Newton’s new community services chief has devoted his life to the city
John Rice was 8 years old when his brother, James, was killed in the Vietnam War. James was 21 and just a few days shy of completing his 13-month deployment.
“He was supposed to be home in three days,” Rice said.
In the years that followed his brother’s death, Rice watched his parents grieve while still continuing on with their lives. Out of that experience, Rice said, he learned his most valuable life lesson, one that shaped him.
“My parents realized that the little things in life don’t bother you,” Rice said. “You focus on the bigger things in life.”
Rice carries that lesson into his new role in City Hall. After serving 10 years on the Newton City Council and two decades running the Hyde Community Center, Rice, now 66, stepped into a new role in the mayor’s office Jan. 1 as Newton’s chief of community services. He is responsible for coordinating community programming and partnerships across city departments including Parks and Recreation, the library and cultural services, and working across all 13 villages to support community organizations and listen to residents’ ideas or concerns.
Rice grew up in Newtonville, studied communication studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and returned to Newton after college.
“I’ve lived in Newton all my life,” he said.
Rice took after his father, who worked multiple jobs and was deeply involved in Newton when Rice was growing up. Rice volunteered for years at the Brigham Community House, served on the City Council, and worked a full-time sales job for the trade show industry before serving on the board of the Hyde Community Center for 20 years.
He said he would always do community service because he loved to do it. “And then it became a job,” Rice said.
By the time working the Hyde became his main job, Rice’s life was firmly rooted in Newton and shared with his wife, Bonnie. The two met in 1979, when they were both still in college.
Though they had both grown up in Newton, their paths had not crossed. “I met him on a bus,” Bonnie said. She had never taken a campus bus before, but she was late for a midterm and jumped on as it passed.
They married in 1984 and eventually bought a home in Newton Highlands, where they have lived since 1987 and raised two daughters. When the opportunity at the Hyde came along years later, John and Bonnie’s daughters—Jocelyn and Abigail (Abby)—were older and the couple had more time to give.
“It felt like something good,” Bonnie said, recalling her decision to leave a career as a financial analyst to work alongside John. Bonnie said she liked the idea of working in a job that actually benefited her own community.
And for 20 years, the job was shared between John and Bonnie. Bonnie handled scheduling, finances and the back-office operations, while John focused on the building, programming and partnerships across the city.
“It takes a lot of work running a community center,” John said. “Between me and Bonnie, it worked out really well.”
Janice Bourque, president of the Hyde Community Center, met Rice around 30 years ago after becoming active with the Newton Highlands Area Council.
“We found out we both supported the community and really wanted to make the Highlands the best it could be,” Bourque said. “We became friends.”
Bourque said Rice’s effectiveness comes from how he relates to people. “His activism in the community is just an extension of who John is as a person,” she said.
Rice said leaving his role at the Hyde was hard. “I envisioned that I’d be staying at the Hyde into my 80s.” But the opportunity, presented by Mayor Marc Laredo, allowed Rice to extend his life’s work across all 13 villages in Newton.
“It’s an enormous undertaking,” Rice said. But working as part of a bigger team, he added, is very rewarding.
Rice’s motivation to work remains unchanged.
“He loves it. He loves his community,” Bonnie said. “He’s always trying to get people to make connections and work together—that is actually who he is.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism.