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Memories of July 4th at a Maine lakehouse

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By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
M y mom had an Aunt Violet and Uncle Jasper who lived in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. The year I was 11 and my siblings, 8,5 and 2, we were invited to spend the Fourth of July with them. I could tell my parents were excited and when we found out our cousins – Joan, Donny and Bobby, Aunt Phyl, mom’s sister, and Uncle Al – were coming, we got excited, too.
We lived in Hanson, and Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Al lived in Albany N.Y. We looked forward to seeing them in Maine.
When mom and dad had the car all packed for the few days we’d be away, we piled in and headed for Maine. When we arrived, my cousins were already there. Everyone came out to greet us, everyone happy and excited to see one another. Aunt Violet led the way to the dinner table where we all had a nice meal. 
The next morning was the Fourth of July.
My two older cousins and I were up first and went outside and sat on the big wrap-around porch that was on the front and side of the big, beautiful house surrounded by flowering bushes and trees. Down a small slope was a lake. We also noticed a barn to one side of the yard. We ventured over to it and peeked in to see a very big gray horse. It looked just like my Gramp’s horse, Harry, who was a big gray work horse. Jasper came into the barn and asked if we had met Max and gestured towards the horse. I told him my Gramp had almost the same horse. He knew my grandparents and smiled, saying, yes they did and told us that just like Harry, Max could hold several people on his back and he’d let us ride him later. 
On the side yard was a big long picnic table, a barbeque grill, a badminton net and rackets, a few swings and a big box to one side that we were sure was filled with fireworks and sparklers. Out in back were two metal stakes far apart and a pile of horseshoes. When we walked down the slope to the water, there were several boats with oars and boulders to one side of the pond that were perfect for climbing. It was a haven and we started climbing the rocks. 
After a few minutes, Jasper came down the slope with a boy and girl about our ages and introduced us. They were neighbors who lived close by and they and their parents were invited to spend the day with all of us. Their names were Sue and Brad and they joined us on our climb. It wasn’t long before we realized Brad was kind of a bully. My cousin Don stood up to him when he started teasing my cousin Joan about her New York accent and he backed off.   
When we smelled food, we all got down off the rocks and headed for the yard just as our moms were calling us. When we got back to where the picnic table was, Chinese lanterns had been strung across the yard and porch, there were flags and bunting along the porch railing, it was very festive. 
I remember feeling so happy to see my parents and Aunt and Uncle laughing and smiling. I liked watching the men play horseshoes, my dad was really good at it and my Uncle let my cousin Donny play. 
 
Uncle Jasper finally brought Max out of the barn and helped my mom, Aunt Phyl and Brad’s mom get up on him while he led them around the field. The younger kids had the next turn and then it was the older kids and we all went to climb up. Brad was being a jerk again and Jasper wouldn’t let him on the horse. After we had our ride and got off, Brad ran and jumped up on the horse, dug his heels in Max’s side yelling, “let’s go boy, git!” Max didn’t run, Jasper yelled at Brad to stop jabbing him with his heels and to sit still and be quiet. Max ambled over to a big tree and as he walked under a low hanging branch before Brad could realize what was happening, the branch knocked him off the horse onto the ground. Almost everyone started laughing and us kids applauded. We all went over patting and stroking Max and he nuzzled us. That seemed to put Brad in his place and he was very quiet for the rest of the day.
When it started getting dark we got to use our sparklers. We all walked towards the lake and Jasper, my dad and uncle and Brad’s father took two of the row boats, rowing out into the middle of the pond where they set off the fireworks and they were beautiful! When we walked back to the house, Violet put a record player out on the porch and served drinks to the adults. We were having the best time watching them all while they were listening to music. The words of a song filled the night as we heard, “I was a Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July” …. and on it went. Pretty soon my Dad and Uncle were dancing on the porch to the songs. My cousin Joan and I went up on the porch and we ended up dancing with our dads. 
As we got to know Violet and Jasper better, we looked forward to seeing them as did our cousins. More memories were made there and we could see how much they loved our mothers. It was a special home and place where our parents were carefree and it seemed to carry them through the year until we went again to Jasper and Violet’s. 

Whtiman Democrats hold Red Cross blood drive

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A Whitman Community Blood Drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, June 23 in the Community Room at the Council on Aging, 16 Hayden Ave. The drive is sponsored by the Whitman Democratic Committee in conjunction with the American Red Cross.
Please call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter: to schedule an appointment. Streamline your donation experience and save up to 15 minutes by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass to complete your pre-donation reading and health history questions on the day of your appointment.

Hanson Library plans summer reading kickoff

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Join the Hanson Public Library from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Friday, June 16 to kick off our 2023 Summer Reading program, “Find Your Voice!” Our voices have power.
We use our voices to share stories, express ourselves, and spark change. Explore, discover, and celebrate the voices of others and learn more about yourself along the way. The Summer Reading Program this year challenges you to “Find Your Voice” through words, movement, art, and more.
Mobile-MiniGolf will be here on Friday to help kick off the summer with a 9-hole golf course through the Library. We will have information available on how to track your reading this summer, and can also help you sign up for weekly and one-time summer reading events and book clubs throughout the coming months. 
Please visit our website, hansonlibrary.org, to sign up and learn more about the Summer Reading Kickoff and other upcoming programs. If you have any questions, please contact us by email at info@hansonlibrary.org or by phone at 781-293-2151.

MBTA pedestrian fatality investigated

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Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak announced with deep regret on Wednesday, May 31 that a Whitman-Hanson Regional High School student died Tuesday night.
The student has since been identified as Ava Patete,16, a goalkeeper for the W-H girls’ Soccer team from East Bridgewater. Funeral plans by Chapman Funerals and Cremation, 98 Bedford St., Bridgewater, have been anounced for Saturday, June 17. {See obituary, opposite].
The incident is still under investigation.
A person described as a juvenile female was killed by a train Tuesday night, May 30, according to a statement released by Whitman Police and Fire Departments.
MBTA Transit Police notified Whitman Police at about 8:30 p.m. that the crash occurred in Whitman involving a southbound train, which possibly struck a pedestrian on the tracks.
Whitman Police and Fire responded to the scene, where the victim was pronounced deceased.
“We are all tremendously saddened to hear of this tragic loss,” Szymaniak said in a statement issued through John Guilfoil Public Relations, which also handled press releases on the incident from police and fire officials. “Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends of the students and all those who knew them. We also extend our condolences to our friends at East Bridgewater High School, who were also affected by this tragedy.”
High School Principal Dr. Christopher Jones asked for a moment of silence in memory of the student during the DFS Scholarship Night ceremonies on Wednesday, May 31.
“Before we start the ceremony to celebrate the success of the students that are sitting with us, as many of you know, our community suffered a tragedy this past evening,” he said. “I ask, out of respect for the family that you keep them in your thoughts, prayers and wishes as they go through this difficult time.”
As he spoke, students who knew the girl killed Tuesday night were gathered, sitting around a signal pole at the South Avenue MBTA crossing, in remembrance of their friend. Over the next several hours, memorial offerings of flowers, signs reading “Forever our Ava” and other sentiments, balloons and a teddy bear had been left.
Whitman Police Chief Timothy Hanlon and Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Clancy also extended their condolences to the family.
Grief counselors were available May 31, and will remain available in the coming weeks to assist students and staff as the school district mourns and for anyone needing their services.
Szymaniak said the district encourages students and the school community to talk to counselors, faculty and parents, as this tragedy is sure to raise emotions, concerns and questions for us all.
Additional resources for students and families relating to gried and loss can be found at cdc.gov/howrightnow/resources/coping-with-grief, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, and nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/grief-and-loss-resources-educators-and-students, courtesy of the National Education Association.
Mass. State Police detectives, MBTA Transit Police, Hanson Police, East Bridgewater Police and the Whitman Department of Public Works also responded to the scene.
The crash is under investigation by Mass. State Police detectives assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office and MBTA Transit Police.

New use for old math

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By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress
When NASA mathmetician Katherine Johnson needed to calculate how astronaut John Glen could safely re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere after his Gemini mission as the first American to orbit the Earth, she didn’t use “new math.”
Johnson used Euler’s Method, first published in 1768. Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler’s method is based on the theory of bending, as applied to structural beams and other structural members under different stresses to the maximum load it can take in the axial (vertical) direction before it bends.
Hardly old enough to merit the, “But, that’s ancient,” retort dramatized in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” but it is old math.
Now, thanks, to a math text, “Principals of Geometry,” published in the early 1800s and donated to the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, by resident Michelle Maning, perhaps history can repeat itself.
Well, maybe a student might be inspired to apply an old math formula to a project in a modern math or history class.
“It is fragile,” Manning said. “I can’t find [the printing date], it’s missing a few of the front pages, but the illustrations say 1813 – ‘Aug. 12, 1813. J. Taylor, 50 High St., Hillburn, London.’”
Manning’s stepfather, Joseph P. Deegan was born Jan 6, 1942 to Irish immigrant parents. He grew up in a brownstone on Broadway in South Boston.  He was an only child and had little family in America.
Manning got the book from her father, who had been an only child whose mother died when he was 3 and his father died when he was 16. The old woman who lived downstairs in the building where he grew up in South Boston looked out for him until he was of legal age.
Joe joined local 4, the operating engineers union when he was 18 with whom he was a member for 61 years. He worked many years for Shaunessy Crane in Boston and became shop Stuart.  In 1968 he purchased his small home in whitman for an astounding 17,000.  He lived there happily with his wife Barbara until his death in May of 2021. 
“He knew very little of his own family, because there wasn’t anybody here –everybody died so young,” she said.
When her dad died two years ago and she was clearing out the attic, she found the math text.
“It’s full of intricate mathematical drawings and illustrations,” Manning said of the book and surmised that it was owned by an ancestor in Ireland and made the voyage to America with one of his parents.  It more than likely belonged to great grandparent or more. “It’s my hope that the book will inspire many students with both its history and lessons.”  

“I don’t have any children and I don’t have any family now,” she said. “So, when my time comes, I don’t want anyone giving this to Good Will or worse, throwing it away.”
Then she had to take into consideration the condition of the book.
“It’s not in the kind of shape where it can be curated,” she said. “But, I figured I’m an alum here, why not give it to the math department here? I think using some of these illustrations for exercises would be hilarious.”
Math teacher Deborah Caruso said the book is a “really cool” gift and suggested a plaque recognizing the gift and placement in a school display case might be appropriate at the very least.
“I figured I’d chat with my math department and see,” she said. “We have lockable display cases in the hallway.”
She said there could also be some amazing application problems in the book, as well.
“I’ve enjoyed looking through it, but I know you guys might enjoy it more,” Manning said.
“I know the math teachers will be so excited to take a look at it,” Caruso said. “We will find some interesting ways to bring it into the classroom, for sure.”
Not only could classroom exercises be designed on illustrations from the book, there are several students who love math and would be interested in “what it used to be, and how it used to look,” she said.
“You could share it with the history department, too,” Manning said. “Books were so valuable when this was printed. …You had to be a very wealthy person to have a book. It was an art and took a long time.”

Boards choose next leaders

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Some new faces will be wielding the gavel at meetings of the regional school committee in the coming fiscal year as town boards held reorganization sessions on Monday, May 22 and Tuesday, May 23.
The School Committee kicked things off Monday by electing Beth Stafford as the new chair by a 8-2 vote on a first ballot. Fred Small had also been nominated.
The committee reorganization was the only agenda item. Hanson member Glen DiGravio attended remotely by phone.
Presiding until a chair had been voted, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak also welcomed new Hanson member Steve Cloutman, who was elected to fill out the final two years of former Chair Christopher Howard’s term after he resigned earlier this spring. Szymaniak also congratulated Whitman members Steve Bois and David Forth on their re-elections as well as Hanson member Hillary Kniffen, who was also re-elected on Saturday,, May 20.
The Vice Chair selection took two ballots after nominees Fred Small and David Forth were deadlocked with five votes each, Steve Bois had also been nominated for the first vote, but withdrew is name by voting against himself. On a second ballot, Chris Scriven threw his hat into consideration, winning the vote by a vote of 6-4.
Steve Bois was elected treasurer by unanimous vote with Dawn Byers elected assistant treasurer by 9-1 vote. David Forth received 9 votes to 1 be selected secretary-clerk.
Subcommittees and new membership for the Regional Agreement Committee were delayed until the committee’s next meeting in order to give new members time to familiarize themselves with the available subcommittee assignments.
The select boards held reorganization sessions Tuesday, where Hanson kept its officers from last year – chaired by Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, with Joe Weeks again serving as vice chair and Ann Rein elected as clerk once more.
It was back to the future in Whitman, with Dr. Carl Kowalski voted as chair, Dan Salvucci as vice chair and Justin Evans as clerk. Evans was also selected as the board’s liaison to the Regional Agreement Committee, while Hanson tabled their committee and subcommittee assignments until their board members can review their present commitments, although new member David George volunteered to serve as liaison to the Veterans Serives Officer and the Police Department. He is a veteran who worked in law enforcement before retiring.

The beauty of invention

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HANSON – An actress frequently promoted – an often dismissed – as “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” – Hedy Lamarr was so much more than just a pretty face.
In fact, we’ve evidently been pronouncing her name wrong, too.
While it takes away the running gag in Mel Brooks’ spoof of western movies, “Blazing Saddles,” (Harvey Korman’s character Hedley Lamarr was often called “Hedy,” to which he would have to respond: “That’s Hedley!”) … the stage name of Hedwig Eva Keisler was really pronounced “Hey-dee as in lady.”
It was, as dramatized in a performance for the Hanson Historical Society on May 4 by Judith Kalaora, artistic director of History at Play, just one of the things Lamarr had to correct people on over the course of her life and career.
She also spent a lifetime trying to explain how an unscrupulous Czech director duped her into the nude scene in the 1933 film “Ecstasy” and dealing with dismissal of her rightful claim to a role in developing “frequency hopping” technology for radar evasion during World War II, shopping it to the U.S. Navy.
“I have learned, no matter where I have lived, that the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘stupid’ always go together,” she said, knowing full well that life is more complicated than a Hollywood movie, and far less boring, according to Lamarr, who detested boring people and activities.
Kalaora’s one-woman play opened with a hint of her scientific contributions as her side of a telephone conversation with friend and inventing collaborator George Antheil as the two were nervously awaiting a patent for their frequency-hopping invention. They got it U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 – awarded in August of 1942 – but the U.S. Inventors’ Council, a branch of the Navy, and urged her to sell war bonds instead.
Without this technology, today’s cell phones, Bluetooth technology and GPS might not exist. Impressive stuff, but for Lamarr, it was a hobby she put to work in the cause of freedom.
“It is too heavy?,” Hedy as portrayed by Kalaora asked Antheil, whose voice the audience does not hear. “George, how could they? You said the technology could be made so small that it could fit into a pocket watch. How can they say it is too heavy? Well, we will make it lighter.
“Yes, I am sure. This technology will help us to beat the Nazis – and I think the Navy knows it, too.”
Kalaora then took her audience back in time to trace her way to Hollywood where, when she wasn’t working on a film, Lamarr could be found at her drafting table, inventing. She also studied and copied the people around her.
“I always wanted to transform myself,” she said, of her mother who resented having to give up her career as a professional pianist and who resented her daughter for it. Her father doted on her, and was Lamarr’s hero.
As an only child, Lamarr spent a lot of time with her father who discussed the inner workings of machines with her and encouraged Lamarr in her hobby of taking things apart and reassembling them.
“No man I ever met was my papa’s equal,” she said.
She did not take the Navy’s lack of cooperation, well – and was especially angry at the suggestion she stick to selling war bonds like every other starlet in Hollywood. It was an insult to the woman who had escaped her controlling first husband, Austrian munitions dealer Fritz Mandl to whom her mother married Hedy off at age 19. A Jewish man who supplied weapons to the Nazis and Italian fascists, Mandl ended up keeping her as a prisoner in her own home.
When she escaped to London and then America after her father’s death, she was determined to fight the Nazis, having seen first-hand who they were and what they were doing in Europe.
“I was always listening … I learned that the Nazis favor wire-guided torpedoes,” she said of dinner table talk between Mandl and guests to their home. Propulsion bombs were leaving trails of bubbles in the water to enable tracking. She had learned that the Nazis used 18 pre-launch electable frequencies for their aerial-deployed glide bombs divided between 18 planes. If one pilot was shot down or jammed, the others could complete the mission.
“I knew what I was learning,” she said. “I knew it was important. It could help us to beat the Nazis.”
Keeping that in mind, she was able to use that information later in California as she worked with Antheil, a writer and composer I Hollywood, who had been a munitions inspector during WWI and whose brother had been shot down by Nazis at the beginning of WWII, on the frequency-hopping technology. A partnership had been formed.
“I wanted to invent a torpedo that hit its target every time,” she said through Kalaora. “So often the torpedoes were thrown off course so they would detonate before they hit their target. I wanted every torpedo to hit its target, and wanted all those targets to be German U-boats, and I knew George was the only person who could help me.”
“The system involved the use of “frequency hopping” amongst radio waves, with both transmitter and receiver hopping to new frequencies together,” according to the National Women’s History Museum. “Doing so prevented the interception of the radio waves, thereby allowing the torpedo to find its intended target.”
It was also a way for Hedy to keep from being bored. They came up with the idea while playing a piano game akin to Name That Tune.
“I could see it in my mind,” she said. “I could see all of those Navy men, seated around a table at the Inventors’ Council, trying to figure out how to strap a piano to a torpedo!”
Put off and told to sell war bonds despite using her real name – Hedwig Keisler-Markey – for the patent application, she channeled her anger into outselling most other celebrities in Hollywood.
“I sold $25 million in war bonds,” she said. “I did not care how I helped, as long as I helped – as long as we won.”
She also raised $7 million in one afternoon selling kisses for $50,000 each.
Three years after the patent expired, in 1962, it was used during the Cuban Missile Crisis, during which every ship in the U.S. blockade of Cuba was equipped with the frequency-hopping system.
“I always knew our invention would be used for military purposes,” she said.

Early voting begins

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Contested Select Board and School Committee races in both Whitman and Hanson will be highlighted on Town Election ballots in both communities, as Whitman voters will also be asked to weigh in on a proposed debt exclusion question for a $17.8 million DPW building and whether the town’s treasurer-collector should become an appointed position.
Since a new DPW building plan was rejected by the voters in 2013, the Department of Public Works has been working on plans for a new building that are pared down but meet current needs as well as considering the future.
“What we’re trying to build is a new facility that just has basic needs – that our crews need, that our mechanics need, that our staff needs,” Kevin Cleary, chairman of the DPW Commission, to residents attending an informational meeting on Wednesday, April 26.
The feasibility process for the new building was started in 2008, Cleary noted. The approximately $1 million approved at Town Meeting last year paid for an owner’s project manager (OPM), as required by state law, and an architect.
Beyond flaking paint, the video showed crumbing of the front operations (or green) building’s crumbling cinder block façade. Constructed before the sinking of the Titanic, the garage building is more than 110 years old and houses not only garage and maintenance space as well as storage and breakroom space for employees. It also holds the one working – if not exactly sanitary – bathroom for DPW crews.1960s fire.
The building also lacks proper heat and ventilation and is not compliant with OSHA regulations. Crews have to work in these conditions for two or three shifts straight during snowstorms.
“It doesn’t have any proper facilities,” Cleary said. “It’s well-passed its life span.”
The metal-framed back building, constructed in the 1970s, is used as “cold storage” for equipment that, at best keeps the items sheltered from weather and provides space for two mechanics to work. While the bays do have heat, there is no ventilation, meaning the doors have to be left open while they are working in all weather – including winter.
On a median home valued at $402,000, the 20-year debt exclusion would mean $285 on tax bills for the first year, down to $163 in the final year – or an average of $224 per year.
The Treasurer/Collector question will appear on the May 20, 2023 Town election ballot to be ratified, after last winter’s special Town Meeting approved it.
Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam argued in his report, initially placed on the warrant as Article 12 from the board, that both moves were in recognition of recent changes that mean people serving in those positions these days require more advanced certifications. The report was taken out of order and made the first item of business for the evening.
“As an elected position, the sole requirement for the [Treasurer/Collector] role is to receive more than one more of 50 percent of the votes,” Lynam said. “There is no requirement that the candidate have any experience in managing and handling cash or in collecting municipal bills.”
He and former Treasurer/Collector Mary Beth Carter listed some of he requirements of the job today, as the financial market is more sophisticates and a town’s financial security leans mainly on the person in that post.
“If the position is not changed to an appointed position, the town runs the risk of possibly having a person who is unqualified or is inexperienced as a treasurer/collector,” she said. “This position is too important to … have a person who may be popular, however is not qualified for this job.”
In response to a question about who is responsible for paying for the educational credentials needed, Lynam said the town has always encouraged employees to further their education, but the initiative to learn the job requirements rests solely with the individual. But an elected officer cannot be directed or managed by anyone other than a town election, he said.
“It is very much in the town’s interest to thoroughly scrutinize the qualifications and skills of someone who will have access to and authority to invest, at various times, up to $45 million of taxpayer and ratepayer money on behalf of the town,” Lynam said.
Hanson voters, meanwhile will see a three-way race for two seats on the Select Board in a relatively quiet election season.
Early voting hours in Hanson will be conducted at Hanson Town Hall, 532 Liberty St., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday, May 15; from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 16 and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday, May 17.
The Election Day voting will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hanson Middle School. Saturday, May 20.
Whitman Races
Whitman is offering absentee/Early voting ballots for the May 20 annual Town Election are now available in the Town Clerk’s office. Voters that want to vote by absentee/early ballot for this Election are asked to fill out an application as soon as possible. Anyone voting by absentee/early ballot by mail must fill out an application or send a letter to the Town Clerk with their signature by Monday May 15, 2023.
Absentee voting may be done in person at the Town Clerk’s office. Early voting must be done by mail. Voters may vote absentee only if you are absent from the town during the hours the polls are open; physical disability; or religious belief.  
Polls on election day, Saturday, May 20, in Whitman are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Appearing on Whitman’s ballot are:
Town Moderator Michael Seele, of 253 School St., running unopposed for re-election for a three-year term.
Kenneth Lytle, 137 Warren Ave., (vote for one) is running unopposed for treasurer-collector.
Select Board (vote for two) Incumbents Dr. Carl Kowalski, 45 Simmons Ave., and Randy LaMattina, 6 River Birch Circle, are seeking re-election, challenged by Rosemary Connolly, 407 Franklin St., and Laura Howe, 185 School St. Connolly is currently a member of the Finance Committee and Howe is animal control officer right now.
Seeking re-election to the School Committee for three-year terms Steve Bois, 37 Beal Ave., and David Forth Jr., 123 Pleasant St., are being challenged by Kaitlin Barton, of 7 Marble St. #214E and Kevin P. Mayer, 804 Washington St., #2.
John J. Noksa, 84 Country Way, is running unopposed for re-election as an assessor (vote for one) for a three-year term.
Running for re-election to the two seats up for election on the Department of Public Works Commissioners for a three-year term.
Running for two three-year posts on the Public Library Trustees, are incumbent Patricia J. Eunice, 347 Commercial St., and challenger Sylvia D.S. Bubbins, 16 English Place.
Thomas J. Evans, 68 Temple St., is running unopposed for a three-year term on the Board of Health.
Hanson races
Town Moderator Sean Kealy, 121 Holmes St., running unopposed for re-election for a three-year term.
Select Board (vote for two) Incumbent Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, 83 Bay State Circle, is seeking re-election. Also vying for the two seats up for voting are Thomas E. Chambers, 282 King St., and David George, 564 State St. Incumbent James Hickey decided not to seek re-election.
Seeking re-election to the School Committee for three-year term, is Hillary M. Kniffen, 453 Gorwin Drive. Stephen M. Cloutman, 229 Cross St., is running for the two years remaining on former School Committee Chair Christopher Howard’s term. Howard decided earlier this spring to step down after Town Meeting.
There is no declared candidate for the open three-year term on the Board of Assessors.
Health Board member Kevin R. Perkins, 493 Spring St., is running un-opposed for re-election to a three-year term.
Kevin E. Keane, 653 Indian Head St., is running unopposed for a tree-year term on the Hanson Housing Authority.
Running for re-election to two three-year seats on the Public Library trustees are John F. Papp, 521 Spring St., and Teresa M. Santalucia, 617 West Washington St.
Michael J. Chernicki, 680 Liberty St., is running unopposed for re-election to the Board of Water Commissioners.
— Tracy F. Seelye

Carter salutes Lynam at his last Town Meeting

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Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter officially introduced herself to the Town Meeting before the evening’s business began.
“I am truly invested in this town,” the 19-year Whitman employee, who most recently served as Treasurer-Collector said. She was hired as town administrator on Feb. 21. “While I started in the middle of the busy budget season, I can certainly say that this year’s budget season [was] the most challenging for everyone – the town of Whitman, the town of Hanson and the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District.”
She said reaching school budget compromise that worked for everyone pleased and relieved her, but that one of her goals is to develop a budget calendar for next year that will include meetings with all the budget stakeholders as early as possible and that she would be reaching out to Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green and Superintendent of School Jeff Szymaniak, the Finance Committee and town finance team to begin discussions to help prepare the fiscal 2025 budget earlier.
Carter also thanked former Town Administrator Frank Lynam, who came out of retirement to serve as interim during the period in which the Select Board conducted its search for a new administrator.
“Frank has been an integral part of the town’s leadership these past nine months, his many years of experience as town administrator and his willingness to step back into the role – as interim town administrator – when he was needed the most, has been a tremendous benefit to this town,” Carter said. “Today is Frank’s last day, and this evening is Frank’s last Town Meeting as a town official. Frank will be, as I call it, officially re-retiring tonight. I’m personally so thankful, as is the board, that Frank stepped up when the town truly needed him the most.”
The Town Meeting, gave Lynam a standing, ovation, which made him a bit uncomfortable.

Bowling for Dollars for Scholars

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Dollars for Scholars announces their eighth annual “Bowling for Dollars for Scholars” will be held from noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 29, and Sunday, April 30 at the Hanson Bowladrome (adjacent to the Hanson AA) at 171 Reed Street in Hanson.
For every string bowled during the event a donation will be made to benefit Whitman & Hanson Dollars for Scholars. The cost to bowl will be $10 per string with no charge for shoe rental. Door prizes and complementary food will be available throughout the two-day event.
All funds raised during the event will benefit the Class of 2023 in the form of scholarships. For more information, please contact Mike Ganshirt at 781-252-9683 or visit WhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org.