Earlier this year, my friend Bobby Mac, aka Robert MacMurray, passed away from pancreatic cancer. \u00c2\u00a0 It is very sad,,and a loss to my fraternity and to Arlington. \u00c2\u00a0He served them both in different ways that ended up being very similar in the end. \u00c2\u00a0He made people better.<\/p>\n
An Arlington rider, Anke Shafer, is working on a memorial for Bobby (funding support<\/a> requested). \u00c2\u00a0The memorial requires approval, and I was happy to help her seek support\u00c2\u00a0from the Board of Selectmen (my letter is below). \u00c2\u00a0Support was granted for which I am grateful.<\/p>\n Then came the letters. \u00c2\u00a0Every week the members of the Board of Selectmen receive a package of information, a weekly digest, from the office. \u00c2\u00a0This week’s edition is 68 pages, and 30 of them are letters (and articles) about BobbyMac. (This is the full packet<\/a>, Bobby starts on page 20). \u00c2\u00a0I had no idea. \u00c2\u00a0I sat at my computer, doing my reading, and there was a letter about Bobby. \u00c2\u00a0And another. \u00c2\u00a0And another. \u00c2\u00a0And. . . . another and another. \u00c2\u00a0I cried. \u00c2\u00a0Bobby did so much for so many people. \u00c2\u00a0It was beautiful and heart-rending to see how so many people knew him and missed him, and how their memories of him matched my own.<\/p>\n I miss you, Bobby.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dear colleagues,<\/p>\n I request that our board refer this memorial request to the Public Memorial Committee with a positive recommendation.<\/p>\n Robert MacMurray was known as\u00c2\u00a0BobbyMac<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0to all.\u00c2\u00a0 His special talent was to make everyone feel loved and strong in their own way.\u00c2\u00a0 When he was younger he struggled with his weight, and when his doctor told him to lose weight or die, he shed the pounds on a bicycle.\u00c2\u00a0 Over the coming decades he taught thousands of people how to ride and how to love riding.\u00c2\u00a0 He lived many years in Arlington and worked at QuadCycles on Mass Ave.\u00c2\u00a0 From QuadCycles he lead hundreds of morning rides, all comers welcome, all skills.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone was good enough for\u00c2\u00a0Bobby<\/span>, and then he made you even better.\u00c2\u00a0 He did this even as age robbed him of his eyesight; he was legally blind, but could see enough shapes and motion to lead a ride across Arlington and surrounding towns.<\/p>\n The memorial proponents have their eye on a spot on the bikepath which abutts the Summer Street Bacci Ball court. The plaque they envision would have\u00c2\u00a0Bobby<\/span>‘s years and his “Ride with Love in your Hearts & Smiles on your Faces” quote and a line or two about his dedication to helping new riders train for charity rides, and that the bike path still holds his energy. They have started a gofundme sight to offset the cost. \u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/ They are also holding a memorial celebration on April 4th (Bobby<\/span>‘s birthday) at the Lexington depot. It would be great if the boulder unveiling could be on that date too.<\/p>\n I should note that\u00c2\u00a0Bobby<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0was also the cook of my fraternity, after I left the house in 1994.\u00c2\u00a0 He was technically my employee when I was the president of that alumni group.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Bobby<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0was just as powerful there as in Arlington.\u00c2\u00a0 As a cook to 50, he was often their mom or their dad, depending on the day and what the man needed!\u00c2\u00a0 My first memories of him on a bike were doing the AIDS ride, soliciting donations and asking for the name and picture of a departed fraternity brother that he could ride for.<\/p>\n BobbyMac<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0was a special man who is missed by many here in town.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe the proposed memorial, or some other alternative, is appropriate.<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n Dan Dunn<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Earlier this year, my friend Bobby Mac, aka Robert MacMurray, passed away from pancreatic cancer. \u00c2\u00a0 It is very sad,,and a loss to my fraternity and to Arlington. \u00c2\u00a0He served them both in different ways that ended up being very similar in the end. \u00c2\u00a0He made people better. An Arlington rider, Anke Shafer, is working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1944"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944\/revisions\/1948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}