Saugus Founders’ Day Committee Names 95-Year-Old Author Tom Sheehan Man of the Year

Since the Founders’ Day People of the Year Committee informed Sheehan that they would be naming him Man of the Year, he’s been working on his acceptance speech — a task that might come easy to him because he’s written 58 books, several of which are about Saugus and his time growing up in town.

“I love Saugus. It’s my favorite subject,” Sheehan said. “I don’t think it’s changed much. I can look out my back window and still see trees. Out the other window I look the Iron Works, which is now a national park, and where I worked for part of eight years.

Midway through her 95th year, Sheehan has hundreds of stories published online in journals around the world. Some of his books include “The Great Stand-off at Darby’s Creek”, “Jock Poems and Reflections for Proper Bostonians”, and “The Saugus Book”.

Sheehan credits his prolificacy to his cemented writing routine, typically working 12 to 2 a.m. in the 31 years he’s been retired.

“My routine all this time has been going to bed at 9 p.m., getting up at 12 p.m., or whatever time the body says, ‘Get up mate.’ machine for two hours,” Sheehan said. “I wrote so much good stuff in those two hours. There’s no one to bother me. Everyone’s asleep.”

Sheehan also co-edited two other Saugus books with the late John Burns, who served in the English department at Saugus High School for over 40 years and was once named Saugus Founders Day Man of the Year. When their books, “A Gathering of Memories” and “Of Time and the River,” were published, they sold more than 2,000 copies and donated the proceeds to Saugus High School, according to Sheehan.

“The biggest compliment I’ve ever received came from John Burns, who looked at me while reading one of my articles,” Sheehan said. “He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Tom, Saugus doesn’t know what he has. It was the biggest compliment of all. He knew what [my writing] said and he knew what it meant.

Sheehan’s latest book, “Back Home in Saugus” is dedicated to Burns and will be released this year.

said and he knew what it meant.

Sheehan’s latest book, “Back Home in Saugus” is dedicated to Burns and will be released this year.

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