Ralph J. McKenna

Ralph J. McKenna (1929-2026) was Billerica's Town Accountant for thirty three years, from 1960 to 1993, and went on serving the town on its boards and at Town Meeting into his nineties. He was born in Cambridge on September 19, 1929, the son of John D. and Mary (Travers) McKenna, and grew up in a large family; his obituary names nine brothers and sisters, including a brother David G., probably the David G. McKenna who sat on the Board of Selectmen in the 1960s. He graduated from Cambridge High and Latin School and Boston College and later earned a law degree at the New England School of Law. In the Army he served as a military policeman during the Tokyo War Crimes Trial.

On May 31, 1960 he was appointed Town Accountant, succeeding Ralph L. Dodge, who had held the office since 1930. In 1962 he was named to the town's new Council for the Aging (the Council on Aging). Soon after taking office he searched the probate and town records to work out the history of the town's trust funds, from the Bowers Fund left by Mary and Fanny Bowers for the poor of Billerica onward, and published his findings in the town report for 1963. Besides his town work he practiced privately as an attorney and certified public accountant and was treasurer of the Billerica Municipal Employees Credit Union.

He retired in November 1993. In his last annual report he reprinted the 1963 trust fund study, "since it has served as a valuable reference source," suggested that part of the Bowers Fund might now be used for scholarships for needy students, and thanked the town officers and employees for their help "for the past 33 years." The selectmen's report counted his departure, with those of the principal assessor and the treasurer and collector, among the key losses to the town's financial management that year.

Retirement did not end his service. He had been appointed to the Board of Appeals in 1987 and served until 1993, and he returned to it as an associate member in July 2003, remaining on the board for more than twenty years. He also sat on the Finance Committee from the mid 1990s into the 2000s. In 1993 he and his wife, Gloria (Sampson) McKenna, were both elected by caucus as town meeting members for Precinct 7, and in 2020 he received a plaque for twenty five years as a Town Meeting representative. He is not to be confused with his son, Ralph J. McKenna Jr., who was a Town Meeting member for Precinct 8. He died at his home in Billerica on May 26, 2026, and was buried in Fox Hill Cemetery.

References

1. Obituary, Burns Funeral Home, 2026
2. Town Officers, 1960 (appointed Town Accountant May 31, 1960)
3. Committees Appointed, 1962 (Council for the Aging)
4. Town Accountant Report, 1963 (trust funds data)
5. Boards and Committees, 1987 (Board of Appeal)
6. Town Accountant Report, 1993 (last report)
7. Boards and Committees, 2003 (Finance Committee and Board of Appeal)
8. Town Meeting Members, 1993 (elected by caucus, Precinct 7)