Fate, and the DPW brought two active public figures, Jay Simeone and Joanna Bilotta-Simeone, together in 2010. They were wed nearly a year later under the gazebo in the center of town.

By Samantha Bridgman

Picture this: two single, community-inspired individuals, motivated by public service to join Lunenburg town committees, have their lives changed forever by the awesome power of love.

    And the DPW.

    This is, in fact, exactly what happened to Joanna Bilotta-Simeone and Jay Simeone.

    Joanna Bilotta has lived in, and loved, Lunenburg since 1982. The daughter of the late Joseph Bilotta, a respected, long-time town Selectman, Joanna’s devotion to community inspired her to join the Lunenburg Planning Board six years ago. Jay Simeone, originally of Acton, moved to Lunenburg in 1998. Also inspired to civic duty, Jay joined the Lunenburg Sewer Commission nearly two years ago.

    In August 2010, fate brought these public officials together…or rather the desperate conditions of the town’s Department of Public Works facility did when Jay and Joanna decided to join the DPW Building Committee. The committee was created to conduct a facility study for the proposed expansion of the DPW.

    At the very first meeting of the committee Jay was smitten with Joanna.

    “He thought I was really cute,” said Joanna. “But he was really shy… my cousin Dave [MacDonald, of the Sewer Commission] told him to ask me out!”

    One Sunday morning when soft-spoken Simeone gathered enough courage to ask Joanna out, he insisted they take a trip north to Mason, NH.

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