One of my favorite songs is “Smile” by Charlie Chaplin. Ya, that Charlie Chaplin who, to people of a certain age, was known as the “Litte Tramp,” a character he portrayed in the movies.

            Chaplin wrote the music in 1936 for his film “Modern Times” (John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added the lyrics in 1954). Despite the title, the tune is not a happy one. The first line is “Smile, though your heart is aching …” but goes on to advise that there will always be a better tomorrow if you just smile.

            It might be a good anthem for modern times. We certainly can use more smiles in the world, don’t you agree? Smiling has become an issue in our current election cycle with one candidate suggesting the other team smiles too much, and the other saying their opponent rarely smiles.

            There are many kinds of smiles. There are laughs, giggles, cackles, guffaws, smirks, sneers, chuckles and grins. Dr. Paul Ekman, a professor at the University of California, is an expert on smiles … er, nonverbal communication. (Why do we have to complicate everything?)

            He has determined that there are 18 different kinds of smiles. I won’t list them all, but some may be familiar to you, such as the sadistic smile which, he says, “exudes jealously.”   Another is the ecstatic smile, which says life is wonderful. There is the contemptuous smile, the worried smile and the fake smile. Dare I say we see the latter in all political campaigns.

            A real sense of humor used to be a prerequisite for running a successful campaign. Ronald Reagan smiled a lot and used it to his advantage. I recall when he told his opponent Walter Mondale in a debate he would not “exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Reagan was 73 and Mondale was 56 years old. They both shared a hearty laugh as did the audience. Reagan won the election.

            Abraham Lincoln was known to tell homespun stories full of ribald humor during meetings to lighten the mood. He also claimed humor helped him to deal with the stress of the office.

            Some say President Jimmie Carter had the best smile. According to Dr. Jack Ragsdale, a dentist … naturally, who studies presidential smiles (really?), his toothy grin was genuine. (Imagine cooling your heels in the doctor’s office waiting for him while he studies all the presidents’ smiles.)

            Newer research at Aston University in the UK suggests that a smile can be contagious and has been linked to “higher levels of trust.” I don’t think it worked so well for old Jimmie while he was in office. He was not reelected.

            Harvey Ball, of Worcester, then a graphic designer at State Mutual Insurance, was asked to come up with a symbol that would raise the morale of the employees. (A pay raise might have worked.) Harvey drew the iconic happy face, now known as the Smiley Face. It took him 10 minutes and he received $45 for his efforts. (That would be $454.06 in today’s dollars. Not such a bad deal.) He never trademarked the symbol and never received another penny. Mr. Ball later started the nonprofit charity Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation to support children’s causes.

            Now that is something to smile about.

            Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and happily retired writer. His newspaper columns appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.

Thoughts on…

By Dick Morgado

For Cecelia Hall, caring for her community has mainly come in the form of yarn. Operating out of her Chevy Silverado pick-up truck, she collects yarn and distributes yarn, the goal being 100% charity.

            On trips to and from Fairhaven, she recently had the back of her pick-up packed with yarn twice in the same week.

            “And then one of the families called me and said, ‘My aunt died in Rhode Island,’ and they brought me four SUV loads of black trash bags full of yarn. They were all one color – Country Blue – 96 skeins,” she said. “I get all this yarn, but I distribute it. I have people in Dartmouth, Freetown, New Bedford, Rochester, Wareham … they don’t have to donate it back to me, donate it wherever.”

            The sun barely sets on Hall’s empire of yarn, reaching over state lines. But her efforts emanate from her truck and begin at home.

            “People drop things off here, they drop things off at the Senior Center, (saying) ‘that’s for Celia,’” she said.

            Ending with successes like the $1,000 she raised at a Council on Aging craft sale, it’s been a steady flow of collection, creation and even recreation of clothing items and an ever-expanding network of likeminded collaborators. For this ongoing contribution for the betterment of her community, Cecelia Hall is being recognized with the 2024 Keel Award for the Town of Rochester.

            “People know that they can give her items they no longer use or need, and she will find a new home for them,” said Rochester COA member Pauline Munroe. “She had so many bins of items that she organized and managed a craft sale at the Rochester Council on Aging which raised over $1,000 for the Senior Center.”

            Hall’s activities in Rochester began modestly.

            Having belonged to three crochet groups in Rochester, Wareham and Acushnet when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the region, suddenly no groups of any kind were meeting out of an abundance of caution. But, when the Rochester group resumed, it drew attendees from Marion and Wareham.

            On her weekly trip to Acushnet-based Gifts to Give, Hall brought baby-related items but had yet to begin working there. She learned that the nonprofit was throwing out knitting hooks and crocheting needles because they had no outlet for the items.

            “So now they have an outlet for it: me,” said Hall, pointing to two bags in her living room given to her by a quilter that had to retired with failing vision. “Every week she comes to the COA and brings me two bags, so I have bags and bags of material.”

            Other items at Hall’s Rochester home are earmarked for Amy’s consignment shop in Westport. Hall also delivers items to Parting Ways Consignment Shop in Marion.

            “The money goes all to me, and then I buy clothes for the kids, whatever they needed,” she stated.

            When the Kids Echo in Freetown relayed that the business needed sizes 2 and 3, Hall spent $96 that she had collected on sales for that cause.

            Hall has conducted many yard sales at the Rochester Historical Society, and she’ll be back there next month for the Cranberry Festival where she will sell jewelry to “upcycle people,” artists who convert jewelry into other items. The money will buy oil for the Historical Society.

            Hall’s experience in the business world has helped her innovate and stay organized as her contacts multiply. Sometimes it’s about dolls, blankets or buntings for those dolls, sometimes summer dresses, and sometimes quilted lap robes for people in wheelchairs. Cecelia donates an afghan every year to the Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race.

            All the while Cecelia discussed the operation, her daughter Ann sat at her kitchen table knitting a large item.

            Hall organizes the weekly crafts group that meets at the Senior Center, and on Thursdays before heading off to Gifts to Gift in Acushnet, she will help serve breakfast. After learning that a lady who attends her church works in the Southeastern Massachusetts Educational Collaborative, SMEC regularly receives donations and so does a school in Rhode Island where that lady’s daughter teaches. Meanwhile, a colleague in Wareham fashions bags of different sizes to keep small toys.

            After it turned out that 2,000 facemasks that someone had fashioned from smooth-fabric football jerseys would not be needed toward the end of the pandemic, Hall reached out to a quilter who quickly figured out how to reshape the masks and instead manufacture bags.

            There seems to be no limit to the connections Hall is making, and yarn seems to be holding it all together.

            At the heart of it, Cecelia Hall is a caregiver from Rochester whose life has come full circle back to where it started and to a relationship she never expected.

            After spending 40 years of her life in Dayton, Ohio, Hall returned to Rochester 16 years ago. A community advocate in Ohio, Cecelia became a research advocate, the first in the United States. There, she lived in a 12-story building and volunteered at a thrift store. When the word got out, people in her residential building donated items.

            “I had one of those carts with the four wheels, it can hold a lot of stuff,” she said. “So when I got here, it was just a natural thing. I don’t know how I got into it, but it was natural.”

            Upon her return to Rochester 16 years ago, Cecelia crossed paths with someone she hadn’t laid eyes on in 60 years, longtime resident and one-time classmate Rick Hall. The two had attended Grades 1-5 together in the old schoolhouse now serving as Rochester’s Main Fire Station. Eleven months before they met, Rick’s wife passed away.

            Both understood the significance of the timing of their reunion. Cecelia the caregiver found the person she is meant to care for.

            “I walked in the Senior Center, and we’ve been together ever since,” she said.

Rochester Keel Award: Cecelia Hall

By Mick Colageo