LEXINGTON — With early spring snow falling steadily on their dress uniforms, retired Lexington Fire Department Lts. Bob Walton and Mike Fulton laid a wreath of red roses and white daisies and Fuji mums at the base of the fire department’s flagpole to remember state Senator. Kenneth Donnelly on Monday, April 2, the one-year anniversary of his death.
The pair had exited the Lexington Fire Department headquarters garage out a fire truck-sized door. Inside, approximately 50 people, including state Sen. Cindy Friedman, state Rep. Jay Kaufman, Lexington’s Town Manager Carl Valente and the town’s five selectmen, were on hand for the ceremony.
“I miss him,” said Friedman. Friedman, elected to fill Donnelly’s seat representing the 4th Middlesex District last summer, was as the late senator’s chief of staff. “I think about Ken every day,” she said, “he’s ever-present.” Friedman added that Donnelly’s legacy guides her as she faces tough legislative decisions. She said that Donnelly had first shown courage as a firefighter.