PEABODY -- "A calling comes quietly," says Richard D'Ambrosio of St. Ann Parish in Peabody. "Sometimes, it's a voice in the back of your head."

D'Ambrosio has been a parishioner at St. Ann's since 1967. After attending Mass on Sunday, he would spend nights discerning the call to serve his parish, and his desire to do something more for the church. His career made him extremely busy, but he wanted to help others in any way he could.

"That's why I'm sitting here today," D'Ambrosio, 76, told The Pilot in a Sept. 23 interview. "I could be doing other things. I could be doing things that are all me, and it's more fulfilling to do things for other people."

Almost all of D'Ambrosio's time at St. Ann's has been spent volunteering in some capacity. He began helping out with marriage prep in the late 1970s. From 1980 to 1982, he served on the parish council, then returned to the council in 2014. He served as its vice chair from 2015 to 2022. He has served as an usher and greeter in the church since 1994. He is a member of the parish Finance Committee, has volunteered at the parish bazaar for over a decade, helped clean up the parking lot, and planned Pastor Father Charles Stanley's retirement party in 2020.

"I'm proud of it all," he said, but added he is most proud of "being able to work with other people that are dedicated, that for decades do a job, a position, and do it well. Those are the types of things that inspire me, because these folks have been doing it even longer than I have been doing it."

Since 2022, he has helped maintain St. Ann's Peace and Kindness Flower Garden.

"Am I a gardener per se?" he said. "No, but I've evolved into one in order to accomplish my ministry of presence in the community. I want that statue of Mary to be highlighted with colorful flowers."

For nearly a half century of service, D'Ambrosio was one of 151 people to receive the Cheverus Award in 2023. The annual archdiocesan awards honor those who have dedicated their lives to the church in Boston.

"Rich has been very helpful," Father David Lewis, pastor of St. Ann's, told The Pilot on Sept. 15. "He has served in many, many capacities."

Father Lewis said that both he and Father Stanley agreed that D'Ambrosio deserved the award.

"He's very generous with his time," Father Lewis said, "and loves St. Ann's so much and wants to do all he can to make it a strong parish."

D'Ambrosio said he was "very humbled" when he found out that he received the Cheverus Award. For several days after receiving the news, he was shaking with excitement. He described it as being told that "God's calling you, and he recognizes what you do to other people."

"Most Catholics are not perfect people," he said. "We're human. And to think about being recognized out of all the folks within the parish that I mentioned earlier, that do something for 40, 50, 60 years."

Richard D'Ambrosio was born in Winthrop, to what he described as a big Italian family. Each of his parents were one of eight children. His father Joseph was stationed in Guadalcanal during World War II. His mother Josephine, whose maiden name was also D'Ambrosio, lived in New Hampshire. Letters Joseph wrote home to his family were printed in a Boston newspaper. When Josephine read the letters, she wrote to Joseph, thinking he was a relative. The two exchanged letters, and once they discovered that they weren't related, they fell in love and got married. After the war, Joseph became a civil engineer and Josephine cared for Richard and his two sisters.

He described his childhood as "very warm, very friendly," characterized by "lots of relatives, lots of friends, lots of holidays, lots of good times."

Everyone went to Mass on Sundays, and after Mass, everyone would go to a relative's house for a big Sunday dinner. D'Ambrosio remembered the pasta, cold cuts, peppers, and mushrooms that always filled the table.

"It was always full of food," he said. "We were not a rich family, none of us were. Neither of my parents were, growing up. But there was always more than enough food for everybody to enjoy around the holidays, for sure."

D'Ambrosio graduated high school in 1966 and went to Northeastern University. He graduated with a business administration degree in 1971. He briefly served stateside in the Army, then in the Reserves and National Guard. His business career started in the restaurant industry before he transitioned to banking. At the time of his retirement, he was senior vice president of support services and operations at Lawrence Savings Bank. In his free time, he enjoys being outdoors, fishing, and photographing nature scenes.

"I enjoy outdoor photography because of what God does in creation, to see a wonderful sunrise or sunset," he said. "I like the peace and quiet it affords. It gets you away from the hassle."

He and his wife Sheila met on a blind date and got married in St. Ann's the day after Christmas 1971. They have two children and three grandchildren. Their youngest son was born with cerebral palsy, which inspired D'Ambrosio to serve on the board of directors of United Cerebral Palsy in Peabody. He also served on the board of the Merrimack Valley chapter of the Red Cross.

"Those are the things that drew me to help other people," he said. "It gave me comfort, but it also drove me to help other people."

In 2019, D'Ambrosio began volunteering for My Brother's Table, a nonprofit based in Lynn. The food is purchased with funds donated by parishioners at St. Ann's, then prepared and served by volunteers from the parish.

"It's humbling because we serve them," he said.

During the pandemic, volunteers were not able to directly serve food to those in need, but they still worked to prepare and deliver it.

"It's really fulfilling and warm because they come and thank you," D'Ambrosio said. "They thank you when you're putting the food on their plate, they thank you when they bring in the dishes to be washed at the end. They're appreciative."

He said that the community at St. Ann's is as warm as it was 48 years ago, but there are fewer young people attending Mass these days. When he was on the parish council, he helped set up ministry classes for parishioners, to teach them how to promote the offerings within the parish.

"The whole message here is that no one person does this," he said. "It's the drive of a number of people who do this and make this happen."

His children's baptisms, First Communions, and confirmations all happened at St. Ann's. So did his parents' funeral Masses. Giving back to the parish helped him through the deaths of his parents and in-laws.

"You meet people who are going through similar things or even darker times," he said.

He said that the clergy abuse scandal affected him, but as it had in the past, such a tragedy made him want to be in church.

"It shook a lot of people, but it drew you," he said. "You went to church to become grounded again in faith."

In 2018, D'Ambrosio coordinated a suicide prevention seminar at the parish with several local leaders, including the Peabody chief of police and director of health.

"I felt we needed to do some things to help the community and also drive the community to church," he said.

During D'Ambrosio's time in St. Ann's, he has watched children in the parish grow up, only to take their own lives.

"Things could look dark for a lot of people at times," he said. "We're no different than everybody else, but they're not alone. The main message is they're not alone, and there is help available."

He said that if the seminar helped a single person, or inspired a single person to help another, it was worth it.

"You never know if you're going to accomplish that, because you don't know where that road's going to lead," he said. "But you have to start the journey to begin it, right?"