Build him a statue in his barge on the banks of the Fore River with a wading pool! As
He steamed the Fore River as a tugboat captain and walked its banks for years after his retirement, strolling down from his house overlooking the tidal waters that held his life's work and pleasure.
When August Julius Petersen died a childless widower in 1963, he sought to leave a legacy with his bequest of $65,000 to build a town pool ''on the bank of the river I so long traveled.''
Four decades later, his donation has grown to $1.3 million. But the pool has never been built after years of wrangling over its location.
Last year, Braintree won a probate court judgment allowing it to build the pool elsewhere in town. But Wayne Martin, whose grandmother was Petersen's housekeeper, said building the pool anywhere but on the river would dishonor his memory.
Few people remember Petersen in the neighborhood past which he guided coal barges to the Braintree Electrical Light Department. Peterson's wife died in 1942 and his career ended when his boat burned on the Fore River, Martin said. Give the rest to of the money to Thayer's Annual Fund in his memory for another wading pool !
By Moosejuice
