Swampscott’s Doug Allen: A legacy of commitment

SWAMPSCOTT – Doug Allen’s daughter says her mother used to joke about playing second fiddle to the town of Swampscott, spending many wedding anniversaries alone because Town Meeting was always about the same time.But the longtime town official, who died Monday of cancer, leaves a wife to whom he was married for 65 years. Their story began in a hospital as newborns, when their bassinets were placed side by side, as if to foretell a history of long-term commitments.Douglas F. Allen lived 87 years, dedicating 45 of them to a place that wasn’t even his hometown, leaving behind a legacy of countless volunteer hours spent on countless committees and receiving countless honors for his work.But to ask those who knew him, and they can’t tell you where his dedication came from, except to say, like Historical Commission member Lou Gallo, “He was just a nice guy.”Allen served for years on the town’s Finance Committee, as Town Moderator, and left such an impact as chairman of the Board of Selectmen, the board’s meeting room at Town Hall was named after him. The current chairman, Jill Sullivan, reminded her colleagues of the honor Wednesday evening from her new position in the middle seat at the table.As she spoke of Allen’s dedication to the town, Sullivan reached forward to adjust a worn six-inch Swampscott town flag standing on the table, which Allen had given to Sullivan when she was elected chair.”When Doug Allen ran for selectman, I wrote out at least 400 cards for him, or even more,” Gallo recalled. “He was very knowledgeable, very patient and very courteous.”Allen was originally from Chestnut Hill, but his wife, Louise, was born and raised in Swampscott. Allen considered Swampscott his adopted hometown, said daughter Tapley Sheresky, though she couldn’t guess where his dedication came from except to offer how her father was also “giving of himself.”Their story began when baby Louise Breed, born five days before her husband, was placed next to his bassinet at the hospital. In a twist of fate, the two found themselves on a date 20 years later, unaware they were hospital roommates until their respective parents met each other for the first time since the pair’s birth and told them the story.Whether it was as selectman, moderator, or president of the trustees of Lynn Hospital and Tower School, Gallo said, “I just think he was one of those people. He was civic-minded and saw things that needed to be done, and he stepped up and did them.”Sheresky said that, with all his volunteerism, her father’s paid jobs as a partner of Farquhar & Black insurance in Lynn and a director of Eastern Bank were often more like his second jobs, but he still found time on weekends to devote to his two passions, fishing and gardening. Sheresky said her parents’ backyard garden was so beautiful she chose to be married in it.Though he gave much of himself to the town, Gallo said Doug Allen wasn’t afraid to literally take a piece of it for himself.”There used to be this enormous tree at the intersection of Humphrey, Puritan and Atlantic,” laughed Gallo, “and when they cut it down, he told me he took a section of it to build a table in his backyard.”His wry sense of humor was as recognizable as the straw hat he famously wore every day during the summer, which is now hanging in Sheresky’s kitchen at home in New York.This fall will be the first Swampscott High School football season in years without Doug Allen there to cheer on the team.”Even on a day he wasn’t feeling well, it was his favorite thing,” Sheresky said. “He used to joke that he had to see the voters and meet all his fans.”Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].