ICMA’s 59th Annual Conference, which took place in Boston, Massachusetts, in September 1973, was a first for me. I had arrived in the area only two months earlier to assume the newly created position of assistant town manager in Andover, Massachusetts, a suburb about 23 miles north of Boston.

At lunch one day during the conference, I walked into the ballroom of the Sheraton Boston to try to find a place to sit as well as a friendly face, knowing few people who were members of ICMA or who worked in Massachusetts at that time.

An older gentleman was sitting by himself around the typical round banquet table. I did not know that he was then 91. I approached him and asked if I could join him for lunch. Graciously, he invited me to sit next to him. I had no idea who he was.

We introduced each other.

I was sitting next to Richard Childs, the oracle of local government!

How did I know?

Learning About Legends

At the tender age of 26, ICMA had already been extremely good to me. My career had begun in 1967 as an ICMA Seasongood Summer Intern (thank you, Murray Seasongood) in the city manager’s office in Springfield, Ohio, working for Jim Caplinger and his assistant city manager, Margaret Medders.

Springfield was one of the first municipalities in the United States to adopt the council-manager form of government, beginning in 1914. In fact, Springfield hosted the first ICMA conference, such as it was, in December 1914. My first assignment, intended in part to help me become familiar with Springfield, was to write a history of council-manager government in the city.

Before I had gotten very far with my writing, the name of Richard Childs came to my attention. Through this project, I also learned about our other patriarchs—there were no matriarchs in those days—including Orin Nolting and Clarence Ridley.

Lasting Inspiration

Back in Boston at the ICMA conference, Richard Childs and I had an easy rapport. He treated me as an equal member of the profession. Part of this ease arose from the fact that we came from nearby towns in New Jersey, he from Maplewood and I from Cranford.

The memory of my lunch with Richard remains indelible. Perhaps most important, his inspiration has helped me to try—over the 41 years since our meeting—to remain as true as I could to the highest ideals of council-manager government that he and the pioneering reformers of his time worked so hard to establish.

Thank you, Richard, for lunch and much more.