E W. LaVigne

E. Winona LaVigne, known as Winona, was a longtime Billerica Health Department worker and volunteer and later chairman of the town's Board of Appeals. She lived on Pasho Road in North Billerica.

Her town service began as a volunteer. From 1969 the Board of Health reports thank her as clinic secretary and then registrar of the Well Child Clinic, and the 1973 report noted that she "has served as a volunteer since the inception of the well child program." She also filled in at the department office, and when principal clerk Muriel Wells died in 1976 the Board of Health hired Mrs. LaVigne, who had "worked as replacement in the position during the past six years," as principal clerk. She held that job until she retired in October 1981; the board wrote that "her interest covered the Town as a whole."

In 1971 the Precinct 3 members of the representative Town Meeting elected her to fill a vacancy, and after redistricting she was elected from Precinct 9, serving until 1984 and acting as the precinct's clerk (1974) and chairman (from 1975 into the early 1980s). She was active on the floor: in 1974 she took over the presentation of a zoning by-law article, and in 1975 she filed the article granting the Boys' Club of Billerica a sewer easement across town land. That year she also ran for an unexpired seat on the Planning Board, losing to Francis E. Finn by 2,923 votes to 2,150. She also served on the Local Growth Policy Committee from 1975 to 1976.

The selectmen appointed her an alternate member of the Board of Appeals on November 7, 1977, and a full member on July 16, 1979. In 1981, when Robert A. Dunstan stepped down as chairman, the board elected her to succeed him, and she led it through 1984 with James M. Battcock as vice chairman and John W. Dolan as secretary. Under her the board raised its hearing fee from $50 to $75 in 1982 and defended its handling of a comprehensive permit for elderly housing. Her 1983 report answered critics directly, calling the board "a quasi-judicial Board whose decisions take the force and effect of law" and complaining of attempts "to castigate and demean the Board of Appeal" at that year's town meetings. In 1980 she was among the present and former board members who joined in the town's commendation of former chairman L. Gordon Buker.

She resigned from the board early in January 1987 and died on February 5, 1987. The board wrote that she had "unselfishly served" for ten years and that "her openness and honesty will notably be missed by one and all"; the Health Department mourned "a long time secretary for the Board of Health and volunteer for various boards and departments," and the Public Works Department called her "an honest, hard-working individual and a friend and supporter of this Department." The 1987 annual town meeting observed a moment of silence in her memory.

References

1. Board of Health report, 1973 (Clinic Registrar, volunteer since the inception of the well child program)
2. Town Meeting Members, 1971: elected by members of Precinct Three
3. Annual town election, 1975: Planning Board 4-year unexpired term (Finn 2923, LaVigne 2150)
4. Board of Health report, 1976 (hired as principal clerk)
5. Appointed officials, 1977: Board of Appeals alternate, appointed 11/7/77
6. Appointed officials, 1979: Board of Appeals, appointed full member 7/16/79
7. Board of Health report, 1981 (retired as Principal Clerk Secretary in October)
8. Report of the Board of Appeal, 1983 (signed by E. Winona LaVigne, Chairman)
9. Report of the Zoning Board of Appeals, 1986 (resignation in January 1987)
10. Memoriams 1987: Winona LaVigne, died February 5, 1987