Tonya & tom largy

O.A.R. Founder and First Executive Director 

Tonya Largy is one of the original board members and founders of O.A.R., serving as the organization’s first executive director. Her husband, Tom, dedicated numerous hours as a volunteer alongside Tonya, and is an avid fisherman in our three rivers. As they state, the Largys “came to O.A.R. through fishing.” “I used to fish with my father in Ohio when I was five years old,” Tonya shares. The Largys moved to Andover in 1968 where they “lived a block from the Shawsheen River [and] used to rent an old rowboat to go fishing in the evenings.” After a year in Rome, they then moved to Wayland in 1971, drawn to the environment and wooded area around their home about half a mile from the river.

In response to the dire conditions of the Assabet River, O.A.R. began as “a consortium of sportsmen’s clubs and regular people.” At the time, Tom was president of the local Trout Unlimited chapter, and Tonya served as the chapter’s delegate to O.A.R. Typically, we ask if there was a particular project each interviewee was most passionate about while working with the organization, which seemed like an obvious answer in this situation. We asked anyways, and to no surprise, Tonya replied with, “I was just trying to get the organization started!” With her background in social work, Larry Roy nominated Tonya to serve as the organization’s first Executive Director. “I had to get to know everyone on the board to figure out our strengths and how we could all come together,” she says, referencing the 16 original board members of the organization. Tonya gives much credit to the late Michelle Monjeau, Assabet River Coordinator with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, saying, “She was the person who hustled the organization along.”

On Tom’s role, he humbly says, “I just kept track of her.” Tom continued, “I’ve pulled my fair share of weeds with O.A.R. I’d fly fish in the pond while the truck was being loaded,” especially at Crow Island where water chestnut pulls were frequent.

As the organization took shape, members joined who worked on mapping, cleanups, and public access, among other needs. Tonya left her formal organizational role to go back to school for archaeology, relaunching a fascinating career in the field. Tonya began a Masters in Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and went on to serve as an archaeobotany consultant and zooarchaeological researcher, preparing skeletons for Harvard University’s Peabody Museum until she retired in 2019.

Now, Tonya has served as the archaeologist for the Wayland Historical Commission, running the town’s Archaeology Laboratory. “We have a tiny archaeology lab where we curate the artifacts we have excavated in the town throughout the years… What interested me was finding the indigenous sites around the rivers. One time when Tom was fishing, I wandered around and found a site that I reported to the state,” designating a new archaeological spot in the watershed. Her keen eye pieces together many stories of the waterways, including a discovery of two fish otoliths, calcified inner ear structures, by the banks of Lake Cochituate while walking with a friend.

Tom remains an avid fisherman. He says, “The Sudbury is a fabulous fishery. Best bass fishing around in my opinion.” After a brief interlude about mercury in fish there, he concluded with, “If you live on the Sudbury, you might as well fish the Sudbury.”

We thank Tonya and Tom for setting the foundation of the organization we continue today, and for being the early voices of change for our watershed.