Woman Honored for Her 40+ Years Working for the City and Her Upcoming Retirement

The City Council Chamber was packed with people recently, not for a government meeting but to celebrate a woman who has dedicated nearly half a century working for the Town (now City) of Watertown.

Jan. 28 will be Ingrid Marchesano’s final day working for the City of Watertown. Before she left, on Dec. 20, a celebration breakfast was held before her retirement. Marchesano has worked in the Department of Community Development and Planning for the last 40 years, but she began her time in Town Hall before that.

“It’s actually more than that because I was working when my daughter was a year and a half, and then I quit, and then I came back,” said Marchesano, who said the total time working for the City is around 48 or 49 years.

Marchesano grew up in Germany and moved to the United States in 1970, shortly after her husband, Vincenzo, moved to the country. Vincenzo had an uncle who was born in New Jersey and moved to Watertown where he worked as a tailor, so they moved to town, too.

“I love Watertown,” she said. “I love it, I can’t get enough.”

The work in Community Development and Planning fit with her interests and training.

“I am a draftsman by profession. I went to engineering school, and I graduated after four years and so on,” she said. “It’s my kind of work.”

Her first position was a draftsperson for the Watertown Conservation Commission, beginning in 1975. Marchesano’s second stint with the Town began in 1984. She served on a number of committees assisting the Administration and the City Council on the Watertown Arsenal Development Committee, the Planning Board and the original Public Arts and Culture Committee.

Assistant City Manager for Community Development and Planning Steve Magoon recalled first being introduced to Marchesano by longtime-Town Manager Michael Driscoll.

“She’s the first person I met, and she said, ‘You are so lucky. You’ve got the best group of people working with you here, and also you’re gonna love it,'” Magoon said. “And that was true then, and has been true ever since. It’s been a real pleasure working with everybody.”

While there have been many changes in the department, Magoo said Marchesano has been the one constant.

“She’s done a wonderful job, and has given a tremendous amount of this community that she calls home and really cares about, and it’s been an amazing contribution to the City and making us be able to do our jobs, as well,” Magoon said.

City Manager George Proakis said Marchesano has been an asset in City Hall and the community.

“There are very few people who have the combination of dedication and longevity,” he said. “I appreciate all the work that she has done, and all of her commitment to Watertown.”

During the celebration, City Council President Mark Sideris read a proclamation from the Council honoring Marchesano, and also gave his personal thanks.

“We can’t find too many people that stay around in a job this long. You’ve done a great job for us,” Sideris said. “When I first got on the Council, you were always available to help someone that needed some information or something that was going on in the community. Your institutional knowledge is going to be missed greatly. And we, you know what you’ve done for me, personally and others is to be applauded.”

In her retirement, Marchesano plans to spend more time with her family: her daughter Angela and her husband Mark, son John and his wife Amy, and her six grandchildren — Brady, Hannah, Zara, Enzo, Annabelle, and Dante.