To my fellow citizens:

My husband and I came to Natick over fifty years ago and bought our first house, a seven-year-old ranch in Wethersfield. We paid $21,500 for it, a small fortune for us in those days. We planned to stay only five years or so, until we could afford to start building our dream house in another town. But when the five years were up, we looked at one another and realized that we’d fallen in love with Natick, that we’d put down roots here, and that we didn’t want to leave.

We’re still living in that same house. It’s seen some changes, to be sure. Over the years we turned the garage into a playroom for our kids, then into a guest room to lure them back when they grew up and moved away. We added a dining room and a study, dug up the underground oil tank, and planted a lot of trees and flowers. There’ve been a couple of new roofs, a bunch of new doors and windows and a lot of paint, too, but at the core it’s still the same home we bought half a century ago.

The ‘roots’ that kept us from moving out of Natick 45 years ago are still there, deeper and stronger than ever. Natick has been an integral part of my life from very early on, and even though some of those born in town might still think of me as an outsider, I think of Natick as home, and of my fellow citizens as extended family.

Over the years I’ve served you as a Town Meeting Member, a Selectman and on over a dozen town- and state-wide committees. I’d be honored to serve you again, this time as a member of the Natick Housing Authority.

Please VOTE FOR ERICA BALL FOR NATICK HOUSING AUTHORITY at the Natick Local Election on TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010*.

Sincerely,

* You can find a brief account of how Tip O’Neil learned that you must ask for people’s votes at http://dennisjgallagher.blogspot.com/2009/10/tip-oneill.html