Thursday, February 1, 2007 Older Editions

He captured the town

When photographer Richard Graber moved to Andover from Indiana, he said it was like moving to another country. He picked up Andover culture quickly. Actually, he preserved it. For decades - and especially during the '60s, '70s and '80s - Graber grabbed images of buildings sentenced to the wrecker's ball, private moments of Andover families, and significant community events.

Sometimes, when people think about Andover in "the good old days" they romanticize it. Graber showed the real Andover of his time, which included neon and lighted signs for beer on Main Street, motorcycles outside of bars, people arguing, people caring for one another. One special photo shows several men carrying a woman on a stretcher over a mound of snow. The woman had injured herself, but insisted on attending Town Meeting, and the men ensured she got there - snowstorm or not. It's tough to imagine that kind of civic commitment today.

Graber's work preserved an Andover era - and the people of that era - for all to see. That's not a bad legacy.