HANSON — He teaches one of the more hedonistic entries in boston.com’s list of “10 College Courses You Wish You Registered For.”

Suffolk University Senior History Lecturer Stephen O’Neill’s “The History of Piracy” made that list — along with a study of Surfing and American Culture at Boston University and the Culture of Burlesque at Emerson and others from anime to board game strategies in business. the Pembroke native has taught the course for 11 years and has researched the topic for 20 years.

On Thursday, Aug. 4, O’Neill brought his knowledge of the pirate life to the Hanson Historical Society for a program titled “New England Pirates.” He is also the new executive director of the Hanover Historical Society.

New England pirates?

“Everyone is fascinated with pirates,” O’Neill said, noting that the Johnny Depp “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie made more than $600 million to date. “But pirate stories have been around since pirates were sailing the seas.”

Among notable authors to write on pirate themes have been John Steinbeck, Emily Dickenson, Edgar Allen Poe and Washington Irving, O’Neill said.

“There were pirates in ancient Rome, ancient Greece … in all parts of the world,” he said. “Piracy is basically the theft of portable wealth at sea. … We’re talking a global economy in the 1690s.”

Turns out, New England was more than just a place where pirates went to die on the scaffold — after enduring a lengthy sermon on the sins of their trade from Puritan minister Cotton Mather.

More on that later.

As early as 1646, three pirate ships visited Plymouth and their crews’ resulting bender probably salvaged the settlement’s fledgling economy, according to O’Neill. The pirates were under commission to prey on Spanish shipping by the Earl of Warwick, who also had arranged the patents and charter for the Plymouth colony.

“These crewman under Capt. Thomas Cromwell really spent so much money drinking that they literally bailed out Plymouth, which was bankrupt,” O’Neill said. “[Puritans] had actually voted in early 1646 to abandon Plymouth and move the capital of the colony out to Eastham.”

Cromwell’s commission also protected him from a murder charge, for which he was acquitted, while ashore in Plymouth.

O’Neill also related the origin of the term buccaneer — with its root in the Caribbean Arawak word buccan, for the wooden frame on which meat was smoked. They used to go ashore on Hispañola to hunt feral pigs and cattle from an earlier, abandoned settlement and smoked the meats to preserve them for sale on Tortuga to supplement their piracy.

“If you watch any pirate movie, Tortuga and Port Royal are always mentioned,” O’Neill said. “Those are the great pirate havens of the 17th Century.” An earthquake eventually sank most of Port Royal under the waves.

New England did not miss out on the action in the heyday of piracy, however.

Pilgrim Edward Winslow, who sat on Capt. Cromwell’s jury, left  Plymouth Colony in 1647 for Port Royal, Jamaica and ended up on a fleet also underwritten by the Earl of Warwick to take Hispañola from Spain. He never returned, having died at sea.

Sir William Phips, the first royal governor of Massachusetts, was also a salvager of shipwrecks, who used buccaneer tactics in his failed attempt to capture Quebec in 1690.

Some of the true buccaneers also headed this way after they were driven out of the Caribbean, O’Neill related.

Capt. Thomas Paine, (not to be confused with the later “Common Sense” pamphleteer) who had attacked St. Augustine as a buccaneer, retired to Jamestown, R.I., in the 1670s. He had married the governor’s daughter and founded Trinity Church — before being called on to protect the colony from French pirates in the 1690s.

Not all New England pirates had such a successful retirement.

The infamous Capt. Kidd was arrested in Boston for trial in London where he was hanged and gibbeted — coated in tar after death and suspended in an iron cage — as a warning to other would-be pirates.

The only gibbeted pirate in New England was the body of Capt. William Fly on “Nixes Island” in 1726. Now only a concrete marker remains, as legend has it, a pirate’s curse led to the island being washed away.

On June 30, 1704, Capt. John Quelch and five crewmen were executed in Boston after the first trial for piracy by the British Admiralty Court held outside of England.

“Gallows were erected halfway between the high and low watermarks, symbolic of the jurisdiction of the admiralty court,” O’Neill said. “Rev. Cotton Mather made a specialty out of pirate execution sermons.”

The condemned men were forced to stand before Mather’s pulpit while he orated against their sins for “two and a half hours in the morning and two and a half hours in the afternoon,” O’Neill said.

One of Quelch’s condemned crewmen, John Lambert, hailed from Salem.

Capt. Edward Lowe kidnapped Marblehead sailor Phlip Ashton who famously refused to join the pirate crew, eventually jumping ship on Rowatan Island. It took Ashton three years to make his way back to Marblehead.

“I don’t know why some of these stories haven’t been made into really great movies,” O’Neill said.

After his talk, O’Neill answered some of the audience’s questions.

There was a lot to be loud and proud about last week at the Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education (DARE) Summer Program held at host school Whitman-Hanson July 25-28 as more than 600 campers cheered for their teams and took over the grounds for fun and education in the sun.

With the temperature reaching 90 degrees nearly all week, campers had both in and outdoor activities where special guest performers and educators spoke to them about DARE and avoiding situations or substances that could potentially cause them harm.

Lead Camp Organizer Peter Veneto spoke to families, campers and staff at the closing ceremony on Friday as campers from 20 of the 27 communities within Plymouth County gathered to share a week of non-stop fun. The camp celebrated its 22nd year in Plymouth County and is sponsored by Plymouth County D.A Timothy J. Cruz., The Plymouth County Police Chiefs and Drug education and resource officers.

“Your behavior was fantastic,” Veneto said. “As campers you have earned your T-shirts — wear them proudly as leaders in the community. Let your friends know who you are: Leaders of a drug-free community. Be proud of yourselves.”

Host town DARE Officer Billy Frazier of Hanson asked for a moment of silence honoring law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty across the United States over past few months, as well as three former DARE Officers who have passed away since the camp was established.

Awards honoring the former DARE Officers were presented to Peer Leader Liz Short of Hanson’s Team 5 in memory of Officer Robert Quigley of the Marshfield Police Department, student service awards were presented to Emma Wojag of Hanson in memory of Helen Gray and Brayden Ferguson of Whitman was presented with a student service award in memory of Officer Gerald Mont of Whitman police.

District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz pledged his efforts to continue the camp and reminded campers that it took many officers, and donations of food,  time, money and most of the things they were able to participate in were due to the generosity of so many local companies.

Cruz intends to see the camp grow and eventually have all 27 communities in Plymouth County have resource officers and participate in the camp.

On Tuesday, July 26 Cruz and Sherriff McDonald presented two Hanson natives — Chief Warrant 3 pilot Scott Landis and Anthony Celia — with recognition awards for their decade of service in the Army flying Black Hawk helicopters. The pair talked with campers after landing on the soccer field, giving a tour of equipment and allowing the kids to explore the aircraft.

Kudos

DARE Camp organizers thanked Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr. and the Hanson Fire Department for its help in making the Thursday, July 28 foam and water day a success as well as the following Plymouth County police chiefs: Christopher Delmonte of Bridgewater; John Crowley of Brockton; Marc Duphily of Carver; Matthew Clancy of Duxbury; Scott Allen of East Bridgewater; Walter Sweeney of Hanover; Michael Miksch of Hanson; Glenn Olsson of Hingham; Robert Sawtelle of Hull; Frank Alivihiera of Lakeville; Philip Tavarers of Marshfield; Theodore Ross of Norwell; Richard Wall of Pembroke; Michael Botieri of Plymouth; Patrick Dillon of  Plympton; John Llewellyn of Rockland; Michael Stewart of Scituate; Kevin Walsh of Wareham; Victor Flaherty of West Bridgewater and Scott Benton of Whitman. Thanks were also extended to Chief Christopher Cummings of the Massasoit Community College Police and Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, July 26 tabled a planned review and approval vote on the board’s goals for the town’s open space and recreation plan.

Selectman Kenny Mitchell was away on vacation and Selectman Bruce Young had notified the board he would not be able to attend, leading Selectmen Chairman James McGahan to recommend waiting to the next meeting to discuss the issue when all members would be present.

Two of the goals, which would allow the town to apply for grants, are expansion and improvement of recreational opportunities as well as protection of natural resources and biodiversity.

“We need to have our plan in place sooner rather than later, especially if we want to apply for grants,” McGahan said. “Each department has goals that they report in to the Recreation Department and it’s all pertaining to open space.”

McGahn said the Board of Selectmen’s goals have been in place for several years and involve a review of recreational and parks committees (Recreation, Parks and Fields, Memorial Field and Town Forest) and considering the consolidation of two or more of the committees under a newly created Recreation Committee. There would also be an effort to improve the General Bylaws to be consistent with state regulation of off-road vehicle issues and to participate in state efforts to regulate use on a regional level.

“I’ve had a lot of people calling me concerned that motor bikes and ATVs are [being driven] where they should not be,” McGahan said. “Obviously we want to enforce our state regulations for those.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue said the town has received an updated letter from the Attorney General’s office correcting an inaccurate report on an open meeting complaint. The original report erroneously faulted Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan in regard to improperly destroyed Capital Improvement Committee reports.

Hanson 200

Hanson’s bicentennial is still four years away, but town officials are already gearing up to plan the celebration. The town was incorporated in 1820.

“We may think it’s too soon, but it actually isn’t,” McGahan said.

“I have been involved in other communities that have had other similar significant anniversaries celebrated in my time there, and … we are reaching out to other communities to get a good idea of how they set up their committees.”

Since Mitchell and Young were absent, however, selectmen also tabled the process of appointing a bicentennial committee.

McCue said committees generally include citizens at-large.

“We would envision a celebration that lasts an entire year,” he said, to perhaps include a ball, large parade and family field day, among other events.

A full discussion is planned at the next meeting, at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 9.

They say “make hay while the sun shines” for a reason — but too much sun and summer heat present risks for people, particularly the very young, very old, members of low-income households and those with chronic medical conditions.

Senior center directors in Whitman and Hanson remind elders of the importance of taking care to stay in a cool place and drink enough water, with more hot, humid weather were forecast. The towns’ senior centers are good resources for such an escape.

“I think it’s the perfect place for a cooling center,” Whitman Senior Center Director Barbara Garvey said. “People come in to relax and be cool. ”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said Monday morning that he would be discussing whether the Whitman Senior Center needed to extend hours into Saturday to offer that resource.

Fire Chief Timothy Grenno said he is monitoring the forecast and heat-related EMS calls this week, but as of press time, there was no plan to open a cooling center over the weekend despite a forecast for 90-degree weather, because temperatures have been cooling at night. In the meantime, anyone experiencing heat-related emergencies should call 911 and “if we need to transport them to a cooling center, then we can open one,” Grenno said Tuesday.

If weather conditions require it, the Council on Aging could be opened on the weekend, Grenno said.

“If we need some place on Thursday or Friday, we’ll open the great hall at Town Hall,” he said. Notification will be posted on the town and website if a cooling center is opened.

“It definitely would be up to the fire chief,” Garvey said. “Normally we’re not here on the weekend. We’ve not had to deal with it on a weekend just yet.”

Overall, Garvey said many of her center’s clients tend to stay home when the heat is on, although they do have some who visit to sit in the AC for a “cool start” to their day.

“Pretty much everybody has air-conditioning now and, if they don’t, then we stress that they should,” she said. “The Fire Department would help [seniors] with installing an air conditioner, if need be.”

In Hanson, Senior Center Director Mary Collins reminded seniors that the 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. hours may be extended during heat waves. She also urged, in the center newsletter, that residents check in on aging neighbors to ensure they drink enough water and that fans and air conditioners are being used when necessary.

“If you need to escape from the heat and humidity, come and join us,” Collins said. “Along with planned activities, we offer a great place to meet friends, have lunch, or enjoy a book.”

When the temperature climbs above 90°F, older adults and people with chronic medical conditions need to take precautions. So check the outside temperature on summer days. If it’s above 90°, older people should keep in mind the following tips from Old Colony Elder Services:

• Stay out of the sun if possible. If possible, wait to go out until the sun starts to set or until early the next morning. Adjusting when you go outside could mean a difference of several degrees.

• Air conditioning is your friend. Spend as much time as possible in air conditioned spaces. If you don’t have an air conditioner, go somewhere that is air-conditioned. Read a book at the library, walk around in indoor malls, watch that new movie at the theater, or meet your friends at the senior center. (Note:  The federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps adults 65 and older who have limited incomes cover the cost of air conditioners and utility bills. To reach your state’s LIHEAP, call 1-866-674-6327.)

• Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of cool water, clear juices, and other liquids that don’t contain alcohol or caffeine.  Alcohol and caffeine can dehydrate you (dry you out).

• Dress appropriately. Whenever you can, try wearing loose, light-colored clothes (dark-colored clothes absorb heat). Top it off with a lightweight, broad-brimmed hat and you are dressing like a pro! These simple changes will help you both stay cool and avoid sunburn.

• Did someone say sunburn? Use broad spectrum sunscreen with sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher.

• Cool down! Take tepid (not too cold or too hot) showers, baths, or sponge baths when you’re feeling warm. Don’t have the time? Then wet washcloths or towels with cool water and put them on your wrists, ankles, armpits, and neck.

Watch the kids

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adds the caution that the very young are also sensitive to the effects of extreme heat and rely on other people to keep them cool and hydrated. Never leave a child — or your pet, for that matter — in a parked car, even if the windows are open. Dress infants and children in loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing and seek medical care immediately if your child has symptoms of symptoms of heat-related illness.

Hot jobs

While people who work outdoors are familiar with the need and methods to acclimatize themselves to warmer conditions, there are times when they, too, need to stop and seek a cool environment. The CDC recommends these workers take the following steps, if they do not already, when working during severe heat conditions:

• Drink from two to four cups of water every hour while working. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink.

•  Avoid alcohol or liquids containing large amounts of sugar.

•  Wear and reapply sunscreen as indicated on the package.

•  Ask if tasks can be scheduled for earlier or later in the day to avoid midday heat.

•  Wear a brimmed hat and loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing.

•  Spend time in air-conditioned buildings during breaks and after work.

•  Encourage co-workers to take breaks to cool off and drink water.

•  Seek medical care immediately if you or a co-worker has symptoms of heat-related illness.

Motorists may have noticed lately that they’ve been driving through flurries of moths on the region’s roadways — the latest stage of what entomologists are calling the worst gypsy moth infestation since the early 1980s.

Those moths are now laying masses of beige eggs before they die off, leading experts to fear a worse infestation next year.

Hanson and Kingston are among the state’s communities seeing spotty damage from the moths that, in their caterpillar stage, can irritate more than one’s nerves. Tiny hairs on the caterpillars can cause skin irritations for some with allergies.

There may not be much one can do to combat them at this point, however.

“It seems like the consensus is that, because we’ve had two very dry springs in a row, the fungus Entomophiaga Maimaiga … needs a lot of moisture to get going and it has to happen early enough in the season — a nice, wet April and May,” said Tawny Simisky an extension entomologist specializing in woody plant entomology with the UMass, Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment. The fungus is a natural enemy of the gypsy moth caterpillar that winters over in the soil and is most effective when it can get into the caterpillar population at an immature stage.

“Although we did see some of the fungus this year and we’ve had more reports recently about the fungus, it didn’t get kicked up into the population soon enough — or early enough — back in April and May,” Simisky said. “We didn’t have enough rain to have the fungus to do enough damage to the gypsy moth caterpillars.”

Now the male moths are flying about seeking females with which to mate, as the females do not fly.

“They [caterpillars] were able to eat quite a bit,” Simisky said, noting her office has received a lot of reports about defoliation. “Unfortunately, we do not map it, but I do have some lists of towns [where damage has been reported].”

spotty damage

Besides Hanson and Kingston, there have been reports of spotty damage in, but not limited to, Sturbridge, Monson, Uxbridge, Brimfield, Charlton, Northborough, Westborough, Plymouth, Carver, Wareham, Sharon, Winchendon, Framingham, West Bridgewater, Braintree, Rowley, Georgetown, Ipswich, Newbury, Boxford, Topsfield, Gloucester, and Wrentham have reported continued and elevated caterpillar activity paired with defoliation this spring.

“Defoliation (mostly oaks) was observed by motorists driving in certain areas on Route 3 (Plymouth area), I-495 (Acton, Littleton, and Worcester areas), and the Mass. Turnpike (I-90) near Charlton. However, there have been multiple reports of gypsy moth caterpillars having fed on pines and spruce this season,” according to the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment’s periodic Landscape Message. A lot of calls were also received concerning the sound of caterpillar waste — known as frass — falling from the trees.

“It’s psychologically difficult for people to deal with, it seems,” Simisky said.

what to do?

What is a homeowner to do?

Some extension services across the country have suggested soap and water as an acceptable method for removing egg masses within reach. But Simisky said that is not a very effective method, instead recommending horticultural oil applied by a licensed company.

Simisky said each cluster laid by gypsy moths contains 500 or more eggs.

“Where folks are seeing a lot of egg masses being laid right now, that’s a likely sign that next season they’ll have a lot of gypsy moths again, unless we have a wet spring,” she said. “I’ve been advising folks to make their management plans now.”

The horticultural oils suffocate the egg masses, while soap and water requires one to scrape the egg masses into a container of the solution.

“That is really, I think, futile, labor-intensive work,” Simisky said. “You have to be able to reach every single egg mass and getting good coverage with those horticultural oils can be difficult, too.”

That’s where a Massachusetts-licensed pesticide applicator is important in targeting host trees that are covered in egg masses early next spring.

According to UMass entomologist Dr. Joseph Elkinton, Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.), a low-toxicity pesticide option that only acts on moths and butterflies may be sprayed on susceptible host plants (such as oak) when gypsy moth caterpillars are still small and feeding. The compound is created from a naturally occurring bacterium that is relatively safe for other beneficial insects, but can harm pollinating butterflies.

“It is derived from a bacterium specific to that group of insects and is considered to be safe for people and pets,” Elkinton stated in a recent article. “There is nothing that can be done now to manage the adult moths.”

Wrapping trees in foil — as was the common “remedy” for saving trees from caterpillars in the 1980s infestation — is also considered ineffective today, Simisky said.

WHITMAN — As the town’s Buildings, Facilities and Capital Expenditures Committee met to close the book on fiscal 2016 Thursday, June 30 it reorganized, reviewed its responsibilities and looked to the next phase of a Public Works building.

Work on test borings involved in the DPW project, involving a new garage facility, were allowed to start with the new fiscal year July 1 and must be done before a structural engineer is brought in to design a foundation, according to committee member and Building Inspector Robert Curran.

Town Meeting approved funds for site assessment and design within the fiscal 2017 budget.

“If we can stay on this, we can probably have a project scope and reasonable cost estimates before the end of the calendar year,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “[That] would give us a decent amount of time to hold public meetings and hearings and make sure people know what we’re doing and are informed enough to come out and make a decision on it at the next annual [Town] Meeting.”

The aim would be to begin construction — should the project be approved — by about December 2017.

“The major focus of the committee for the next 24 months or so is going to be building a DPW building,” he said.

Lynam said the committee has assumed the duties of the Capital Advisory Committee in addition to its role as a building committee.

“We have tried for several years to get an effective Capital Advisory Committee but, for whatever reason, it just never worked,” Lynam said. He then went to the Board of Selectmen asking for a redefined role for the Buildings, Facilities and Capital Expenditures Committee and dissolve the Capital Advisory Committee. Town Meeting voted to do so by amending the by-laws in May.

“This committee is now charged with capital facilities and capital expenditures,” he said. “We are concerned with ensuring that our infrastructure and major capital purchases are reviewed and evaluated and that a recommendation is made.”

He stressed that, going forward, the committee would “have a voice in all major projects and in all significant capital expenditures” looking at them from both a utility and cost standpoint.

Because of the DPW project, Lynam said he has been urging that department to get “somebody very involved” in the Buildings, Facilities and Capital Expenditures Committee and DPW Commissioner Wayne Carroll was appointed. A Whitman resident and retired Hanson firefighter, Carroll will play an important role on the panel.

“Wayne is what I would call a frugal person,” Lynam said. “He’s willing to pay for what needs to be done but he’s not a ‘let’s throw money at it and see if it works’ kind of guy.”

Carroll was also elected to take over the chairmanship from Lynam, whose duties have increased since the departure of Assistant Town Administrator Greg Enos this spring. Lynam will stay on as a member, as required by his position, and will serve as vice chairman with Selectman Dan Salvucci remaining as clerk.

Right now, Lynam said he has $163,009 in projects pending for the Green Communities grant to deal with, as well as three projects under the Community Compact — $25,000 for a wage and personnel study, $15,000 for solar energy project analysis and some $10,000 for the reuse plan for the old Regal property. Mass Development funded an environmental study that has found cadmium and chromium on the site.

“Chromium can either be your friend or your enemy,” he said, noting he signed an extension agreement with Mass Development, allowing them to continue their research on the 17-acre site next to the railroad station. “We’re waiting for those studies to be completed.”

In other business, Lynam noted that some issues remain which have delayed completion of the Town Hall air-conditioning project. The project account has $69,680 left in it, but some of that has to be reserved to repair the auditorium floor, where past humidity problems have caused it to buckle.

Due to a complication following replacement of the Town Hall’s computer network core switch, the network in place was not communicating with a faster switch, and the slower device for the air-conditioning network was not communicating with the server, causing heat and humidity problems in the auditorium a few weeks ago.

A hub was installed to slow down the network and permit the necessary system communication without affecting the rest of the network.

There is also an issue with smoke controls designed to close the air vents in case of fire that town officials have not been able to link to the fire panel because that panel is proprietory — and license has been taken over by the Tyco Corp.

“Only one company in the world can take care of it, and they won’t give us the codes,” Lynam said. “We are working to get those codes.”

WHITMAN — There’s a new twist to the Family Field Day games at Whitman Park this July 4 — at least there’s one in the works — in the form of a greased watermelon relay.

The object would be for teams to pass said melon, slathered in vegetable shortening, from person to person without dropping it. Recreation Director Oliver Amado said the event is probable, but things could change.

What is definite is that there will be a few changes this year to bring out the crowds, including a water slide and police and fire vehicles for the kids to explore.

“We really want to see this take off,” Amado said of the Recreation Commission’s program. “I expect more people than last year.”

The day’s events begin at 8:15 a.m., with the annual 5K Fun Run — registration is from 7:30 to 8 a.m. A bike and carriage decorating contest takes place at 9:30 a.m., with field day games literally running (jumping and tossing) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The town pool is open, free of charge, for Whitman residents from 1 to 5 p.m.

State Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, plans to supply watermelon slices for refreshment and the Boy Scouts will be selling hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks and snacks to benefit Scout programs.

The 5K race will go on, rain or shine, unless there is lightning in the area, Amado said. Other events will depend on the amount of rain in the forecast, with updates available on the Recreation Department’s Facebook page.

The 2015 event was not thoroughly publicized due to the departure of the director shortly before the Fourth of July, Amado said. This year, fliers were sent out to schools and the event and summer park and recreation programs have been publicized more, including via mass e-mail.

The public will also be asked for suggestions at the Field Day about what they’d like to see added in coming years. For example, a basketball-related event is already being explored, and one person had suggested a greased pole-climbing contest for a donated $100 prize at the top — an idea rejected as unworkable.

“There was something about grease this year,” Amado recalled.

Another idea, rejected because of the potential for injury, was from a person in Braintree suggesting the Fire Department spray nontoxic foam on the field for kids to run through.

The potential for collisions in poor visibility rendered it a non-starter, Amado said.

Town officials remind residents that personal fireworks are also a poor choice for holiday entertainment.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, during the June 21 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, urged residents to be considerate of neighbors if they insist on flouting the state law prohibiting personal fireworks.

“It’s great that everybody has enthusiasm to celebrate the great country we have,” he said. “You have to remember your neighbors.”

Veterans and people’s pets can both be affected by the noise.

“[For veterans] it can bring back some nasty memories,” Bezanson said. “So think twice before you just, willy-nilly, shoot off these fireworks because it can be devastating to your neighbors.”

WHITMAN — When the Rev. Joseph C. Ouellette moved to the area from Michigan in 1977, he had no idea he would become a Pentecostal minister.

He came for a job with Honeywell in electronics development — and had grown up in the Catholic Church and parochial schools on the outskirts of Detroit. The job, however, changed more than his address.

It was there he met his wife Tina and found a new relationship with God.

She was working in the company’s personnel office when they met, and he eventually found that her Pentecostal faith spoke to him after he attended her church to seek her parent’s approval to date her.

“It started to grip my soul and I knew that I needed to get right with God and I started to search for the Lord,” said Joseph Ouellette, who goes by his middle name Craig. “I got baptized in Jesus’ name and about a month later I had an experience of what the Bible calls the baptism of the Holy Ghost. When this happens you start talking in tongues — whatever language the Spirit gives you.”

He said it changed everything for him.

He no longer planned to return to Michigan, where he had been in a band before attending electronics school, and ultimately changed the direction of his life.

“God wanted me to stay here,” he said of visions he had of himself “standing on tables and preaching to people,” but that wasn’t what he was comfortable doing.

This year, the man who used to dread public speaking celebrates his 30th anniversary in the pulpit. The couple started pastoring in Whitman on July 26, 1986.

“We pastor together,” Craig said as he sat in a front pew of the South Shore Pentecostal Church, 58 West St., Whitman. “I couldn’t do it without her.”

Tina is the church’s representative at ecumenical meetings because Craig still works full-time in the electronics field for Schneider Electric during the day.

services

A weekend of special services, both at his church and the First Congregational Church, 519 Washington St., both in Whitman, are being held from Wednesday, June 22 through Sunday, June 26 [see Calendar, page 4] featuring guest speakers Dr. Gerald Jeffers and his wife Ella, who is a Pentecostal prophetess. The Jeffers, originally from Massachusetts now work out of Atlanta, Ga., and will speak on the theme “The year of the Conqueror.”

The Ouellettes anticipate following that theme for the coming year, as well, for the church of about 40 members from around the region.

The message of being a conqueror within oneself through God’s strength and the light of his love is a theme that reflects Craig’s journey, too.

“I didn’t really have a calling or feel that I could be a pastor, although there was elements of my life where I would think about God and the responsibility of living through God,” he said of his youth.

When he prayed on it, he decided to accept the Holy Spirit’s messages to him to preach that he began receiving after his Pentecostal baptism.

“I realized if I’m going to have what God wants me to have, I’ve got to do what he asked me to do,” Craig said. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’”

Tina’s father Larry Maynard was a pastor who founded the South Shore Pentecostal Church and knew God had been calling Craig, taking him on as an assistant pastor. When Rev. Maynard took over at a church in New Brunswick, Canada, Craig assumed the ministry in the Whitman church.

Whitman presence

South Shore Pentecostal Church bought the West Street church building from the Adventist Christian Church in 1980 when that church began consolidating some congregations. The Ouellettes rented the Adventist Church’s parsonage on Raynor Avenue until that church sold the house. The couple, who have two grown daughters and two grandchildren, now live in Pembroke.

As Apostolic Pentecostals, the South Shore Pentecostal Church members are baptized in Jesus’ name as the human manifestation of God himself rather than as a trinity with the Holy Ghost, which they believe is the Spirit of God, Craig said. The “classical” Pentecostals believe mainly in receiving of the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. They said the Pentecostal church is the fastest-growing Christian denomination “because people are hungry for a reality of God,” he noted.

They don’t do snakes, though, as Tina has explained to one woman who asked that question outside the church one day.

“I told her no,” Tina said. “There have been Pentecostal churches that have done it, I guess. But as long as I’m in this building there won’t be any snakes passed out.”

It’s not exactly spelled out in the Bible, either, Craig said, pointing out that the serpent is used as a symbol for the devil.

“We follow the Bible very closely,” Craig said, referring to principals of the Old Testament, but focusing on the New, particularly the Book of Acts, which focuses on repentance and baptism in the Holy Ghost.

“I know what I had before and what I’ve got now,” Craig said of his journey of faith. “It’s not that there wasn’t anything good before, but there was no power in it. There was no real relationship with God, it was a formality, a ritual.”

HANOVER — For the 139 graduates receiving diplomas from South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School on Friday, June 10, the ceremony meant much more than an end to classes and the ubiquitous post-ceremony cigars.

As Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas Hickey, noted their high school experience has meant finding a calling or at least building a foundation for discovering what that calling might be.

“We believe that discovering a career, learning a trade, can help one discover one’s calling,” he said. “We gave you choice, opportunity and time and surrounded you with great teachers and resources. And as a result you have built for yourselves a solid career foundation, and wherever life takes you, I am sure your foundation will help you discover your calling.”

While Hickey focused on allied health student Rebecca Reardon of Rockland, culinary student Connor Christie of Whitman and metal fabrication/welding student Tim Cashman of Abington as examples of his point, the school’s co-valedictorians and other student speakers also illustrate it.

Reardon will study occupational therapy in college, and Christie plans to attend the Culinary Institute of America with a goal of following his love of working as a line chef. But Hanson Valedictorian James Cosgrove, a metal fabrication/welding student plans to study nursing at UMass, Dartmouth and Abington Valedictorian Rachel Rapson, a drafting student, plans to major in pre-veterinary at Beckett College. Senior Class President Emily Flynn of Whitman, an auto student plans to major in education in college with the goal of becoming a middle school teacher.

“Your future is like another exploratory program,” Hickey said. “So take the advice we gave you as freshmen: Be flexible, try your best, be open to learning new skills.”

Flynn and Cosgrove reminded classmates of the progress they’d made since entering SSVT as nervous freshmen, and the life lesson that progress holds.

“Walking into the doors freshman year was OK for a few of us, but for the unlucky majority it was scary,” Flynn said. “Coming out of this school, we are going to be technicians, cosmetologists, graphic designers, generals in the Army and much more.”

She added that, with the educational opportunities afforded by SSVT, that even if they don’t stick with their trades, they come away with an education to last a lifetime.

“For those of us entering college or the workforce, I urge you to always remember where you started and to think about the positives of what Vo-Tech has brought us, even if it’s something as simple as an inside joke or as meaningful as lifetime friends,” he said.

He also reminded the class that they have already impressed people outside their school for what they have learned outside the classroom, relating how a waitress at their prom venue had complimented them.

“‘I can tell you guys are Tech kids,’” he recalled. “I didn’t know where she was going with it, but then she went on to say that we had a certain maturity about us. It was a nice memory on top of a fun night.”

Rapson, too, spoke of the dividends gleaned from their high school years.

“For the past four years, we have been going to school together, finding friends and creating relationships,” she said. “And the day has come where we will be leaving this community. … We are able to grow and see the world. We get the chance to live our lives, educated and inspired, a privilege other people don’t always get.”

The Class of 2016 had a sense of fun, too, which was evident by the mortar board décor alone — cosmetology students tweaked the title of last year’s biopic about rappers NWA with their “Straight Outta Cosmo” caps and Student Body President Madeline Long of Rockland referenced the catchphrase for Disney’s “Up,” “Adventure is out there.”

Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey literally gave a tip of his hat to the graduates’ humor after relating the fate of the senior prank. A group of students planned to camp out on his front lawn, he said — but were unaware he had moved.

The class also held a beach party on the school’s front lawn last week, but didn’t tell him because they were concerned he’d be angry.

“I’m just mad I wasn’t invited,” he said, pulling an over-sized white, black and green Aloha shirt out from behind the podium and putting it on over his robe, topping it off with his trademark black cowboy hat before announcing scholarship awards.