Following over three decades of service, Chief John B. Garcia officially retires in January 2021.

            “It has been an honor to serve this community alongside the men and women of the Marion Police Department,” Chief Garcia said. “We have endured many weather-related events, a pandemic, and more, and it has been through their continuous cooperation and support that we have been able to get through all that we have to this point. I hope that they will continue to believe in the goodness of the profession we have all chosen and take pride in what they do each day within the community.”

            Chief Garcia holds an associate’s degree from Bristol Community College and a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State College (University). He began his career at the Chatham Police Department in 1984. He left Chatham Police in 1986 and started as a police officer with the Marion Police Department shortly after.

            He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2000 and was appointed as the first lieutenant in the history of the department in 2004. He took over as the department’s chief on January 1, 2018.

            Chief Garcia was a certified diver. After one of the highway murder victims was found along Route 195 in Marion in the late 1980s, he completed an evidence dive in a drainage ditch. His picture from that search has been included in two books, Shallow Graves by Maureen Boyle and Killing Season by Carlton Smith.

            He was also part of the formation of the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (SEMLEC) Search and Rescue Team and served as the unit commander for 12 years.

            “The search and rescue team provided me with some of the most meaningful and satisfying moments of my career,” Chief Garcia said. “The overwhelming sense of accomplishment and satisfaction can’t be described after finding someone who was lost in the woods and would not have survived if they hadn’t been found by the team. There were also several cases where firearms were recovered due to the efforts of the search team. The recovery of items like this is important to provide evidence as well as to ensure they don’t end up in the wrong hands.”

            As part of the team, he also had the opportunity to attend and present at the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) Conference, which is held in various locations across the country.

            Chief Garcia served as the initial Accreditation Manager for the department and was responsible for attaining the initial Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission (MPAC) State Certification for the department in June 2014 and its full State Accreditation in June 2015. The department was successfully reaccredited in 2018 and completed the assessment process for its 2021 reaccreditation this week.

            As chief, he also serves on the Plymouth County Outreach Advisory Board.

            “I am proud to have been part of such a worthwhile organization made up of so many caring and dedicated individuals who work tirelessly to assist those in our communities with substance use disorders, along with their families. The work of this group has become ever so important in the unique times we have faced in 2020,” Chief Garcia said.

            Under Chief Garcia’s leadership, the Marion Police Department also adopted the “Handle With Care” program promoted by the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office.

            According to the program, a national survey of the prevalence of children’s exposure to violence and trauma revealed that 60 percent of American children had been exposed to some form of violence, crime, or abuse, and 40 percent were direct victims of two or more violent acts. Prolonged exposure to violence and trauma can seriously undermine children’s ability to focus, behave appropriately, and learn. It often leads to school failure, truancy, suspension or expulsion, dropping out, or involvement in the juvenile justice system.

            Through the Handle With Care model, when Marion Police officers respond to an incident where a school-aged child may have been a victim or a witness, they notify the school of the child’s name and advise the school to “handle with care.” No further information is given to school officials. Teachers and staff are notified so that they can monitor the affected child and prepare to offer additional support or referrals for other services as needed.

            Overall, the Handle With Care initiative aims to prevent children’s exposure to trauma and violence, mitigate the negative effects children experience as a result of exposure to trauma, and increase knowledge and awareness.

            “Chief Garcia has been a tremendous leader for the department, and we thank him for his work as chief, as well as his service during his previous 30-plus years as a member of the department,” Marion Town Administrator James McGrail said. “The advancement and growth of the department under his leadership have helped to ensure that the Marion Police Department is a modern agency that is ready and able to meet the needs of its community. We wish him all the best and hope that he enjoys a healthy and happy retirement.”

            “I would like to thank my family for being behind me during my entire career. They have had to deal with my absence at many family events, holidays, and other functions over the years,” Chief Garcia said. “I would also like to thank all of the town departments and their employees for working with and supporting the Police Department. I am grateful to the Selectmen for appointing me as chief three years ago, and I’d like to thank my fellow Plymouth County Chiefs of Police, Southeastern Massachusetts Chiefs of Police, and Massachusetts Chiefs of Police for their continued support and collaboration throughout the years.”

            Chief Garcia’s last active shift as chief will be Friday, December 11. Lieutenant Richard Nighelli, who was selected to be the new chief in May, will serve as Acting Chief until he officially takes over duties as chief on January 3.

            Mattapoisett Museum is not only a unique and important south coast institution; it is a repository of letters, diaries, journals, deeds, and documents painstakingly curated and made available to anyone doing research or studying local history. Now two women have pulled back the curtain of time to share with us four “Notable Women of Mattapoisett.” The full, hour-long presentation hosted by the Mattapoisett Museum is available on YouTube.

            The old adage of “It takes one to know one” generally has a negative connotation, but not when talking about Carole Clifford, a retired educator and current School Committee member, and Jennifer McIntire, who holds a Ph.D. in Far Eastern Art History and is a past president of the Historical Society Board of Directors.

            These two women are in their own right quite successful. Being museum members, they knew about the vast written collections and, through their research, have given life to four well-respected women: Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard (1823-1902), Huybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin (1873-1964), Minerva Miller Sparrow (1882-1968), and Florence Eastman (1894-1918).

            In McIntire’s presentation, Stoddard comes through as a strong, rather single-minded woman who believed herself to be “an author,” and therefore, shunned housework. Her works caused her to be compared to Balsac and the Bronte sisters. Her novel, The Morgansons, sets Stoddard apart from many of her contemporaries in that not only did she write in a less cumbersome linguistic manner, her female lead is not a victim but a victor. The story allows the character to explore the social norms of the time, including sexuality, and she is successful in breaking economic chains. The leading lady gets to keep her family property. The story is centered in a New England seaside town and is believed to be autobiographical.

            While Stoddard may have held strong feminist views, she neither subscribed to nor sympathized with the suffrage movement. McIntire said, “Stoddard was ambitious, not a demure Victorian woman, direct and opinionated.” One could say Stoddard was an enigma. “Motherhood was central to her life.” During a time when women’s roles were almost exclusively domestic, Stoddard gave her female characters multi-faceted personalities.

            McIntire also explored the life of Minerva Miller Sparrow, who grew up on Church Street. Sparrow received an education at Mount Holyoke College and other universities and later earned a master’s degree in English. In her later years, she was instrumental in developing the Mattapoisett Historical Society and the society’s acquisition of the former Baptist Church, which today stands as a beacon, a treasure trove, the Mattapoisett Museum.

            Sparrow was asked by the attorney handling the closed Baptist Church to set up a board to govern and oversee the building leading up to the donation of the structure to the society and its eventual use as a museum. She was involved with the society throughout her retirement until her passing.

            But it was her early years that one could say, through the lens of time, set Sparrow apart. She spent many years as an educator to the under-served, former slaves, and the poor. She began her career teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Acushnet, then for reasons lost to time, she taught in Jacksonville, Florida. Sparrow then surfaces as a teacher at Rust College (1909-1920), a black institution of higher education, followed by 15 years teaching at Straight College, founded by freed slaves, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The children of Eastern Kentucky and the southern Appalachians also received instruction from Sparrow between 1943 and 1949.

            “She was described as the best teacher by her students,” McIntire said of Sparrow. “She took great interest in the whole student, setting high standards for them.”

            Clifford explored the long life and achievements of Huybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin. Hamlin’s pedigree is that of wealthy Dutch founders and long political connections. She married Charles Hamlin, who summered in Marion. Later, the couple purchased many acres in what is now known as Ned’s Point. Mr. Hamlin was the first chairman of the Federal Reserve, bringing his wife into political and social contact with American royalty such as the Roosevelts, FDR included.

            Hamlin documented her life and social interactions in letters and diaries by the droves, much of which is now in the museum’s care and protection. Clifford said that the Hamlins were lifelong members of the Grange and that Mrs. Hamlin found new and important projects that would benefit the community even today.

            In 1904, Hamlin became a founding member of the Mattapoisett Improvement Association, a group of like-minded people, mostly women whose works included rubbish collection, a beach bathhouse, tree plantings, cemetery care, and bringing entertainment to town. The group’s garden committee held annual contests for the best vegetables and flowers grown from seed packets distributed to children.

            One of Hamlin’s more ambitious efforts was raising money to save Shipyard Park. At the time, the property had seen many decades of commercial use, from shipbuilding to various shops of commerce. Today that space commands an unobstructed, spectacular view of the harbor. All who enjoy the seaside park have Hamlin to thank.

            Hamlin lived a long and very productive life. Her writings capture bygone moments in time, such as the hurricane of 1938 in which she wrote the seas were “an angry mountain range coming towards our home.” So close were the Hamlins to the Roosevelts that FDR dispatched the Coast Guard to see if they were safe during the aftermath of the storm.

            Hamlin enjoyed having company and was known not only for her civic-minded pursuits but for having fun by way of practical jokes and hosting lavish parties in her seaside home. On the civic side of things, Hamlin was a lifelong Democrat and member of the Democratic Women of New Bedford.

“I wonder, what would she think if she could see Mattapoisett today? I think she would be proud,” Clifford said. “She was a strong woman who made a big difference in the town.”

            One of the more famous women to have come from or been associated with Mattapoisett is Florence Eastman. While her life was brief, she has lived on in the hearts and minds of the community in no small part due to the recognition she received from the American Legion Post.

            Eastman clearly had a humble beginning compared to the previously noted trio– her father was the last lighthouse keeper at Ned’s Point. Clifford said that Eastman was known for her deep convictions and self-discipline. She wanted to be useful and help others, and so embarked on a career as a nurse. Eastman joined the Red Cross in 1918. When World War I broke out, she was the only woman in Mattapoisett and possibly the surrounding area to volunteer. Soon, she found herself in charge of a military hospital in Long Island, taking care of men who had contracted what was then called the Spanish Flu.

            The end of her story is abrupt; Eastman came down with the illness and died. She would be one of 500 million souls who would die from this flu. She was buried with full military honors. Eastman’s drive and desire to make a difference live on. Her cheerful and complete devotion to caring for others has earned her a permanent place in Mattapoisett’s history; the American Legion Post is named after this brave young soul.

            McIntire and Clifford touched on the fact that each of the featured women lived during times when many women were lobbying for the right to vote. However, it is interesting to note that very little, if anything at all, defines where this group stood on the topic, with the exception of Stoddard.