East Wareham resident Bill Tatlow is legally blind.

He uses a magnifying lens attached to a large monitor to read postcards and important documents. He gave up his driver's license in the early 2000s, when his eyesight first began to suffer from macular degeneration.

But when Tatlow sees something that needs to be done, nothing can stop him from doing it.

Tatlow spent a few days last month repainting all 51 benches in front of the Onset Band Shell in Onset Village.

He used a light color for the first coat of primer, and used a dark "forest green" as the second coat so he could tell if he missed any spots.

"They looked nasty. Sort of a bluish-green," Tatlow said of the benches before the paint job.

"They were looking kind of sick. Something needed to be done because the kids go down there and skateboard all over them," chimed in Bill's wife, Betsy Tatlow.

Bill Tatlow took on the project because he feels a certain ownership of those 51 benches.

And he should. He is the one who built them.

In 1996, Tatlow decided to rebuild the benches in front of the Band Shell. At that time, they were simply long planks of wood on wooden stumps of former telephone poles, Tatlow said.

"They looked deplorable," Tatlow said. "There were nails coming out of them."

Tatlow began a fundraising program where he asked community members to make out a check for $80 to Morse Lumber on Cranberry Highway.

"No money passed through my hands," said Tatlow.

In return, donors would get their name carved and painted in bright yellow on a bench.

There are names such as "Eliot," the last name of a former Wareham plumbing inspector, "Stephens," owners of a local hardware store, and of course "Tatlow," carved into the benches.

"Many people wanted to come forward, and just buy a bench," said Tatlow. "It was tremendous," he said, adding that both permanent and summer residents donated.

The $80 paid for the lumber, the paint, and the cement to pour into the ground to encase the legs of the benches. Before, the legs were just dug into the ground.

Tatlow built the benches in his backyard shop. The Town of Wareham, specifically the Department of Municipal Maintenance, provided the paint.

"It's just a civic duty," said Tatlow. "Hey, we've got a nice community. The Municipal Maintenance Department doesn't have as many workers, ... There used to be 40 of them, and now they're down to six. ... They have a lot of area to take care of."

The 74-year-old Tatlow was born and raised in Onset, and his grandparents are from there.

He has served on the Onset Fire Department for more than 45 years, and was a captain for approximately 20 years. He also worked for the Onset Water Department for 33 years, and served as the department superintendent for approximately 6 years.

Tatlow spent just two days painting the benches.

"Once I start a project, I want it done," he said. He added that there is still some touch-up work left.

Tatlow credited a lot of people for helping him with building the benches more than 15 years ago. Included are his son, Marc Tatlow, his brother, Hal Tatlow, and friends Robert Osswald and Earl Fowler.

"It doesn’t hurt to help out once in a while," Tatlow said.