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If there were prizes for volunteering, Allan Eyden would win a gold medal. He’s not only the chair of the town’s Wildwood Cemetery Advisory Committee, but he helped start Town Day and the Pan-Mass Challenge.
Eyden has lived in Winchester since he was 5 years old, and decided to join the town’s cemetery advisory committee.
“It’s a town treasure,” he says. “It’s actually the second cemetery in town. The first was at the Congregational Church, but when Wildwood Cemetery was opened, the bodies were moved. You can see the oldest headstones at Wildwood are older than the cemetery.”
The cemetery is a garden cemetery, a term invented when Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was opened.
Eyden is looking for a new committee member and thinks anyone interested in history or with loved ones buried in the cemetery might be interested in joining.
Then there’s Town Day. It’s been held each June since 1974 and Eyden co-chairs the committee, along with Winchester resident Connie Pappas.
“We used to have a local company that set up the canopies and tables, but when they left town, we looked for another sponsor,” says Eyden.
Fortunately, Gentle Giant Movers had just opened on McKay Avenue and its director, Tom O’Gorman, was willing to store the equipment on the company property. But they don’t do set-up, according to Eyden.
“So we reached out to the high school coaches and the track and field team members volunteered to set up the tents and tables at 4 a.m.,” he says. “We feed the kids breakfast at the Swanton St. Diner and we donate to the team.”
If you’ve ever watched Winchester Community Access & Media (WinCAM), you’ve seen more of Eyden’s handiwork. Not only is he WinCAM’s director and treasurer (its annual budget is $450,000), he’s also the broadcast announcer for Town Meeting.
Eyden used to do a news program, News 19, and the old videotapes are being converted to digital by another town helper, Peter Engeldrum.
But that’s not all. He also helped get the Pan-Mass Challenge started. The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country, Eyden says.
“The money goes to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,” he explains. “It’s a bike-a-thon where riders cross the Commonwealth through 47 communities from Sturbridge to Provincetown.”
Eyden is the race’s road coordinator, getting help from the local police and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Back in 1980, there were 400 riders,” Eyden says. “Now there are about 6,000.”
And he notes that PMC has collected over $1 billion.
“Every penny goes to Dana-Farber,” he says.
The Wagon Wheel Road resident may just be looking for volunteers for any one of his projects, so readers should be warned!
