In November 1960, the 34-year-old mayor of Lynn took a phone call from the 43-year-old president-elect of the United States, who was calling to offer him a job in the federal government.
Any job he wanted.
Costin became a confidante of John F. Kennedy after working on his successful U.S. Senate campaigns in 1952 and 1958 and his presidential campaign in 1960. Joseph P. Kennedy had called Costin in 1947 and told the 21-year-old Lynn city councilor, “I want people like you to be close to my son (a congressman at the time). He doesn’t know the problems cities have and you do.”
When Kennedy called with the job offer in 1960, Costin excitedly relayed the news to his wife, Rosemary. That was the end of that.
“She said, ‘If you think I’m bringing five small children to Washington while you spend 24 hours a day at the White House, that’s not going to happen,’” Costin said in 2018.
Costin knew that the Lynn postmaster was planning to retire, so he called the president back and asked for that job. “My wife didn’t want to go to Washington and I thought it would be a nice job,” he said. “That was fine with me.”
Costin was sworn in as postmaster on June 30, 1961 and remained in the job until retiring in 1992. In 2019, the Thomas P. Costin Jr. Post Office Building was dedicated.
“I’m stunned,” Costin said at the time. “To me, it’s one of the greatest honors anybody can have, to have a federal building named for you, especially when it has to pass the Congress of the United States. That’s usually an honor reserved for former presidents or governors or heroes. I didn’t think I was in that category of person that I would ever be considered.”
Costin, who remained active in local and national politics for more than seven decades after meeting the Kennedys, died Monday at Beverly Hospital surrounded by family, 12 days shy of his 99th birthday.
“Dad had a wonderful, happy, amazing life that impacted so many people,” his children shared in a statement. “He leaves a legacy of love. He was a devoted father and husband, and a passionate civil servant, who left this world a better place. We will miss him but he lives on in the lives of those he touched.”
Thomas P. Costin Jr. was born in Lynn August 23, 1926, one of four children of Thomas P. Costin and Marguerite (Goff) Costin. After graduating from Lynn Classical High School in 1944 he served in the U.S. Marines during World War II, stationed in Portsmouth, N.H. He went to Boston College on the G.I. Bill and as a freshman in 1947, he ran for the Ward 7 seat on the Lynn City Council and became the city’s youngest elected city councilor ever, serving for eight years.
In 1955 at the age of 29, Costin became the Lynn’s youngest elected mayor ever, serving six years before becoming postmaster.
During his tenure as postmaster, Costin drew national acclaim and was twice elected president of the National Postmasters Association (1967 and 1983). He played a leading role in the reorganization of the U.S. Postal Service that started under President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967 and was completed under Richard Nixon in 1969. Prior to that, he was tasked by JFK with helping to implement the desegregation of post offices in the South, highlighted by the elimination of separate bathrooms and water coolers for whites and blacks.
When he traveled to Texas on post office business in the fall of 1963, Costin became aware that his friend, Kennedy, could be in danger on his upcoming trip to the Lone Star State. He flew to Washington, D.C. in an attempt to warn the president in person, but was unable to get a meeting with him, so he relayed the information to his top aides. Less than two weeks later, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
“I wept,” Costin said, 55 years later. “If you’re going to do something, don’t depend on anyone else to do it. Do it yourself.”
After retiring as postmaster, Costin remained active in politics and the nonprofit sector, working on behalf of organizations such as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Catholic Charities, March of Dimes, Salvation Army and Essex National Heritage Area. He served as the Lynn Business Partnership’s Transportation Committee chair for more than 30 years.
He remained a friend and confidante of the Kennedys – including JFK’s late brothers Robert and Edward – for more than seven decades.
“Tom Costin is the North Shore’s North Star of public service,” U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said at the post office dedication in 2019, calling him a “political powerhouse” and “as dedicated a leader as Massachusetts has ever known.”
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton filed the bill in the House of Representatives to get the post office named for Costin.
“Tom Costin was the consummate public servant long after being Lynn’s youngest mayor in history,” Moulton said. “A proud Marine corporal, he never stopped fighting for people with less opportunity because he always believed in their potential … He became not just a mentor, but a friend and a model for what serving our community and country should be all about. In this time of political animosity and division, he embodied the best of American ambition: hope, teamwork, and a belief in the future — values that … (we) will carry forward as we mourn not having him around to inspire us with his daily wit and wisdom, undying energy, and ever-infectious smile.”
“Tom Costin was the embodiment of a dedicated public servant,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “Whether it was serving as Lynn’s youngest mayor, a Marine in WWII, or postmaster under President John F. Kennedy, Tom always understood the power of public service and approached it with charm, humility, and kindness. He was a dear friend to many, myself included. I’m sending my deepest condolences to his family, his friends, and to all of those whose lives had been touched by his legacy.”
In addition to public service, Costin was a successful businessman who owned Sterling Machine in Lynn and the Jesmond Nursing Home in Nahant. In 1962, he co-founded Mt. Pleasant Hospital in Lynn, the first facility in Massachusetts exclusively dedicated to rehabilitation from alcohol and drug addiction.
Costin earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College, a master’s in education from Salem State University and an honorary doctor of law degree from the University of Massachusetts, where he served as trustee.
Costin was predeceased by his first wife, Rosemary (Cole) Costin. He is survived by his wife, Noel Spinney Costin; children, Thomas J. Costin, RoAnn Costin, Morgan Costin, Midge Costin, Maura Costin Scalise; stepchildren, Pam Spinney Duncan, Susan Hooper and Allison Spinney; 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. He was
He was the father of the late Kevin Cole Costin and stepfather of the late Wendy Spinney Smith. Burial will be private. There will be a celebration of life at a later date.
