”

Maybe the authorities in the Lowell cultural sector would think about inviting her to read her poems in the city and talk about her literary life. When was the last time she was in the city? If she sees this post, maybe she can let people know.

She lives in Florida where she teaches at Rollins College. Here’s the link to her website.

All Aboard!

All Aboard!

By Leo Racicot

Our mother never learned how to drive. As she told it, the first time her Lowell High School driving instructor took her out on the road, she drove straight into a ditch and said, “Never again!”

As a single girl, she worked at Abbott Worsted in Forge Village, a section of Westford. Curious one day as to how she got to work if she didn’t have a car, I asked and she said, “I took the trolley.” I knew Lowell had had its own trolley system but until then never realized it took riders out-of-town to the suburbs.

Before the coming of electric cars, people wanting to get around did so either on foot or by horse-drawn carts and buggies. Horses used for transportation created no end of problems for large cities; for one thing, they deposited pounds of waste per day on city streets causing messes as well as health threats to the public. The lifespan of workhorses was brief; often the animal would collapse en route and be left in the road for days before being moved; yet another health risk.

A more efficient, sanitary solution was needed. At the end of the 19^th century, the newly-invented electric trolley came on-the-scene and was immediately embraced by commuters.

Trolleys not only served Lowell Proper but extended out to the countryside, to Dracut and Westford (how Ma was able to get to work). One line took passengers as far as Southern NH and Canobie Lake for people seeking weekend escape.

The electric trolleys thrived until the 1930s when they were replaced by automobiles and buses.

You can see replicas of the old trolleys on display throughout present-day Lowell. Some even take visitors on short rides so they’re able to experience what it felt like to ride these open-air wonders of transportation history. On weekends, The National Streetcar Museum at 25 Shattuck Street, across from  the Lowell National Park Visitors Center, opens for tours on Saturdays and Sundays,  11 am to 4 pm  Here, guests can view restored trolley cars and learn about their history and importance.

When we were kids, my friends and I made a game of trying to find trolley track remnants which could still be seen here-and-there around town, especially in the Middle Street area. I remember for years the remains of one piece of track was visible right on Fletcher Street just outside our home.

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Trolley Replica in Downtown Lowell

Trolley conductor portion of a mural

National Streetcar Museum on Shattuck St in Lowell

Horse-drawn carriage in 1899

Electric Street Railway model on Shattuck Street in Lowell

Downtown Lowell trolley cars in 1930

Abbott Worsted Factory in Forge Village

Remnant of trolley track on Middle St