Council on Aging
The Council on Aging is the Billerica board concerned with the needs of the town's older residents. It was created as the Council for the Aging under Article 79 of the March 1962 annual town meeting, a by-law that joined the chairman of the Board of Public Welfare, the head of the Recreation Commission, the chairman of the Board of Health and the Superintendent of Schools (or their representatives) with three to seven members appointed by the selectmen. The first council (1962) was chaired by George R. Cushman with Katherine R. White as secretary; Michael E. McLaughlin was chairman from about 1970 to 1974 and Edwin G. Beane in 1975.
The 1976 annual town meeting (Article 70) renamed it the Council on Aging and replaced the agency-appointed council with seven members appointed by the selectmen, at least 51 percent of them elderly, plus alternates and ex-officio non-voting representatives of the senior citizens' clubs, the Board of Health, the Housing Authority and Veterans' Services. The new council was appointed on October 25, 1976, with Norman M. Menzies Jr. as chairman. Later chairmen included Frank Theodoropoulos, Mary V. Wiroll (1979-1986), Henry F. Collins, Dorothy A. Cox, Robert Hurley, Daniel J. Hurley, Fred Kenyon, Helen Gentile, Grace Gullotti and Mary Riley. Since the 1980s the members have served staggered three-year terms ending June 30.
The council opened a Senior Citizens' Drop-In Center in the late 1970s (the Brown building), moved in September 1990 to a new Senior Center at 248 Boston Road, operated for a time from the Lewis Building, and since 2004 has occupied the Senior Center at 25 Concord Road (the former library building). Day-to-day work is carried out by a paid staff headed by a coordinator, later titled the Council on Aging Director (Director of Elder Services): Chester Sewell was the first full-time coordinator (1993), Susan Dollar was acting director in 2005, Donna Popkin was director from October 2005 until 2016, and Jean P. Bushnell was appointed in April 2016. These directors are staff, not board members, and are not included in the roster below.
The roster lists voting members only; alternates, selectman liaisons and ex-officio non-voting members are omitted. Members appointed by virtue of another office under the 1962 by-law (for example Board of Health chairman Frederick H. Gould or Superintendent Frederick C. Riel) are included.
Sources: Billerica annual town reports 1961-2025 (warrants and town meeting minutes, lists of committees appointed by the selectmen, and reports of the Council on Aging).