The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/columns/page/48/)
Sheila Roberts Craven March 8 Age 62 Brian Thomas Bentley March 17, Age 35 Judith M. Spaulding March 19 Age 79 Sheryl Woods March 20 Age 63 Mariette P. Kennedy March 25 Age 90 Harry James Corbett Jr. April 8 William Paul Wing April 8 Age 91 Diane M. (Whitaker) Mandirola April 9 Age 71
Attending the fiftieth anniversary in 2009 of John Biggerstaff’s induction with the late William Hinson into Apollo Lodge #59 was an honor. Joining Louise at John’s induction into the West Suffield Congregational Church on April 8, 2018, was also an honor. The Biggerstaff family has been a constant in life. John’s grandmother was the first visitor to my first home. John’s father installed the pump in a later home; he also opened history on local Polish music gatherings having joined them with his mouth organ.
Recently I went on a binge of reading books about North Korea. The books below are non-fiction, but I want to mention the novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It shows the struggle of Korean people trying to carve out lives for themselves in Japan, both before and after World War II. The Japanese were extremely biased against Koreans. Resident Koreans were very rarely able to get full citizenship.
I had the pleasure of a tour of Kent Memorial Library recently and I left feeling so excited about the changes taking place that I wanted to share some of the highlights. Clearly every resident is anxious for the long-awaited reopening given the ongoing environmental saga the town’s endured. But after seeing it first-hand, I truly cannot wait for all of us to once again utilize this inspiring building. Facilities Director Julie Oakes and Highway Foreman Mark Cervione were my tour guides as we entered the new all-abilities accessible entrance, lovingly named in honor of Suffield’s Mary Anne Zak whose family provided an enormously generous donation towards the project. The entrance is an inviting and impressive space welcoming patrons.
National Weather Observer’s Day – May 4
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”
– John Ruskin
“Tut, Tut, looks like rain”
– A.A. Milne
“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”
– Dave Barry
“I say it’s so hot, the hens are picking up worms with potholders.”
– Julie Trotter
“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.”
– Kin Hubbard
“The weather is like the government, always in the wrong.”
– Jerome K. Jerome
“A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.”
– Marcel Proust
Cinco de Mayo – May 5
“Cinco de Mayo has come to represent a celebration of the contributions that Mexican Americans and all Hispanics have made to America…Latinos have fought in all of America’s wars, beginning with the Revolutionary War. Many Latinos are fighting and dying for our country today in Iraq, just as several of their ancestors fought for freedom in Mexico over a century ago.”
– Joe Baca
National Teachers’ Day – May 8
“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”
– Malala Yousafzai
“Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.”
– Solomon Ortiz
“If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”
– A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”
– C. S. Lewis
“A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.”
– Eliphas Levi
“Education is improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”
–Marian Wright Edelman
“The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask which he finds it hard to answer.”
– Alice Wellington Rollins
“Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions.”
– Unknown
International Nurses Day – May 12
“Sometimes I inspire my patients; more often they inspire me.”
– Unknown
“Nurse: just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate anything and soft enough to understand anyone.”
– Unknown
“To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.”
– Rawsi Williams
Mother’s Day – May 13
“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”
– C.S. Lewis
“Being a mom might mean that my hands are full, but so is my heart.”
– Unknown
“There is no one perfect way to be a good mother.
Sharon E. (Smith) Beneski
February 13, Age 75
Janet Devlin
February 13, Age 86
Michael “Meho” Alexopoulous
February 15, Age 86
Florence Miarecki
February 19, Age 95
Claude E. Rice
February 21, Age 70
Charles Donaghy
February 24
Anna Gilbert
February 25, Age 101
Leon Keith Markwell
February 27, Age 90
Rosemarie Lownds
March 1, Age 88
Janet Aidan Lapinski
March 7, Age 80
Robert Hinkley
March 12, Age 82
Ordinarily I bypass the perpendicular pronoun. But wished happiness as I recently celebrated my 89th birthday, I thank in first person all happiness wishers! Their wishes came true! Judging by photo albums, all birthdays have been happy! The 18th was especially so.
The 16th Seduction by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro and Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene
Several years ago a friend who supports the Libertarian Party invited me to come along to a weekend gathering of libertarians in New Hampshire. It was called the Porcupine Freedom Festival – PorcFest for short. It was, generally speaking, a happy gathering of people who shared the political view that less government would make life better. Its name derives from the mascot of the Libertarian Party, the porcupine. It was only the second or third time this event had taken place but there was a good crowd of about 100 people staying in a local motel or camping out in trailers and tents using the bathroom facilities provided by Rogers Campgrounds in Lancaster, NH.
