Mattapoisett Woman’s Club Luncheon

The Mattapoisett Woman’s Club will hold its monthly luncheon on Thursday, January 16 at 12:00 noon at Reynard Hall in the Mattapoisett Congregational Church, 27 Church St., Mattapoisett.

Ross Edminster, a member of the Salvation Army Relief Team, will share his experiences of offering support following the deadly tornado that struck Oklahoma, killing 24 and injuring 377 people. As an emergency responder, Ross gave hope and support from cold drinks and snacks to Beanie Babies for the children, but most importantly, he offered emotional and spiritual support. As a parent, retired middle school principal of 3 schools, and grandparent, Mr. Edminster was confronted by the desperate destruction that affected so many families.

“This was a wonderful testimony to the faith of people of Oklahoma,” reflected Edminster.

New members are most welcome. Contact Myra Hart at 508-758-4703 or Bobbie Ketchel at 508-758-9593.

Gateway Youth Hockey Update

Mite Bobcats: The Mite Bobcats erased a four goal deficit with only two minutes left to come back and tie Nantucket 17-17. Juni Suarez had an eight-goal night. Derek Guavin had a hat trick and Tommy Ledger tied the game with under a minute left. Charlie Carroll kept the Bobcats in the game, making forty-four saves and three amazing saves to keep the score tied until the end. Carroll had his best game, making several key saves in the second period. The Bobcats are back in action on January 4 with a double header against MV and Nantucket.

Squirt Grizzlies: The Gateway Squirt Grizzlies skated to a 3-3 tie with first place Braintreein the Yankee Conference on Sunday in Pembroke. Chris Gauvin and Thomas Galavotti provided the offense, and Ryker King stopped two breakaways in the final minutes in goal.

Pee Wee Warriors: The Gateway Warriors watched a two-goal lead disappear as the Southeastern Cyclones took advantage of defensive zone carelessness and an inconsistent back-checking effort that resulted in the Warriors’ second Yankee Conference loss, 5-4. Robert Ramsay led all Warriors in effort, intensity, and scoring with two goals and an assist. Line-mate Danny Flynn added a goal and an assist. Ben Demoranville also scored a goal, assisted by defenseman Jared Westgate.

Democratic Town Committee Meeting

The Mattapoisett Democratic Town Committee invites its members and the public to attend an open forum to meet gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley on Saturday, January 4 at 10:15 am in the lower level conference room of the Mattapoisett Library, 7 Barstow Street, Mattapoisett.

ORR Student Council Shows Generosity

As the majority of Old Rochester Regional High School prepared for winter break, student council remained busy until the last days of school. Last Thursday, student council presented a jumbo “check” for $4,651.09 to a small group of afterschool club representatives. While this cardboard check may just be for show, it signifies the actual amount student council has donated towards the school’s club fee.

            The club fee, also known as the activities fee, is a $50 payment all students involved in afterschool activities must make in order to defray the cost of the clubs’ advisors. This year, ORRHS’s student council decided to lower the cost of the annual club fee.

            “We had homecoming dance, which we have every year, and this year we used all of the profits from the dance to donate to the activity fee,” explained Toby Kyle, one of the student council advisors.

            Kyle was proud to announce that student council’s donation lowered the club fee by about half.

            Along with the presentation of their jumbo check, a handful of student council members went caroling last Thursday. The students car-pooled to Hathaway Manor Extended Care Facility in New Bedford, where they met up with their two advisors to spread some holiday cheer.

            The students were welcomed by a room full of senior citizens. As they flipped through their songbooks, student council sang holiday classics such as “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Frosty the Snowman.” Many senior citizens sang along cheerfully, despite the fact that few student council members have had musical experience. Troy Rood, a guest caroler and senior member of ORR’s drama club and chorus, sang “White Christmas” in his skilled voice as a special treat.

            “I think the people enjoyed it,” said Kyle, happily adding, “I had fun!”

            Next year, student council hopes to make this trip to Hathaway Manor a tradition, perhaps even bringing students with musical instruments to make the caroling more entertaining.

            With Holiday Vacation now in session, Old Rochester Regional will be closed until Thursday, January 2, 2014. The first day back will be a delayed start day, with homeroom beginning at 8:30 am.

By Renae Reints

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Alexandria Mary Mohidin (Stylos)

Alexandria Mary Mohidin (Stylos) of Rochester passed away peacefully on Monday, December 23, 2013 at Tremont Nursing Home at the age of 95.  Born in Lowell Massachusetts in 1918, she was the daughter of Achilles and Marianthi (Kotarakos) Stylos. She was preceded in death by her husband Gulam Mohidin of Suffering Moses, Kashmir, India to whom she was married for 50 years.

She is survived by her two daughters, Dr. Mumtaz Mohidin m. to Dr. Shabeer Dar and COL (Ret) Halima Mohidin Tiffany, and two grandsons Sam Shabeer and Alexander Stylos. She was one of eight children, surviving her are her three brothers: Peter Stylos of Bridgeport CT, Paul Stylos m. to Ramona of Northampton MA, and William Stylos m. to Virginia of Fairhaven MA and one sister Eunice Hanson m. to C. Lee Hanson of Easton CT. and numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews. She was preceded in death by her three sisters Helen Olympia Straley, Jennie Aphrodite Helmar, and Ann Anthoula Moser.

Mrs. Mohidin received her BA degree in Home Economics from Berea College, KY and her teachers training certification in Framingham State Teachers College. She was a teacher for a short period at New Bedford Vocational School, when she was recruited by the Board of Foreign Missions for a three year job in India teaching Home Science at a girl’s school. She met her husband there and after her job was over, she got married and remained there until his death. Together they ran an international handicraft business Suffering Moses where she was the creative force behind the successful business.

Besides being the creative force behind their business, Mrs. Mohidin loved to cook, knit, sew, bake, can, weave, carve wood, and spoil her two grandsons. She was a wonderful cook, and could cook Indian food better than the locals. There were always fresh flowers beautifully arranged around the home and the business.

Her funeral service was held on Thursday, December 26, at the Sherman Cemetery in Rochester. We will celebrate her life at a memorial service on Sunday, 29 December, at 1:00 PM at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Wareham, 2599 Cranberry Hwy, Wareham. Reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be sent to her Alma Mater Berea College, Berea KY, 40404.

Family Bay Discovery Day

See what gifts Mother Nature left us this holiday season during a Family Bay Discovery Day program with the Buzzards Bay Coalition on Friday, December 27 and Saturday, December 28. Participants will embark on a scavenger hunt to find natural treasures in the forest or on the beach. At the end of each program, we will show you how your family can turn the treasures you find into a festive craft!

Programs offered are ‘Gifts from the Forest’ on Friday, December 27 from 10:00 – 11:00 am at the Trustees of Reservations Lyman Reserve (110 Red Brook Road, Plymouth) and ‘Gifts from the Bay’ on Saturday, December 28 from 10:00 – 11:00 am at Planting Island Causeway (Planting Island Road, Marion).

While there is no cost to attend, registration is required for all Bay Adventures. To RSVP, email bayadventures@savebuzzardsbay.org or call 508-999-6363 ext. 219.

This program is part of the Coalition’s Bay Adventures series, which are programs designed for explorers of all ages to get outside and discover Buzzards Bay. To learn more about all our upcoming Bay Adventures, visit www.savebuzzardsbay.org/BayAdventures.

Winter Sports in Full Swing

The second week of winter sports at Old Rochester was interrupted by persistent winter weather, which managed to postpone a swim meet and a boys’ and girls’ basketball game, along with cancelling practices. Despite the storms, however, several of the teams had excellent performances. Here is a look at the second week of scheduled games for ORR winter athletics.

            Boys’ Track: Coming off of a narrow victory over Diman, the boys’ track team looked to prove their full value in their meets this past week. The boys successfully defeated Case, Bourne, and Apponequet to keep an undefeated record for the winter season. In the Case meet, where the boys won 58-28, the biggest story revolved around junior Kevin Saccone, who set a school-record time for the 55-meter-hurdles with a quick 7.8 seconds. Saccone would later go on to break his own record later that week against Apponequet, lowering it two-tenths of a second to 7.6 seconds. Saccone would also go on to win the 600 meter dash in a 1:36.1 to lead the Bulldogs to another 58-28 victory. Mike Wyman won the two mile run in all three meets, easily claiming victories by running times of 10:18, 10:18, and 10:07. Senior Colin Knapton dominated the sprinting events over the course of the week, claiming victories in the 55-meter-dash and the 300-meter dash in all three meets.

Girls’ Track: The girls’ indoor track team had an equally successful week. The girls easily defeated Case, Bourne and Apponequet with scores of 75-13, 75-11, and 79-7 respectively. The latter victory over Apponequet was an essential win for the Lady Bulldogs. Apponequet is usually in contention for the SCC title each year, and the girls entered the meet to find that Apponequet’s best runners had chosen to not compete during the indoor season. Thanks to strong performances by triple-winner Paige Santos (9.1 seconds in the 55-meter-dash, 47 seconds in the 300-meter-dash, 5’2”in the high jump) and double-winner Morgan DaSilva (7.6 seconds in the 55-meter dash, 1:50 in the 600-meter-run), the girls dominated Apponequet, and face their last major obstacle for the SCC Championship in Fairhaven High School later this winter. Nina Bourgeois (3:36.8 in the 1,000-meter-run), Sam Barrett (12:46 in the two-mile), and Sam Allaire (27’ 6.75”) also contributed key wins for the Lady Bulldogs, who remain undefeated for the season.

Ice Hockey: The ORR/Fairhaven ice hockey team suffered their first loss of the season against out-of-conference Whitman-Hanson with a score of 3-1 last week. Coming off of a season-opening victory against Somerset-Berkeley, the defending SCC Champions looked to continue their success against Whitman-Hanson. After two quick goals by Whitman-Hanson, Fairhaven’s Jeremy Lawton scored off of an assist by Cam Silvia to make the score a manageable 2-1 at the close of the first period. After a scoreless second period, Whitman-Hanson scored again to raise the score to 3-1, which the Bulldogs could never make up. Goalie Chris Nadeau played well in the loss, making 30 saves.

Girls’ Basketball: The Lady Bulldogs suffered heavy losses from graduation, and after losing their opening game against out-of-conference New Bedford High School, the girls looked for redemption against SCC rival Apponequet. Unfortunately, the varsity-inexperienced Lady Bulldogs lost to the Lady Lakers with a decisive score of 51-12. Junior Morgan Browning and freshman Alexis Parker were ORR’s lead scorers for the night, each grabbing 4 points apiece. Browning also contributed on the boards with 10 rebounds. Despite the large margin of defeat, it is still early on in the season, and the girls were missing three starters due to injury (Kaleigh Goulart, Olivia Labbe, and Sophie Church).

Boys’ Basketball: Thanks to strong performances by seniors Paul Graves and Jeremy Bare, the boys’ basketball team propelled itself to a 66-49 victory over SCC rival Apponequet this week. Graves and Bare were the only two Bulldogs in double-figures for the night, with Graves scoring 17 points and Bare netting 16. Graves also provided the game’s most exciting moment with a dunk in the fourth-quarter to solidify the Bulldog victory. Junior Raekwon Phillips also played well in the chippy game, contributing 9 points and providing key defense in the backcourt. The Bulldogs had nine players get on the score-sheet for the night, and shot 39% from the field to remain at an undefeated 2-0 record.

Below are the overall winter team records, followed by the conference records in wins, losses, and ties as of December 22.

Boys’ Basketball: (2-0-0) (1-0-0); Girls’ Basketball: (0-2-0) (0-1-0); Boys’ Track (4-0-0) (3-0-0); Girls’ Track (4-0-0) (3-0-0); Swimming: (0-0-0) (0-0-0); Hockey: (1-1-0) (0-0-0).

By Michael Kassabian

Marion Natural History Museum Holiday Party

The Marion Natural History Museum after-school group enjoyed snacks and craft making during our annual holiday party. Our next set of after-school activities are on the museum’s website: www.marionmuseum.org.  Happy Holidays from the Marion Natural History Museum and see you in 2014!    Marion Natural History Museum holiday party Photo courtesy of Vin Malkoski

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GYH Learn to Skate and Learn to Play

The Gateway Youth Hockey will hold its 2014 Learn to Skate & Learn to Play Session 2 for nine weeks. Sunday dates are as follows: December 29; January 5, 12, 19, and 26; and February 2, 9, 16, and 23 from 10:00 – 11:00 am at the Tabor Ice Rink, Marion. Cost for the session is $80 GYH Registration Fee and $48 USA Hockey Registration Fee (mandatory if your child didn’t participate in the first session) for a total of $128.

Rochester Holiday Trash Collection

Due to the holidays (Christmas and New Year’s Day), trash in Rochester will be picked up on Saturday, December 28 and January 4. Trash must be curbside by 7:00 am.