DPW Employee Leaves a Lasting Legacy

By Holly Camero, Belmont Voice correspondent

Gino Villa may have looked tough, but those who knew him say he was a real softie.

Villa, who was a mason for the Belmont Department of Public Works for over 20 years, died March 19.

“I think people saw right through him. He’s very sensitive,” said Christine Villa, his wife of nearly 44 years. “[People] might not have seen that with that tough-looking face of his.”

Christine said Villa loved his job and looked forward to helping the Garden Club every year.

“I’m a little surprised at the impact he left in Belmont,” she said.

Going the ‘extra mile’

Glen Gill, who worked with Villa for 20 years, said he will miss “having him around.”

“He was a good guy,” he said. “He really cared about people.”

Villa always went the “extra mile” for the town, whether fixing a sidewalk or a sewer line.

“He would go above and beyond, especially for an elderly citizen,” Gill said. “He wanted to make sure we left them in a better place than we found them.”

Gill, 25 years younger than Villa, said Villa was “like a dad” to him.

“We were just really close. I learned a lot from him,” he said. “We spent a lot of time together at work.”

Somehow, Gill said that Villa made work more fun — even when they spent 25 to 35 hours plowing the streets during a snowstorm.

Mike Santoro, retired assistant DPW director and current consultant and tree warden for Belmont, said he was one of the managers who initially hired Villa on Nov. 7, 2000. He recalled the interview as “one of the best … [he’s] had in his career. It was like I was talking with a friend of mine.”

Over the years, Santoro came to think of Villa as more of a friend than a coworker, and the two often shared stories about their children.

Villa was well respected by fellow workers and residents, too. Residents would often request Villa when they needed help.

“I think when he went to those people’s houses, he just made them feel comfortable,” said Santoro.

After the fact, Villa would always check in with Santoro to ask if everything was OK at the resident’s home.

“He was a very caring person. He never broadcasted that, but he really was,” said Santoro.

The feeling was mutual. Villa drove the same plow truck for 20 years, and when he died, his co-workers fixed it up — adding a touch of paint and some flags — and Gill drove it during the funeral procession in Villa’s honor.

“As long as I’ve worked here, he’s the only person that has driven that truck,” said Gill.

A ‘True Public Servant’

Villa and Christine met in 1976 through a mutual friend –— she was 16, he was 17.

Christine recalled that she initially thought he was too tough for her and “not my type.” Shortly after they met, she was scheduled for an appendectomy, and Villa wanted to visit her in the hospital. She told her friend she didn’t want to see him at the hospital, so he visited her when she was back home when her parents were home.

“So, they always liked him for that,” Christine said.

Four years later, in 1980, the couple were married and had two daughters. They lived in Billerica for 21 years.

Santoro said Villa was a real outdoorsman. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and loved being outside, no matter the weather.

But nothing made Villa happier than being with his family and playing with his three grandchildren — a 15-year-old grandson and two granddaughters, ages three and 13, said Christine.

“He was a family man,” she said.

Villa will be “very hard to replace,” Santoro said.

“He was a true public servant, no question about it,” Santoro said. “I will miss him dearly, and the town will miss him dearly.”