Dick Russell Wins DPW ‘Friend’ Award

May 12, 2005

By Reva Levin

Dick Russell, co-founder of the Pine Tree Brook Neighborhood Association, is the 2005 winner of the Larry DeCelle “Friend of DPW” Award.

Mr. Russell will receive his award at the DPW Open House on Saturday, May 14 (held at the DPW Yard, 629 Randolph Ave. ) Rain date is Saturday, May 21.

Larry DeCelle will present the award to Mr. Russell “for tireless efforts and outstanding leadership in protecting the natural resources of Milton .”

Mr. Russell is well known in town as Mr. Pine Tree Brook (and has an official hat to prove it). Together with Pam Dorsey in 1997, he started the Pine Tree Brook Neighborhood Association. The association has grown from two members to 249, and is still growing. It is now one of the most active community associations in Milton .

For the last eight years, Mr. Russell has worked closely with Sen. Brian Joyce and Rep. Walter Timilty, the Selectmen, the Neponset River Watershed Association and the DPW to support improvement projects for Pine Tree Brook.

Mr. Russell was born in the old Milton Hospital in Cunningham Park . He has lived in his Gibbons Street home since 1947, along with his wife, Alice, and their four children.

Before he assumed his role as an environmental advocate, Mr. Russell worked with his father at the family business, Russell’s Diner in Quincy , for more than 15 years. (The actual diner now resides in The Diner Museum in Providence , R.I. ) He then spent the next 20 years as a sales manager for the Cory Corporation, a food service equipment company.

The DPW invites all residents to come to the May 14 Open House, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. , and celebrate with Mr. Russell as he receives the award. The presentation begins at 11:30 a.m.

The theme of this year’s Open House is “Public Works Is Everywhere You Look!” The theme is an appropriate one as the duties of the DPW are so varied in scope. They include snow and ice removal; storm water management; maintenance of the town’s entire water infrastructure (sewer, storm water, drinking water); permitting; trash, recycling and yard waste services; tree care; engineering; and road repair ... to list a few. The DPW Open House is an event for the whole family. The kids can get behind the steering wheel of a truck or an electric car. Adults can learn how a hydrant works, how a street is paved and talk with DPW vendors. Students from Milton High School will provide music, and also make a presentation from their environmental studies program. There will be a free raffle, and DPW staff will be on hand to get feedback and take suggestions from residents on DPW services.

DPW Community Clean-up Week, which began with Milton Pride Day on May 7 and continues through Friday, May 13, precedes the Open House.

On May 3, Selectmen issued a proclamation declaring the week of May 16-21 as Public Works Week.

[Photo from left to right is of Dick Russell, Larry DeCelle and Walter Heller, of the Milton DPW.]