Westport in Brief
EverythingWestport.com
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Quick Article Index . . .
Oil
and water mix at the Head!
Sunshine-filled skies at WRG’s 7th
Annual Garden Fair.
Community
Garden takes root at the Town Farm!
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EverythingWestport.com Friday, June 26, 2009 John
Travolta has nothing on this lively bunch of octogenarians as they celebrated
their 65th Westport High School reunion.
“The circus
came to Westport for one day when we were kids,” Dana Reed recalled. It was up off of Sanford Road across Route
6 in Samson’s potato fields; on both sides of the road if I remember correctly.
It took five railway engines to bring it in.” And so it
was as the six of eight remaining members of the Class of 1944 gathered at
Lillian Valcourt’s home in Somerset to celebrate their 65th high school
reunion in a style reminiscent of any early birthday party; over
strawberries, ice cream and cake. “Diets are essential,” Dorothy Hopkinson
said, “just not as much as they used to be.” From the left: Harold Caswell of New
Bedford, Hazel (Shorey) Mason of Swansea, Lillian (Edmond) Valcourt of
Somerset, Dorothy (King) Hopkinson of Westport, Jean (Gifford) Gidley of
Fairhaven, and Dana Reed of Westport. America was
at war with Germany and Japan, and Gooseberry Island was a military
installation, not just another tourist attraction and a place where the WRWA
conducts nature tours. “A lot of
those military fellas would go to the Grange dances,’ recalls Cukie Macomber,
one year behind the class of 44. One of our home town girls even married a
soldier stationed at Gooseberry.” “We worked
all the time, any job you could get,” recalled Dana Reed. Westport’s de facto
grand historian always has a great recollection of all things Westport, and this
reunion was no different. “I delivered ice in the summer, carrying 25 pond
blocks of ice in one hand and a bag of ice in the other while walking up
three flights of stairs in the Fall River triple-deckers.” It sounds like the
old “I walked 5 miles to school in blizzards story”, but in their case these
1944 Westport High School graduates were speaking the truth. “I also worked
in the Highway Casino’s kitchen (where Whites of Westport is now located).
“I’ve got some interesting stories about that place,” he said laughing.
A lot of
Westport families were still struggling with the Great Depression, and dealing
with cash shortages and no jobs was a daily occurrence. “If we went
anywhere, it was either walking or on a bicycle,” recalled Hazel Mason.
“Those of us who lived in the south end of town were just too far from
Lincoln Park where some of the north Westport students lived. “I hung around
the roller skating rink,” chuckled Harold Caswell. “Every Saturday
afternoon.”
Jean Gidley
remembered classmate John Azevedo who died March 1944 while in his senior
year. “Our yearbook was dedicated in his memory. Our graduating class would have been 20 if
John lived.” “The ’38
hurricane wiped out a lot of those grand summer homes on Horseneck,” Dana
Reed recalled. “It took a lot of jobs with it.” The small assemblage
remembered a lot of ordinary happenings that now seem so exceptional years
later. Dorothy
Hopkinson went to the Head School (nowadays the Senior Center on Reed Road),
then onto the Factory School for junior high (now Dartmouth Awning on Beeden
Road), and finished at the Milton Earle School (Town Hall Annex in Central
Village) for high school. The Little School (closed in 1905) was on her
grandfather’s property on Old County Road. “That school house was used for
the WPA program before the war, and had a tenant during the war,” Ms.
Hopkinson remarked. “The Factory School
cleared out to see Roosevelt ride down State Road (Route 6) in an open car on
his way to New Bedford. He was wearing a Panama hat. It was really
something!” Dana Reed. “Westport has changed a lot, and I’m not sure for the better,” said Lillian Valcourt. “The kids and the things they do today are so different than what we did as children. We worked constantly, had little or no exposure to debilitating substances, and got married sooner rather than later.” The Head of Westport always seemed to have some kind of variety store that sold penny candy. “Shorrocks, Correira’s, R&S Variety, and now the Country Store. I’ve seen them all,” said Dorothy Hopkinson. “They changed the name of the Westport sports teams to Wildcats from the Villagers,” Jean Gidley said. “They kept the name for the school newspaper. They shouldn’t have changed the name.” “Almost all of the graduating boys went into the military,” Dana Reed said. Of course
nostalgia always paints a rosy picture, and the small group spent hours
harking back to the people, places and things they fondly recalled. “We need to
have another reunion next year,” said Lillian Valcourt. “We shouldn’t wait so
long to have this much fun!”
Factory School - 1938 Oil and water mix at the Head! EverythingWestport.com Thursday, June 25, 2009
David Seibert received his early art training in painting and sculpture at a small Artist Guild in CT, and later at RISD. His alla prima paintings have been collected near and far both privately and for corporate collections. Some of his work is online at www.seibertfineart.org. Click here to get more information about the WAG, s summer programs. For more
information contact the WAG at (508) 636-2114 or visit www.westportartgroup.com
Sunshine-filled skies at WRG’s 7th Annual Garden
Fair. EverythingWestport.com Saturday, May 16, 2009 View
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But sunshine wasn’t the only commodity in quantity as the flora competed with visitors for space at the site next to the Quaker’s first meeting house in Westport. “It was great,” said Pat Bennett, outgoing WRG president. “We sold out of compost in the first two hours. Next year we’ll bring in two truckloads!” Gerry Santos who manned the compost truck was all “pooped out.” This annual event always draws a good crowd, but the sunshine really packed them in this year as the Gardeners offered new exhibits and products to round out their annual show. The plants and flowers went fast. Pete Szymanski of Fieldworks CT of 61 Hixbridge Road demonstrated how easy it was to check your soil’s Ph with an analyzer and a little water. “Simple as falling off a log.” Contact Pete at: (508) 636-9536.
Pete
Szymanski of Fieldworks CT LLC adds the water, analyzer and soil, and presto;
instant Ph o the delight of Westport resident Lucile Chase. And the “Red Wigglers” went about their task of creating “worm castings”, worm poop to the uniformed, oblivious to the stares of onlookers who were fascinated by nature’s wiggly garbage disposers. The Worm Ladies of Charlestown came over from Rhode Island to display nature’s ancient technology in producing good compost. Contact them at (401) 322-7675 or visit their web site www.angoraandworms.com Vermicomposting, the process of using worms for composting, use “Red Wigglers” which, unlike other earth worms, are surface feeders with the ability to consume 1/2 their body weight in decayed matter each day. Each worm will produce 2 – 3 cocoons per week which will hatch out every three weeks producing tiny white baby worms called threads. More worms, more poop, more compost.
From the
left: local realtor Suzanne Alden gets a demo from the Worm Ladies while Lyn
Magnin (right) of New Bedford displays her handmade bird houses and feeders. There were house plants, flowers, vegetable plants and a pickup filed with compost that sold out in two hours. The Garden Shed is always a fun place to visit with its eclectic mix of old and new utensils, pots, and paraphernalia of all types
Ben E. Daniels of Ultimate Organics from Plympton displayed his environmentally friendly lawn and garden products. “From plant feeding systems to insect and rodent controls, we have the Ultimate Organic Solutions for both home gardeners and professionals alike,” Ben explained. Visit his website at: www.benedaniels.com What few plants and flowers that were left were donated to the meeting house for use in celebrating the upcoming Paul Cuffee 250th Anniversary bash, and for other on-going WRG projects in town such as the new. It was reported the Fair generated $6000 that will be used to brighten up the town.
Master gardeners were on hand to show you how! Raffle and
demonstrations. Hopefully you had a chance to join them in a little bit of
fun and social time. Westport
River Gardeners present their annual Garden Fair every year from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at the Macomber House on 938 Main Road. View
photos from last year’s fair. Be sure you stop by next year and ask a URI
Master Gardener for pH soil analysis or any garden question.
From the left: WRG member Jenny Elias outdid the sunshine with her
smile; Nancy Burkholder of Westport picked up this marvelous birdhouse on a
pitchfork; and once again the WRG had some stunning raffle items. Visit their website: www.westportgardeners.blogspot.com. Join the
Westport Gardeners Club. Initial fee $25 with an annual fee of $15
thereafter. Email wrgardeners@yahoo.com or email event
chairperson at: sewdarnhappy@charter.net. Community Garden takes root at the Town
Farm! EverythingWestport.com June 28, 2009
The problem with refrigeration is now solved with the Country Store on Route 177 volunteering some extra cooler space for the community farm project. “We’re really grateful,” Connors said. “The folks at the Corn Crib on Main Road recently donated flowers, squash, and cucumbers,” Connors said. “The community farm is evolving into a community-wide effort as lots of town residents and businesses are stepping up to the plate to help.”
Marie, Maryann and Laura were busy weeding and preparing a plot for planting. “This is a wonderful effort in raising nutritious foods for the seniors in our area,” Marie said. The Westport Senior Center recently ratcheted up their food bank program, and will be the lucky recipients of much of what the town farm will produce. “The Westport Senior Center has been providing food to needy seniors for a while,” said Mary Ellen Gomes, COA Director. “We always supply it when we have it.” Recently the Friends of the Council of Aging donated $1000 to increase the activities of this important program. Heather Reed Board Chairwoman has taken on the project. “We have been supplying 61 bags of groceries a month with the help of the Bristol Elder Services,” Ms. Gomes said. “We would like to provide more to people of any age who need assistance.” Well, that goal is about to get a much-needed boost as the Town Farm Community Garden Project prepares to start delivering fresh produce in quantity to COA’s food bank. “With a little more sunshine,” Connors said, “we should be able to give them a few more vegetables for their program.” Click here to read more about the on-going Town Farm Community Garden. Connors is probably understating his plan. When’s the last time a gardener had a shortage of squash, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce and tomatoes?
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“We’ve got over 100
tomato plants in the ground,” Steve Connors said as he was stringing cukes at
the Town Farm Saturday. “We were going to harvest spinach and lettuce today
for the Westport Senior Center, but there’re closed this weekend, and we have
no refrigeration to keep the produce fresh. I guess we’ll wait till Monday.”
