Government/Town
September Commission Meetings
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Commission meetings are open to the public.
Suffield’s History and Notable People Honored
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Trees have both common and scientific names, such as Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus).
Suffield Volunteer Ambulance Association Receives Prestigious National Honor
The Suffield Volunteer Ambulance Association (SVAA) has been recognized on the national stage as the 2026 EMS Agency of the Year by the National EMS Management Association.
Government/Town
New Fire Trucks
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It was March 2017 when the Town voted to approve $2.8 M in bonding for the purchase of three new fire trucks, replacing others that had become too old to keep safely in service. Rescue 1 was delivered this year in May.
People/Business
Tree Trimming
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The dead branch falls in the foreground as King House Curator Lester Smith, left, lowers his long pole saw.
Editorial
Pay to Play
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With the incoming school year commencing August 29, Suffield High School students will be forced to make some financial adjustments. That is, if they want to continue and/or take up playing a sport. This year, the high school has brought on the seemingly sudden change of enforcing a pay-to-play rule, where students must pay a fee of $75 each time they enroll in a sport, with a cap of $225 per year. This fee does not include the gear that is required to play sports, such as padding, shoes, and helmets, all of which the players pay for out of their own (or their parents’) pockets. Indeed, the ability to pay for helmets can make all the difference in a player’s safety.
Editorial
Self-Expression
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True creative output comes from within and cannot be squeezed out by force. No school assignment could set off the same eruption of raw creative passion that I experience through accepting my sporadic impulse to write; to allow my ideas to surface and to watch them climb into the vessel of articulated language. I am not arguing against the utility of external prompting, far from it. But for one’s product to be genuine and pure, their response must be completely voluntary. When one seeks to fulfill others’ demands for their creativity, true success requires that they be intrinsically motivated to create.
People/Business
New Owner for Suffield by the River
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As owner and, until now, executive director of the well-regarded facility at 7 Canal Road, Celia Moffie is selling the place to LCB Senior Living, LLC. As this issue of the Observer goes to press, the sale is scheduled to close on August 31. LCB, based in Norwood, Mass., owns and operates similar facilities in five New England States, plus one in Pennsylvania. In Connecticut, the closest is the Residence at South Windsor Farms. Others are The Residence at Brookside in Avon, plus three more in Fairfield County. In its own publicity, LCB is described as being “among the first creators of independent, assisted, and memory impaired communities.”
Celia Moffie has owned Suffield by the River since the 20-acre parcel at 7 Canal Road was purchased in 1997.
Farming/Nature
100-Year-Old Hastings Farm Honored by State
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Members of the Hastings family went down to Hamden on August 7 to attend Plant Science Day at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s Lockwood Farm, near Sleeping Giant State Park. This is a big, yearly event, with lectures and demonstrations and meetings with experts, but this year’s highlight was when the family’s well-known Suffield farm on Hill Street was presented with the 2019 Connecticut Century Farm Award. This is a significant award, given each year to “a farm that has been in family operation for more than 100 years and has great potential to be successful for at least another 100 years.” The recipient is selected by the Connecticut Agricultural Council. This is the second time that the 70-year-old award has been given to a Suffield farm – the Coulter Farm earned it in 1998. Only one other Connecticut town has had two winners; that was Wethersfield.
People/Business
Rock’s Last Ride
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Rockwell Rookey, who died in West Suffield on May 18 at age 95, is carried past the Soldier’s Monument in Suffield Center at the head of his funeral procession to St. Joseph’s cemetery on Hill Street.
Columns
Where in the World is the Observer?
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Current and former Suffieldians gather on the deck of their canal boat for their obligatory WITW photo in May.
Farming/Nature
Daisies
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Nature came along in spring
And sowed angelic daisies
Along a vacant roadside
Competing with the beauty of
The big red barn upon the hill.
Organizations
Soles 4 Souls
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Got some gently used shoes, sneakers or sandals? The Suffield Woman’s Club wants them! Members of the SWC will be in the parking lot of Highland Park Market on Saturday, August 24 from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. collecting your new or gently loved shoes.
These shoes can help lift people out of poverty. Your items will be a gift to those in need, here and around the globe through Soles4Souls.org. Help us reach our goal of 1000 pairs of shoes!
Government/Town
Senior Center & Mini Bus News
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The Caregiver Support Program is a valuable resource for caregivers who play an important role in the health and well-being of our veterans.
Organizations
Ceremony Held at Babb’s Beach
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About 30 people gathered by the performance platform at Babb’s Beach on May 31 for the grateful celebration honoring Nelson Babb and his family. They also celebrated the new flagpole installed by Citizens Restoring Congamond (CRC). Nelson Babb’s oldest daughter, Claudia Babb Reich, traveled up from North Carolina for the occasion. The group admired the small, colorful garden surrounding the flagpole and viewed the two bronze plaques CRC had installed on boulders in the garden.
One read:
“In Memory and Honor
Of
Nelson Babb Jr.
and Babb Family”
The other read:
This Property
Has Been Placed On The
NATIONAL REGISTER
OF HISTORIC PLACES
By The United States
Department Of The Interior
BABB’S BEACH
7-6-2006
(Both plaques are rendered here as they appear.)
Ginnie Graves, chair of the CRC committee that managed the project, welcomed the guests and asked committee member Deb Herath to describe how the project came to be. The National Register listing, achieved 13 years ago by a joint CRC/Town effort, had never been recognized with a plaque, and the committee felt that Nelson Babb and the Babb family deserved permanent credit for their role in creating and developing the site.
Government/Town
Parks & Rec News
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Suffield Parks and Recreation Department Bowling Buddies Group Prom Night was a blast!
Organizations
Planting Flowers by the Soldier’s Monument
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From the left: Kathy Remington, Kathleen Horrigan and Judy Edwards pause while planting flowers at the base of the Soldier’s Monument on the Center Green in May in preparation for Memorial Day.
History
History Re-interpreted
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This past May, my wife, Beth, and I had dinner with my cousin’s son, Presston in Brooklyn. At dinner, Presston shared his latest job adventures. For the past four years, he was one of the project managers for the new Statue of Liberty Museum. He was both excited and stressed about the project that was to officially open to the public later in the week. The following day, he would meet with reporters from the major papers like the New York Times and others as well, as setting up interviews for the major television networks.
Organizations
SGC Awards Grants
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The profits from the Holiday Tree Gala have all been returned to our community through two grants to community organizations, and an award to a graduating senior. Requests from Suffield Community Aid for their community garden and Phelps-Hatheway House for a display case to house historical memorabilia have been fully funded along with an award to High School student Brooke Tillotson. Brooke will be studying Plant Science and Environmental Sustainability at Cornell University this fall. Two other students received awards this month through the Garden Club’s Memorial Fund. Joseph LaFlamme and Jackson Smith.