People were feeling jovial during the retirement party for former Chilmark select board member Warren Doty, who served over two decades on the board.
The party took place on Friday afternoon at the Chilmark library, and festivities featured live music from Doty himself and a short video titled “Minutes from Last Night’s Meeting: Warren’s World” that Doty made in 2016. The video comically chronicles the tiringly repetitive nature of the meetings at the time, trying to figure out what to do with Squibnocket.
Attendees at Friday’s ceremony had positive things to say about Doty.
Chilmark library director Ebba Hierta said he was a “champion” of the town’s library throughout his 24-year tenure as a select board member.
“He was one of the key players in getting it built in the early 2000s,” she said. “[He was] very instrumental in getting that through town meeting. Throughout my entire 17 years, Warren has always been a stalwart supporter of what the library needs … I wish him the best, and I’m kind of sad to see him go.”
Doty has served the town in various capacities that span 34 years, including the school committee and the planning board. He moved to the town in 1976, and has stayed ever since. After moving to Chilmark, Doty said, he was very active in the Menemsha fishing industry.
When asked what led him to serve the town, Doty said he enjoys community service, and has a politically involved family.
“It just comes very naturally to me and members of my family to be involved in elections and politics and government, and managing budgets and creating programs, which I think I did a lot of in Chilmark,” he said.
Looking toward the Chilmark children laughing and playing during recess on the sunny day, Doty remarked that one of the initiatives he was proud of being a part of was building a town center. That consisted of efforts like moving the school program to its current location from the old Menemsha school building, leasing out town-owned land for a Post Office, and most recently building a new fire station behind Chilmark Town Hall.
“We really kept the town center the way it is, and that is something I’m very pleased with that happened during my time,” he said.
There are still many considerations left for the town, but Doty felt it was the right time to leave his position.
“It’s time for me to step away, and it’s really time for somebody with new enthusiasm, new energy, to come and take my seat,” he said. “I’m 79, and I don’t have the same pizzazz that I did.”
Nan Doty, Warren’s wife, said when people ask what the former board member will do after retirement, she has an answer: “It’s like the Seinfeld show: Nothing,” she said. “And then from nothing, things will emerge. That’s the plan.”
Some activities Warren has been considering more of are music and involvement with MVTV, Nan said.
“It’s a good time to retire right now, because there is lots to do in the garden,” she said.
Warren received praise from his longtime select board colleague Bill Rossi, who described the outgoing board member as smart and experienced.
“He’s been really great to work with,” he said about Doty. “I didn’t know him well before I became elected, and I found out very soon that he was a colleague on the board, and we were all kind of working in the same direction for the betterment of Chilmark, and he was very clear about that.”
Marie Larsen won the recent election to take the empty select board seat. “No one can take Warren’s place,” Larsen said. “He’s been here a long time.”
Larsen said she could provide more representation for Chilmark women’s concerns as the third woman to become a select board member in the town’s history.
“I feel like that’s the torch I’m picking up and going,” she said. “Not Warren’s. You can’t. He’s an institution.”
Warren Doty had some words of wisdom for the new select board member. “Get involved and have enthusiasm,” he said.