Belden Gerald Bly Jr. (September 29, 1914 in

Everett, Massachusetts Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Everett was the last city in the Un ...

– November 3, 2006 in

Wakefield, Massachusetts Wakefield is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, incorporated in 1812 and located about north-northwest of Downtown Boston. Wakefield's population was 27,090 at the 2020 census. Wakefield offers ...

) was an American

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

for 16 terms from 1949 to 1980, representing

Saugus, Massachusetts Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. The population was 28,619 at the 2020 census. Saugus is known as the site of the first integrated iron works in North America. History Native Americans ...

. Bly was born in Everett and grew up in

Revere, Massachusetts Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately from Downtown Crossing, downtown Boston. Founded as North Chelsea in 1846, it was renamed in 1871 after the American Revolutionary War Patriot (American Re ...

. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1938. He received a master's degree in education from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in 1941 and a law degree from

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

in 1955. Bly was a

Rockefeller Republican The Rockefeller Republicans were members of the Republican Party (GOP) in the 1930s–1970s who held moderate-to- liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1959–1973) and Vice President of ...

; a

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

, but conservative on matters such as the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

and

national defense National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military attac ...

. In 1974, he championed the creation of a non-smoking section of the House. Bly served on the Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Aging. Bly also was a biology and practical law teacher, as well as a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

for the

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

teams at Saugus High School. Bly taught at the

New England School of Law New England Law , Boston (formerly New England School of Law) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Fina ...

until his retirement in 1979. The

Belden Bly Bridge Belden G. Bly Bridge originally known as the Fox Hill Bridge was built in 1912 and renamed in 1985 in honor of former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Belden Bly. At the time of its demolition, the bridge was the oldest canti ...

, the oldest

cantilever bridge A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beam (structure), beams; however, large cantilever ...

in the nation, which carries Route 107 over the

Saugus River The Saugus River is a river in Massachusetts. The river is long, drains a watershed of approximately , and passes through Wakefield, Lynnfield, Saugus, and Lynn as it meanders east and south from its source in Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield ...

was renamed after him in 1985. Bly kept a law office in Saugus and handled cases until his death in 2006. 1968 General Election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 11th Essex District *Belden Bly (R) - 6,059 (53.9%) *

Maurice Cunningham Maurice F. Cunningham was an American attorney, educator, and political figure who served as Town Manager of Saugus, Massachusetts from 1974 to 1976. Early life The son of Judge C. Carol Cunningham and Theresa I. (Conner) Cunningham, Cunningham gr ...

(D) - 5,188 (46.1%) 1972 General Election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 11th Essex District *Belden Bly (R) - 5,686 (48.0%) *James F. Reynolds, Jr. (D) - 3,819 (32.4%) *David A. Dwyer (I) - 2,319 (19.6%) 1974 General Election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 11th Essex District *Belden Bly (R) - 5,131 (55.8%) *John Gould (D) - 4,062 (44.2%) 1976 General Election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 11th Essex District *Belden Bly (R) - 6,644 (54.1%) *John Gould (D) - 5,129 (41.7%) *Pasquale Pignato (I) - 517 (4.2%) 1978 General Election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 9th Essex District *Belden Bly (R) - 6,961 (51.1%) *

Steven Angelo Steven V. Angelo (born June 8, 1952 in Somerville, Massachusetts) is a former state representative and Town Manager. Early life Angelo was elected to Town Meeting in 1971 while he was still in college. Following his graduation, Angelo worked as ...

(D) - 6,643 (48.8%)

References

External links

WHDH Obituary Boston Globe Obituary
* 1914 births 2006 deaths Politicians from Everett, Massachusetts People from Saugus, Massachusetts People from Revere, Massachusetts Dartmouth College alumni Boston University School of Education alumni Suffolk University Law School alumni Massachusetts lawyers 20th-century American educators Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub

See also

References

External links