This New England

The Deval Patrick administration will close the governor's western Massachusetts office in Springfield in July unless money for the service is restored.

If it does, it will remind residents in the west end of the state that the Boston area rules --a topic of much irritation over the years, at least as far back as Shays's Rebellion, in 1786-87, when angry, debt-ridden farmers revolted (among other things) against the dominance of the "moneyed interests'' in Boston.

The people from the Connecticut River to the New York line have often considered themselves more of the culture of Upstate New York than of the Boston metropolis anyway.

That is, except for some towns in the Berskhires that consider themselves part of New York City's Upper East Side.

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RIP: William A. Waldron

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Bill Waldron, an early mentor of mine and in spite of that, a great gentleman, who died recently in Haverford, Pa., at 95, having kept a sharp mind to the end even as his body crumbled.

He was, from time to time, a kind of alternative father to me, especially as I set forth, with innumerable bumps, on adult life.

He was the father of Prof. Arthur Waldron, a brilliant and brave historian now at the University of Pennsylvania and a close friend of mine for nearly half a century, though we have not always kept in as close touch as we should have as we have wandered the world in assorted misadventures and tried to manage a few triumphs and some tragedies, too.

Bill was a distinguished public servant going back to FDR days. I remember him as a stout liberal during much of his life, but one who expressed increasing skepticism about ideological solutions as he aged.

I most remember him as a public person when he was Massachusetts Gov. Endicott Peabody's director of administration, back in the '60s. He was, in effect, deputy governor, or, as some half-joked, de-facto governor. "Chub'' Peabody was a honorable man with powerful reformist impulses but not always as effective or realistic as a governor should be.

Bill was also a distinguished lawyer in assorted top-notch Boston law firms (what we used to call "white-shoe firms''), general counsel for the Massachusetts General Hospital and many, many other things during his long, worldly and complicated (sometimes too complicated) life.

A man of great charm, he was also a superb raconteur, with a marvelously mellow voice, and a provider of superb advice over the decades -- with the right combination of practicality and idealistic encouragement.

Bill Waldron evoked the spirit of the best of the "Eastern Establishment.'' (Another RIP?)

You never "get over'' such losses. You just sort of integrate them with your life. Or try to.

 Tags  "Chub'' Peabody western Massachusetts office William A. Waldron

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