Donald R. Donati

Donald R. Donati was a Billerica youth sports volunteer and chairman of the town's Recreation Commission, and Donati Field, the second softball field at the Peggy Hannon-Rizza Recreation Complex on Campbell Road, is named for him. He was active in the Billerica Little League and in the Billerica Girls' Softball Association, which he served as a coach and as president.

He was appointed to the Recreation Commission in 1986 and reappointed in July 1987. He was its vice chairman in 1988 and by 1991 its chairman, serving with Margaret Hannon-Rizza, then the commission's secretary, and Edward F. Hayes. He presented the recreation budget at town meeting and spoke for the commission's articles, among them a town land use feasibility and open space study, and the commission later credited him with the town's Open Space and Recreation Plan and with the town's acquisition of the Vietnam Veterans Park on Treble Cove Road. With Selectman Ralph Krau he co-chaired Billerica's first Yankee Doodle Homecoming, a community weekend held on September 20 to 22, 1991, and the two were still its co-chairmen in 1995, when they asked town meeting for "seed" money for the celebration.

He died on May 11, 1997, while still a member of the commission. In its report for that year the commission wrote that he "was a strong and passionate advocate for recreation and programs for the youth in Billerica" and announced that it would "dedicate this spring a new softball field" at the recreation complex in his name. The field kept his name when the complex was rebuilt in 2022.

References

1. Billerica town report 1997: In Memoriam, Donald R. Donati, died May 11, 1997, Recreation Committee 1986-1997; Recreation Commission tribute and the softball field to be dedicated in his name
2. Billerica town report 1995: Ralph Krau and Don Donati, co-chairmen of the Yankee Doodle Homecoming, at town meeting