Nancy Reid holds a unique place in Abington cultural history.
“I believe she’s an Abington music icon and she’s never played a note in a band or sung in a choir,” said Jan Prall, a longtime friend.
Reid, who was the driving force behind the construction of the Catherine and Joseph Nisby Bandstand and then served as the longtime coordinator of the town’s popular summer concert series, announced recently she’s ready to just sit and listen to the music on Sunday evenings.
What she didn’t know was that the meeting was packed with friends and town officials to see her receive the “Abington’s Best” award, recognizing her for all her contributions dating back to her years volunteering with the Abington Music Parents in the late 70s.
“It’s been such a pleasure and I’m so proud of what we’ve supported and grown,” she told the Abington Select Board Monday night.
Reid attended the meeting to officially hand in her resignation and ask the Select Board to expand her Summer Concert Committee from four members to five.
“Nancy has been a volunteer in the community as long as I can remember,” Select Board Chairman Kevin Donovan told the crowd before reading a resolution from the board.
“She is Abington’s best. There’s not a question about that. By far,” said Dr. Peter McDonald, who has served on the Abington Summer Concert Committee alongside Reid for two decades.
“I can’t say enough nice things about her.
She doesn’t have a bad bone in her body.”
Reid started as a music parent, helping chaperone band trips when her sons, Ken and Jim. Ken went on to become a music professor at UMass-Lowell and has played with the Boston Pops.
When Michael Smith and Joyce Harrington started the Abington Community Band in 1997, Reid was a regular attendee at their concerts on the lawn in front of the old Abington High School.
“She came to me two or three years after doing this, and she said, ‘You guys need a bandstand to play in,'” recalled McDonald, who plays trumpet in the community band.
The subsequent bandstand committee considered multiple locations around town for a structure, but when work began on what is now Reilly Field, they noticed the natural slope toward the woodline in the front corner of the property, and secured it as part of the project.
Reid told the crowd Monday night she is happy the committee didn’t build a traditional “fancy-schmancy” bandstand like those that dot town greens across New England.
“It’s very simple, but it holds 65 people because it was built for the Abington Community Band,” she said.
There was just one problem.
“So then the Abington Community Band had its own bandstand but we really couldn’t play more than a couple concerts per summer,” McDonald said. “[Reid] said, ‘Hey, let’s start a summer community concert series.”
For 20 years now, the Abington Summer Concert Committee has produced a weekly lineup of bands and musical acts that draw a sizeable crowd each Sunday night.
“In the early days, we used to pray for 300 people to come and make it worthwhile,” Reid said. “Now we’re averaging 7-800 and sometimes over 1,200. So I think we’re a success.”
Prall, who has also served on the committee alongside Reid and McDonald for years, said Reid used to oversee every facet of the series, from booking acts to making the programs to securing the checks for the acts to ensuring the facilities were clean. For many years, her husband, Curt, was by her side at every step.
“She has been there every night for 20 years,” said Prall. “It was her and her beloved husband.
“She really takes it personally with everything she does and everything she does she does at 100 percent.”
In addressing the crowd Monday night, Reid acknowledged that challenges around coordinating this past series convinced her it was time to step back. Multiple weeks had to be moved indoors or were marred because of bad weather. And problems with the senior center van, which ferries concert goers from the high school lots to the field, added thousands in unexpected costs.
Reid said she has a whole folder in her house with materials explaining why music is important.
“Music speaks when words cannot, so I won’t say anything more,” she told the crowd.
Then she smiled and added: “But if anyone wants to make a donation…”