The area on South Street in front of the Municipal Building was beautified thanks to the efforts of resident Robert Terkanian.
Photo credit: Lindsay Corcoran

SHREWSBURY, Mass. – Robert "Chief Joseph" Terkanian has taken the words he remembers John F. Kennedy spoke while he was a teenager, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," and applied them to Shrewsbury with his efforts to beatify town one landscaping project at a time.

Terkanian recently completed a landscaping project in front of the municipal building on South Street, just one of many in a list of projects around town.

"It looked terrible," Terkanian said of the South Street property. "Especially with Price Chopper going in up the street and doing such a nice job I thought, 'this really needs something.'"

The project on South Street included planting, fresh mulch and will feature a new fence around the generator in front of the building.

Terkanian is not done for the summer yet as he plans to landscape around the Walter J. Paton School sign later in August.

"I've made a decent living and it's good to give back," Terkanian said. "I enjoy living in Shrewsbury and I'm glad to contribute something to make it beautiful."

When he graduated high school, Terkanian said he really wanted to go to school for landscaping, but never made it there. Instead, he went into the family barber business until becoming allergic to the products. He hooked up with a distributor after that and has since become the owner of Hair Lines distributing Paul Mitchell products.

Now, he enjoys working on these projects himself.

"I always get involved and am out there digging," Terkanian said. "It is a passion."

During a meeting last month, the Board of Selectmen briefly recognized Terkanian for the work he has recently completed.

"The public works area is probably his best job yet," said Selectman Jim Kane on the South Street improvements.

Selectman John Lebeaux expressed thanks over Terkanian's continued contributions to the community.

"He's done several signs and landscaping and once again he's done a very nice thing for the community," Lebeaux said.

What Terkanian said he loves most is hearing that he's made people happy.

"I got a call after we did the landscaping on South Street from a woman who gave me a beautiful compliment on how nice it looks," Terkanian said. "It was delightful for me. This is all about making people happy."