Special Thanksgiving Service

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All are invited to join us for a simple, joyful celebration of Thanksgiving on Tuesday,November 20at 7:00 pm at The First Congregational Church of Marion, located at 28 Main Street (on the corner of Front Street). Partnering with St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church, this is a special service to bring our communities together and to give thanks for all of God’s blessings.

We ask that you please bring a non-perishable food item as an offering to local food banks. The First Congregational Church of Marion is handicap-accessible, and everyone is welcome. Parking is available at 144 Main Street, in the General Store parking lot.

Rochester Women’s Club News

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The Rochester Women’s Club will not be making their absolutely delicious Thanksgiving pies this year. The bakers are tired. We are hoping folks will support another local non profit organization. We will be selling our beautiful Holiday wreaths. They will be on sale shortly after Thanksgiving at the club house in Rochester. Our profits from the sale of our wreaths go to our scholarship fund. Any questions can be addressed by calling Marsha at 508-322-0998.

Margaret V. (Logovich) Brown

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Margaret V. (Logovich) Brown, 95, of Rochester, died November 10, 2018 in the Life Care Center of West Bridgewater. She was the daughter of the late Samuel and Victoria (Lach) Logovich.

She was born in Boston and lived in Syracuse, NY for many years, she then lived in Manomet for 12 years before moving to Rochester 7 years ago. She graduated from Jamaica Plain High School.

Mrs. Brown worked as an Inspector for Foxboro Company in East Bridgewater for many years before retiring.

She enjoyed reading, traveling and shopping. She was a life-long Red Sox fan who enjoyed going to PawSox games.

Survivors include 2 sons, Richard W. “Rick” Brown of Rochester and Robert “Bob” Brown of Baldwinsville, NY; a daughter, Barbara Morss of Marion; 4 grandchildren; 5 great grandchildren.

Her services will be private. Arrangements are by the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 2599 Cranberry Hwy., Wareham.

Eleanor Clark Lopes

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Eleanor Clark Lopes passed away on November 8, 2018. Our mother’s fondest memories, while living at her gramma Clarks house in Fairhaven, were with her sister and best friend Theresa. It was there by the ocean that they enjoyed going for rides in their father’s row boat over to the Pine Pavilion to have a soda. She enjoyed helping gramma feed her chickens and listening to Dutchy Packard playing his banjo on the back porch.

Later in life she became a mother to Judy and Peter. Some of her best times where spent living down Sconticut Neck quahogging, this became her life long hobby which she enjoyed well into her 86 year. Mum liked nothing better than sitting on a rock after quahogging, cracking them open, eating her quahogs and occasionally pocketing a few cherry stones. Later in life she became a wife to Joe and mom again to Lisa which started a new chapter. Through the years mum worked at stitching mills in the city but her favorite job was working in Lanzonis Greenhouse, which she enjoyed for many years.

She had a green thumb for gardening and loved flowers. She tended her own gardens all her life and had strong opinions on what colors to plant! Summer trips to the Vineyard on the ferry through the years were some of her best times. Being a mother, was by far her greatest joy.

For the last 5 years Lisa was her caretaker and sidekick along with help from her grandson Robbie. Her nephew Richard always put a smile on her face with his wild antics too. Our mother had an enthusiasm for hot coffee and car rides that can only be described as epic. Mum touched many lives through the years, she always had a way of showing compassion and kindness. She also faced many challenges in her life and handled them with dignity and grace. She is and will always be our hero! Our mother will finally be with her son Peter, her husband Joseph A. Lopes, nephews, nieces and her mother and father. She leaves behind her daughters Judy and Lisa, her step-daughter Sharon and sister Theresa, brothers Ronnie and Mike, grandchildren Robbie, Nate, Sarah and Dante, great grandchildren McCayla and Abel, also son in law Army Veteran Bob Dupont. We would like to personally thank Peter’s friend Raymond who since Peters passing, has sent her a card for her birthday and every holiday for the last 35 years. We would also like to thank her sister in law Joan for all her delicious meals she surprised mum with, one being her favorite, lobster rolls. Our family would also like to thank Dr. Amy Weigandt, Tobey Hospital, doctors, nurses and kindhearted patient observers. Charlton Memorial Hospital, doctors and nurses for their compassionate care of mum. Thank you also to A.R.A.W. And all the staff at the Fairhaven Senior Center and friends at the Social Day Program.

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Edwin B. Comstock

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Edwin B. Comstock, 66, of Mattapoisett passed away Friday November 9, 2018.

Born in New Bedford, he lived in Mattapoisett all of his life. He was a graduate of Old Rochester Regional High School.

Teddy was formerly employed by Natco Corporation in New Bedford.

He loved participating in and watching sports and was an avid sports memorabilia collector.

He is survived by his mother, Edna (Meehan) Harrison of Mattapoisett; his sister, Jill Law and her husband Fred of Dartmouth; his half-sister, Karen Vital and her husband Scott of Dartmouth and five nieces.

He was predeceased by his father Edwin B. Comstock and his stepfather Joseph Harrison.

His Memorial Service will be held on Saturday November 17, 2018 at 10 am at the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd., Route 6, Mattapoisett. Burial will follow in Cushing Cemetery. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Mattapoisett Remembers Florence Eastman

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One hundred years after the end of the war that the world once hoped would be the last, American Legion Post 280 Commander Michael Lamoureux invoked the name of the young woman – the only young woman from Mattapoisett to volunteer to serve in World War I, the namesake of the Mattapoisett American Legion post, Florence Eastman.

Eastman, the daughter of the last keeper of the Ned’s Point Lighthouse, was nurse with a post-graduate education at Massachusetts General Hospital. She wanted to go to France “to help the soldiers,“ Lamoureux told those assembled on Monday, November 12, at Old Hammondtown School for Mattapoisett’s Veterans Day observance. But when she grew impatient awaiting the issuance of a passport, Lamoureux said, she went off to Long Island where she assumed the duties of the head Army nurse at the Isolation Hospital.

“Virtually everybody who was there as a patient was dying of influenza,” said Lamoureux.

The Spanish Flu claimed the lives of more U.S. soldiers than war combat as it spread across the Atlantic in 1918 at the height of the pandemic. As Eastman cared for those soldiers suffering from influenza and pneumonia seemingly around the clock, they called her “the angel of the wards,” not knowing how she was able to perform her duties as she never appeared to rest, sleep, or even eat, Lamoureux said.

“All she wanted to do was take care of her boys,” said Lamoureux.

Eastman died at the age of 24, succumbing to influenza.

Lamoureux said that during these past 35 or so years as post commander, he had mistakenly believed that only 29 from Mattapoisett volunteered to serve in World War. There were indeed 68, he said correcting himself.

“Only one of them didn’t come home,” Lamoureux said, and that one was Florence Eastman.

Eastman died at the young age of 24 on October 14, 1918, less than one month before the Armistice. She was buried with full military honors at the Pine Island Cemetery, and in February 1925 Post 280 was dedicated in her name.

“Thank you, Florence,” said Lamoureux before handing the microphone to Chaplain Richard Langhoff, who led a prayer calling for an end to global strife and the beginning of an enduring peace in a world, he said, “where nations resolve their differences with peaceful means.”

Keynote speaker U.S. Army Col. Michael Mendenhall from the U.S. Naval War College lauded the services of the American Legion posts, calling them places where military servicemen and women could share their experiences with someone “who had gone through similar experiences.”

“It’s extremely important that we continue this amazing facet of service with these posts,” said Mendenhall.

Mendenhall, who said that while he was in France he visited the grave of a relative who died in World War I, called the war “a whole new world of warfare.” With the emergence new technologies, soldiers were now fighting under the fire of machine guns, chemical weaponry, and, for the first time ever, airplanes dropped bombs, changing the rules of combat forever.

“World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars,” said Mendenhall. “It was supposed to solve all the problems of the day, and it didn’t.”

Reviewing some of the history, Mendenhall pointed out to an unaware audience that Massachusetts was the only one of the contiguous U.S. states where WWI combat reached dry land during what is known as the July 21, 1918 Attack on Orleans. According to Mendenhall, a German U-boat surfaced three miles off the coast of Cape Cod and four shots were fired at a tugboat pulling four barges causing damage to the tugboat and sinking the four barges, and several shells were fired at the town, striking the beach.

Lamoureux called Mendenhall “a soldier’s soldier,” and hailed him as a forever hero.

The Old Hammondtown Band and Chorus provided musical entertainment with patriotic songs, joined by Jillian Zucco who sang the National Anthem, and the Showstoppers who performed two of their own songs. Selectman Tyler Macallister also addressed the audience, while Representative William Straus’ absence surprised Lamoureux, who said this was likely only the second time in about 25 years that Straus was unable to attend.

By Jean Perry

Eversource Approved for Pole Placements

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The Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen dispensed with a light agenda with little fanfare on Tuesday night, November 13.

A representative from Eversource, Donna Rosa, presented to the board proposals for the relocation of three utility poles and the placement of four new utility poles. The relocation of three poles was in relation to the culvert replacement on Acushnet Road just south of Hereford Road. The fourth relocation was to remedy a pole that was in the middle of a landowner’s driveway at 21 Beacon Street.

The board held a public hearing on the proposal for four brand new poles and anchors, also in conjunction with the repair of the culvert on Acushnet Road. The poles will be located on the edge of the road, again south of Hereford Road. A stub pole will be located near 164 Acushnet Road, and another will be located between 165 and 169 Acushnet Road.

Abutters to the proposed poles were present and took the opportunity to review the plans and had no objection to the pole placements. One gentleman proclaimed, “If they start drilling in the wrong place, I’ll get after them!”

The board voted unanimously in support of all the relocated and new poles.

Town Administrator Mike Gagne outlined his plan to begin discussions among the Finance Committee, the Capital Improvement Committee, the Marine Advisory Board, the Waterways Department, and the Board of Selectmen in preparation for the Annual Town Meeting in the spring.

“I put this [on the agenda] to clarify what we are doing with the waterfront,” said Gagne.

He suggested that the plan for the repairs to Long Wharf, including improvements to timbers and pilings, would be part of an overall discussion of the services provided by the Waterways Department and an evaluation of its staffing and skill sets required by the staff, as well as an assessment of the infrastructure and other priorities.

Developing a plan for the work on Long Wharf, including funding, would also require input from the Historical Commission.

Gagne encouraged the town departments to work on a strong capital plan for the equipment needed by the Waterways Department. All the departments liked the idea of “drilling down on this,” Gagne said.

Gagne reminded the board that the Mattapoisett Boatyard would no longer be providing pump out services. The town has opted to provide these services themselves, with assistance from a $56,000 grant from the state Clean Vessel Act to offset the cost of a pump out boat.

The 23-foot long boat the town intends to purchase, which has the capacity for 450 gallons of boat waste, is necessary to navigate the waters in and around Mattapoisett Harbor. The funding for the full $95,000 cost of the boat must be in place to ensure the expected delivery date of April 2019.

When asked by town resident Wayne Walega if the town had considered buying the boat previously used by the Mattapoisett Boatyard, Gagne responded that Harbormaster Jill Simmons had nixed the idea. Simmons cited the instability of the vessel when at full waste capacity, Gagne said, and newer boat designs apparently have a lower center of gravity when under full load, which makes them safer in choppy water.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Jordan Collyer added that, for every dollar the town put into the operation of the pump out program, it would be reimbursed $0.75.

In other matters, the board reminded residents that an email was sent November 7 for mooring renewals. The renewal must be returned within 60 days, a deadline of January 7. Any resident who has a question or did not receive an email and believes they should have, should call Town Hall.

Gagne reported that Barry Denham had been researching possible weight exclusion for the River Road bridge. The two criteria the state uses to consider an exclusion are structural integrity and geometry of approach to the bridge. The bridge has been inspected by the Massachusetts Highway Division and is in good structural condition. Gagne says Denham has said all along that the issue is with the angle of approach for 2.5 ton or greater size trucks. Denham will petition Mass Highway for weight exclusion on geometry grounds.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen is scheduled for December 4 at 6:30 pm at the Town Hall.

Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen

By Sarah French Storer

Dan Shaughnessy to Speak at the Mattapoisett Library

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Author and Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy will speak on “The State of Boston Pro Sports Teams” at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Saturday, November 24at 4:00 pm. A reception will follow his talk, part of the Purrington Lecture Series sponsored by the Mattapoisett Library Trust.

Shaughnessy, the author of 12 books, including the New York Times bestseller “Francona” and “The Curse of the Bambino.” He joined the Boston Globe in 1981 and has been sports columnist since 1989. He has been named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year eleven times, among many other awards.

Round out Thanksgiving weekend with the latest news and commentary on this great year in Boston sports by one of New England’s best writers.

Seating is limited, so please call the library to make a reservation at 508-758-4171. The library is located at 7 Barstow Street.

Nasketucket Bird Club

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The next meeting of the Nasketucket Bird Club will be on Thursday, November 15at 7:00 pm at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library.

We will be planning our strategy for the December Christmas Bird Count and club member Carolyn Longworth will be presenting her overview of the history of the restored marsh at Atlas Tack.

The Mattapoisett Free Public Library is located at 7 Barstow Street and is handicapped accessible. The program is free and open to the public.

Find out more about the club and upcoming bird walks at: massbird.org/Nasketucket

November Programs at Plumb Library

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Thanksgiving Story Time with Amos – On Saturday, November 17from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm, the Plumb Memorial Library, 17 Constitution Way, Rochester, will hold a Thanksgiving Story Time with Amos, our “Read-to-Me” greyhound. Amos’ human Holly and the Plumb Library Junior Friends will read Thanksgiving-themed stories while children and Amos listen. After the stories, a craft and snack will be available. All ages are welcome, though younger children will need adult supervision. Registration is required. Register on the Events Calendar on the Plumb Library website.

The Nonfiction Book Group will discuss “Blood Brothers: The Story of the Strange Friendship of Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill” by Deanne Stillman on Thursday, November 15at 6:30 pm. This book documents the unlikely friendship between Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull, tracing the events of their brief but important collaboration during Cody’s 1880s Wild West Show and the impact of Little Big Horn, the contributions of Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull’s assassination in 1890.

The COA Book Group will discuss “Killers of the Flower Moon” on Tuesday, November 20at 10:15 am at the Rochester Council on Aging, Dexter Lane, Rochester. David Grann, the best-selling author of “The Lost City of Z”, presents a true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

Cafe Parlez Book Group will discuss “The Bartender’s Tale” by Ivan Doig on Thursday, November 29at 6:30 pm. Running a venerable bar in 1960 Montana while raising his twelve-year-old son, single father Tom Harry finds his world upended by the arrival of a woman from his past and her beatnik daughter, who claims Tom as her father.

Plumb Library will be closing at 2:00 pm on November 21 for carpet cleaning, and will be closed Thursday, November 22, and Friday, November 23 for Thanksgiving. We will be open our regular hours on Saturday, November 24.