Director Paul R. Romeo of Ashland retired from the Board recently after 37 years of service and countless contributions as a member of several committees during his tenure.

For over 30 years, Paul was the owner and proprietor of Romeo’s Supermarket on Union Street in Ashland, a family business started by his parents. The market closed in 1986.

An Ashland native and Ashland High School graduate, he was a member of the Ashland Finance Committee for 16 years, serving as chairman for six years. He was also Ashland’s treasurer and tax collector for nine years. Devoted to his community, Paul was proud to sponsor local Boy Scout Troop #2 and Little League, Babe Ruth and youth hockey teams in the town.

Paul is a lifetime member of The 100 Club of Massachusetts, an organization founded in 1959 to assist families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty.

He and his wife, Marie, have seven children, 13 grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. His father-in-law, Nicholas Montal of Framingham, is one of the Bank’s longest-term customers

“The day in 1971 when Mr. O’Brien (Philip R. O’Brien, then chairman of the Board) and Mr. Hickson (Charles W. Hickson, executive vice president at the time, later president and CEO) took me out to lunch and asked me to serve on the Board of Directors was one of the happiest days in my life,” Paul recalls today. “You could have knocked me over with a feather!”

He will become an Honorary Director, along with Charles W. Hickson, Richard D. Karb and Joseph F. Shay.

Current Board members are Robert P. Lamprey, chairman; Susan E. Acton, Paul V. Galvani; Mark R. Haranas; Robert J. Harrington; Clement T. Lambert; James P. Shay; and William R. Swanson.