Suffield’s Pride

Suffield’s Pride – Sandra Bixler

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Brains, beauty, and a fearless desire to be of service, Sandra Bixler has it all. The daughter of Richard and Linda Bixler was raised in Suffield along with her twin brother Steven, and is now a Principal Investigator at the Therapeutic Development Center, Molecular and Translational Sciences Division, at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). What does that mouthful of words mean you may rightly ask? Basically, Sandra, who has a Ph.D. in Emerging Infectious Diseases works trying to find vaccines or antidotes to the most deadly viruses on the planet such as Ebola, Lassa, and other hemorrhagic fever viruses. USAMRIID, located in Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the Army’s main facility for research into countermeasures against biological warfare and the Department of Defense’s only laboratory equipped to study BSL4 (biosafety level) viruses.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

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Daniel J. Beneski April 24, Age 42 Sharon A. Meola May 2, Age 58 Joan M. “Joanie” Berghal May 18, Age 35 Martha G. Clark May 19, Age 89 James E. Williamson May 21, Age 83 Lydia Elizabeth Trillo May 23, Age 44 Shawn Phillip Lopez May 24, Age 20 Michael John Kotowski June 6, Age 56 Dorothy Kaplan McCarty June 6, Age 87 […]

Through the Looking Glass

What is the Meaning of Life?

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Facebook has a group called “The Alan Watts & Buddhism Study Group” of which I’m a member. I don’t read all of the postings but one recently caught my eye. A member had asked simply “What is the meaning of life?” Evidently a lot of people think about this, because the question received the greatest number of responses I’ve ever seen. I culled out the first 112 responses so I could see what the consensus might be. The most numerous response with 24 votes was that the meaning was simply to live; this is close in concept to its runner-up which was “there is no purpose.” So it seems the majority of respondents reject the question with an attitude of “don’t be silly; just get on with it.” The Indian mystic Osho was quoted as saying “Life is the purpose.”

Other responses fell into categories of doing good, learning, and acceptance.

Suffield’s Pride

Brian Claughsey

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Brian Claughsey has always been good at defense. As a high school varsity hockey goalie for four years, he was used to  protecting the goal and fighting off slapshots. In September 2015 however, he was fighting off something far more deadly serious than slapshots. In the process he was awarded a Silver Star, the highest medal for combat valor not unique to any specific service branch and the third highest military award exclusively for combat valor. Brian graduated from Suffield High School in 2002 and from Western New England College in 2006 with a degree in business management.