Howard J. Ralston

Howard J. Ralston gave Billerica more than twenty years of service in town government, from his election as a Town Meeting Member in 1963 until his death on November 30, 1985. The moderator appointed him to the Finance Committee on November 1, 1965, and he served as its vice-chairman and, from September 15, 1966, its chairman. He sat on the Conservation Commission from 1966 until 1972, and in 1969 he was president of the Bennett Public Library Association, which under his leadership set up a fact-finding committee on the future of the town's library. That year he ran for the Billerica Housing Authority and lost, but in September the Commonwealth appointed him to the Authority to fill an unexpired term, and he remained on it until 1976, at times as its treasurer and vice-chairman.

A resident of Tercentennial Drive, he was chairman of Precinct 11 and for many years one of the town meeting's tellers and its Deputy Moderator, taking the chair whenever the moderator stepped aside. As chairman of the Permanent Street Acceptance Committee in the mid-1970s he read its report to town meeting and moved the acceptance of each street. On November 6, 1978 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the School Committee until the March 1979 election. In March 1979 the selectmen made him acting Executive Secretary, the town's chief administrative officer, and in April Executive Secretary, a post he held until November 30, 1979. He was then an associate assessor from 1980 to 1983.

On September 2, 1986 the School Committee voted unanimously that "the auditorium in the Marshall Middle School, in appreciation of all of his service to the Town of Billerica, be known heretofore as the Howard J. Ralston Auditorium." Its resolution called him "a trustworthy, intelligent citizen who spoke to us with the clarity and force of an honest man" who "set an uncommon example of integrity and caring." His widow, Lillie M. Ralston, herself a Town Meeting Member, read the resolution at the fall town meeting of October 7, 1986, the first held in the Marshall Middle School auditorium, and from 1987 the town meeting warrants named the Howard Ralston Auditorium as the place of meeting. In 2017 its restored stage was dedicated as the Paul Cox Theater, for the music educator Dr. Paul Cox.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1965: Finance Committee, Howard J. Ralston appointed November 1, 1965, Vice-Chairman
2. Billerica Town Report 1966: Finance Committee, Howard Ralston appointed Chairman September 15, 1966
3. Billerica Town Report 1969, Bennett Public Library Association: fact-finding committee under President Howard Ralston
4. Billerica Town Report 1969, Housing Authority: Howard J. Ralston appointed by the Commonwealth, September 23, 1969
5. Billerica Town Report 1974: precinct chairmen and clerks, Precinct 11 chairman Howard J. Ralston
6. Billerica Town Report 1976, annual town meeting: Howard Ralston sworn in as Deputy Moderator
7. Billerica Town Report 1978, elected town officers: School Committee, Howard J. Ralston appointed 11/6/78
8. Billerica Town Report 1979, selectmen: Howard J. Ralston acting Executive Secretary 3/5/79, Executive Secretary 4/2/79 to 11/30/79
9. Billerica Town Report 1985, in memoriam: Howard Ralston, died November 30, 1985, and his town offices
10. Billerica Town Report 1986, fall town meeting October 7, 1986: School Committee resolution naming the Howard J. Ralston Auditorium