City Water Department Honors Golden Patriarch

Thursday, 10/29/2015

State Rep. Thomas Golden, far left, and his sister, Karen Golden, second from left, joined their other sister, Eileen Trott, far right, and various other family members and city officials at the city’s water-treatment plant Saturday for the dedication of a building in honor of their father, the late Thomas Golden Sr., who worked at the water plant for nearly four decades. At right is the plaque that adorns the water-intake station.

City Water Department honors Golden patriarch

Staff Report

LOWELL — The Golden clan was joined by a host of city officials, including a smattering of city councilors running for re-election, Saturday to dedicate the renovated water-intake station to the late Thomas Golden Sr., who worked at the Water Department for 36 years and was in charge of the distribution division.

“Tom was what every municipal employee should strive to be,” said Erik Gitschier, executive director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility. “He excelled at his position. He was a leader who cared about the citizens of the city and his fellow employees. Tom had integrity above all else and made sure every person who worked for him followed his lead.”

Golden died in 2005. The family was represented at the ceremony by his widow, Eileen (Rourke) Golden and their three children, state Rep. Thomas Golden; Karen Golden, who is employed as a city assessor; and Eileen Trott, who works in the UMass Lowell comptroller’s office.

The dedication of the intake station, at 1002 Pawtucket Blvd., resulted from several current and former Water Department employees who approached the former executive director, Ned Tarmey, who in turn asked Golden’s distant cousin, City Councilor Dan Rourke, to file a motion.

“It was a very nice ceremony,” Karen Golden said. “My father was a very humble man. I probably would have said he didn’t want all that.”

“He wouldn’t have allowed it,” Rep. Golden said. “He would have pushed back.”

More than 100 people attended, leaving the Golden family touched and thankful.

“Seeing all those people, all the guys he used to work with — well, I was touched,” Rep. Golden said.

Rep. Golden said his father loved the city but particularly liked working on water pipes, even when pipes burst in the middle of the night in the dead of winter leaving the men “freezing their bippies off, whatever a bippie was.”

During the event, a plaque on the building was unveiled, as was a flagpole with a granite stone. The plaque read, in part: “A visionary leader who set the examples we were always proud to follow.”

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© 2015 lowell sun 10/29/2015