The Somerville News Person of the week, Bob "Monty" Doherty

Meet our pick for Person of the Week here in Somerville, Bob “Monty” Doherty, a retired Somerville Fire Fighter. He was assigned to the Fire Prevention Department as an Inspector, where he would go into many homes over the years and ask questions about the houses and the people who occupied them and learn the history of everywhere he went. Monty has been working since retirement with the Somerville Historical Society.

If you want to know what was where and who lived there, who built that and what group owned that, he’s your guy. He is like the Isabel Channey of the 21st century. She was a history teacher here in Somerville and was the one to go to, to find out what was what. Monty is such a nice guy, a pleasant guy to talk to and when you meet him you can’t help but get drawn into his long conversations about Somerville. Monty knows more than most and loves to learn new and old things about the city. He can answer most of your questions. We are going to feature Monty in a column coming up in the near future here at The News. You ask the question and he gives the answer. We wish Monty would learn how to use the Internet. In particular, on Facebook there is a large following in various Somerville pages which he would thoroughly enjoy.  We here at The News will work on him, and don’t be surprised if you see him someday on Facebook. In the meantime, when you see Monty say “Hi” and ask him questions, then watch him light up and give a big smile, because he probably knows the answer.