Richie DiMeo, founder of East Boston Girls Softball League and the Meridian House
By Cary Shuman
East Boston is mourning the loss of Richie DiMeo, whose outstanding contributions to the community were known far and wide as a founder of the Meridian House and the East Boston Girls Softball League.
Mr. DiMeo had been living in Revere and spending his winters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he had a condominium.
Opening Day program of the
East Boston Girls Softball
League. Also pictured is his
wife, Robyn DiMeo.
Richie, as we known to family and friends, grew up in the Lexington Street neighborhood and attended local schools.
His daughter, Katie DiMeo, related how her father faced some challenges in his early adulthood, but he was able to turn his life around and that of so many others through his noble volunteer work in drug education at the high school and in youth programs throughout East Boston.
“My father was a pioneer in reaching out to help people before programs like DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) existed,” Katie said proudly. “His work evolved into opening a halfway house (the Meridian House now under the auspices of North Suffolk Community Services).
‘A gift for reaching people’
Tony Schepici recalled the challenging times that he and Richie encountered before they joined forces and secured the funding to open the Meridian House.
“Years ago, Richie and I battled some drug issues, and people in the neighborhood were looking for people to start up a drug program,” said Schepici. “They saw that Richie and I were doing the right thing in our lives, and we started the whole program.”
Schepici said he was honored to speak at a celebration of life for his lifelong friend, Richie DiMeo, Tuesday at the Orient Heights Yacht Club, and that he wanted to share the heartfelt remarks that follow:
“I met Richie when I was about 16 years old. From that moment on, he was a part of my life. As we grew older, there was an idea to create a drug program run by former addicts, and that’s how the Meridian House was born.
“Richie, a few others, and I started with just a small storefront. Eventually, it expanded and became the Meridian House. Richie had a gift for reaching people. He took on the role for speaking engagements. He used to go all the schools and visit the students and tell them about the dangers of addiction.
“He didn’t just tell them what not to do, he showed them and gave them a real honest look at the dangers of addiction.
“Richie was one of the best people I’ve ever known. And it was at the Meridian House where he met the love of his life, Robyn. Richie was not just a leader, he was a mentor. He was a true friend, one of the best friends I ever had. I’ll always love him.”
Mr. DiMeo continued his important work in the community when he joined the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as the chief homicide investigator. He worked in that position for 25 years.
A league of their own
Richie DiMeo and his wife, Robyn, are credited with founding the East Boston Girls Softball League. They did it all for the league – registering players, selecting the coaches, distributing the new uniforms, scheduling the games, assigning the umpires, holding fundraisers, and running the concession stand.
Most importantly, Richie and Robyn DiMeo gave East Boston girls their own competitive league, welcoming the players and their families each night to Festa Field, where the DiMeos ensured that it would a fun and safe environment for all.
The league grew so quickly that Richie and Robyn had to form senior and junior divisions to accommodate the many players – some even beyond the Eastie borders – who wanted to play in their well-organized league.
A daughter excels
on the field
Perhaps no one can better articulate what the league meant to Eastie kids than Richie and Robyn’s DiMeo’s daughter, Katie DiMeo.
“I remember that first season in 2001, they were standing outside Burger King and giving out fliers to try to get enough sign-ups for four teams that first year,” recalled Katie. “The next year, there were 13 teams after people saw what a great league it was and how hard my parents had worked to get it going. My mother was always a big women’s empowerment person, always pushing for equality in that way. When she felt the need for it, she jumped, and my dad had all that baseball experience in coaching when my older brothers played. My mother did all the grant writing and fundraising, and my father knew baseball and softball inside and out – they were a really great team.”
Katie, who was 10 years old at the time, became a dominant pitcher in the league, so skilled that she would become a starting pitcher for the Boston Latin School varsity team as a seventh grader.
Other talented players such as Krysten Hunt, McKenzie Powers, Nicole McCormack, Danielle Sutera, Kristina Burri, Gianna Polichetti, Katrina DiMarzo, and Monica Cioffi developed their skills in the league on their way to competing and excelling in high school and some even at the college level.
An Eastie team, led by the superb pitching of middle schooler Katie DiMeo and coached by Richie DiMeo and John DiMarzo, incredibly won the Mayor’s Cup Tournament competing against high school teams.
Katie DiMeo said she was preparing her remarks for Tuesday’s celebration of life event for her father, as was her sister, Carli DiMeo, an outstanding professor of occupational therapy.
Richie and Robyn DiMeo helped build a league and a legacy in East Boston. They were grateful to each player, coach, parent, and resident for their support of the EBGSL organization.
But as anyone who was associated with the league in the early 2000s will tell you, Richie and Robyn DiMeo were the undisputed MVPs in East Boston.
A tribute to Richard DiMeo
from Rep. Adrian Madaro
Rep. Adrian Madaro, who grew playing sports in East Boston and went on to graduate from Boston Latin School, Tufts and Suffolk Law School, offered a beautiful tribute to Mr. DiMeo, lauding his stellar, lifelong contributions to the neighborhood.
“Richard DiMeo left an indelible mark on East Boston,” said Madaro. “He was known for always being ready to roll up his sleeves to help our community. His contributions to girls’ softball helped create beneficial opportunities for young people in our neighborhood, and his support for people in recovery will live on through his dedication to the Meridian House, a residential treatment program for substance abuse disorder. My deepest sympathies go out to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”