Highway man heads into retirement

By Nadine Cafaro
Posted 4/19/23

Rick Malley put no time to waste when thinking of retirement plans, as a house he and his wife purchased in North Myrtle Beach is awaiting their arrival.

Malley is retiring from the Town of …

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Highway man heads into retirement

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Rick Malley put no time to waste when thinking of retirement plans, as a house he and his wife purchased in North Myrtle Beach is awaiting their arrival.

Malley is retiring from the Town of Montgomery Highway Department after over 33 years of dedicated work to the town. As a born and raised Montgomery resident, he has nothing but good remarks about his service, especially after a send-off including members of neighboring towns.

What people know as “Malley Valley” on Beaver Dam Road used to be a functioning dairy farm that Malley grew up on. After selling the cows in 1987, it remained a family-owned farm, and plenty of the Malley family still live there today with some horses. His parents are Jack and Truus Malley, and he has a sister named Jennifer.

Malley graduated from Valley Central High School in 1986 and soon after attended a tech school for dairy herd management in New Richmond, Wisconsin. “We sold our cows, I worked a couple of odd jobs, and then I got hired at the Town of Montgomery Highway Department,” said Malley. He officially started with the town in 1989.

He was initially hired to run a bulldozer to close the Town on Montgomery landfill on Lake Osiris Road in Walden. After that, he drove trucks and operated equipment.

Malley speaks very highly of his time with the highway department, joking that he’s ready to never plow snow again. “I enjoyed my work there very much most of the time. Of course, I wasn’t fond of the winters. I’m glad I’m done plowing snow,” Malley mentioned.

He also recognized all of the good people in the department, giving a special remark to Shaun Meres, who is also responsible for organizing the send-off to celebrate Malley.

A few members of neighboring town highway departments were at his send-off, including the Towns of Crawford, Hamptonburgh and Shawangunk. They gathered at the Town of Montgomery highway garage to celebrate his retirement, and Malley explained why they all know each other so well.

“We share services with them. If we’re paving a big job, they send trucks down to do work for us. Then if they get a big job, we go out and work for them. For all 33 years I’ve worked with those other towns and villages,” Malley stated.

As far as what comes next, Malley is excited to go down South with his wife, Janice, but he mentioned that he’d be visiting a lot because of his grandson.

“We’re probably going to be living down there but coming up here and seeing the grandson quite a bit,” said Malley, who mentioned his grandson, Jaxon’s, birthday coming up next week.

Malley’s son, Steven, actually works for the Town of Crawford Highway Department.

Malley also has some future plans that will include a lot of traveling and motorcycles.

“Not this summer but next summer we want to ride cross country. We have a bucket list of national parks and things we want to see while motorcycling,” said Malley.