The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/columns/page/43/)
Edward G. Mele October 11, Age 89 Dr. Judith L. Vaitukaitis October 19, Age 78 Timothy M. Mandirola October 20, Age 31 Annette Ceniglio October 19, Age 74 Ted E. Pohorylo October 22, Age 75 James Gordon Ruth Jr. October 23, Age 67 Chester P. Madey October 23, Age 99 Kathleen Polley October 24, Age […]
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.
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver. Harper Collins, 2018. 660 pp.(large print)
This is the story of two families who live in the same house, but in different centuries. One is in more modern times and the other in the past, and both families are struggling to even begin to make ends meet. The house had been badly built to begin with, and the passage of time has not been kind to its condition.
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.
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.
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.
“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” – Mark Twain
Last month, while dining at a local restaurant, a Suffieldian I’ve known for almost 15 years came to our table and asked us how things were going, and I told her things were not perfect. She breathed this huge sigh of relief and revealed to us that things in her life were not perfect either.
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 […]
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.