Cook on Concord: Bob Baines was a great friend

Former Manchester mayor and West High principal made a lasting impact in the city

Brad Cook

In the early 1990s, the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce created a committee to study city government in the state’s largest city. After a year of work, the committee published its report, which was presented to Mayor Ray Wieczorek and the Board of Aldermen.

One of the recommendations of the report was the creation of a Charter Commission to propose modernization of city government. The report was adopted by the aldermen, and a charter commission was elected at the 1995 municipal election.

In addition to this writer, commission members included Toni Pappas, former mayor Bob Shaw, attorney Kathy Sullivan, commissioner John Stephens and West High principal Robert A. Baines, among others. I remember thinking at the first meeting, “what is a high school principal doing on a charter commission?” I had heard of Baines, but had never met him. After a few meetings, at which we seemed to hit it off, he invited me to his Rosemont Avenue home where he lived not far from his boyhood home.

Downstairs, I found Frank Sinatra posters on the wall and CDs being played, and Jack Daniels behind the famous “Bob’s Big Bad Bar.” I knew I liked this guy. That marked the beginning of what was to become a 30-year friendship that ended with Baines’ death in Boston on Jan. 23, of complications after open heart surgery.

The charter passed, I was elected an at-large school board member, and Baines went back to West. We stayed in touch and our families became friendly. In 1999, Bob told me he was planning to run for mayor, and I agreed to co-chair his campaign. He and his family walked the city, knocking on doors and meeting people, while he remained principal of West. He won the primary as one of two finalists, the other being Mayor Wieczorek. On election night, it became clear that Baines had been elected.

That was the first of his three election victories, and he was defeated in his quest for a fourth two-year term. While mayor, Fisher Cats stadium was planned and built, the SNHU Arena completed, and a $105 million capital improvement plan implemented to improve Manchester schools, among other accomplishments.

Bob Baines was a tireless worker, always trying to do good for kids in schools, getting to know them individually, and on scores of occasions, going out of his way to assure that a child in danger of losing his or her way, due to some personal crisis, got the support needed to succeed. As mayor, whether people agreed with him or not, they knew he was trying to do the right thing for his native city.

While sitting with his family remembering what needed to be included in Bob’s obituary, more and more things kept coming up. Keene State College music graduate, master’s degree, music teacher and department head at Alvern High, fine arts director, principal of West High School, Manchester school board member when still in his 20s, and again at the end of his life. In addition, president of Chester College after he was mayor, executive and board member at Southern New Hampshire University, Keene State alumni representative to the USNH board of trustees and trustee of the Community College System.

While at West, he brought the Community of Caring program of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation to the school. In doing so, he met Eunice Kennedy Schriver, head of the foundation, who invited him to become its interim director for a year, and he took a leave of absence from West to do so.

Bob Baines never was afraid to try. He was a fitting example of Teddy Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” who dared to do things, rather than just criticize what others were doing. He was a key organizer of the Manchester Proud organization and Steam Ahead, both designed to improve education, after he was mayor.

Baines was a mentor to hundreds of young people, both his students and those who served on his staff in his various jobs, and many of them commented on his place in their lives after his death, in social media and at calling hours and his funeral. It was those he touched one at a time who were probably is most important public legacy.

It was obvious to all who knew Bob Baines, that his family was his most important legacy, in his eyes, and the most important thing in his life. After getting to know Bob, it was great to meet his sister Shirley, who worked tirelessly on his campaigns and would not tolerate any criticism of her brother, as well as his sister Sue and brother Al, and their families. Bob’s three children, and later his four grandsons, were the apple of his eye, and no one was more important to him than his partner of 51 years, his wife, Maureen.

He had his individual style, was emotional, worried easily and was human, like the rest of us. But considering his life and his loyal friendship, his was the life of a leader, not afraid to wear his emotions on his sleeve at times, but clearly a leader to appreciate, with accomplishments to remember.

And to his friends and family, he was a very important friend, whose loss hurts a lot. I am grateful to have known him.

Brad Cook is a Manchester attorney. The views expressed in this column are his own. He can be reached at bradfordcook01@gmail.com.