Carlyle and Kay Thomas Papers
Carlyle W. Thomas
Carlyle W. Thomas (1912-1996) was born in Connecticut but raised in Swampscott, Massachusetts. He attended Swampscott and Lynn schools and graduated from Tilton Academy in New Hampshire. He spent a year at MIT and received a degree from Boston University's School of Business Administration in 1933. He was a captain in the Army Air Corp and served during World War II.
Carlyle spent most of his career at the United Shoe Machinery Corporation in Beverly, where he worked in design and quality control and was a statistician/economic analyst.
In the early 1940s he married his childhood sweetheart Catherine Tilden, also of Swampscott. They moved to Boxford in 1951 to live on Baldpate Road, where they pursued their mutual interest of gardening, bird watching and raising dogs.
In 1966 Carlyle embarked on a long period of public service by serving on the following boards and committees: Finance Committee, 1966-1971; Selectmen, 1972-1977; Board of Appeals, 1978-1996. He also was on the Committee to Purchase Wildcat, 1974, and was a member of the Boxford Housing Partnership Committee, 1988-1995.
Not only did Carlyle serve on these boards, but he also kept informed on all the town's business by attending Planning Board meetings and other committee meetings on a regular basis. His amazing memory and passion for details enabled him to act as a kind of watchdog over town affairs by reminding different boards and officials of issues and decisions made years before that pertained to current problems and cases. He kept all the boards on their toes much to the delight of many and ultimately to the benefit of the town.
In 1995 the Selectmen honored Carlyle by naming the month of December "Carlyle W. Thomas Month" in recognition of his long years of service and many contributions to the town. He died February 20, 1996.
Catherine (Tilden) Thomas
Catherine (Tilden) Thomas (1914-1996) was born in Boston and raised in Swampscott. She graduated from Swampscott High School and then from the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in Boston.
She went to work as a legal secretary to attorney Charles P. Curtis, Jr. of the law firm Choate, Hall & Stewart. She also was personal secretary to the Countess Rosalind Wood Guardavassi in Italy for two years. Returning to the United States she went to work for the State Department in Washington, D.C. during World War II.
Known to her friends as "Kay", she married her childhood sweetheart Carlyle W. Thomas in the early 1940s. They moved to Boxford in 1951 to live on Baldpate Road where they pursued their mutual interests of bird watching, gardening and raising dogs.
Kay was a member of the Boxford Conservation Commission from 1964-1968. She was dedicated to the Boxford libraries and served as a library trustee of the Boxford Town Libraries from 1964-1979. She also belonged to the Boxford Village Garden Club and the North Shore Kennel Club.
In 1985 she co-authored with Barbara Perley a short history of the town, prepared for the town's 300th anniversary, entitled Town of Boxford Massachusetts 1685-1985: a Fragment of History.
Kay's delightfully whimsical sense of humor and her generosity towards others endeared her to many people in Boxford.
Box 1 - Boxford, MA
Boundaries
Bridges
Bylaws
Camps - North Bennett Street Industrial School - deed
Churches - A Church Extension Study, 1960
Elections
History
Housing - Numbers
Ingaldsby Farm
Johnson Memorial Field
Maps
Open Space
Organizations
American Legion
Athletic Association
Bicentennial Commission
Boxford Historical Society
Boxford / Topsfield League of Women Voters
Boxford Trails Association (BTA)
Boxford Village Garden Club
Council on Aging
Tri-Town Council
Recycle
Roads
Sanitary Landfill
Box 2 - Boxford, MA
Schools - Elementary
Schools - Masconomet
Schools - North Shore Regional Vocational
Schools - Pamphlets
Taxes
Town Buildings
Town Charter
Town Committees
Boxford Citizens Recycling Study, 1978
Capital budgeting, 1970
Growth Policy, 1970s
Land Bank, 1984
Mosquito Control Study, 1964
Open Space Planning, 1988
Recreation Committee, 1960
Town Engineer Study, 1970
Town Facilities, 1968
Town Hall Study, 1968
Town Hall
Town Meetings
Box 3 - Boxford, MA
Town Officials - Building Inspector
Town Officials - Conservation Commission
Town Officials - Conservation Commission - Kaiter case
Town Officials - Department of Public Works (DPW)
Town Officials - Fire Department - Report of Defenses, 1973
Town Officials - Fire and Communications - Miscellaneous
Town Officials - Planning Board - Rules and Regulations Governing the Subdivision of Land, Boxford, Mass., June 30, 1981
Town Officials - Police Department
Town Officials - Selectmen - Behrens, Donald
Town Officials - Selectmen - Bolton, Gaines
Town Officials - Selectmen - Killam, Charles
Town Officials - Selectmen - Race, Ruth
Town Officials - Selectmen - Thomas, Carlyle
Trees
United States Postal Service (USPS)
Wildlife
Boxes 4-5 - Housing
Andrews Farm
Box 6 - Housing
Affordable Housing
Baldpate Project
Boxford Crossing
Boxford Housing Partnership
Four Mile Village
Box 7 - Libraries
Boxford Public Library
Auction and Golden Tea for Miss Perley
Bylaws
Committees - Book
Committees - House & Garden
Friends
Incorporation
Programs
Survey Report, 1965
Trustees - Correspondence
Trustees - Reports
Trustees - Miscellaneous
West Boxford
Other
Box 8 - Zoning Board of Appeals
Applications for Variances
Minutes of Meetings, 1984-1989
Flood Plain Zoning
Matses Appeal
Box 9 - Personal Papers
Correspondence
Letters to Kay from Carlyle
Elizabeth R. Choate Will
Marie Thomas Peaslee Estate
Diaries, 1977-1994
Membership cards - Selectmen’s Association & Sheriff’s Association
Miscellaneous
Box 10 - Personal Papers
Cookbook
Magazines and Map of Rome
Massachusetts Selectmen’s Handbooks
United Shoe Machinery Papers