The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/columns/page/42/)
Giving thanks at Thanksgiving time and gifts at Christmastime, we count and share blessings. Reaching beyond unease toward peace on earth many yearn to rest, not necessarily as “merry gentlemen,” but as faithful people recalling more comfortable times. Among the blessings we count are each other. Suffield is blessed to be cared about by hundreds of “each others”. We call them volunteers. They serve and care for us in countless ways.
When Jack Patterson was shagging flies for his First Church team in the Suffield Little League, his dream was like that of young boys everywhere – to be a baseball player when he grew up. Fast forward to June 2018 and Jack’s dream is coming true as he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 32nd round of the MLB draft. While he still has a long way to go before playing in the Major League, Jack has already beaten the odds. According to NCAA statistics for the year 2016/17, only 7% or 34,198 of the 486,567 playing high school baseball play it in college. Of that 34,198, just over 2% or 735 are drafted by professional teams.
While it was a dream, it didn’t really occur to Jack that he could play baseball for a living until late in his college career.
Paige’s husband called not long ago looking for anecdotes about her high school years that he could use in her eulogy. I wasn’t much help even though she and I were very close during high school. Her career in adventurous social activities blossomed more in college. In high school we used to take long walks which we called Braeburning because we would wind up at an elementary school called Braeburn, where we’d sit on the swings and chat. On one of these walks we decided that we would not speak any English; unfortunately Paige was taking German and I was taking Spanish, so communication was challenging.
In October, I joined town leaders from across the state and attended productive workshops at the annual Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) convention. Given the State’s financial woes, much of the focus centered on how towns can better position themselves for impending cuts to municipal aid. Hot button items included the need for collaboration, and structural changes via regionalization and within towns themselves. Consistently, the theme relative to success was the need, ultimately, for trust between partners. I am happy to say that in Suffield, we have such trusted partners in both our schools and neighboring towns.
National Cookie Day
December 4
“Empty?! You took all the cookies!” “They were crying to get out of the jar… Cookies get claustrophobia too, you know!”
– Charles M. Schulz
“Early bird gets the worm. But cookie taste better than worm.
Olga A. Paganelli September 21 Age 71 Karl Anthony Johnson Sr. September 21 Age 77 Mary B. Forti September 24 Age 73 Carol A. Murzyn September 28 Age 75 Robert W. Baker Sr. September 29 Age 90 Mary Anne Cordis September 29 Age 67 Clifton Caldon September 30 Age 99 Yolanda Morales-Gray October 2 Age 54 […]
On a bridge over the Main River in Wurzburg, Germany recently are, from the left, Tom Heffernan, Joan Heffernan and Donna Gosselin holding the Observer, and Roy Gosselin.
Retired newspaper reporter, columnist, bomber pilot, and world traveler Dick Hammerich of Suffield by the River surely clocked hundreds of thousands of miles on his way to his hundredth birthday.
My favorite teacher, Dr. Sylvan Barnet, died recently. I was glad that I’d finally emailed him and told him of my visit to the New York University’s English department. A friend and I had stopped in to visit our friend Paige who was employed there as a secretary. Paige sat us down and put us to work stuffing envelopes for a mailing, and as we were stuffing and chatting, the head of the English Department emerged from his office. He asked us where we had gone to school and when I said “Tufts,” he asked if I’d ever met Sylvan Barnet there.
