Register’s Corner: Hail to the Chief

By William P. O’Donnell, Norfolk Register of Deeds

One of things I remember as a young elected official was receiving a telephone call asking me if I would like to meet a living United States president and the caller also saying, “Oh, by the way, could you say a few words while you’re on the stage.” The caller on the other line, back in the summer of 1997, was Jimmy Mullen Jr., Milton’s town clerk. He and a special committee had helped to arrange for the President George H.W. Bush to visit Milton.

President George H. W. Bush

President Bush, who had been out of office for four years, was going to be honored as a native son of Milton with a commemorative plaque to be installed at the corner of Adams and Hutchinson streets across from the house he was born in at 173 Adams Street, on June 12, 1924. He lived at the property for the first six months of his life.

The event took place on a picture-perfect day on August 12, 1997. The other speakers on stage that day speaking before the president were Milton Selectman Kathy Dunphy, Governor Paul Cellucci, and the master of ceremonies, Jimmy Mullen.

I was told that my speech had to be quick. As chairman of the Norfolk County Commissioners, I spoke about how Norfolk County was named the “County of Presidents” with four of the 42 United States presidents being born here, including John Adams and John Quincy Adams, who lived in a part of Braintree later to become Quincy, and John F. Kennedy, who was born in Brookline.

I clearly remember the electricity surging through the overflowing crowd as President Bush took to the stage. The feeling of being that close to a president of the United States had an impact on everyone, including those on the stage.

In addressing the crowd, the president spoke from the heart. He fondly recalled that he was born on the second floor of what today is a modest house and he also talked about the values instilled in him by his mother. He got the crowd at ease with his friendly demeanor, and at one point someone from the crowd threw him a baseball to sign and he autographed it and threw it back to the person (President Bush was captain of the Yale baseball team).

But what I will forever fondly remember is what happened after the program had ended. The president came over to me, looked me directly in the eye and extended his hand and said, “Thank you for the nice job on the speech,” and “Thank you for your kind words.”

What made these brief moments even more memorable was that you could see how genuine, gracious and sincere President Bush was in thanking you and interacting with everyone he met that day. A few weeks later, I received a letter from him in part stating, “Although there isn’t too much I miss of my Washington days, the energy and excitement of that crowd there in Milton certainly made me reminisce. The 12th was a special day for me and you have my sincere appreciation for all you did to make it happen.”

In the late spring of 2018, as register of deeds in Norfolk County, my office put together a book commemorating the registry’s 225th anniversary, and included in it were pages on each of the notable land records, along with a narrative of the four United States presidents born in Norfolk County.

The registry sent a copy of the book to President Bush’s summer home and to his presidential library in College Station, Texas. We got a nice letter back from President Bush’s library thanking us for our thoughtful gift. You can see from the graciousness of the library’s correspondence that they learnt the same instilled values that the president had learned from his own mother more than 94 years ago at the house on Adams Street in Milton.

Since his death, people have asked me what it was like to meet President Bush. I tell them, “It was great to meet a president, but it was even greater to meet the person behind the office.”

Around the Real Estate Block: Canton property sales totaled 54 for November 2018. The average property sale price (including residential and commercial) for November was $1,774,867. This figure was impacted by a $36.5 million apartment complex sale recorded on November 30. There were 42 Homestead filings and zero foreclosure deeds filed against Canton properties for the month of November.

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