There are basically two kinds of successful people. The first is the one who’s actually in the arena, basking in the adulation credit. The second is the person behind the scenes, who makes it possible for the first kind to thrive.
Agnes Ricko belonged in the second category, but that’s only because she chose to be there. She’d have done just as well inside the arena, and she’d have deserved all the bows too.
She deserved them either way.
Ricko died Thursday after a long life filled with supporting Lynn’s Democrats in their respective quests for political office. She served on the Lynn Democratic City Committee for 16 years, as the co-chair for 10 years and chair for six, until Spring 2023. She also served on the Democratic State Committee from 1988 until her death.
She was dedicated not only to the party, but to encouraging others to become engaged,
Massachusetts political luminaries such as former Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, as well as local political figures such as James Smith and Steven Walsh, both former state representatives, sung her praises, calling her “hard-working” and “a powerhouse.” Dukakis said he was among many who looked to Ricko for leadership.
But it was Walsh who perhaps summed up Ricko’s five decades of political activism the best.
“She represented the very best of democracy,” he said.
Walsh went on to say that Ricko was the “single most influential figure in local politics,” earning her status by caring for those she served instead of her individual success.
Yet lest anyone get the wrong idea, Ricko wasn’t all work and no fun. Said former Lynn City Councilor Charles Gaeta, who is the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development’s (LHAND) Executive Director, “We had more laughs over the years up until near the bitter end.”
Lately, in politics, all we get to see is the underbelly — the rancor, vitriolic language and ever-nastier ads and slogans designed to ridicule and smear. Ricko represented the smiling face of the profession — the phone calls, the knocking on doors, and the talking up of her candidates, not the talking down of the opposition. It’s a safe bet that she could have walked up to any Republican office-holders and candidates in the state, greeted them, and been greeted, warmly and civilly.
But make no mistake. Ricko was all business when in her particular sphere of politics. She used to chide Gaeta for watching football on Sundays while she was out campaigning for him. An exasperated Ricko would ask him how she was supposed to run a campaign without a candidate on Sundays.
It sometimes seems as if there are less and less Agnes Rickos in politics as social media takes a bigger role in campaigns. That would be a terrible thing. It’s the Agnes Rickos who bring politics down to a personal — not to mention noble — level.
