Daniela Gil Veras of Marion, Allison Paim of Marion, Kathleen Dunn of Mattapoisett, and Lilah Gendreau of Mattapoisett were named to the 2023 fall semester dean’s list at Simmons University in Boston. To qualify for dean’s list status, undergraduate students must obtain a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, based on 12 or more credit hours of work in classes using the letter grade system.
Join The Elizabeth Taber Library and author and garden expert Kerry Mendez, Saturday May 11 at 11am, upstairs at the Marion Natural History Museum, for “Remarkable Natives for Beautiful Gardens,” an introduction to dazzling native specimens that attract accolades as well as pollinators. The presentation includes mail-order sources for natives in addition to your local garden center. Spaces are limited, please call or sign up at the library.
Find some great gifts for Mother’s Day and support the library with a visit to the Friends of the Elizabeth Taber Library outdoor book sale on the library lawn May 10 to 11.
For more information on the Elizabeth Taber Library, visit us at www.ElizabethTaberLibrary.org or call us at 508-748-1252
The Town of Marion has partnered with St. Pauly Textile, Inc., to provide a wood-frame clothing drop-off shed for community use. The collection shed is located behind the Elizabeth Taber Library at 8 Spring Street and was installed during the first week of April.
This shed is designed to give community members a clean, convenient, and well-kept option to donate used clothing.
Accepted items include clothing, shoes, belts, purses, blankets, sheets, curtains, pillowcases and stuffed animals. Both used and new items are accepted. Donations must be placed in tied-up bags before being left in the shed.
The shed is accessible any time of the day and will be emptied weekly. The town will receive funding for donated clothing and additionally has the option to use donations to serve community needs.
“We’re excited to present this opportunity to community members to declutter during spring cleaning, while also giving back to those in need,” said Marion Town Administrator Geoffrey Gorman in a press release.
St. Pauly Textile, Inc., partners with businesses and organizations to collect and distribute donated items to those in need in the U.S. and 44 countries. It collects more than 150,000 total pounds of clothing each day at more than 1,400 drop-off sheds. In 2023, St. Pauly Textile, Inc., estimates it collected 68 million articles of clothing, assisting about 8,300,000 people worldwide.
Community members with questions about donations may contact St. Pauly Textile at 585-924-7941 or by emailing questions@stpaulytextile.com.
The agenda for the April 18 Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals meeting listed two hearings for special permits, but only one was heard.
An application filed by Robert and Lisa Barboza, 5 and 7 Shoreview Avenue, for the construction of a three-story, single-family dwelling and represented by David Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc., was ultimately continued without prejudice.
Davignon said that given there were only four board members present, his client would have to receive a “super majority” vote from the board in order to move forward with the project. He apologized to the public in attendance, primarily interested parties such as abutters, for not being able to have the case heard on this night, but it was in the best interest of his client that a continuance be granted to allow from better representation of the full board.
Hearing no objection to a continuance, it was granted.
The other case on the agenda was heard. A Special Permit requested by Brett and Emily L’Esperance, 0 Tupola Lane and Ned’s Point Road, was also represented by Davignon.
The undeveloped lot situated on the corner of Tupola Lane and Ned’s Point Road consists of two lots, which over time no longer met required setbacks. The plan as presented would join the two undersized lots into one, buildable parcel meeting pre-1972 requirements. Issues pertaining to wetlands were suggested by the public, but those would be handled when the case came before the Conservation Commission, Davignon said.
The ZBA approved both the joining of the lots to pre-1972 standards and the project as proposed for a new single-family home.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for Thursday, May 16, if there are cases to be heard.
Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals
By Marilou Newell
Richard R. Langhoff, 88, of Mattapoisett died April 25, 2024 unexpectedly at Tobey Hospital.
He was the husband of Ilona B. (Gorun) Langhoff.
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, son of the late Florence V. (Smiechowski) Krauterbluth, step-son of the late Paul J. Krauterbluth and son of the late Rudolph Langhoff, he lived briefly in Chula Vista, CA and Acushnet before moving to Mattapoisett in 1970.
He was a 1953 graduate of Langley High School in Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh, School of Engineering, class of 1964.
Mr. Langhoff was a Vietnam Era veteran, and trained primarily as a U.S. Air Force pilot through the Aviation Cadet program in class 58-C/D. He held a commercial pilot’s license with an instrument rating at the time of his death. He was a very close friend and served in flight crew with the late David E. Frawley, Jr. of Mattapoisett.
He began his work career as a technician at Westinghouse Electric’s Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. At Bettis, he worked his way through college, but interrupted his education and joined the U.S. Air Force. Upon graduation with a BS in Metallurgical Engineering, he worked as a metallurgist for a number of companies in Pennsylvania, California, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He retired from Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems, Portsmouth, RI as a Principal Systems Engineer in 2002. He also was a Professional Engineer in Massachusetts. In retirement, he was a licensed school bus driver, and driver for the Mattapoisett Council on Aging.
Mr. Langhoff was a member of (ASM), and later the (ASMINT) at Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
He was an accomplished author of over 800 company proprietary technical reports, seven technical publications, and one U.S. Patent including two disclosures.
He was a former Vice-President, President of the St. Anthony’s Church Couple’s Club in Mattapoisett, and served as a Lector for 39 years and infrequent Usher since building the “New” St. Anthony’s Church in 1974.
He was a Lifetime Volunteer Flight Crew member of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation. Mattapoisett Machacam Club, and an over 35 year member of the American Legion, Florence Eastman Post 280 where he served as Chaplain.
He had an extreme love for sports cars with the owning of a prize winning 1958 Triumph TR3-A roadster.. He loved to exercise and was very active in bicycling until 2024 when his health declined. He had a lifelong passion for amateur astronomy and combined that passion with his interest in photography for the capture of many deep sky astrographs. He was the owner of an eight inch diameter Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at his passing. He also was a passionate football fan, and particularly enjoyed his beloved “Pittsburgh Steelers” and his alma mater “Pitt Panthers.”
Survivors include his wife; a son, David Langhoff and his wife Trudy of Maynard, MA; a daughter, Kristen Henriques and her husband Scott of Fairhaven; a step-brother, Joel Langhoff of Lake Jackson, TX; a half-sister, Janet Hitz and her husband John of Graysville, PA; 4 grandchildren, Gretchen, Caleb, Ingrid and Katherine; 4 nieces and nephews, Bradley Langhoff, Robert Langhoff and Kendyl Warren; and Jonathan Hitz and his wife Caroline.
He was the brother of the late Ronnie Langhoff and the step-brother-in-law of the late Elaine Langhoff.
His Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, April 30th at 10 am at St. Joseph’s Church, 74 Spring St., Fairhaven. Burial will follow in Cushing Cemetery. Visiting hours are omitted. Arrangements are with the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd. (Rt. 6), Mattapoisett. For online guestbook, visit www.saundersdwyer.com.
They say it takes a village to help a child in need.
Rajesh “Raj” Shahi, in the early 1990s was destined for a life of poverty as a beggar with a hunchback – until a special village in Massachusetts came to the rescue.
He had a spinal curvature issue – kyphoscoliosis – that made his back resemble a turtle shell and with no access to proper medical care in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Thanks to the community in Mattapoisett and medical staff in Boston, Shahi, now approaching 44, is a successful director of a school in Nepal, where he now pays it forward by helping children in need.
“They (friends in Massachusetts) changed my life and they have given me a new life,” said Shahi during a recent interview with The Wanderer.
Shahi came to Massachusetts at the age of 13 in 1993, after he was sponsored by Hands in Outreach, a group that helps impoverished children in Nepal.
Nepal operates under a caste system. Shahi’s family was in a lower class, and his chances of a good and successful life were minimal at best until HIO and his Massachusetts community stepped in.
Charles Duponte, a Mattapoisett resident, first initiated work to help Shahi. His then wife Johanna Duponte-Williams took Shahi in, helping him to get medical care in Boston and recover in Mattapoisett.
Shahi then attended Old Hammondtown Elementary School, where Grade 6 teacher Karen McQuillan prepared her students for Shahi’s stay. She altered her curriculum to help students learn about the culture of Nepal and how the caste system left Shahi and his family with little access to proper medical care or any chance of upward economic mobility.
The students and staff at Old Hammondtown responded, bowing to Shahi as he entered the building for the first time, and forming protective circles around him so he would not reinjure his back.
Their first word to the student was the customary greeting of honor – “Namaste.”
Shahi said that his host community in Mattapoisett and the medical team at New England Baptist Hospital helped him “to understand the value of helping others.”
“They are my family. They gave me a very special time in that time (period). All my friends, they helped me a lot and are in my heart always. I am very thankful and thankful to God for giving me amazing friends for me and my life,” Shahi said.
Now, Shahi runs a school with 40 students, giving back to the poor children of Nepal, completing the cycle of giving that started with him. He is married with two children of his own but calls his students his “children as well.”
“I think it’s karma,” said Duponte-Williams, who became a mother figure to Shahi. “How amazing that all of these connections happened.”
Duponte-Williams said she could never conceive a child on her own, but after her experience with Shahi, she later adopted children.
Duponte-Williams, an occupational therapist, said that before Shahi came to Mattapoisett, she looked at his picture and was moved by his smile. She and other supporters all rallied behind him.
But at first it was an uphill battle. Some medical professionals at first thought Shahi’s condition was so bad that it could not be reversed.
Duponte-Williams says she remembers showing Shahi’s X-rays to Dr. Tucker AuFranc, who shared them with colleagues Alexander Wright and Peter Anas. Both noticed the spinal curvature was so severe it threatened his lung capacity.
They called it the worst case of its kind.
But nobody gave up. Wright, with Anas’ help, performed an eight-hour surgery on Shahi in 1993, installing in him a rod with metal side pieces into his back, with hooks that connect to his ribs.
It took months of recovery, but Shahi was able to return to Nepal but not before students and teachers at the school donated clothing to Shahi for his return home, some of which got him through the winter months in New England.
In 2008, Shahi returned for a recheck, and Duponte-Williams threw a huge reunion party.
Before his return home, Duponte-Williams introduced Shahi to different Christian religions and the local Quakers, giving him an understanding of other religions and ways of life.
Duponte-Williams said Shahi went to a Catholic church and noticed the image of Jesus on the cross. Duponte-Williams told Shahi the story of Jesus’ resurrection, and Shahi responded, “Your God is a powerful God.”
Duponte-Williams also got to learn about Shahi’s religion and ways of life. At one point, after Shahi returned to Nepal, Duponte-Williams went to a gathering for the Dalai Lama. She remembers talking to a monk and expressing concern that Shahi would have trouble adjusting again to life in Nepal. The monk responded, “It is much more likely to change your life, Dear.”
Shahi lately has been complaining of back pain and will be returning to Boston later this year for a checkup and a computed tomography scan.
Duponte-Williams and other supporters have raised just under $3,000, but that will likely only cover travel expenses.
To donate, send a check to Mattapoisett Friends Meeting (helping fund/Nepal in the memo) and mail to PO Box 795, Mattapoisett, MA 02739 or donate online https://gofund.me/db6d5743. Donations can also be sent via Venmo @Johanna-Duponte-Williams – last four digits of telephone number 7721 – memo for Raj.
By Jeffrey D. Wagner
We have two really super events coming for May and June. On May 15, we will have an evening of song and stories with the Woodchopper Tribute Band at 7:00 pm. This musical trip down memory lane will be provided by some of the children of the original Woodchopper musical group.
In June on the weekend of the 2 and 23, the Historical Society will be hosting a Historic Fair with a Colonial Flair. There will be many activities for children and adults that will be fun and help prepare for celebrations of the upcoming 250th birthday of the USA.
Some activities will be a living history exhibit, music, early American games to play, animals, a bake sale, interactive events, a scavenger hunt and much more. In the coming weeks, there will be additional information on our June event.
The picture with this article is a little hard to see, but it is a picture of Bob Hiller, owner of East Over and his 3 yr. old grandson, Jacob. They are riding in a wagon pulled by the farm’s iconic Clydesdales at the Rochester Women’s Club 3rd Annual Earth Day Expo in 1992. With Earth Day this past Monday, the Women’s Club continued their annual Earth Day events with a town-wide cleanup as did others in the Tri-Towns.
When Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, it was because of a realization by some that the earth which had been taken for granted for centuries needed protection. The concept of protecting the earth takes many forms; acknowledgement of climate change and working to slow it; sensible development that doesn’t overwhelm our land and water and the simple act of not littering.
In order to achieve these goals, land preservation is important, and it was important to Bob Hiller who worked with the Trustees of Reservations and the townspeople of both Rochester and Marion to preserve the lands of East Over. The Rochester Land Trust works hard to protect the fields, woods and streams of Rochester for all of us.
Equally important is the preservation of our history and this is where the Rochester Historical Society comes in. To paraphrase one of our ancestors, knowing where you come from is important in forging plans (for a person or a town) for going forward.
At the Society we work to save and (importantly) share the history of our town and its residents. We do this with our collection of newspapers, maps, letters, books, pictures and other ephemera as well as physical items like antique clothing, signs, the organ, tools etc. all stored in our Museum at 355 County Rd.
The Museum housed the East Rochester Congregational Church and was passed on to us by the last congregation. We are the stewards of this 1887 structure which is on the Register of Historic Places. We take our stewardship seriously, but we are a relatively small nonprofit (though one we hope has a big presence) and we receive no financial aid from the town of Rochester. This means that we rely on memberships, donations, raffles and bake sales to maintain the church/museum building. When we replaced the roof, I always say that we did it one cupcake at a time, but to be honest, it would not have been possible without a very generous donation by George Church.
Currently we need to repair our steeple from which panels have been falling. This is causing some leaks and falling plaster inside so it can’t be ignored. George is no longer here to help us out, so we are hoping that those who agree with us on the importance of preserving our historic buildings will donate to the $3000.00 that we need to fix the steeple.
Donations should be sent to: Rochester Historical Society, PO Box 322, Rochester, MA 02770. We will be happy to send you a receipt to use with your taxes.
By Connie Eshbach
The next meeting of the Machacam Club is scheduled for Wednesday, May 1. We meet at the American Legion Hall on Depot Street in Mattapoisett. Social time begins at 5 pm followed by dinner at 6 pm. Our speaker will be introduced at 6:40 pm. Chef Colby is planning another satisfying meal. Callers, please transmit your counts by 9 pm, Saturday. Questions – please submit to cwmccullough@comcast.net
To the Editor,
I encourage Marion residents to attend the Select Board meeting on May 7 to support the town’s participation in the Green Communities program. The Select Board should always seek ways to reduce property owner tax burden.
Since Marion joined in 2018, Green Communities grants funded many projects – saving taxpayers more than $500,000. With energy consumption now reduced by 24% thanks to these upgrades, Green Communities helps taxpayers save tax dollars — which helps all of us — every year.
The grant opportunities aren’t over. In June, Marion could apply for up to $220,000 to improve wastewater treatment plant control systems and heating systems in water and sewer pumping station heat systems.
Yes, every Green Community needs to follow the most current version of the Stretch Building Code. But don’t we all want homes with lower utility bills that are ready for the future? The National Association of Realtors reports that more than half of all buyers consider these features when shopping for homes. We know that young families and seniors especially look for ways to stay within their budgets.
If you can’t come to the May 7 meeting in person, please show your support for Marion’s Green Communities participation by signing this petition online at https://bit.ly/Marion-GC.
Sincerely,
Alanna Nelson, Marion
The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence. All letters must be typed and submitted directly to: news@wanderer.com.