John Rice will soon close out 20 years as executive director of the Hyde Community Center. In January, he will take on a new role in City Hall as Chief Community Services Officer in Mayor-elect Marc Laredo’s administration. For decades, he’s been known as the unofficial “Mayor of Newton Highlands,” garnering high praise for his dedication to community and his ability to work well with virtually everyone.
Community service is second nature to John. Most days, when the weather permits, John is outside at the Hyde, watering the garden beds he fought to create along the sidewalk, or checking the fountains. Neighbors passing by stop to chat. John grew up in Newtonville then attended Our Lady’s Academy. He met his wife Bonnie, a fellow Newton native, at UMass Amherst. The couple bought a house in Newton Highlands in 1987. When the couple had kids, John began volunteering at their children’s preschool then got involved in the Bowen Elementary School community and helped run Highlands Village Day.
The Hyde – The Heartbeat of the Highlands
The Hyde Community Center grew out of loss. In 1984, the old Hyde Elementary school closed after a fire and declining enrollment.
“It really was a blow to the community,” Jeffrey Swope, longtime board member at the Hyde, told Fig City News. Two of the school buildings were converted to housing. The City gave the gymnasium building to the Newton Highlands Community Development Corporation to be turned into the Hyde Community Center, with the condition that it would have to be self-supporting without City funding.
Swope said that for years the space was useful but limited to a gym for leagues and rentals, a few ice cream socials, and adult programs that came and went.
In the early 1990s, John joined the board. “He was totally civic-minded and full of ideas,” Swope said.
When the previous executive director left, the board asked John to step in on a temporary basis. Soon he became the permanent director. A part-time job turned into a full-time commitment for both him and Bonnie, who took over scheduling and rentals.
“Between the two of us, we kept the place going,” John said.
Garrett Van Siclen met John a little over 30 years ago, when the two of them worked at Digital Equipment Corporation – John in video and marketing, Van Siclen in IT. They discovered they lived not far from each other in the Highlands. After many years of friendship — and Van Siclen always responding to John’s requests for assistance on Hyde projects — John asked Van Siclen to join the Hyde board of directors.
“John saw the potential in the space,” Van Siclen said of John and the center. “A place where we can actually have gatherings.”
The Hyde rented out the office space within the building, first to NewTV and later to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Boston. That rental income defrays the operating cost of the Hyde.
Van Siclen recalled when a former TECO director left two indoor pin-pong tables behind, and John dragged them outside. Teens and college kids started playing there late into the night, so John, with help from The Village Bank, installed a weatherproof outdoor ping-pong table. Van Siclen said this demonstrates how John envisions then executes.
John also helped grow longstanding Hyde traditions like the Soup Social. The event feeds hundreds each winter with donations from Newton’s restaurants. The Hyde has also experimented with community favorites like haunted houses, outdoor ice rinks, and the Highland After School Program.
John said that the Hyde building was unbearably hot in the summer, limiting its use. Under John’s leadership, the center installed a new roof, added air conditioning, and expanded programming year-round.
The Bandstand
A turning point came in 2013, when John developed a vision for a new bandstand facing the Hyde field. Hyde’s board president, Janice Bourque, connected John with Commodore Builders, which donated labor while other partners contributed professional services and equipment to build the outdoor bandstand. The Hyde paid for the materials, as it had for the storage sheds built by Commodore Builders and Asher Nichols & Craftsmen, both local Newton businesses. John said the bandstand changed everything. Suddenly, the Hyde could host concerts and movies.
Former Parks, Recreation, and Culture commissioner Bob DeRubeis said he has seen many projects stall, but not any for John. The bandstand was one more example of this.
As commissioner, DeRubeis often collaborated with John during John’s 10-year run as the Ward 5 City Councilor until 2018. John served as Ward Councilor while maintaining his duties at the Hyde and his job as director of sales at the Trade Show News Network. He will retire from the network at the end of the year. DeRubeis also worked closely with John in his role running the Hyde.
“There was never any issue of him being on both sides of the ledger,” DeRubeis said. “Everybody understood that he was a straightforward guy, and he was going to do things right.”
Summer in the Highlands
The Summer in the Highlands series began as a single concert and grew into a full summer series supported by The Village Bank.
John said he loves seeing people come from all over the city to the concerts and movie nights on Fridays throughout the summer. He loves seeing kids running around the play area while some parents enjoy the music and others talk with their neighbors.
Ward 6 Councilor Martha Bixby told Fig City News that she and her family rarely miss Friday nights at the Hyde in the summer.
“The Hyde is such a resource to the community,” she said. “And John has been tireless in making that happen.”
Brittany Hume Charm, Ward 5 Councilor-elect, moved to Newton with her family in 2021 in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Charm said Friday nights at the Hyde were one of the few safe ways to gather during COVID. Charm often saw John greeting families, checking on vendors, and making sure the event was running smoothly.
“It’s always been one of our favorite places as a family,” she said.
Charm got to know John when she considered running for City Council earlier this year. She immediately noticed the walls of his office covered with campaign buttons from decades of Newton elections. John told her stories of each candidate he has supported over the years as well as people he worked with during his time in the City Council.
“John is a collection of so many different experiences and memories that he carries with him,” Charm said.
It takes a village
John partnered with the City to create the Hyde’s garden along Lincoln Street, arranging to have the fence moved back 20 feet, securing a sprinkler system, adding fountains and benches, and turning the area into a small oasis.
“There’s rarely a day you walk along here and you don’t see somebody sitting on the benches on the other side of the fence to look out at the street among the gardens, hearing the fountains gurgling away,” Van Siclen said.
Michael Poirier met John within his first couple of months living at Hyde Newton Housing. Poirier remembers John as unassuming but extremely kind when John first approached him.
“I never heard anybody say anything negative about John,” Poirier said.
Poirier said John’s programming shaped the childhoods of Poirier’s own children.
“In the time we have lived here, John has probably been the most significant figure in the Highlands area,” Poirier said. “John has invested his time, heart, and soul into the Hyde.”
John rejects the idea that the Hyde’s transformation was his alone.
“It takes a community to build community,” he said. “I get a lot of credit, but I’m just one part of the team.”
John said he tries his best to solicit feedback from seniors, young families, teens, and longtime residents alike.
“You have to keep evolving,” he said. John says he finds energy in being around large groups of people.
Searching for consensus
The Hyde is unique in Newton: a nonprofit-run community center sitting beside a City-owned playground and field. The arrangement often confuses residents when people schedule events or for programming like Friday nights in the summer.
“The music is on our property,” John explained, “but the audience is on City property.”
As a City Councilor, and sitting on multiple City boards, John has long been a liaison between the Highlands and Newton’s nonprofit ecosystem – “finding the right people to get things done,” Van Siclen said.
A few years ago, Poirier recalls a very large, beloved tree at the housing complex was damaged in a storm and had to be removed. A neighbor was furious and demanded the City reorganize the parking lot, which already had too few spaces for residents, caregivers, and staff. John was pulled into the meeting as a stakeholder who was familiar with both sides.
“John really did help broker that,” Poirier said.
Bixby said John takes in various sides of issues and looks for areas of consensus.
“He’s a great listener and a great advisor,” she said.
Tracy Herman opened her craft studio, Knot & Purl, in the Highlands a year ago. Neighbors, business owners, and more recommended she reach out to John.
“He’s so welcoming,” Herman said. “You instantly feel like you just met a friend.”
John helped bring people out to take part in her Halloween outdoor celebration last year, with hundreds of people enjoying face painting and other crafts with a tent outside her building.
John encouraged her to set up a children’s craft table at the Friday night concerts.
“Kids loved it,” she said. “It just grew to be an expectation. ”
Herman said John deserves much of the credit for why the Highlands feels like a true village.
“Not all villages are created equal,” Herman said. “They are not all getting the same support that we get in the Highlands.”
Moving to City Hall
Starting in January as Newton’s Chief Community Services Officer, John will oversee some of the City’s most public-facing departments, including Parks & Recreation, Senior Services, Health & Human Services, Veterans Services, the Library, Historic Newton, and new cultural department – helping to ensure the leaders of these departments are aligned in their purpose.
“It’s about working collectively and collaboratively,” Laredo said. “And John is exceptional at that.”
Laredo is expanding Newton’s executive team, noting that the City, with more than a thousand municipal employees and over two thousand school employees, needs more senior-level coordination.
Laredo notes that John’s decade on the City Council, combined with his twenty years of community-building at the Hyde, make him uniquely prepared for the job. During Laredo’s campaign, John played a key part in helping Laredo understand how the City could better align with nonprofits.
“John was instrumental in bringing together the nonprofits just to sit and talk,” Laredo said. “It was extremely enlightening.” Laredo believes that John’s experience at the Hyde – where he forged strong partnerships with local organizations – will translate directly into strengthening citywide relationships.
Above all, Laredo emphasizes John’s character.
“He’s a person of great integrity,” Laredo said.
Leaving the Hyde
John will never be far from the place he transformed, as he still only lives several blocks from the Hyde. Poirier sees John’s move to City Hall as a win for the entire city.
“The new mayor started on a good foot when he tapped John,” he said. “John delivered for the Highlands, and now he’s going to deliver for all of Newton.”
Bixby believes the Hyde will continue to thrive after John steps down, thanks to a strong board and a deeply invested community.
Among all the big projects, John says he’ll miss the little moments the most.
“The day-to-day interactions with all the different people,” he said. Even as he moves into a citywide role, he expects the Hyde to remain central to his work.
Ed. Note: We have updated this article to correct spelling and the description of resources donated to the Hyde.
