​Meet Our Executive Committee
​

​Linda Dixon served for 20 years in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. An active volunteer for Lexington, she chairs the Monuments and Memorials Committee and serves on the Town Celebrations Committee and as a Town election officer. Linda served as Secretary to the Board of Trustees at Tufts University and before that spent 15 years as a market research consultant. She is a graduate of Tufts University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. A former President of the Tufts Alumni Association, she currently chairs the Gift Planning Committee for the University’s capital campaign.  

Edith Flynn (Emerita) is an internationally recognized criminologist with a focus on corrections, international criminal justice, and terrorism. She completed her Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD in Sociology at the University of Illinois and joined the faculty at Illinois in 1971. While there, she co-founded the National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Planning and Architecture.  Edith and her husband Pat, a highly decorated veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, moved to Lexington in 1973.  Edith joined the faculty at Northeastern University, retiring in 2003. She served for years as chair of the Public Safety Staffing Review Committee and as member of the Police Manual Policy Committee.   

Bill Kennedy graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Structural Engineering from Northeastern University. He received, through ROTC, a commission in the US Army Corps of Engineers and spent 28 years in the US Army Reserve. A fifty-year resident of Lexington, Bill has been a member of Town Meeting for 30 years and served a term as Selectman. He was a member of several volunteer committees and currently serves as a member of the Lexington Housing Assistance Board, which provides housing for low and moderate income families. In 2017, he was awarded the White Tricorn Hat Award for his active citizenship.

Gresh Lattimore earned his BA at the University of the South and a PhD in German affairs from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. He was commissioned at Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, and spent two years aboard the aircraft carrier USS CORAL SEA off Vietnam and one year instructing at the US Naval Academy. After chaplaincy training upon his retirement from 30 years of commercial banking, Gresh volunteers with the hospice unit of the Bedford VA Medical Center, serves on the Lexington Town Celebrations committee, chairs the alumni committee Advocates for Tufts ROTC, and is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord.  

Bob Lewis enjoys presenting talks on military history, and has presented several for the Lexington Veterans Association. Bob’s favorite talk takes advantage of his experience as a Navy pilot with the story of the pursuit of the German Battleship Bismarck by Royal Navy aircraft carrier-based torpedo bombers, which eventually scored a crippling hit on the Bismarck. After Navy active duty, Bob taught Junior High, then became a MITRE Engineer for 30 years which included many years at HQ U.S. Army Europe in Germany. Bob serves on the boards of the Weston Historical Society, the Lexington Veterans Association, a local church, and a local food pantry.  

Ed LoTurco spent over 50 years in senior management positions responsible for Design Services, International Engineering Services, and product
marketing, and was the Principal Owner of EDM Consulting. Ed spent four years with the US Air Force as an AeroMedic during the Vietnam Era. As Founding Producer of the LVA’s monthly speaker programs, Ed spent many years filming presentations for LexMedia for future rebroadcast locally and on YouTube. Ed is a Board member of the FBI Citizens Academy of Boston and the Mary Cummings Park in Burlington. He is past chapter president and International Board member of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).  

Lorain Marquis, Executive Committee Treasurer, wanted to work with veterans after the death of her husband Jack, a 20-year veteran of the Massachusetts National Guard, because the military had been a big part of their lives. A 50-year resident of Lexington, Lorain has two sons and four grandchildren. She began her accounting career at 17 and worked at Boston Federal Savings Bank for over 25 years. Lorain is an active member and former chair of the Town Celebrations Committee, and board member of the Friends of the Council on Aging. She is the Membership Chair of the Hanscom Spouses Club and is active at St. Brigid’s Church. 

Gina Rada is the District Director for Veterans Services for Lexington, Bedford, and Carlisle. In her role, she assists veterans and their families with an array of federal, state, and local benefits in addition to distributing financial assistance to those in need. She serves as a veterans’ representative on the Executive Board of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Hospital in Bedford, MA and is an advocate for women veterans statewide. Gina has a BA from Lesley University and is a US Air Force Veteran, who served for six years including a one year tour to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Jim Ramsey earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from Cornell University, where he completed the Naval ROTC Program. He served in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps for 5 years, including a tour as company commander with a Seabee battalion in Vietnam. A Harvard MBA, Jim worked in management consulting, marketing and business development positions with several companies. As a longtime volunteer with the Veterans’ Library at the Bedford VA Hospital, Jim conceived the idea of live streaming LVA monthly programs directly to veterans in long term care. That idea has developed into a close partnership between LVA and Bedford which enriches the lives of many veterans.

Phil Schaffer (Emeritus) served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, active duty 1957: Fort Dix, NJ and Fort Bliss, TX. He earned Bachelor's and Master of Science Degrees in Metallurgy-Materials Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A resident of Lexington for 54 years, he’s been married for 57 years with two children and four grandchildren. Phil has been a Little League manager, a Coach for the Lexington Blue Sox Intercity Baseball League, and a member of the Paint Rock Neighborhood Swimming Pool Board. He has served many local organizations, including the Lexington Medical Research Corps, the Lexington 2020 Committee, and the Board of the MILES senior learning program at Middlesex Community College.  

Warren Winslow (Emeritus) is a forty-year veteran of the Lexington Public Schools. A graduate of Worcester State College and Northeastern University, he taught US history at Jonas Clarke Middle School from 1964 -2004. A Lexington resident passionate about keeping history alive, Warren joined the Lexington Veterans Association after his retirement. Warren led dozens of annual field trips to Washington DC, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Annapolis, and New York City to provide his students with a lifelong appreciation of our country’s history. He was the DAR teacher of the year in 1992 and was a candidate for the Teacher in Space Shuttle Mission. 

Jim Wood graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. He served three years active duty as a 1st Lt. Ground Electronics Officer, USAF, 738 AC&W Squadron, Olathe Naval Air Station, Olathe, Kansas. Most of his work experience was with the Military-Industrial Complex: major programs, Polaris Submarine Program, Vitro Labs, Patriot Missile & Marketing, Raytheon, Ground Defense, Saudi Arabia, and Boeing. Currently a Financial Advisor, Jim moderates the “Money Matters” drop in group at the Lexington Community Center. A long term volunteer in Lexington, he was one of the original members (now 20 years) of the Lexington Tree Committee.