Irish Ecstasy

Locals got a three-day head start on the annual homage to the patron saint of the Emerald Isle Friday morning when Boston Police Gaelic Column Pipes and Drum let out a skirl and marched from Blackburn Hall to downtown as town dignitaries and Walpole High's marching band followed.

At the end of the 20-minute parade, participants boarded a special St. Patrick's Day trolley for a ride to Christina's on Rte. 1 in Foxborough where they ate, drank and feted Dave Thornton, the man the Friends of St. Patrick named their Person of the Year.

More than 500 people gathered at the restaurant for the Walpole-based charity's annual afternoon of food and music that also included a raffle and auction in addition to honoring Thornton.

Local attorney and master of ceremonies Jim Brady introduced Thornton as someone who, just as St. Patrick did, performs "God's work on earth."

Then the man himself, who insists he's just an "average Joe," took the stage and began with a promise. "I'll be brief and I'll be gone," he said, quoting St. Patrick.

He thanked everyone in the crowd, and said he wanted to share his award with everyone who repeatedly gives to the town "that has given us so much."

"I share this day with all of you and I love every one of you," he said. In particular, he thanked his wife, Terri, who appeared to tear up as he talked.

Speaking afterward, Terri Thornton said when she and her husband moved to Walpole 23 years ago, he was initially reluctant to help out with her various charitable endeavors. But "little by little," she said, he began to take part more and more.

Her husband came to epitomize the spirit that if everybody does a little, nobody has to do a lot, she said. He's got "great ideas," he's a stickler for details, and he "brings people together," she said.

"You always need one person like that," she said. "That's what makes it run."

Per tradition, the friends split $5,000 between two charities of Thornton's choosing: The Walpole Scholarship Foundation and The Walpole American Legion Baseball Program.

"It's going to buy a lot of baseballs," said Ralph White, accepting the gift on behalf of the latter group.

Thornton had an award of his own to present. He and his family had arranged for a broad leaf ash tree to be planted in western Ireland in honor of the good deeds of The Friends of St. Patrick's. It's planted in the Kylemore Woods, next to Kylemore Abbey, he said.

Ultimately, he'd like to visit the spot with all of his friends from the organization. Then they could gather around the tree and share a Guinness, or two, he said.

Thornton asked John D. Murphy, a local businessman and founding member of the Friends, to come to the podium to accept the "permanent memorial" to the group's charitable work.

After accepting the framed certificate, Murphy stood off to the side of the room. A raffle of donated items began; Thornton had taken his seat and someone else was at the podium.

"When we started this 22 years ago, I never thought it would get this big," Murphy said.

The festivities began with the parade, which took over downtown Walpole for around 20 minutes.

At just after 11 a.m., the sun was shining, green-clad people gathered on the sidewalks, and the blinking Walpole Cooperative Bank sign said it was 51 degrees.

The parade ended on Rte. 1A in the center of town. The Walpole High School Band and the Boston Police pipe and drum group lined up to play. Parade participants and bystanders stood at attention for the National Anthem.

Then "Amazing Grace" was played on the pipes of the kilted Boston marching band.

At Christina's two hours after, Brady asked for some more music. Once again a gathered crowd hushed, as Dover resident Al Colella turned from the microphone to the band, and asked them to play their instruments in B-flat.

The Rob Adams Band began playing softly in the background and Colella, as he has done for the past 22 years at this annual celebration and fundraiser, sang "Danny Boy."

Near the end, the instruments fell away and it was just Colella, singing the old Irish song.