Fay Russo Is Looking Forward to Her Next Chapter

Fay Russo is already starting to consider serving as a volunteer for some Bedford organization. 

“There are a million things I need to do at home,” she said. “And then there’s family. But in September, I’ll start all over again.”

That’s quite a statement from someone who will be 90 on her next birthday.

Russo, coordinator of rentals in Town Center and other town facilities for 38 years, will retire at the end of the month. She will be celebrated at a reception in Town Hall’s Reed Room on Thursday between 9 and 11 a.m.

Last week, the Select Board voted to rename the Union Room on the first floor of Town Center as the Russo Room. The board’s resolution in her honor was advanced by her former and current neighbors in the Health and Human Services Department and Facilities Department. (It doesn’t matter that technically Russo is employed by the non-profit Town Center Inc., and not the town.)

“She was liked by everyone, of course. Her work ethic was second to none,” said former Recreation Director Amy Hamilton, who worked in the suite adjacent to Russo’s office for many years. “First one in the building, last one out, seven days/week. Respectful, conscientious, old-fashioned in the best of ways; yet, always up with the times and able to converse with anyone.”  

“Fay has [invested] four decades of her life to the community, and made many friends and grateful clients,” said Keith Backman, chair of the Town Center Board. “Everyone who knows her thinks she is a perfect gem. She has been a force in providing service to clients.”

Several of those clients echoed the tribute.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Fay for [more than] 14 years of renting rooms at the Bedford Town Center,” said Farhad Panthaki of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater Boston. “Her dedication, service, and commitment are indeed very commendable.”

“Fay has been nothing but kind and professional, caring and thoughtful,” said the Rev. Scott Cope, pastor of Trinity Church, which has held weekly worship services at Town Center since 2020. “Her smile has brightened our weeks and her devotion to this town is exemplary. We will miss her dearly.”

Janice Landis and her husband Dale who have rented space for many years so they could dance together once a week, said, “Fay was there to let us in and came back an hour-and-a-half later to close up. She carried chairs, made arrangements – she was supremely responsible and good to everybody who wanted to use the space. She took her assignment with heart and soul. There are just not enough people like her these days.”

“For nearly 30 years, we have called Town Center home, in large part due to Fay’s support,” said Myra Liwanag, director of the cultural school Iskwelahang Pilipino. “We can’t imagine that home without Fay welcoming us in and seeing us off at the end of our treasured Sundays in Bedford.” 

The depth of Russo’s commitment to volunteer service is confirmed by her selection as Bedford’s eighth Citizen-of-the-Year in 1986, a couple of years before she began her Town Center career.

Fay’s children Jonathan and Jodie, who grew up during a period of declining pupil population, attended three Bedford neighborhood schools. Fay was PTA president at each one. She started at the elementary school “and then they asked me at the middle school – and the high school,” she added. 

The Town Center, the former Center Elementary School, was formed as a non-profit by grass-roots citizen activism. Russo said two members of the Town Center board, Ron Cordes and Bill Moonan, recruited her for the full-time position managing rentals and maintenance.

Over the decades, the facilities have changed. The old brick cafeteria was demolished, the north wing became Kids’ Club, and Russo’s portfolio grew to include rentals of the Great Room atop Old Town Hall and the Buddliner adjacent to the Freight House at South Road and Loomis Street. 

After Covid-19 arrived, the town needed the ground-level Shawsheen Room in Town Center for the food kitchen, and in 2022, Russo had to move from her office on the first floor to the Facilities Department to make space for a food bank manager. 

“It was very difficult, but as far as being here, you couldn’t ask for more helpful people,” she said.

Korina Vallerand on the Facilities staff will be taking over Russo’s role.

There are short-term rentals for receptions, concerts, weddings, and memorial services. And there are long-term arrangements, ethnically diverse, many of them educational. Russo said these clients are what she will miss the most. 

“There are so many groups that have been with us for a long time,” she said, noting that the instructor in one dance class first came to Town Center as a six-year-old student.

Russo, whose husband John died in 2016, said she has always worked every day because she personally checks in on events and groups. Sometimes there are 12-hour Sundays, she added. 

She has always had custodial help, but still does her share of moving chairs around. Russo said she fell at home last November and was bruised pretty badly, but didn’t miss any time. 

“It can hurt here as much as it did at home,” she said.

“Fay always listened and gave support, sage advice, and friendship,” Hamilton said. “Her door was always open.”