ALLISON CASTILLO, a junior at Methuen High School, got the call on New Year’s Eve.
The singer that Lawrence City Clerk Diane LeBlanc had lined up to sing “God Bless America” at Monday night’s inauguration of city councilors and school committee members couldn’t make it. A possible stand-in also said she wasn’t available.
LeBlanc heard about Castillo from one of the people she called looking for help. Castillo’s family had recently moved from Lawrence to Methuen. LeBlanc called her and asked if she could fill in. Castillo had never sung “God Bless America” before, but she agreed to give it a try.
So on Monday night, there she was on the stage with Gov. Charlie Baker, US Rep. Lori Trahan, Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña, and other dignitaries. If she wasn’t nervous enough already, there was a glitch with the sound system that meant she had to stand in front of the crowd for nearly a minute waiting until the problem was fixed. No one spoke during the long wait, heightening the tension.
Yet Castillo pulled it off, and many in the audience were wiping tears from their eyes after her rendition. (Her part in the program
starts at 1:04.)
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
“That was the first time she had ever sung ‘God Bless America,’” LeBlanc said. “What courage.”
Gov. Charlie Baker was also impressed. “That young woman had never sung that song before and she just crushed it,” he said. “Coming on the heels of all the anxiety and loss and disruption and isolation that has been life under COVID – especially in a community that was hit as hard as Lawrence – yeah, it was very, very special.”
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