Town mourns passing of Tony Andreotti

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch presents a flag to Tony Andreotti during the town’s Memorial Day ceremony in 2015.

Town mourns passing of beloved veterans agent

Tomorrow morning at St. Mary’s Cemetery, the sound of “Taps” will ring through the air as Anthony Andreotti, a beloved local figure and hero if there ever was one, receives his final military honors.

An Army veteran of Korea, Andreotti passed away Sunday at St. Joseph’s Manor in Brockton following a period of declining health.

A nearly lifelong resident and 1951 CHS graduate, the man everybody knew as “Tony” was a one-term Canton selectman, a former town treasurer, and a fixture for years in various youth sports organizations. But he was best known, both locally and beyond, as a passionate advocate for veterans and their families through his role as veterans services officer — a position he held for 20 years until his retirement in 2019.

“He took a department that was in turmoil and he turned it right around,” noted Select Board member John Connolly, a close friend of Andreotti’s. “When we offered him the job I made him two promises: I’ll never interfere and I’ll do my best to support you and help you get what you need. And Tony, thankfully, accepted and the town is so much better for it.”

Excelling at both the big and small parts of the job, Andreotti became a force in the world of veterans affairs and was widely celebrated for his compassion, creativity, and unyielding commitment to telling veterans’ stories — driven by a personal mission to ensure that they would never be forgotten.

U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch, an ardent supporter and frequent guest at local veterans’ events, made mention of this “relentless pursuit” in a resolution that was added to the official Congressional Record in 2020.

Calling Andreotti arguably the “most effective and most dedicated veterans agent” in Massachusetts, if not the country, Lynch noted that, “Tony created the Veterans’ Memorial Park at Canton Corner Cemetery, consolidating veterans’ monuments dispersed throughout Canton into one location. Under Tony’s leadership, Canton established a Legion Walk of Honor within the park, complete with bricks engraved with the names of the 77 residents who died while serving our country during the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War.

“Tony also founded the Fallen Heroes Street Sign Program, a local initiative honoring the same 77 residents who made the ultimate sacrifice. Furthermore, Tony established a Funeral Honor Guard which presides at veterans’ funerals throughout Massachusetts, and he worked tirelessly to ensure that Canton residents who left high school early to serve in the armed forces received their diplomas upon returning.”

Arafat Knight, the town of Canton’s current veterans agent, described Andreotti as a local “icon” whose “hard work and dedication to the veterans in the community will never be forgotten.”

“I was fortunate enough to get to know him when I took over as the veterans agent,” said Knight. “In this short timeframe, his knowledge was instrumental in me learning what he accomplished and his vision going forward. He always had a great smile when I saw him, and he always spoke about his boys and how proud he was of them.”

Bob Maffie, a lifelong resident who became close with Andreotti after assisting him with his Fallen Heroes street sign project, said Andreotti was one of the kindest, ablest, and hardest working men he has ever known.

“You hear that when someone passes away, ‘Oh, he’s such a great guy,’” said Maffie. “But with Tony it was true. I honestly don’t know anybody better than him.”

Tony Andreotti

Maffie said Andreotti had asked him several years ago to help replace the American flags on each of the memorial street signs, and Maffie has done it twice a year ever since.

“I actually did the flags at his sign (Andreotti Way) yesterday in honor of him, and I’m going to start doing the signs on Washington Street tonight so they all look nice for his services,” Maffie said. “For me, it’s like an appointment and it’s my small way of giving back.”

Maffie said it was largely the work that Tony did in the town that inspired him to collect donations on behalf of veterans at his birthday celebration a few years ago. He ended up raising more than $4,000, and Andreotti cried when he received the check.

“He always wore his emotions on his sleeve,” noted Connolly. “And that’s not a bad thing — I’m the same way. Whenever I would see him at gatherings he would come up and give me a hug and a kiss. That was Tony — it was always a hug and a kiss.”

Connolly said that Andreotti “bled Canton green” and did so much work behind the scenes that most people are not even aware of, whether it was visiting a widow in distress or helping a struggling family pay their rent.

“Everything he did was not for him; it was for the veterans,” said Connolly. “Tony was one of a kind, a wonderful man.”

Andreotti was also hailed as a trailblazer, and in his weekly “Agent’s Corner” column that appeared for years in this newspaper, he wrote boldly and with conviction about topics that were often avoided in military circles.

In one column, which appeared in a May 2009 issue, Andreotti wrote about a fighter pilot with a “sterling combat record” who was discharged for being gay. “He did not disrupt unit cohesion or good order,” Andreotti wrote. “His discharge comes two years before he would have been able to take a 20-year retirement. He has nine Air Medals, including one for valor for assaulting an Iraqi ambush position while under heavy anti-aircraft fire during the first days of the invasion. The U.S. Military needs a new policy; we are losing too many good men and women.”

He also wrote on several occasions about military sexual trauma, emphasizing that it was an issue for men as well as women. “Many veterans have never discussed the incident or their medical or psychological condition with anyone,” he noted. “Yet these women and men know that they have not felt the same since the trauma occurred.”

On women veterans, Andreotti noted that they deserved equal treatment and respect, and he made it clear that they were “entitled to all of the benefits available to male veterans,” ranging from medical care to survivors’ benefits.

Beth Erickson, the longtime publisher of the Canton Citizen and another close friend of Andreotti’s, noted that he was an ardent supporter of the newspaper and one of the kindest and most generous people she has ever known.

Still, said Erickson, even in his last months, Andreotti was worried that “he had not done enough — that there was still something he had not accomplished, a veteran he had not helped, a veteran’s spouse he had not reached out to.”

“One of the last times we spoke, he was very agitated — afraid that he had missed something,” said Erickson. “I held his hand and told him that he was George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life and that his impact on the town of Canton was immeasurable and that he would never be forgotten. Then I told him to close his eyes and think of the thousands of people whose lives were so much better because Tony Andreotti had been born. I am happy to say that I was one of them. Rest in peace, my friend.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Apr 7 2022. Filed under Featured Content. Both comments and pings are currently closed.