Rochester fared far better with its Memorial Day celebration than Marion and Mattapoisett did on rainy Monday. Sunday, May 29, was a picture perfect day for a parade. At the Town Hall, the names of the fallen soldiers were read aloud and the Rochester Memorial School Band played patriotic songs before heading out for the parade. Rochester’s oldest living veteran, Hormidas “Butch” Boucher, was honored as well. Bouchard is 97 and a submarine veteran of World War II. Photos by Colin Veitch
Sallee Serpa, 72, died Thursday, May 26, 2016 at Boston Medical Center after a brief illness. She was the daughter of the late Albert F. & Bertha E. (Coggeshall) Serpa.
Born in Middleboro, and lived in Marion her entire life. A graduate of Wareham High School, Class of 1961, Sallee worked at the Kittansett Club in Marion for eight years. In 1969 Sallee commuted to Boston to work at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and AIG.
Sallee was always an avid reader and also loved shopping at the Braintree Mall. She was most happy when enjoying the outdoors, whether working in the yard, walking, biking, swimming or enjoying the beach at Silvershell. Sallee loved Marion and all its surroundings.
Sallee was predeceased by her sister Suzann Serpa who died in 2014. She is survived by many cousins and friends.
Her funeral will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 2, 2016 at the First Congregational Church, 28 Main St., Marion. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery, Marion.
Visiting hours are from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 2599 Cranberry Hwy. (Rt. 28), Wareham.
Leave your cigarettes at home if you’re heading to Silvershell Beach in Marion this summer because the Marion Board of Health is getting rid of the designated smoking section located at the edge of the beach and doing away with the cigarette barrel once placed there.
This was the first topic brought to the table by newly-elected Board of Health member Jason Reynolds, who asked on May 24 that fellow board members support the removal of the designated smoking section and the installation of a ‘No Smoking’ sign right at the entrance of Silvershell Beach.
Reynolds said the Town of Marion is a “desirable town” to live in, with “well-educated” residents, so smoking should not be permitted at the town’s beaches, parks, or any other public area.
“I just feel like the last thing I want to do when I’m at the beach is be subject to someone’s cigarette smoke,” said Reynolds.
Health Agent Karen Walega agreed that the designated smoking section should go, calling it a “bad spot,” just as bad as walking into the grocery store with someone smoking right at the entrance. At Silvershell, she noted, the smoking section is “literally as you walk onto the beach.”
Walega pointed out that the smoking regulations the board updated earlier this year specifically list public beaches as areas where smoking is prohibited, so a public meeting is not required for the new sign.
“It definitely says ‘municipally owned parks and playgrounds … beaches and swimming areas’,” read Walega.
Board of Health member John Howard suggested placing the sign right at the driveway entrance to the beach and foregoing providing a receptacle for smokers’ cigarette butts.
“If they want to stand in the middle of the public road and get hit by a car…” said Howard, then so be it.
The board also plans to place a ‘No Smoking’ sign at Washburn Park.
In a somewhat related matter, the board, concerned about synthetic marijuana, sought to investigate whether it is within its purview to set regulations banning synthetic drug substances from sale in town.
Walega said Town Counsel Jon Whitten, who recently reviewed the matter, does not believe the Board of Health should have such regulations at this time.
In other towns such as Wareham, Walega said, the Board of Health has crafted regulations banning the substances.
“I say we just do it,” said BOH Chairman Betsy Dunn.
The rest of the board preferred to hold off so things could be done in the proper manner, while Walega said she contacted Marion Police Chief Lincoln Miller about police oversight of synthetic marijuana.
“He still hasn’t gotten back to me,” Walega said. “So he put it on the back burner.”
Reynolds asked about what the board can do now to regulate the sale of the synthetic drug in town.
“I don’t know,” replied Dunn.
The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for June 14 at 4:30 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry
Patricia Harrington, 169 North Street, laid out all the reasons why the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals should approve her request for a special permit to construct a new home on her undeveloped abutting lot.
During the May 19 hearing, Harrington told the board that when she purchased the two side-by-side parcels in 1975, it was with an eye towards the future.
“We left it undeveloped until maybe family needed it,” she told them. Her daughter is now ready to build on the lot she said.
Continuing with her defense of the filing, she said, “It would be no detriment to the neighborhood…. It’s the same as many lots on North Street.” Harrington finished her comments by adding, “It would seamlessly fit into the neighborhood.” She described the proposed new home as being a colonial style.
The board members looked at one another. Then ZBA member and clerk Mary Ann Brogan asked, “Where are the plans?” Harrington said she didn’t want to spend the money to get plans or engineered drawings until she knew whether or not the board would view her request favorably.
Building Inspector Andy Bobola responded, “I tried to explain in-depth, but Mrs. Harrington wished to file anyway.”
ZBA member Paul Millott said, “We’re looking at a pretty big blank.”
Brogan interjected, “We are not the last stop.”
Board members then took turns explaining to Harrington that, before they could review and make a determination on a special permit, they needed specific details such as a septic plan and architectural drawings at the very least. Brogan said, “You need ConCom approval first.”
Harrington again said that she didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars without knowing if the house could be built.
“That’s the chance you take,” Brogan said. “It’s a business decision.”
Harrington fired back, saying it wasn’t a business decision because it was for her family. Harrington also said that her daughter could not get a construction loan without showing ZBA approval.
Brogan said that Harrington could sell the land to her daughter without town department approval, but the existing process protected both the town and the landowner.
“I have to spend money and cross-fingers that you would approve it,” Harrington declared with exasperation.
Bobola told Harrington she should follow the checklist provided to her by the Building Department to help her navigate through the process.
Harrington was at a standstill at that point as Bobola suggested to the board that they allow Harrington to withdraw her filing without prejudice so that she could start over.
Harrington heard that if she wished for the board to vote on her application then and there, it would be denied and she would have to wait two years before re-filing. “Please don’t do that,” Harrington pleaded as she agreed to withdraw her request.
In other business, David Vermette, 0 Harbor Road, received a special permit to build a single-family home on the undeveloped lot.
Also coming before the board was Phil Goyette, 11 Mattapoisett Neck Road, for a special permit to demolish the existing structure and construct a new single-family home. Goyette’s request was approved.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals will be posted for June 16 at 6:00 pm in the town hall meeting room if there are filings to be heard.
By Marilou Newell
Twinkling lights offset the darkness of the sky on Saturday, May 21, the evening of the annual Junior Semi-Formal Dance.
The students, most of whom had been preparing outfits, hair, dates, and everything else for months, arrived at Old Rochester at around 6:30 pm. A line was formed in the courtyard, which was decorated with sparkling lights and a small fountain surrounded by beautiful plants.
The theme, Las Vegas, was embodied through the artful decorations created by a committee of parents in charge of sprucing up the courtyard and cafeteria for the dance. As the doors opened, students were greeted with a cafeteria straight out of Vegas itself – an Elvis cardboard cutout, sets of cards and a poker chips (all personalized with “ORR Junior Semi”) for every person, an abundance of large dice, and a chandelier made of ribbons of lights adorning the center of the ceiling. After everyone had found a table at which to sit, it was announced that food was ready.
On The Go catered the event, serving an abundance of delicious food, from chicken fingers and fries, to mashed potatoes, salad, and chicken-broccoli-ziti. After most of the students had finished eating, there was a general consensus to move the party to the dance floor.
The DJ, Michael Rock from Fun 107, accepted requests from anybody willing to give them, which led to an extremely diverse playlist. It included everything from 80s song Come on Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners, to current Top 10 song Work by Rihanna, to classics that everybody knows, like Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.
Throughout the night, groups of friends made their way to the back of the cafeteria, where a photo booth had been set up with props ranging from boas and cowboy hats, to crazy sunglasses and devil horns.
At 11:00 pm, the music slowed to a stop, signifying the end of the dance. Those who were attending the after-party held in the school’s gym grabbed their things and changed into comfortable clothing optimal for the two bouncy houses that stood inflated just waiting to be bounced on. A henna artist and a caricature artist were also present for any students who wished to participate.
A raffle was held, with most prizes being donated from local communities. The “big raffle” included items like a GoPro, a FitBit, and a school parking pass for next year.
Festivities also occurred in the auditorium right across the hall from the gym. A hypnotist put on a magical (and hilarious) show, and afterwards the auditorium became home to a movie, which doubled as a comfortable, quiet place to take a nap for many of the exhausted students.
The after-party came to a close at 5:00 am, and students grabbed their stuff and shuffled to their cars to, hopefully, sleep the day away.
All in all, the juniors who attended Semi (and its after-party) seemed to be very happy with the way it came together. The freedom to do what they wanted seemed to be the best part, as explained by Emily Newell: “I really liked that they let us be us and that they didn’t make us do any of the events.”
Lauren Valente felt similarly. “I loved the fact that we were trusted and the parents weren’t breathing down our necks all night.”
Students also appreciated the sheer amount of things to do at the sleepover. As Elise Parker said, “I liked that there were many different things you could do between the dance and the sleepover. It was cool that we got to do or try so many different things.”
Students felt that the way the dance itself was set up worked well.
“I liked the arrangement,” said Krishna Patel. “How there was a photo booth, and how there were people serving food there.” It made for a very smooth-flowing night.
At any dance, music choice is, arguably, the paramount factor in determining whether or not the dance was successful. One bad song can kill the excitement almost immediately. But for Semi, the students generally felt good about the way the music was selected, as Emma Cadieux said: “For the most part, music requests were listened to, and you could tell that mostly, the music was chosen by the students.”
All in all, the Junior Semi Formal was a smashing success, and the students who attended appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves.
By Sienna Wurl
Tabor Academy will celebrate its 138th Commencement Service at 2:00 pm on May 30, Memorial Day, graduating 139 students from as close as Marion, the Cape and Southeastern, MA, to as far away as China, Thailand, and Nigeria. The class of 2016 had admirable success in the college process. According to Kerry Saltonstall, Director of Communications, ninety percent of the class applied to a most or highly competitive college according to Barron’s Guide, while seventy-six percent of the class found success in that very competitive pool of schools. Eighty-seven percent were admitted to one of their top three choices.
Tabor begins Commencement Weekend with a Baccalaureate Service on Sunday, May 29, the night before diplomas are received. As is the school’s custom, a parent of a senior is typically invited to address the class. This year, Mrs. Angela Dawicki (mother of Hannah Dawicki of Fairhaven) will be the speaker. Angela holds a B.S. and a M.S. in biomedical engineering from Tulane University. In 1995, Angela and her husband Eric purchased the Northeast Maritime Institute, which offers maritime education for professional mariners. In 2014, under their leadership, the Institute received degree-granting authority from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and began offering an Associate in Applied Science in Nautical Science degree program in 2015. While Angela has held many roles at the Institute, she is currently the Chief Academic Officer.
The celebration continues the next day with a formal procession of the seniors, surrounded by underclassmen, parents, families, friends, and faculty. After a greeting from the Head of School, John Quirk, and the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Carmine Martignetti ’71 (Marion), the Class of 2016 will hear from the student Co-Heads of School, classmates Mary Kate McIntire (Mattapoisett) and Oliver Sughrue (Marion). Following a musical interlude, Richard Roller, Senior Master and Director of College Counseling, will give the Commencement Address. Mr. Roller and his wife, Joan, are retiring from Tabor after 46 years of service. Rich Roller has served the school in many and varied administrative roles, most recently as Dean of Faculty, Director of College Counseling, Assistant Head and Senior Master. And, over the decades, he and Joan have worn many hats: as teachers, coaches, and house parents, working with four of Tabor’s nine Heads of School.
After the Commencement Address, the business of recognizing the class begins in earnest. The first order of business is honoring and inducting new members of the Cum Laude Society, the school’s top academic students. Following the induction ceremony, the faculty will award other achievement and service awards to the class, recognize retiring faculty, and finally, present the diplomas.
The service will take place under cover of a grand tent at 2:00 pm on the waterfront and will run approximately two hours with a reception for families following; no road closures are planned.
Tri-Town graduates include:
Marion: Sarah Kathleen Adams; Phoebe Washburn Bride; Brett Matthew Dineen; Tucker Adam Francis; Bradford William Gebhardt; Abigail Kennedy Heron; Zachary Hale Lowe; Christopher Gallagher Muther; Michael Joseph Ryan; Robert Alan Stickles, II; Oliver Lawrence Sughrue; Elizabeth Burr Tarrant; and Brooke Carolyn Wakeman
Mattapoisett: Jeremiah Brown Adams; Liam Patrick Barley; Cameron Anderson Coelho; Noah Curtis Greany; Colin Allen Kay; and Mary Katharine Evans McIntire
Rochester: Kyle Emmanuel Rood
If there is one guilty pleasure I will readily share in this public forum, it is that I love ice cream. Not all flavors or all types, however. Not the avant-garde green tea sorbet or bacon chip coffee mocha latte. No, I like the flavors of my youth when choices were few and the rarity of eating ice cream – generally done only in the summer months – made doing so memorable.
It’s funny how memory works.
Sounds, smells, and even tastes can linger in our brains and be revisited upon request, returning us to a place in time. A time when knees were perpetually covered in band-aides, summer people flocked into town like migratory birds as soon as schools closed for the season, and the ice cream man returned from his winter hibernation.
One of my strongest childhood memories, one that comes to me now as summer approaches, is the ice cream man who drove for Dainty Maid ice cream. My love affair with ice cream surely began way back then and surely is, in part, because of the ice cream men themselves.
Dainty Maid was a family-owned ice cream factory and shop on Cranberry Highway in Wareham. Their small fleet of white ice cream trucks became a fixture along the streets of Onset village after Memorial Day when I was a child.
These were not the panel vans that now roam beaches or public recreational venues with blaring brash loud recorded ear-splitting tuneless loops of noise. Oh no, Dainty Maid trucks were small pick-ups with custom-built refrigerator units tucked behind the cabs. Bright chrome handles on small doors, one on each side of the refrigerator unit, allowed the driver to reach inside and extract the yummy frozen treats.
Of course, we heard the ice cream truck long before we saw it advancing towards our corner where a group of giggling squirmy kids fresh from the beach anxiously waited for its arrival. The drivers controlled that sweet gentle tinkling bell, a real bell jingled back and forth via a string attached to the interior of the cab. So delightful was that sound, chime like, and so welcoming to our ears.
Everything was white. The trucks were white, the ice cream man’s uniform was white, even his hat and shoes were white. Those young men whose summer job it was to drive a route selling ice cream novelties had to actually park the truck, get out, and walk to the freezer door. It took time, but then everything was slower and anticipation appreciated in the last century.
The ice cream man was someone you came to know and someone who knew what you wanted before you could ask. You developed a relationship with the ice cream man because he was part of your neighborhood life.
He was polite and expected the children to act like decent little citizens – no pushing, no fighting, no screaming, just line up one-at-a-time so he could then focus his attention on the tiny customer standing before him. From my little kid vantage point, he was tall and elegant standing there with the power to fulfill my deepest desire: ice cream!
You felt grown-up handing the ice cream man a fifty-cent piece and he, in turn, would click the coin machine levers that hung from his belt. He’d press the coins in your hand with a friendly reminder, “Now don’t lose that.”
Children would scamper to the sidewalk curb under a shady tree to eat their treats. I can feel the warm summer breezes now as they floated up the street from Sunset Island and I, sitting on the curbstone, tried to make my chocolate-covered bar last as long as possible.
Removing the paper wrapper from the ice cream, we’d twist it around the stick to help catch the drips we knew would come. Then, placing the wonderfully smooth, thickly-coated chocolate-covered bar in our mouths, voices disappeared into a chorus of “M-mmm.”
Everyone had their own style, their own technique for eating a chocolate-covered bar. Some licked and sucked the top off exposing the creamy homemade vanilla ice cream inside, while others ate the hard chocolate coating off first and then devoured the vanilla. Regardless of one’s mastery for eating what can only be described as a bit of frozen heaven, you’d end up with melted chocolate and ice cream on your fingers. It was gooey and glorious.
Dainty Maid Ice Cream has long since ceased to exist, except in memory. But on summer evenings when the wind chimes in the garden catch a warm breeze that send the tiny pipes to tinkling softly, I remember the Dainty Maid ice cream man, taste the chocolate-covered ice cream bars of my youth, and see his friendly smile.
By Marilou Newell
The Marion Art Center is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition of abstract paintings by Susan Strauss and Alison Horvitz. A reception honoring the artists and their guests will be held on Friday, June 3 at the Marion Art Center from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Cecil Clark Davis Gallery. In addition, members of the Marion Garden Group will present floral interpretations of the artists’ paintings. The arrangements will be on display as long as the blooms last. The Marion Art Center is a not-for-profit organization located at 80 Pleasant Street, Marion. The gallery opening is free and open to the public.
As the school year winds down and graduation approaches, Tabor Academy is looking towards the summer and the opportunities that it provides. The summer program is designed for kids of all ages and provides the chance to develop new skills and try new activities.
Bobbi Krein is the director of the Summer Program and is very excited to begin this next year of activities.
“Tabor Academy is the perfect location for a summer camp,” said Krein.
Since it’s right on the water but also has access to all the opportunities that Tabor’s facilities provide, there are a wide range of activities for kids to try. There are programs geared towards marine science, sailing, and swimming, and other land-based ones like ceramics, photography, squash, soccer, and lacrosse.
“One of the coolest things we do,” said Krein, “is we have enrichment programs like drone technology, GoPro, The Incredible Machine (which is a look at the human body), and Crack the Cube (a strategy-based course designed to teach campers the tools to solve puzzles like the Rubik’s Cube).”
Both the faculty and counsellors who work at the summer program and the campers who spend their days at Tabor get a lot out of the program.
“The program is built to nurture risk-taking in a supportive and loving environment,” said Krein, who sends her own kids to the summer program every year. She says her daughter loves sailing, Ultimate Frisbee, and fitness, and her son loves squash, soccer, and drama. They’ve both been able to take “safe-risks” at Tabor, exploring new passions and putting themselves outside their comfort zone in comfortable ways.
“Professionally, I love offering young people and not-so-young people the opportunity to take on new challenges and build talents in areas that they never imagined,” said Krein. “Our staff is able to get creative and build offerings that are engaging and fun, while interacting with the campers in our program. We create a culture of ‘be who you want to be and do what you want to do,’ so kids feel safe and supported to try new things.”
Krein loves that, in addition to all their work, “We also have an insane amount of fun while keeping safety and camper happiness at the center of our goals and mission.”
Following this belief in safety, sunscreen dispensers will be added to Tabor campus so that students and counsellors can stay safe and not sunburnt throughout the many days spent on the waterfront.
Krein sums up the camp nicely by saying, “the TASP values are respect, community, caring, growth, connection, and joy.”
Many current Tabor students were once campers, and a lot of the counselors are Tabor alumni. This network of Tabor involvement brings life to the summer program and helps many young children start their Tabor careers and discover some new passions that they’ll continue throughout their lives.
By Madeleine Gregory
To the Editor:
I attended the Mattapoisett Town Meeting as I have done for 32 years. I was particularly interested in the discussion regarding the purchase of the Holy Ghost land on Park Street. I asked if this land would be for recreation and open space only or could the town consider building more housing for the elderly. A selectman answered there will be no elderly housing on this land. He did not acknowledge that there was a need for more affordable housing for the elderly.
This past summer, I was confronted with the lack of affordable housing in Mattapoisett. I had to find an apartment in three months, and I wanted to remain in Mattapoisett where I had lived with my family for 32 years. Though I am an elder, I was not ready to live in elderly housing. I was unable to find an apartment that I could afford in town and I resigned myself to looking elsewhere. Two days prior to signing a lease in Dartmouth, I received a call from a Mattapoisett landlord that an affordable, beautiful apartment had become available. I know how fortunate I am to still be living in Mattapoisett where my son and his family live.
Those of us who have lived in Mattapoisett for years and contributed to the life of this community should be able to continue to live here in our later years. It is in our interest to make the community at large and the selectman aware of the need for more affordable housing in Mattapoisett.
Cecile L. Sanders, Mattapoisett
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