Hello, I’m Roger Lawrence.
Even if we haven’t met, you probably know who I am. I’m the Guy with the Dog. You’ll have seen me often in town or on the trail with Loki, my big fluffy German Shepherd, who waits politely at crosswalks and loves everyone he meets.
My family moved to here in 1958. As a small child I walked across this town every day to the elementary schools that give School Street its name: the Mitchell School, the Grant School, and the Southworth School. They are gone now, but the values I learned early in them are not - values of community, honesty and respect.
I graduated from Mt. Greylock High School and went out into the world to make my way, as the young do. I entered the building trades, and after acquiring the requisite skills became a builder in my own right. After some years, wanting more from my craft, I put myself through architecture school, earning both bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees, then worked in the architectural profession. But I never forgot the satisfaction of working with tools I hold in my own hands. I’m a guy who sleeps better at night when I have had a little sawdust under my fingernails. So I hung out my shingle and became a designer/builder. I got to listen to people, helped them convert their dreams into plans, and then turn those plans into a reality built out of wood, steel and concrete.
So I have spent my adult life with a pencil in one hand and a hammer in the other.
Twenty five years ago I returned to Williamstown to make a gift to my own mother - end of life care, for she who had given me life many years before. I intended to do what I came for, and then move on in a year or two. But when the job was done - it was too late. I had fallen in love - twice: once with a beautiful woman I met here, and then a second time with my home town – all over again. By then I was old enough and wise enough to understand that both were irreplaceable. So I made my choice, bought a home and committed to spend the rest of my life here.
Some of you know me because I have worked with you. Others because I have attended most Planning and Select Board meetings for the past five years. If we haven’t met yet, I’m looking forward to getting to know you.