Lloyd Greene kept slice of Chelmsford history from fading away
| By Marie Donovan, Sun Correspondent Updated: 07/24/2011 10:25:55 AM EDT CHELMSFORD — When he died last week at age 93, Lloyd C. Greene Jr. was the town’s oldest World War II veteran. Greene was just as famous for his decades long labor of love to restore a historic mill complex that once belonged to relatives of two of the nation’s earliest patriots, John and John Q. Adams. “Back in 1655, to become a town, you needed a minister, you needed a saw mill and you needed a grist mill,” said Dennis Ready, a Historic District Commission member and former selectman who hosts “Town Talk” on local cable access. The settlers of what was to become Chelmsford already had a Unitarian minister, so one Samuel Adams — not the famous historical figure but a relative of John and John Q. — set about building mills, Ready said. Three centuries after the town received its charter, Greene was looking all across Greater Boston for a unique historical property where he could hang his hat and run his audio-visual equipment manufacturing company. He stumbled upon the Mill Road complex in 1954. The complex had crumbled and was a pile of rocks. “There was a cellar hole where the house was,” said George Ripsom, a longtime friend and neighbor who is executor of Greene’s estate. Greene painstakingly restored the dam and saw and grist mills there, along with a waterfall, taking great care to construct each part of the property with strict adherence to historical standards. “He was just a remarkable person. He came from rather humble beginnings and did a lot and was very dedicated to the mill stream and the town of Chelmsford,” said Greene’s sister, Bonnie Eggleston of Rye, N.H. “The house he was living in, he built. He didn’t do anything quickly; the buildings were all designed to look like old structures,” said Chelmsford Historical Society President Becky Warren, whose great-grandfather once owned the same property and operated an ice cutting business there. Greene rose at dawn every day until he fell ill about a year ago, “He was still out there working, he worked outdoors until about 2:30 in the afternoon and he was fully engaged,” Ripsom said. Greene made sure to credit the craftsmen and laborers who helped him restore the mill complex. “He would have local people help him on these projects and he had a wonderful plaque made that named every person involved,” Warren said. Eventually, Greene generated hydroelectric power on the property and sell it commercially. “He installed two generating units. One of them was the mill wheel. He also installed a German-built thundershot turbine,” Ripsom said. In 2004, The Historical Society presented Greene with its Guardian Award for his dedicated work in preserving the Millstream Complex. Greene’s dedication to the town’s history and the legacy of the local branch of the Adams clan extended elsewhere; he was a former trustee of the Old Garrison House and commissioned a monument honoring Adams family members who served their country at the Pine Ridge Cemetery. Lloyd Charlton Greene Jr. was born Oct. 29, 1917 in Boston to Maryanne Delphine Cote and Lloyd C. Greene, a pioneer in transatlantic radio. After graduation from Brockton High School, he enlisted in the National Guard and eventually rose to the position of senior warrant officer. After leaving the service when the war ended, Greene set up an appliance sales business in Newton Corner, eventually expanding his products to AV equipment that he sold to area schools and libraries. At the time he found the Adams complex, Greene’s fascination with dams, water wheels and mills had already led to a years long quest for just such a property. Ripsom is working to appoint a board of directors to serve on The Mill Stream Foundation, which Greene requested be set up as a means of preserving the property for future generations to enjoy. Greene is survived by Eggleston, sister Frances Pecara of North Billerica and several nieces and nephews. The Rev. Gary Moore will officiate a memorial service with full military honors for Greene in Pine Ridge Cemetery tomorrow at 11 a.m., at the Mill Stream Memorial. |
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