HAMPDEN – After 10 years of service to the town of Hampden, Robert Howarth stepped down this May as the Town Moderator.

Howarth’s main role as Moderator was to officiate at the annual Town Meeting and any Special Town Meetings that were called.

“As Moderator, while you have every right to participate, you shouldn’t,” Howarth said.

“You’re there as a judge, you’re there for procedurals.”

His duties also included appointing the Advisory Committee, whose work Howarth called, “admirable.”

“Most of the boards in small towns like Hampden are all volunteer,” said Howarth, who is still the chairman of Hampden’s Planning Board.

“The problem is that more people don’t get involved.” He said that there were times during his tenure as town moderator when there would be less than the minimum of 50 people attending a town meeting.

Howarth said he was recruited as Moderator when his predecessor, Richard Patullo, retired. He said that when Patullo told the Select Board that he would be retiring they decided that Howarth would be a good replacement and rumors spread that he was running for the position before he’d even thought of it.

As a young man, Howarth, who had been in the army after high school, worked a job in construction while he took night classes at American International College (AIC) in Springfield to earn a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. One of his last classes was a business law course. The professor suggested Howarth pursue a law degree.

Howarth spent five years at Western New England College, now Western New England University, obtaining his law degree. He then began his career as a criminal defense attorney for the City of Springfield.

“Let’s just say, the first day was very trying,” said Howarth, adding that it was, “sink or swim.”     After just under a year, Howarth joined a firm in the private sector.

“I enjoyed criminal law,” and being in the courtroom, Howarth said. “The action – the challenge.”

Howarth later served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, from 1981 to 1993. After six terms Howarth said he had decided that he could make more money in law than in the legislature and announced that he wouldn’t be running again.

It was then that then-Gov. William Weld’s administration contacted him to offer him a judgeship. He was sworn in the same year he left the House.

As a district court judge, Howarth presided over cases all around the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires. He retired in 2007.

As a judge, he would periodically officiate at weddings, but said that there was a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork. After he retired from his position as a district court judge, he decided to become a Justice of the Peace, which had less cumbersome restrictions.

In addition to taking on roles within the town, Howarth also took on another type of role. He said that after he retired from being a judge, he appeared in local productions of “The Producers” and “Chicago.” In both, he played a judge.

“After 15 years of rehearsal,” Howarth joked.

Howarth has held many positions over the years, but the theme of civic duty runs throughout his career. What is it about those jobs that he likes?

“It’s not a question of liking it,” Howarth told Reminder Publishing, “it’s a question of service to the town.”