Make Believe Day

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If you happened to gaze into the sixth grade classrooms at Sippican Elementary on April 3, a quite unusual sight would have met the eye. Princesses, super heroes, athletes, and everything in between roamed the halls.

This creative and unusual spirit day for the sixth grade was founded by one of the teachers, Cathy Sinnott. She called it “Make Believe Day.”

Prior to this event, students wrote poems and read stories based on growing up, which everyone had mixed feelings about. The main purpose of this dress-up occasion was to have everybody re-live the memories and feelings of being young.

“There are two reasons for this day,” Sinnott explained to the class,” to be young again and feel the sensation of hope that you’ll always have an inner child.” And at 8:40 the next morning, students paraded in dressed as the character or profession they pretended to be as a child.

To kick off the event, a Mystery Guest greeted students, who turned out to be Mary Poppins from the Zeiterion production of the musical. She answered questions about her character and background, as well as read a story. All of this was followed by a chorus of “A Spoon Full of Sugar,” which put a smile on positively everyone’s face.

“Mary Poppins’ performance was a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious one,” exclaimed Emma Vivino, who was decked out in her childhood artist outfit.

As Jane and Michael did in film, students wrote a description of their dream Nanny. Jillian Craig and Grace Magee shared theirs and it was just as good as the one created in 1964.

After Mary was bid farewell, a 15-minute naptime took place. And it wasn’t a surprise that this was one of the most favored events throughout the day. Following that was a snack, which consisted of dry Cheerios.

“The Cheerios were awesome,” explained John Mollica, who was dressed in a robot costume.

To conclude their day of fun, students went outdoors to play Aleuth, which is a traditional African game similar to Sharks and Minnows. However, the sharks are lions and the minnows are townspeople.

“Make Believe Day was a great chance to explore and be little again,” commented Emma Williamson toward the end of the day.

Overall, this smashing spirit day was a success, and hopefully it will be part of sixth grade for years to come.

 

By Bessie Pierre

Bessie Pierre is a student at Sippican School.

Jeffrey Mark Stopka

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Jeffrey Mark Stopka, 58, formerly of Rochester, MA, passed away suddenly on Friday, April 10, 2015 at his home.

Jeffrey was born in Acushnet, Massachusetts on March 17, 1957 to Henry Stopka and the late Nancy Lake Stopka. He was employed by the United States Air Force as the manager of the base commissary. Jeffrey was also retired from the United States Army Reserve and served one year in Iraq. He was an avid New England sports fan and also had a great love for Nascar Racing and for cooking.

A service celebrating Jeffrey’s life was held on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 in the chapel of Seymour Funeral Home.

In addition to his father, Jeffrey is survived by his wife, Marites Stopka; son Jethro; brother, Steve Stopka of Rochester, MA; sister, Deborah Veary and husband Kenneth of Rochester, MA; brother, Gary Stopka and wife Anne of Rochester, MA, and sister, Jennifer (Jenny) Thomas and companion, Dennis Lynch of Fairhaven, MA.; and several nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be given to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.

Marie A. (Berardi) Bourdon

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Marie A. (Berardi) Bourdon, 63, of Mattapoisett died April 9, 2015 at New Bedford Rehabilitation Hospital after a long illness.

She was the wife of Robert W. Bourdon.

Born in Newton, MA, the daughter of the late Augusto and Mary (Rufo) Berardi, she was raised in Watertown before moving to Mattapoisett in 1978.

Mrs. Bourdon was a communicant of St. Anthony’s Church in Mattapoisett.

She was active in Girl Scouts and school activities when her children were young.

Survivors include her husband; 2 daughters, Jennifer Bourdon of Mattapoisett and Kathleen Barnes of Gatlinburg, TX; a brother, William Berardi and his wife Mary Ann of Holliston, MA; a sister, Janet Sanuik and her husband Chet of Milford, MA; a grandson, Jordan Barnes; and several nieces and nephews.

Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, April 21st at 9 AM in St. Anthony’s Church. Burial will follow in the Massachusetts National Cemetery. Arrangements are in the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Road, Route 6, Mattapoisett. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the American Diabetes Association, 10 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Tarot for Tabbies

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Habitat for Cats will present a Psychic Fair called “Tarot for Tabbies” on Friday evening, May 1 from 6:00 – 10:00 pm at III Suns on 665 Orchard Street, New Bedford, MA.

Tarot card readers at the Fair will be The Loon Witch, Lionheart, Cricket Song and Lady Morgandy. Angel and Crystal readings are also available. The renowned Medium is Ron O’Berry. Chris Tarini will be offering Reiki.

The admission fee is $10 and readings will be $25 for a 15-minute reading (includes admission). Beverages and refreshments will be available along with some beautiful raffle prizes. All donations will go directly to helping homeless cats in the New Bedford area. For more information, visit HFC’s website at habitatforcats.org.

Toastmaster’s Club Awards

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The Mark Whalen of the SouthCoast Toastmaster’s Club recently awarded the Competent Communicator award to Eric Frost (left) and Steve Galavotti (right).  Both members completed ten speeches from the Competent Communicator manual.  Frost is from Plymouth and Galavotti is from Mattapoisett. Toastmasters provides public speaking and leadership training in a friendly, supportive environment.  The club meets at the Wareham Library, 59 Marion Road, Wareham from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm on the second and fourth Thursday of the month. For more information go to:  www.SouthCoast.ToastmastersClubs.org or call 508-292-6706.

Toastmasters

It’s Fun to Serve on the Town ZBA!

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Members of the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals didn’t need the Village People to help them attract a new member to their board the night of April 8. They had Chairman Eric Pierce and Betsy Dunn to describe the greatness that is life on the ZBA.

Needing new members, and with barely a quorum that evening, the Zoning Board of Appeals made an appeal of its own to a resident showing a little interest in joining the board. And with the only item on the agenda continued for another date, the board was free to expend all of its wisdom and wit in convincing Joanna Wheeler to join them.

“What can we tell you that will entice you?” said Pierce to Wheeler. She first wanted to know how often the board meets; Pierce told her roughly every other week.

But during the Baywatch days (Marion Village Estates 40B housing), Dunn said eliciting laughter, “I think we met every day.”

Dunn and Pierce have both been living the ZBA life for over 30 years, and Pierce said he could only recall “about three contentious ones,” meaning applications, specifically naming Baywatch, Tabor Academy, and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Sometimes you get some “bizarre requests” from your neighbors, said Dunn, “But you go by common sense and the neighborhood and by what the town will bear.”

“I guess my attitude about the board is, our job is to try and facilitate rather than try to stop people,” said Pierce. To try to stop the “monstrosities.” He continued, “… [the things] that are gonna screw up the neighborhood.”

There are (should be) five members and three alternate members to a ZBA, said Dunn. And sometimes, she added, you even get a scary brown envelope addressed to you in the mail that frightens you the first time you receive one because, after all, “every now and then someone goes and sues the board.”

“You’re not going to put all this in the newspaper, are you?” Dunn asked in the middle of the public meeting held inside the Marion Town House. (Yes, Betsy. I am.)

There were a few cases that were “a little edgy,” said Pierce, “But mostly we talk it out.”

Pierce advised Wheeler, who was still present, that the next step was for her to fill out an application to join the board, address it to the chairman, and the ZBA would forward it to the Board of Selectmen.

“I’ll even hand deliver it for you,” said Dunn, not too desperately. “Once you start, you kind of like to come (to the meetings) because you like to know what’s going on.” Dunn called it a learning process. “So, you’d like to come … right?”

The next meeting of the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for May 14 at 7:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry

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American Birds and Climate Change

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The Nasketucket Bird Club will present a program on climate change and birds.

Recent research by the National Audubon Society science team indicates that North American birds may suffer significant losses due to climate change. Over half of North American species (314 of 588 species studied) are considered to be threatened or endangered by climate change, as they may face a loss of over 50% of their current ranges.

Conservation data specialist Tom Auer will explain how Audubon’s science team made their findings and what we can all do to help birds through an uncertain future.

The program will be held at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 23 at the Mattapoisett Public Library, 7 Barstow Street. The meeting is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Carolyn Longworth at bvm1290@comcast.net.

One Bite Can Change Your Life…

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The Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester Boards of Health are pleased to announce that they will sponsor a talk on deer ticks: “One Bite Can Change Your Life…” with Larry Dapsis, Entomologist. Mr. Dapsis joined the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension in 2011 as Deer Tick Project Coordinator and Entomologist and is a member of the Barnstable County Task Force on Lyme and other Tick-Borne Diseases.

The event will be held Thursday, April 30 at 6:30 pm at Marion’s Sippican School, 16 Spring Street. Parking is available at rear of school in Park Street lot.

Lyme disease is the most prevalent, infectious disease in Massachusetts and is now considered to be a public health crisis. In addition to Lyme, deer ticks can carry the pathogens which cause Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis. Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis are serious tick-borne illnesses. Marion and Rochester have seen a significant increase in the number of cases of Babesiosis in the last two years. Prevention is the key to stopping this progression of serious tick-borne illnesses.

This program will review the basic life cycle and ecology of deer ticks, incidence rates and distribution of tick-borne illnesses in addition to a database under development on infection rates of ticks.

A three-point protection plan will be presented: Protect Yourself, Protect Your Yard, and Protect Your Pet. Tick-borne diseases are preventable!

Sponsored by Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester Boards of Health.

Earth Day at the Rochester Women’s Club

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On Saturday, April 25 the Rochester Women’s Club will sponsor its annual town-wide, roadside clean-up. Local civic organizations, as well as all residents, are encouraged to join in this event. The Women’s Club will supply large trash bags and rubber gloves for everyone who wants to help. Our event takes place from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Stop by the clubhouse at 37 Marion Road to pick up your supplies and your street assignments. Everyone is welcome to clean their own street if they prefer. We are keeping a tally of the roads that need our attention most. Filled bags can be left on the side of the road, and the Rochester Highway Department will pick up the bags during the following week. Children must be supervised.

The Rochester Lands Trust will be on hand at our clubhouse in our parking lot to receive electronics. Free coffee and donuts will be offered by the club as long as they last. If you have questions, you can call 508-322-0998.

50th Anniversary Spring Concert

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The Sippican Choral Society, in conjunction with the Tri-County Symphonic Band, presents “Golden Anniversary Memories” for its 50th Anniversary Spring Concert. The concert will be in the Fireman Performing Arts Center in Hoyt Hall at Tabor Academy on Sunday, April 26 at 3:00 pm.

It is fitting that the chorus is singing with the Tri-County Symphonic Band because in 1965, John Pandolfi, the band’s director and founder, invited 35 singers from Marion and surrounding towns to sing with the band, with the understanding that the group form its own chorus and continue on its own.

The “Regional Civic Chorus,” as it was first known, was directed by Xavan Mazmanian, a music teacher at Old Rochester Regional, with Thelma Ostenfeld as accompanist. Shirley Cowell was its first President. Much credit goes to those two women for the chorus’s beginnings and early success.

One of the songs the chorus sang in that first concert was the spiritual “Ride the Chariot,” and this year, the audience will hear it again – along with 10 other of the chorus’s favorite and most popular pieces from past concerts. Among those are “The Heavens are Telling” from Haydn’s The Creation; “How Can I Keep from Singing,” the Quaker hymn arranged by Bradley Ellington; Felix Mendelssohn’s “Da Nobis Pacem”; a beautiful arrangement of the spiritual “Kumbaya,” arranged by Paul Sjolund; and John Newton’s “Amazing Grace,” exquisitely arranged by Keith McCutchen.

The chorus will be joined with the Tri-County Band on several pieces as well, including the Chorus of the Gypsies’ “Anvil Chorus,” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore; “Lacrymosa,” from Mozart’s Requiem (K.626); and the “Triumphal March” from Verdi’s Aida.

Tickets for the concert are $15 each ($7 for children under 18), and are available at The Bookstall in Marion, the Symphony Shop in Dartmouth, Euro in Fairhaven, No Kidding at The Ropewalk in Mattapoisett, and from chorus and band members.

The Sippican Choral Society has been performing at least two concerts every year for over 50 years. Under the direction of Brian Roderick for the past 11 years, and with Michelle Gordon of Mattapoisett as the chorus’s brilliant accompanist, the chorus has presented well over 150 concerts of classical and popular music throughout the Southcoast, Plymouth, and the Boston area.

Doors will open at 2:30 pm for the 3:00 pm concert, and the venue is wheelchair accessible. A special 50th Anniversary reception will follow the concert in the lobby of Hoyt Hall, to which all are invited to attend.

For further information about this concert, please contact Peter McDonald at 508-748-0286.