Bridge Named In Honor Of Tireless, Strong-Willed Champion Of Teaticket

FALMOUTH- Raleigh D. Costa, the Teaticket historian and community activist who died in 2004, was known for building bridges of understanding between people from diverse parts of Falmouth. So it seems appropriate that the bridge that crosses the Coonamessett River on Route 28, and marks the eastern boundary of the village of Teaticket, will be named after him.
Governor Deval L. Patrick signed the bill into law on Friday designating the bridge as “The Lt. Raleigh D. Costa Memorial Bridge.”
State Representative Matthew C. Patrick (D-Falmouth) and State Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) shepherded the bill through the legislative process, which took several years.
State approval was needed because Route 28 is a state highway.
Mr. Costa was strong-willed and made some enemies along the way, as well as many friends. Because of the controversial nature of some of his positions, there were some who felt he should be honored in a different way, or not at all. That controversy delayed the bridge naming for several years, according to those who were involved in the process.
Those who appreciated Mr. Costa’s role as a champion of trying to keep a sense of place for Teaticket say the honor is long overdue.
In addition to supporting Tea-ticket, Mr. Costa allied himself with the people from the village of Woods Hole over issues, including Steamship Authority traffic, a form of inter-village cooperation that was unusual.
Mr. Patrick said that Mr. Costa deserves recognition for a number of things he accomplished in his life.
A World War II veteran, he served as the VFW post commander for several years.
He worked for 39 years for the Falmouth Fire Department, never taking a sick day. He retired as a lieutenant.
He served decades as a Falmouth Town Meeting member. He also served on the Falmouth Planning Board for several years.
He received one of the first Heritage awards given out by the Falmouth Historical Society and was also honored by the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Costa wrote most of the Teaticket section of The Book of Falmouth and also wrote a book devoted to his village’s history, called Recollections of Teaticket.
“He was Teaticket’s strongest advocate,” Mr. Patrick said.
Mr. Costa’s longtime friend, Chester J. Krajewski of Mattapan Street, Teaticket,  who conceived the idea of naming the bridge after Mr. Costa, said he is grateful to all those who wrote letters in support of the dedication.
Mr. Krajewski recalled Mr. Costa’s years of service on the Teaticket Civic Association, including his championing of the preservation of Trotting Park Fields. He said he gained “a world of knowledge” from Mr. Costa about politics and how to go about getting information from town hall.
His seeming boundless energy, despite the fact that he had had quadruple bypass surgery, was legendary.
Mary K. Bishop of Trotting Park Road, Teaticket, said she worked with Mr. Costa on a number of projects while he was president of the Teaticket Civic Association.
“He was very, very knowledgeable. His mind was right there,” she said, recalling how Mr. Costa would gather paperwork, even preparing a court case at one point when a doughnut shop wanted to install a drive-through on Teaticket Highway.
She also acknowledged Mr. Costa’s involvement in civic affairs, at times taking a controversial slant on an issue.
“He was an activist. He didn’t let go. If he got something on his mind, he could rub people the wrong way. But where Teaticket was concerned, that was his love,” she said.
Of the village, she said, “We don’t have an awful lot left. But we were trying our darnedest to preserve what we could.”
She also recalled how Mr. Costa became friends with people in other villages, in particular Woods Hole, while working together on issues like trying to rein in Steamship Authority traffic.
Frank C. Shephard of Cumloden Drive, Falmouth, who was a founder of Citizens for Sound Planning and who has been involved in issues affecting Woods Hole, said Mr. Costa was his friend and mentor for 20 years.
Calling Mr. Costa “truly a heroic all-American,” Mr. Shephard said he “represents and reminds us of a couple of values that are now regarded as passé or laughably archaic: integrity and honor.”
Mr. Shephard noted that Mr. Costa was, of course, “an advocate for Teaticket” but also “he considered himself to be on guard for the entire Falmouth community.”
Mr. Costa was also, Mr. Shephard said, “an iconoclast, not a go-along, get-along kind of person.”
Mr. Shephard said that when he and Mr. Costa first got to talking, “we bemoaned the idea the town was divided between east and west and often battle lines were drawn there. Both of us really really disliked that. We made a pledge we were going to have two communities we represent help each other fend off larger things.”
As a result, Mr. Shephard said, there was a time when Woods Hole people went to meetings involving Teaticket projects as a show of support, and Teaticket people went to meetings concerning Woods Hole projects for the same reason.
“That doesn’t happen any more,” Mr. Shephard said. “It was a wonderful period.”
During those years, the town was faced with projects from corporate giants like McDonald’s, which wanted to open a restaurant in Woods Hole, and Walmart, wanting to build a big box store on the Augusta property that is now town-owned, on Teaticket Highway. Residents of Teaticket and Woods Hole, as well as people from other parts of town, united against both projects.
Mr. Shephard also recalled that long before information was available on the Internet, Mr. Costa was known for his thoroughness in doing research and wading through bureaucracy, like finding out what state or town law applied to block a corporate project.
“He had to do research the old-fashioned way,” Mr. Shephard said. “He would be at the library thumbing through documents, his fingers quavering and making notes. He was really one of a kind. I still miss him.”