Parting Ways After 25 Years of Service

Wednesday marks the first of a new month in Westwood, but it will also be the first day Ellen Hurley will not be heading to work at . 

Hurley, who has been serving at Town Hall for 25 years, is retiring effective Feb. 1. She was among two other Westwood officials for her dedicated service. She'll be stepping down from her role as the town's Executive Assistant, to which she was promoted two years ago from the role of Procurement Agent.

"It's a great place to work," Hurley said. "It's a very friendly place to work. You make a lot of friends here, a lot of long-lasting friends. I also had a great boss to work for."

That boss is Town Administrator Mike Jaillet, who, for his part, has been serving for 24 years. As such, saying goodbye to his colleague will not come easy.

"It's been a pleasure to work with her," Jaillet said. "She's a valued member of the staff in this office. It's always tough, personally for me, because she's been here the full time I've been here; she's literally the only one left that I've been with in this office the whole time. So that's always a tough thing."

And Jaillet isn't the only one sad to see Hurley go. Christine McCarthy, Westwood's Town Service Representative, has been working alongside Hurley for years, and said the experience has been nothing short of educational, as well as entertaining. 

"It's been amazing and educating working with Ellen," McCarthy said. "She is the go-to person for everything. Our biggest running joke is that when Ellen leaves, all the machines in Town Hall are going to break down because she's the only one who knows how to fix them whenever anything goes wrong. I've worked with her for a long time and I'm going to miss being able to talk to her every day."

The reference to technology isn't that far fetched - of all she's seen in 25 years, Hurley said technology has been the one factor that has significantly changed time and again. 

"When we were here [before], we didn't even have computers," she said, adding that she remembers the days of constant printing and carbon paper. 

Hurley is the wife of Richard Hurley, who served as a Westwood Police Sergeant before moving on to serve as the Medfield Police chief for a number of years. The two have lived in Westwood since 1976.  

As for what's next, Hurley, who turned 70 on Jan. 22, said she plans to take it one step at a time. 

"I think we're just going to hang out and see what's going to happen," she said. "I've got a lot of projects I want to do at home." 

Hurley will be honored at a retirement party with her colleagues on Friday at Raffael's in Walpole.