SWAMPSCOTT — Long-time resident and former Big Blue Football Announcer Roger Volk received a citation from the town after donating two bronze statues to Blocksidge Field and Fisherman’s Beach.
Volk’s newest statue, “Five Fisherman Returning from the Sea,” which was erected near Fisherman’s Beach last week, depicts five children dressed in sailor’s garments balancing on a log. Another statue, “Happy Days,” depicting another five children holding hands, was donated to Blocksidge Field in the Spring.
“This is just a little piece of paper,” Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said as he presented Volk with the citation Thursday. “What you have given us will last forever.”
Volk, a Swampscott resident who has worked out of the same Lynn tax office for roughly 65 years, originally bought the statues from an artist in Palm Beach, Florida, a year after he married his wife, Elaine.
The depiction of five children walking happily together struck a chord with Volk as it resembled his and Elaine’s collective five children. For years, Volk said the sculptures brought him a smile every time he saw them on his lawn. He said he decided to donate them to Swampscott because of his love for his community and the desire to see the residents smile the way he does when he sees the statues.
“When I come down the hill and see kids here looking at them (the fishermen) and smiling, that’s what it’s all about,” Volk said. “I just want to bring joy and pleasure to the Town of Swampscott — that’s all I can give them. I’m old now. I can’t give everything I want to give, but what I surely can do is give Swampscott smiles.”
Quoting the Nobel Peace Prize recipient Albert Schweitzer, Fitzgerald thanked Volk for his memorable contribution to the town as a 20-year football announcer, a resident, and a statue donor.
“ ‘The ones among you, who will be truly happy are those that have sought and found a way to serve others,’ That’s by Albert Schweitzer. And I do hope that you, too (Volk and Elaine), are truly happy. I think of your gift as a service. It’s wonderful to have people like you remembering all the wonderful memories and stories that have made this town so special. You’ve lived most of your lives here, you’ve served, and you’ve given much of yourselves to the Town of Swampscott,” Fitzgerald said.
