The Sippican Historical Society once again brought great programming to the South Coast region when Maxwell King, author, journalist, editor, and well-known executive in philanthropic circles, gave a presentation on the life of his friend and colleague, Mister Fred Rogers.

            King knew Rogers for decades, working with him directly and indirectly. King was at one point the executive director of the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and director of The Pittsburgh Foundation. But it wasn’t his professional resume that informed King’s presentation, it was his very real very human remembrances of Rogers, the man. And so, after introductions, the audience joined King in a return to the beginnings of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

            “Eighteen years after his death, people still find him relevant,” King began. The publication of Fred Rogers’ biography took King years to write, he confessed. Yet it is Rogers’ continued relevance that comes as no surprise to those who knew him well. King posed a question to those in attendance: “Why is he so current?” King would answer that question in many ways throughout his talk.

            King said that Rogers’ work as a producer, director, and performer of children’s television programming and his interactions with everyone he came in contact with were deeply entwined. King said that, number one, Rogers believed that television programming could provide quality educational opportunities and, number two, Rogers “was an exemplar of human values.”

            Born into a very affluent, old money Pittsburgh family, the young Rogers was an only child until his sister was adopted into his family many years later. His mother, ever fearful that her beloved child would be stricken by an illness, cloistered him in their lavishly appointed home. He suffered from asthma made worse by the foul industrial air coming from coal burning factories throughout the Pittsburgh area.

            Rogers would spend weeks at a time basically alone in his room. One can easily conclude that being left to his imagination for entertainment didn’t weaken his character or intellect but instead it became stronger and provided contemplative fertile ground.

            Albeit much loved by both his parents, it was Rogers’ mother who played the larger role in shaping the man he would become. Through education and the cultivation of his artistic talents, his mother supplied the needed tools and opportunities.

            They attended plays, concerts, presentations of all sorts. Rogers learned how to play the piano and compose musical scores. He was educated in the classics and thoroughly addicted to learning. King said Rogers was “a lifelong student.” He was first in his high school graduating class and then headed off to Rollins College where he saw a television for the first time in 1949. What Rogers saw “horrified him,” King said.

            The slapstick noisy, meaningless, prat-falling, comedic programming pushed Rogers to make a decision that would one day transform not only children’s television but the manner in which children would be educated and even nurtured.

            Rogers went home on break from college and told his parents he wanted to leave school and pursue a career in television. His parents, while clearly shocked by this announcement, supported and trusted their beloved only son. His father, who had connections with people at NBC, got Rogers an internship. “NBC had high aspirations for the educational potential of television, its potential to improve culture and society,” King said. Rogers found himself in the middle of an emerging industry – television.

            There would be attempts and false starts in his effort to produce quality children’s programming, but it would be the intersection of Rogers’ efforts to do just that and his relationship with child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland, a leader in early childhood education at the University of Pittsburgh, that would bring his programming style into focus.

            Rogers took several courses that McFarland was teaching. What Rogers knew intuitively, he would come to understand empirically: A child’s key learning years are 0 to 5. This was new thinking, exciting thinking, and Rogers found himself in the middle of it all, King explained.

            King further explained that during this time, a span stretching from the 1930s through 1950s, leaders in a wide variety of disciplines were all coming up with breakthrough concepts on best practices for educating children. Those heavy hitters including McFarland were pediatrician Dr. Berry Brazelton, psychologist Erik Erikson, and, of course, Dr. Benjamin Spock.

            “New thinking began to evolve. Old Victorian notions of children being seen but not heard were blown up,” King stated. Rogers was in the right place and the right space in time. Rogers was one of the leaders in what is commonly included in modern educational models known as “social, emotional” development.

            Beyond Rogers’ brilliance in bringing to the masses a new type of children’s programming that not only educated them but gave them liberty to “feel” and express emotions, Rogers the man held a deep Christian belief system that guided him throughout his public and private life.

            Rogers was a devout Presbyterian whose deep convictions also propelled him to study ancient religions and modern concepts. He plumbed the depths of his own beliefs to better understand other points of view on God and the universe. “He took Christian values so much further, studied other cultures, religions throughout time, finding the same core values, respect, responsibility, compassion, fairness, and, above all else, kindness,” King shared.

            Those values are evident in the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood children’s series, which ran on public television from 1968 through 1976 and picked up again from 1979 to 2001. Rogers understood that children didn’t want or need flashing highspeed high jinks but rather gentle, thoughtful, and thought-provoking themes.

            Rogers demonstrated through song, through puppetry, and through careful messaging that it was alright to be scared, to talk about difficult feelings, and express oneself. Rogers told children that it’s alright to be different, look different, sound different, and act differently. Rogers told the children they were valued, reminding them over three decades, “I like you just the way you are.” And he truly honestly did.

            To learn more about Rogers, read King’s masterful biography, “The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers” or view his presentation at vimeo.com/574058850.

By Marilou Newell

            Elise Leduc presented an update roughly two-thirds of the way through the process of developing Marion’s Hazard Mitigation Plan. Her July 27 overview, on behalf of the Woods Hole Group, also prompted the attendance of Leduc’s colleague Melissa Jaffy, Marion Town Planner Gil Hilario, and elected officials including Norm Hills of the Select and Planning Boards and Eileen Marum of the Planning Board and Energy Management Committee.

            The two-fold purpose of the plan is to help Marion prevent loss of life and property damage, and also save the town money in the long term through the protection against the effects of natural hazards.

            Grant funding is already involved in making the plan itself possible via state (MEMA) and federal (FEMA) emergency management agencies. Three ways Marion can access funding for projects addressing these natural threats include Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants, the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program, and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

            The hour-long citizen’s update focused on Chapters 3 and 4 of the Hazard Mitigation Plan, Hazard Identification and Vulnerability Assessment, respectively.

            Under Hazard Identification, Leduc explained that the town must first reckon with state-recognized hazards, then add locally relevant potential hazards. In Marion’s case, that includes the addition of a potential dam and culvert failure. The report recognizes 14 hazards and details areas of town that are considered more vulnerable to each of them. Leduc said that the FEMA flood map is the go-to source and, having been updated this month, allows local governments to work with the “latest and greatest” information.

            Sea-level rise has been discussed before and will remain a hot topic, as any expensive upgrades to infrastructural facilities will be designed to address long-term changes in climate conditions.

            Displays included the Mass Coast Flood Risk model as presented by the Woods Hole Group with projections to 2030 and 2050, the latter display showing how the east side of Marion could become isolated as an island, impacting emergency response.

            Coastal erosion, traditionally more prevalent in southern portions of town, has lately trended up in the east side of town.

            Even through Hurricane Carol (1954) and Hurricane Bob (1991) tracked in a north/northeasterly direction off to the west of Marion, both storms flooded areas of Marion, including Front Street.

            The Vulnerability Assessment looked at the flooding vulnerability of critical facilities and town-wide parcels, along with a qualitative evaluation of vulnerability of critical facilities to additional hazards. Even though wells belonging to Marion are located in Rochester, and though Old Rochester Regional High School/Junior High is located over the town line inside Mattapoisett, these two groups were included in the flooding assessment.

            Approximately 25-percent of Marion’s 3,475 parcels are in the FEMA flood zone; the property values totaling $825,646,714. The total structural value in the flood zone is $270,341,100.

            When the meeting was opened to public comment, resident Lance Scott asked about the possibility of grant funding for the removal of invasive species (phragmites) in Aucoot Cove on the basis of hazard mitigation. Leduc advised that Scott and his neighbors act as an association rather than an individual homeowner. “It’s always an expensive project, but you’re much, much more effective together,” she said.

            Dot Brown, a member of Marion’s Board of Health who happened to be Scott’s neighbor, said the only way to get at grant funding to elevate houses is if the town has one of those plans and can access federal and state money. Scituate residents, she said, received funding mainly because of actual flooding.

            “The goal, having the plan in and of itself is a useful exercise, but it allows the town to remain eligible for this funding. If you don’t have it, it’s hard to create a resilient town,” said Leduc.

            Converse Road resident Barry Gaffey asked about evacuation plans for coastal residents in a catastrophic scenario. Hills said that Sippican School is the town’s designated sheltering place and has generators. If necessary, ORR would also function in that capacity, and then there is a place in Plymouth. “There is a plan that exists,” said Hills, confirming that wiring has been modified to three phase at Sippican. “Not the whole school, but the area we need.”

            Hilario said that the prescribed evacuation route is conducted by Chief of Police Richard Nighelli and Town Administrator Jay McGrail, who disseminate emergency information from Plymouth County via email blasts and reverse 911 calls.

            Tuesday’s presentation included public survey results, in which residents’ concerns were brought to light on a measurable scale. “I was really excited to see the level of participation in Marion,” said Leduc, noting 187 responses to the survey that was active for two weeks in May via website and Facebook.

            Part of the 2017 Marion Master Plan’s Coastal Resiliency goals, the Hazard Mitigation Plan makes Marion eligible for grant funding and non-emergency disaster assistance programs. Such funding could potentially assist in the support of a new Creek Road pumping station designed at an elevation that meant to address 50-year projections of sea-level rise.

            Leduc said a draft report will come out in September, and a meeting will be an occasion to present the complete plan that incorporates the survey feedback with a focus on mitigation plans.

Woods Hole Group plans to submit its plan to MEMA and FEMA so those agencies can respond by the end of the 2021 calendar year, then Marion can presumably apply for BRIC grant funding in 2022.

By Mick Colageo