METHUEN — When somebody needed help, the late Francis Roberge found a way to get it for them, his family and friends recalled yesterday.

"Once he grabbed on, he wouldn't let go until the job was done," said Herb Waithe Jr.

Roberge died on June 5, 2007, at the age of 80. City officials named the $1.4 million footbridge at Spicket Falls downtown the Francis T. Roberge Memorial Bridge during a ceremony attended by more than 80 people.

Roberge was a member of the Methuen Housing Authority for more than 20 years, and he served as its chairman. He also was a town councilor — when it was a 21-member board — and part of the committee that rewrote the city's charter to create the mayoral form of government. He was a founder of the Methuen Pop Warner football league and a member of the Council on Aging.

Mayor William Manzi recalled him as a "colorful" and "deeply committed" man who wasn't afraid to take unpopular political stances.

Roberge and his family lived in public housing for seven years before they bought a home on Temple Drive in 1973. Roberge never forgot where he came from.

"He always vowed, when we were finally able to buy a house, he would help anybody that was in dire need of housing," said his wife, Camille. Together, they had 11 children.

Roberge worked as a plant superintendent at Greater Lawrence Technical School for 20 years. He was friends with Manzi's father, and the mayor affectionately talked about how when he was a kid, Roberge gave him ribbings for being too left wing.

"He told me I would stop being so liberal when I started earning money," Manzi said.

Workers completed the 165-foot-long bridge about two years ago. The city paid for the design and the state paid for the construction. It connects Osgood Street — at Mill Falls Apartments — to Hampshire Street — behind Wise Guys Pub & Grill.

"It's an honor," Roberge's eldest son, Tim, said of the bridge naming. "Long after we're gone, our dad's name will still be around."