Boy Scout Troop 31 Rochester is hosting a free, all ages Pop-Up haunted house Saturday, October 19 at the Rochester Grange Hall, 205 Hartley Road, from 7pm-10pm. Experience our hometown walk-through haunted mansion created by the scouts, including scares, fun and laughs. Seasonal refreshments will be served, and treats will be handed out to the young, brave souls who dare to complete the gauntlet.
Michelle R. (Gagnon) Davignon, 52, of Mattapoisett, passed away at home on Tuesday October 8, 2024. She was the wife of Matthew Davignon of Acushnet
Michelle was born in Mattapoisett on July 7, 1972, the daughter of Paul and Joyce (Bowman) Gagnon. She was a graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School. She had been employed as a cafeteria worker at the Center School in Mattapoisett. Michelle devoted her life to her family. She had a passion for animals, especially dogs. She enjoyed family gatherings, spending time with aunts, uncles, and cousins.
In addition to her husband and parents, she is survived by her sister, Donna Silva of New Bedford, her brother, Paul Gagnon and his wife Jayne of Mattapoisett, her nephews and nieces, Christopher Gagnon of Mattapoisett, Caitlyn Gagnon and David Towns of Onset, Michael Gagnon and his wife Sarah of Acushnet, and Megan and Jenna Silva of New Bedford, as well as her great-nieces and great-nephew, Harper Gagnon of Acushnet, and Riley and Thomas of Onset.
Her funeral service will be held on Thursday October 17th at 11:30 AM at Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Road, Route 6, Mattapoisett. Visitation will be on Thursday morning from 10:30-11:30 AM prior to the service. Burial will follow at Pine Island Cemetery. For online condolence book, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.
The Rochester School Committee on October 3 reviewed a plan to join a program partnering with the national group devoted to stemming school gun violence, the Sandy Hook Promise.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Shari Fedorowicz said the Sandy Hook Promise school program’s mission is to promote safer schools by empowering students and educators to identify potential risks of gun violence within Rochester Memorial School and thereby “build positive school climates and foster a culture where everyone looks out for one another.”
Using a slide show to illustrate her points, this will be done in three ways, she said: Education, Empowerment and Engagement. Students will be educated with activities that foster a sense of belonging, kindness, and support among all students. A SAVE Promise club will form to empower its members who will then engage the student community to promote a safe school by better connecting students to their school and community.
Students will be taught to say hello to that student who might be standing alone or looking unhappy as a way to reduce social isolation and build connections, she said, “to recognize warning signs and seek help from trusted adults.”
The next step to starting the program within RMS, she said, will be the school’s Project 351 members, known as ‘influencers,’ joining this SAVE Promise Club and receiving the training needed to strengthen their impact within the new program. She added the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office is fully funding this program.
Committee member Ann Fernandes asked how many student influencers are currently in the school’s Project 351 program. Rochester Memorial School Assistant Principal Charles West reported there were 25 of them in the last school year. Fernandes said he would love to see what the program’s training and professional development will be like. Fedorowicz said that part of the program has not been designed yet.
Later in the meeting, the committee also received an update on a new “Portrait of a Graduate” program being implemented at RMS. Superintendent Michael Nelson explained it as “a strategic plan but on a smaller scale.” The controlling question here, he said, is “How do we ensure that all of our graduates are leaving RMS with the skills they need to thrive?” He elaborated that this graduate profile will be done by determining “the skills that your graduates know and can do that will help them to thrive in their adult lives. What the student should look like.”
Nelson said this portrait will be created beginning with identifying the various stakeholder groups who will be impacted by this design and who would have vital input to inform the design. Nelson, however, could not predict when the RMS portrait would be completed. “It won’t done this year nor the next,” he said.
In other action, the committee approved the donation of 70 toothbrush kits for the Kindergarten classes from All Hands Dentistry and Sullivan Family Dentistry as well as two ukuleles to the music department from parent Madeleine Duarte.
The committee also announced the resignation of school secretary Alison Guard.
The next Rochester School Committee will meet next on November 14 at 6:00 p.m. in the Rochester Memorial School band room, 16 Pine St., Rochester.
Rochester School Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco
One day many decades ago, a young executive found himself contemplating his future. He’d achieved so much in life already including securing a job with IBM and becoming a top sales earner – he was living the life others could only dream of. But in this moment of reflection, it all rang hollow. Charlie Bell found himself at a crossroads.
As an avid long-distance runner, Bell aspired to become an Olympian. He took his running very seriously. As thoughts of ditching his career and the desire to officially become a marathon runner merged like converging rivers, Bell struck a plan. It wasn’t fully formed but it excited his imagination – running the perimeter of the United States. Run Charlie run.
Bell knew he’d have to, number one: convince his parents, and number two: believe he would be safe. It was the nineteen-seventies, people were hitchhiking all over the globe. What could go wrong? Bell was young, strong, and fearless.
Using his training in salesmanship, he eventually gained his parents’ agreement. Albeit there were caveats such as staying in touch, keeping them informed, and not taking chances. The biggest chance, of course, would be trusting others to do him no harm. Thus, Bell began planning the trip and pushing away any unsolicited anxiety. Dreams of marathons got him out the door.
Another aspect of the journey was Bell’s plan to keep a daily diary. He hoped to chronical the thousands of people he would meet and the thousands of places he would see. He came to find that many days were uneventful, just a day running his prescribed twenty-five to thirty miles. Yet each day brought with it the kindness of strangers.
Bell began his trip heading south, away from the advancing fall and winter months of the north. Then heading west, then north, and east towards home. Roughly ten-thousand miles. He planned for the run to take him fifteen months. It would take nineteen. In spite of sustaining a knee injury he ran all but the last four hundred miles which ultimately, he had to walk. At no time did he consider quitting.
And what about those thousands of people he’d encounter along the way? They live on in the eight hundred pages Bell has written.
Still unpublished but looking for an editor or possibly self-publication, Bell is now comfortably ensconced in Mattapoisett with his wife Kay Lindsay, an educator, and his daughter Amelia. Bell produces a podcast chronicling his adventure. The podcasts are aired on ORCTV to whom Bell is very appreciative, as well as other venues.
But wait, what about the people? Bell said, “What I came to realize is that people are basically good.” Of course, that included his mother who sent him a pair of new running shoes from the supply he left in her care when he would contact her to do so.
On September 29, Bell spoke for forty-five minutes to a rapt audience at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library. From coast to coast, he ran (this time from memory), sharing stories of the people he encountered along the way.
There was the family from Louisiana who fed him Cajun food and, considering him a new family member, included him in celebrating the birth of a new grandchild by insisting he go to the hospital with them. There were the countless good folks who offered him overnight lodging which several times included a jail cot and churches willing to leave their doors open for Bell. The man who Bell would later realize was trying to hit on him, today he only feels compassion for his closeted life, “Imagine how lonely he must have felt.”
Catching up with Bell we asked if he has stayed in touch with any of the people he met. “Yes, the family with the baby.” He said that through Facebook he has been able to stay in contact with some people, the “good people” he knew he would find.
Visit ORCTV and watch Bell’s podcasts titled long/run stories of America or visit his website at longrun.us.
By Marilou Newell
The Rochester Historical Society Museum at 355 County Rd., Rochester will be open from 1:00-3:00 pm on Sundays throughout the Fall. Our exhibit of how we entertained ourselves for the last 337 years will be open.
We will also be selling quart bags of both dried, sweetened and fresh cranberries. It won’t hurt to call either Sue at 508-285-8908 or Connie at 617-750-2818 to make sure someone will be there to greet you. Come see us.
October 16 at 7:00 pm, our monthly meeting. The program will be Bats in the Belfry and Mack in the Attic. Do come to find out about the denizens and “stuff” in the Church/Museum’s attic. As always, refreshments and conversation will follow.
October 26 at 11:00 pm, there will be a grave marking ceremony for Thomas Bassett, a Rochester man who participated in the Revolutionary War. The ceremony will be put on by the Sons of the American Revolution whose mission is to make sure that our ancestors who fought for independence are not forgotten. All are invited for a ceremony involving honor salutes, short speeches, and the grave marking.
The Mattapoisett Woman’s Club invites potential new members and interested local residents to its October 17 monthly meeting, which will feature an art history presentation by the well-known Jill Sanford of Art For Your Mind. Art For Your Mind is an engaging, educational, art observation experience designed to broaden the minds of its participants. Jill will present: Massachusetts’ Art Revealed: From the Pilgrims to modern skylines, Massachusetts’ people, events, architecture, industries, and landforms are represented by artists in surprising ways. Experience some well-known historical events as well as some lesser-known acts and places through the eyes of the artist – all part of the commonwealth’s interesting story. Visitors are welcome to attend this program which will begin at 12:45pm at the Mattapoisett Congregational Church in Reynard Hall.
The Mattapoisett Woman’s Club is a civic, social, educational and philanthropic organization. Membership is always open to local women who are interested in the objectives and mission of the organization. For more information or questions please contact info@mattapoisettwomansclub.org.
The Marion Art Center announces new availability for our very popular Art in the Afternoon program, which runs Friday afternoons, for ages 7-12. Our Early Dismissal Half Day Camp, scheduled Friday, October 18 12:00-3:00pm in the MAC Studio, is $70 for MAC members and $80 for nonmembers. Students will explore wool felt and model magic clay, making felted soaps and personified clay pop tarts, among other projects.
The next four-week session, All Things Paper, is scheduled October 25-November 15, from 3:00-4:00pm in the MAC Studio. In this session students will learn to make handmade paper, monoprints on decorative paper and create their own mini artists’ books. Perfect for the upcoming holidays. The cost for the four-week session is $90 for MAC members and $105 for non-members.
Sippican School students can come directly to the MAC for Art Lab. Parents can arrange for their children to be walked over by a MAC volunteer or staff member. Learn more and register for classes at marionartcenter.org/art-lab.
Dear Editor,
The League of Women Voters of South Coast, previously known as the League of Women Voters of Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester, has been organizing candidate debates, forums, and meet-and-greets for over 35 years. LWVSC has scheduled a candidates’ event on October 17th at the Old Rochester Regional High School Auditorium, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Throughout all these years, we have never encountered a situation where a candidate running for a significant office failed to respond to our invitations to participate in an event. But the LWVSC now has a candidate who has failed to respond to participating in a debate.
LWVSC has made efforts to reach out to reach out to the candidate sending a letter on September 12 and an email on October 3rd, inviting the candidate to participate in the October 17th Event. However, we have not yet received a response from the candidate.
The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization that operates at the national, state, and local levels. Its primary purpose is to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation in government which includes hosting voter registrations and providing voter education on candidates that enables informed voter decision-making during elections.
The League of Women Voters faces challenges in its voter education initiatives when candidates lack interest in engaging with potential constituents. This absence of engagement impedes the LWVSC’s ability to facilitate candidate introductions, provide summaries of their qualifications to voters and the general public, elucidate their suitability for the sought-after office, and offer insights into their comprehension of their role, the job’s scope, and associated responsibilities.
Sincerely,
Kris Eastman, Co-Chair
Eileen J. Marum, Co-Chair
The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence. All letters must be typed and submitted directly to: news@wanderer.com.
The Old Rochester Regional High School football team faced Medfield on October 4 and won 42-6. Gavin Martin had three rushing touchdowns, and Jack Leconte had two. Cam Peppin had a 60-yard touchdown. The Bulldogs’ defense played very well, leading to two interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and a blocked punt. They will play at Somerset Berkley (3-1) on October 11.
“We have a very tough opponent next week in Somerset Berkley. The winner will be in the driver seat for the league championship,” said ORR Head Coach Bryce Guilbeault.
Boys Soccer
Old Rochester played at Bridgewater Raynham on October 4 and won 2-0. Aidan Costa and Landis Treichler were named the players of the game. The Bulldogs’ record is now 8-2-1 and are on a seven-game winning streak. They were scheduled to play Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech on October 9.
Girls Soccer
The Bulldogs played at Fairhaven on October 2 and won 4-0. Delaney Chase was named the player of the game. Their record is now 9-2-1 and they are scheduled to play at Dighton-Rehoboth on October 9.
Girls Volleyball
ORR played at Fairhaven on October 2 and won 3-0. Set scores were 25-0, 25-21, and 25-17. Their record is now 10-2, and they are on a four-game winning streak. Aubrie Letourneau was named the player of the match, as she reached a big milestone: her 2,000th assist, setting a new school record. They were scheduled to play Dennis-Yarmouth on October 9.
Golf
The Bulldogs played at Apponequet on October 3 and won 228-236. They stay at an undefeated 13-0 and were scheduled to play their final match of the season against Bourne (6-6) on October 8.
Sports Roundup
By Aiden Comorosky
The Marion Republican Town Committee will conduct its next monthly meeting on Monday, October 14 at 6:30 pm at the Marion Music Hall, 164 Front Street, Marion. The public and new members welcome. We look forward to seeing you. A candidate’s forum will follow at 7:00 pm.