candidate for re-election

“I love this job. It's the best job I've ever had.” Those were Peter Durant's first words as we started our conversation. “I would say it's a lifestyle,” he continued. “There's never a moment you're not on the job.”

Mr. Durant, a Republican from Spencer, is the incumbent state representative for the 6^th Worcester District, which will now include the towns of Dudley, Southbridge, three precincts in Charlton and one in Spencer. His Democratic challenger for the seat is Charlton Selectwoman Kathleen Walker.

The composition of the 6^th Worcester District changed dramatically with last year's redistricting, when it included Southbridge, Charlton, East Brookfield, one precinct in Oxford and two in Spencer.

Mr. Durant is one of the newest members in the state house, having been elected in May of 2011 in a redo of the November 2010 election in which he beat incumbent Democrat Gerald Alicea by one vote.

That was a difficult election, he says, but the redistricting makes this one difficult too. He's referring to the fact that he's had to represent the towns in the old district, while campaigning in the new towns. “It's hard to do all that work and still find time for family, he said.

The jobs issue is he what hears most about from constituents. This is the hardest part of the job, he said. People will stop him on the street and tell him their stories about how first they lost their job, then their unemployment ran out, and finally they became dependent on the system. “It's disheartening,” he said.”There seems to be a progression. People are frustrated, become angry, then accept. it. And that's the biggest danger. It becomes a vicious cycle, because if you're out of work for two years, you become unemployable. It's like credit, to get it you have to have it. So the long-term unemployed are feeling the economic downturn more.

What can a state rep do to help the matter? Federal policies have a lot do with a recovery, and regardless of who wins the presidency, a solution has to be hammered out at the federal level. “The state is a little bit hostage to that,” he said. “But we can give businesses incentives to expand here in Massachusetts, and to hire the long term unemployed.” One idea he has for an incentive might be this: “Hire two people, pay unemployment taxes for one.”

This summer the legislature passed a economic development bill just two days before the end of the session. In it was a provision for a waiver of the corporate minimum tax of $456 for the first three years of a new business's existence. “That may not seem like a lot of money, but for a small business, it's a huge amount,” he said, and argued for the waiver on the floor of the house. The bill passed, but Governor Deval Patrick vetoed that section.

Mr. Durant was also a proponent of a provision in the bill that would have allowed businesses to pay their estimated taxes on a quarterly basis evenly over the course of the year, rather than requiring about three-quarters to be paid early in the year. The governor vetoed that item as well.

In the next term, Mr. Durant would like to see more state aid returned to cities and towns, as he believes that town government is the most efficient and effective in determining how money should be spent.  “Selectmen have to answer directly to their residents,“ he said..

“Dudley is a well-run town,” he continued, “and the fact that they have to consider turning off streetlights for budget reasons is a failure of state government.” He considers part of his job to find the money to give to cities and towns by looking for waste on Beacon Hill. He recounts a proposed line item in a $50 million spending bill that included $10 million for a youth violence problem. “We're all for reducing youth violence, but we already have programs to address that. Why do we need a new program at the state level. Why not give the money to cities and towns?”

We asked Mr. Durant his opinion on the November ballot questions. On allowing the medical use of marijuana, he believes that while he understands that this might be help some people, the way this question is written is too broad."It needs to be more narrowly defined."

On allowing the prescription of medication to end life, his answer is no is well. He cites the moral aspect of it and said, “It's a gut feeling. It just doesn't feel right to do this.”

Mr. Durant was born in Spencer and has lived there all his life. In fact, he lives today in a house next to the one he grew up in. He was a selectman in Spencer for six years until he was elected state rep. He also served on the finance committee.

His business career included ownership of a small business, Excell Control Systems, which he founded in 1987 and sold in 1999. He learned a lot about the ups and downs that are part of  running a small business. “Some years we were fantastically successful, other years we faced going out of business.  I can tell you from experience that it's painful when a small business has to lay off employees.”

After selling his small business, Mr. Durant went on to become the service manager at Yankee Technology in Ludlow, a temperature controls contractor, resigning when he became the new state representative. He conceded that he had to take a pay cut when he took the job, “a fact not lost on my wife.” To help make that up a little, he's doing some training for his old company.

Mr. Durant is a graduate of Northeastern University and has been married to his wife Lisa for 24 years.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL:
Kathleen Walker, candidate for state representative

By Barbara Van Reed

Kathleen Walker is a member of the Charlton Board of Selectmen, and she’s running to represent the citizens of Dudley, Southbridge, three precincts in Charlton, and one in Spencer in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. A Democrat, she is challenging the Republican incumbent, Peter J. Durant, for the seat representing the 6^th Worcester District.

Why? “Because I don’t believe we’re being fairly represented in the legislature. Our district deserves better,“ she said. “Very few pieces of legislation that would help the district have successfully moved forward; too much attention is paid to downtown Boston needs, and not enough to ours.”

“My opponent does not appear to be willing to work across the aisle and seems  to be following a strict party line, getting caught up in the ideology, rather than trying to collaborate.”

Ms. Walker calls her greatest strength the ability to bring people together, and to work together, for common cause. She cites numerous examples of the programs in which she’s been involved during the ten years she’s been a member of the Board of Selectmen in Charlton.

She initiated the first household hazardous waste day, organized twice yearly meetings of all boards and committees in Charlton, started a Habitat housing effort that’s currently underway, started up the recycling committee, and helped set up the Earth Day Festival. She was instrumental in changing and improving the senior tax work-off program and is now in the midst of promoting a similar program for veterans.

Then there was the Fay Mountain Farm Committee. Ten years ago Charlton acquired the farm through grants from the state with the provision that it be used for farming purposes. And ten years later, nothing had happened. “The state was putting pressure on us,” she said. “So I got a group of people together whom I thought would be interested in the cause, and we worked with the Conservation Department to comply. We were able to hire a farmer, who started growing apple trees. And we’re now planning a Fall Festival for the first time.”

She has also spent considerable time in the last eight years resolving the after effects of an Exxon-Mobil oil spill on the Mass Pike, getting clean water to impacted properties. Earlier this year, a new water line was installed. It goes through the town center and that will certainly help the local businesses there, she said.

Her most recent organizational activity was the resurrection of the Worcester County Selectmen’s Association, which had been inactive for ten years. With the assistance of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the first meeting of the group took place last month in Shrewsbury and another has been scheduled for later this month. “By meeting with selectmen from other towns, sharing mutual problems and issues, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And, we can go to the state house with one voice.”

Ms. Walker always has a plan when she’s getting something started. “I want every project to be a collaborative effort, pulling together people who are interested in the same cause. And we always have fun,” she says, with a smile.

No conversation with a candidate would be complete without a discussion about jobs. “Jobs are enormously important in this area, and we can’t stop until every single person has a job,” Ms. Walker said.

While making the state business-friendly is the legislature’s job, there are some local initiatives that can help. One that she mentioned is the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation. “They are offering new loans for rural Microenterprise Businesses, small businesses with up to ten employees – loans are from $500 to $50,000 – the average is $35,000, and now Southbridge, Charlton and Dudley can apply for these loans as well.”

“We can all do little things to help our local businesses,” she continued. “For example, I’m having my campaign materials printed right here in Southbridge.” She looks out the window of her campaign office on Main Street. “Southbridge is a town waiting to be developed. But we need more training, the right kind of training.” She refers back to a Westfield State College plan to establish a criminal justice program in an old Southbridge mill two years ago. That project seems to be stalled for lack of federal funding.

Ms. Walker would also like to see some of the money spent in Boston for transportation sent to communities here. Increasing transportation will improve job opportunities. “Expansion of buses and trains would help people who don’t have cars to commute to jobs.” She noted that train service from Worcester to Boston is scheduled to increase next year, and that will help Central Mass in general.

To learns more about the jobs picture, she’ll be attending the Summit on Local Job Trends, which will discuss labor market challenges and opportunities for Central Mass. The event is put on by the Commonwealth Corporation and the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

We asked how she plans to vote on ballot questions 2 and 3, the right to prescribe medications to end life, and the legalization of marijuana for medical use.   She’s tending to favor both, she said, but cautioned for the need for great care in their implementation. “There’s no room for mistakes,” she said, “or the consequences could be disastrous.”  She bases her responses on seeing the long agony of an aunt who was dying from cancer with no hope of recovery, and might have had the “dignity of determining her own death.” Her opinion on medical marijuana is similar -  a stepson had broken his neck in an accident and had a difficult, painful recovery. He had a prescription for medical marijuana. He never used it, but would have had the option had the pain become unbearable.

Before her life as a selectman, Ms. Walker had a 20-year career with the US Post Office as a site acquisition specialist and lease negotiator. Locally, she leased the sites for the Dudley, North Oxford, Charlton and Southbridge post offices. An advocate for historic preservation, she was able to save some old historic buildings from demolition, she said.

Ms. Walker is a graduate of Northeastern University, and is married to Mike Lally.

As we finished our conversation she said, “I have a beautiful home, a comfortable life, and eight wonderful grandchildren. I don’t need to do this. But I feel compelled to help make the changes we need, to get our communities better represented at the state level.”

Children's book author, Sheri Sinykin

By Barbara Van Reed

This summer Sheri Sinykin published her 19th book for children. It’s also her last, she says.

Zayde Comes to Live is a beautifully illustrated picture book for young children. Zayde, the Yiddish name for grandpa, has come to live out his final days with Rachel and her family. Rachel talks with her non-Jewish friends about what will happen to Zayde, but finds her solace in answers from her rabbi.

Sheri’s book was officially launched here in Webster last week at the Corbin Library. Why here?

Sheri spends her summers in Webster, and the story of how she happened upon the town three years ago is a story that also bears telling—but we’ll get to that later. She grew up in Sacramento, California; graduated from Stanford University in 1972 with a degree in Communications-Journalism; and interned in New York City with several periodicals, including Cosmopolitan magazine.

Unlikely as it seems, she says her stint at Cosmopolitan was not memorable. “Except for being around Helen Gurley Brown—that was a trip.” Her New York colleagues told her it would be difficult to get a journalism job in the city and recommended that the best place would be the Midwest. She took their advice and landed a newspaper job in Rockford, Illinois. She worked there for three months, hated it, and moved to nearby Madison, Wisconsin.

She took a job as the public relations director of a local hospital. Among her duties was the publication of information booklets about health issues, including addictions and sexual abuse. “These were such taboo topics at the time that I had to hire actors to pose for the pictures,” she said.  After that she took a job with the Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau and became a Wisconsin convert.

In Madison, Sheri met her husband Daniel, an attorney, and they had three sons: Aaron, Rudi, and Joshua. She became a full-time mom. It was while reading story books to the boys that she became interested in writing her own. Inspired by son Aaron, who was a gymnast, she wrote her first novel, Shrimpboat and Gym Bags, in 1988. It was a chapter book, 160 pages long, for kids aged eight to twelve. She sold it on the 11th try to the Atheneum publishing company. It took two years to be published. A second book, The Buddy Trip, was also published by Atheneum.

Now an established children’s author, Sheri won a commission writing for the popular series The Magic Attic Club, which were shorter, illustrated chapter books geared to younger girls. The premise of the books was to follow the lives of four girls, Heather, Megan, Keisha and Alison—each telling that story in her own voice. The publisher was having trouble selling the concept, however, and asked Sheri to look at the outline describing the stories and characters. Sheri felt the characters were all too much alike, too “WASPY,” and suggested the publisher vary their backgrounds: “What if Heather were a Jewish character and the others, too, looked more like the families around them?”

Sheri wrote the first book, Secret of the Magic Attic, which introduced the girls, and became the lead author for the series. In it, the girls secretly visit their neighbor’s attic and find a trunk full of beautiful outfits and a mirror. Each book takes the girl on a magic journey. Sheri wrote one for the Heather character called Viva Heather. She set the story in Spain in 1492, during the waning days of the Inquisition.  Heather arrives in Spain wearing a Jewish necklace and is told she must leave immediately, as all Jews have to be out of the country the following day. Columbus sailed that last day, and Sheri said there is some historical data that suggest his funding came from Jewish sources—and that some of his crew were Jewish as well. She wrote eight Heather books in all.

In 1999 Marie Osmond bought the Magic Attic Club business. “Marie did not honor the authors' contracts, discontinued the books, and kept only the dolls,” Sheri said.

Meanwhile, Sheri wrote several standalone novels for publishers such as Viking and Cavendish Books, including The Shorty Society, based on her three “short” sons’ antics, and A Matter of Time, a time- travel book. She also wrote two children’s books about eating disorders for Hazelden.

A period of writer's block followed. “My kids had gone off to college, my nephew was killed in a car accident, my agent dropped me, and my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 endometrial cancer.”

Sheri became a hospice volunteer for her mother and learned about death. Her experience with hospice became the basis for Giving up the Ghost, which she wrote in 2004 after attending Vermont College and earning an MFA in Writing for Children. The writing instructors there encouraged her to “write about what terrifies you.”

During that time, a Jewish hospice rabbi told her that Jewish patients typically have a harder time transitioning from life than other patients.

She also wrote and sold Zayde Comes to Live at that time, but it took eight years to complete, largely because it was difficult to find just the right illustrator. “Picture books seem easy”, she said, “but they are the hardest.” When the publisher insisted on a strict set of criteria-- and then didn't manage to meet it-- Sheri happily found, through a mutual contact, illustrator Kristina Swarner of Chicago.

Sheri told us that Zayde is her last book. She has fulfilled the dreams she had for a life of writing. She finally addressed her fears in the latest books, and now plans to focus on the other aspects of life, including her grandchildren. Her advice to others: Don't set limits on your dream. Stick with it and just believe it.”

So, how did Webster come into her life? Sheri and husband lived in Wisconsin in the summer, but spent winters in Arizona, where their first two sons and their families live. Youngest son Joshua lives in Shrewsbury; they would see him, his wife, and their grandson periodically, but not nearly as often as the Arizona grandchildren. Three years ago, I noticed all the lakes around here and thought, “If Massachusetts was my home, I could see them six months of the year'.”

Josh started looking for lake properties and in February 2010 found the perfect house on Webster Lake. “I loved the way it was furnished, it had all my favorite colors, I could move right in.” says Sheri. And so they bought it.

“I have a lot to learn about Massachusetts yet,” she said. “There is so much history here.” Local politics mystify her, though. She wonders why so few people vote and how people do research on candidates. In California and Wisconsin the League of Women Voters and other organizations were active in providing forums and surveys for candidates, she noted.

One thing she has discovered about Massachusetts that she definitely likes is the health insurance system--access to which, in her experience, varies greatly from state to state. Here I pay through the nose for it, but I have it. Bless Mitt Romney for that.”

Sheri continues her Massachusetts book tour on Sunday, October 7, from 2-4 p.m. at Annie’s Bookstop in Worcester. She will be at the Congregation B’nai Shalom in Putnam October 14 and the Jewish Healthcare and Hospice Center in Worcester on Wednesday, October 17. At the Oct. 14 and 17 events, she will give a Power Point presentation: “GOOD GRIEF: How to Talk to Your Child about Death” (at 2pm and 7pm, respectively).

After that, it’s off to sunny Arizona for the winter.

Note: signed copies of Zayde Comes to Live are available at Booklovers' Gourmet in Webster.

By Barbara Van Reed

Barely a dozen local businesses showed up last week at the State Candidates Meet & Greet hosted by Harrington Health Care at Hubbard and sponsored by the Webster-Dudley-Oxford Chamber of Commerce.  The event was free, open to the public, and featured a beautiful breakfast buffet. More importantly, it gave businesses an opportunity to talk with the persons who will directly represent us in the state house next year.  I wonder why more people didn’t show up.

Harrington HealthCare System President and CEO  Ed Moore welcomed the candidates and attendees. The candidates were given five minutes to introduce themselves and talk about their legislative goals.

First up was Peter J. Durant (R-Spencer), incumbent in the 6^th Worcester Congressional District, which will include Dudley, Southbridge, and precincts in Charlton and Spencer. He introduced himself as the fourth newest member of the state’s House of Representatives, and reminded the audience that he was elected in May 2011 by just one vote.  Mr. Durant read some of the letters he said he receives on a regular basis from people who have lost their jobs after working for years, and are now having to apply for government assistance for the first time.

“If you've ever wondered what this election is about, you should read the messages I get and listen to my voice mail,” he said. “They implore me to help them find a job. It tugs at you. But here’s the rub. Government does not do that. It’s the private sector that provides the jobs. It’s the role of government to foster that type of atmosphere where such jobs are created.”

Mr. Durant’s challenger in the district is Kathleen Walker, currently a selectman in Charlton. She was unable to attend the function due to an obligation at the State House.

The two challengers in the newly drawn 18^th Worcester District, incumbent Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) and Donald Bourque, were both present. The district will include Webster, Douglas, Sutton, and two precincts in Oxford. Mr. Fattman talked about how, at 21-years old, he became a selectman in Sutton and served on that board for five years. He said he saw firsthand how his mother and sister struggled to set up businesses and “I did not see the legislature doing anything to help.” He then ran for state representative, two years ago, with the goal of “reforming things, to make things better.”

Mr. Fattman also talked about his role in passing a stricter EBT card system, ending abuses such as use of the cards for gambling or for purchasing things such as alcohol, guns or jewelry.  And there’s more work to be done on that, he said.

Challenger Don Bourque, who is chairman of the Webster Board of Selectmen, told the audience why he decided to run for state representative. “We had an election in 2010 and we elected a new state representative. But, unfortunately, we haven’t had a lot of representation in the district at all. It’s important to have someone representing us on a daily basis. I live here in Webster and have a business here.”

Mr. Bourque described how a few years ago, not everyone in Webster was getting the same treatment and the selectmen were constantly bickering.  Today, driving through Webster you can see how things have improved, with new businesses and new building projects underway. The Board has “turned on the street lights and has worked to make North Village safer.”  We selectmen all have the same goal now, he said, to make Webster a strong community. “That’s what I’ll bring to the state house.”

Representative Paul Frost (R-Auburn), incumbent in the 7^th District, which includes two precincts in Oxford, Auburn, and Millbury, is unchallenged in the November election.  He talked about his 16 years in the state house.  He was first elected in 1996 at age 26, and has not missed a vote in all those years. “I try to be there every day, to make sure my voice, and my district, is heard.”

“Our businesses are not ATM cards,” he told the business audience. “We put more regulations on them, have them pay for everything, and still expect them to create jobs and give people benefits.”  Mr. Frost also talked about the impact of a more balanced representation of power since the 2010 election, which doubled the Republican number in the House of Representatives from 16 to 32, now providing an eighty-twenty ratio of Democrats to Republicans. “A two-party government means you have more of a balance.”  The previous ninety-ten ratio was bad, he said. “Eighty-twenty is better, but it’s still not good.” Still, it has resulted in a change of focus on Beacon Hill, he observed. “Before 2010, Republican ideas would be kicked off to a study, but now those issues are getting debated. We have a good exchange of healthy discussion.”

State Senator Richard T. Moore, also unopposed, was unable to attend the meeting, but addressed the audience via a letter, read by Chamber President Cheri MacKinney.

It was unfortunate so few people were able to attend the Meet & Greet. We hope there will be more opportunities for the public to listen to the candidates, preferably in a debate, the best forum for learning each candidate's position on the issues. We hope the campaigns will go forward with a debate, and that people will come and listen.

Along the way, Phil had bought the family a house on Webster Lake. They had a dock and a motorboat. One day he was approached by his friend Joe, an Oxford school teacher and neighbor, who said, “I’d like to buy a sailboat but I don’t know anything about them. I’ve seen one I like, can you come with me to check it out?” It was a 14-foot sailboat, for sale for $150. Phil told Joe to offer the the seller $75 for it, and he took it. Then Phil asked Joe, “How about sharing the boat with me?” Joe agreed, and the boat cost Phil just $37.50. He learned to sail and started going to Boston boat shows. There he met a boat agent, Harry Parker, and bought a boat from him. It was a Dawson 26, made in Las Vegas.

Parker wasn't having much success selling boats made in Las Vegas. Phil told him that if they wanted to sell a seaworthy boat on the east or west coast, they should build it on one of the coasts. Dawson took that advice and contracted with a boat builder in Florida to transfer the manufacturing there. They constructed a new building in which to make the Dawson boats. Some time later, Dawson found out the Florida boat builder was using the new building for his own boats, and the Dawson boats were being made outside. He became disillusioned, and decided to sell the operation.

Harry Parker, still the East Coast sales representative for Dawson, wanted to buy the business, but he didn’t have any money, and so approached Phil with yet another venture. This was in the mid-80s. Phil financed the deal and they moved the Dawson boat building business to Maine, where Parker had a boat yard. Parker/Hopkins Yachts was thus established. The Dawson was billed as a small family cruising boat, 26- feet long with two cabins and would sleep six. It had small diesel engine, and “we could sail the ocean and the lakes.” Ten years later Harry got sick, they sold the business “and Harry finally made a profit.”

Phil and Tillie had a large family, five boys and five girls. Son Philip Jr., who served with the Naval Corps in Japan, died of a brain tumor at just 55. The second son, Jim, lives next door to Phil in his Oxford home, a lovely period house with a wall of photos chronicling the family history. Daughter Nancy, the oldest, lives in Florida, Mary in upstate New York, and son Billy, night editor at the Providence Journal, in Rhode Island. Next were twins Mark and Mike. Mike has his own construction company in Webster, and Mark works for National Grid in Worcester. The last three were daughters, “to even out the numbers.” Heidi lives north of Boston, Laurie was a nurse at Beth Israel for many years, and Colleen is Vice President at the Worcester County Realtors Association. Phil has 22 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Busy as he was with his companies and family, Phil was equally active in the community. He joined the Chamber of Commerce when Dudley and Webster combined with the Oxford Chamber, which had been founded in 1945. He served as Chamber president in1977 and became a life member of the board in 1989.

He also spent many years on the Board of Directors of Hubbard Hospital, now part of Harrington Health Care, serving as president for three years from 1987 to1989, and still sits on the board today.

And then there were the 35 years he was associated with the Webster Five Cents Savings Bank, first as a corporator, then a trustee, then serving on the Board of Investors, and finally on the Board of Directors, of which he became vice chairman. When his time to serve as chairman came five years ago, he decided that at age 82, he was too old for the position.

Phil's philosophy was, “if you live in a town you should help the town.” We asked if he had ever held public office. “Almost,” was his answer. He remembered how, at one time, there had been an opening on the Oxford School Committee. “I was walking down the street, and one of the selectmen said 'I want to talk with you. I want you to join the school committee.' I said, I don't have time. You're going to make time, he said.  I couldn't say no, and was appointed. When my year was up I was enjoying being a member, and ran for election.” He lost by ten votes. “If the kids could have voted, I could have won.” He reconsiders. “No, they wouldn’t have voted to put m on the school committee.”

Summing up, Phil alluded to the popular saying, It takes a village. ”In my case,” he said, “it took a very good wife and partner to be successful.” He then recounted more of Tillie’s story. She had become a nurse in the Army Nursing Corps, which was a government sponsored program, but it was never officially recognized by the military until just a few years ago, when a memorial was established in Washington DC.

After they were married, Tillie didn’t work, but took care of the children. That’s how it was in those days, he said. After raising the children, Tillie went back to school and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health at Clark University. She then became the Director of Continuing Care at Hubbard Hospital. “She was a great partner,” said Phil. It's clear he misses her.

A life of business ventures, community service, father of ten

By Barbara Van Reed

Part 1

There are many ways to describe Philip L. Hopkins: soldier, sailor, pilot, engineer, entrepreneur, bank trustee, hospital  board director--he’s done all those things and more.

I first met Phil at a Chamber of Commerce Business after Hours event last year and learned a little about his story. I chatted with him again several times and asked if he would consider an interview for the paper. He agreed, and finally, a year later, we sat down and he told me about his many ventures.

Phil was originally from Cortland, New York, a town about 30 miles south of Syracuse, and graduated from Cortland High School in 1943. He grew up in the Depression Era. His father had set up a business with dump trucks for highway work but lost all his equipment during the Depression, so his mother had to go to work in the local overalls factory. They survived, he said, but that was all. “I never figured I’d go to college and decided to enlist instead.”

In September of 1943 he and ten of his buddies decided to join the Naval  Air Corps. They all went to New York City, checked into a YMCA, and the next morning went to the recruiting office. The first portion of the enlistment process was a written test. They took it in the morning, and five of them passed.  In the afternoon, they had to take a physical, and only Phil passed, and he was sent to another room to continue the process. “But then another doctor stopped me. ‘Hopkins, come back here. You have a bad heart.’ They had found a heart murmur. And that finished that idea. They gave me a 4-F and told me to go home and see my family physician. I didn’t have one, so I looked in the Yellow Pages and found a local doctor. He listened to my heart and found an extra beat, an atrial fibrillation.”

Nevertheless, a month later Phil received a notice from the induction board, signed by the town clerk, telling him to report. The name of the woman who signed the letter seemed familiar. He’d seen it before. It turned out that she had also signed his birth certificate. “You signed me in, now you’re signing me out,” he joked.

At the enlisting station in Cortland, he saw the same doctor he had seen before. This time he told Phil that “you’ll be okay-- you can be in the ground troops in the Army.”  But that wasn’t Phil’s plan, and so he drove to the Army Air Force base in Syracuse and told the top sergeant there that he wanted to enlist in the AAF. Three weeks later he got his acceptance letter and reported to Camp Dix in New Jersey just before Christmas of ‘43. “They needed bodies,” said Phil.

From Camp Dix they sent him to Michigan State College to start a cadet program, and there he received 10 hours of flight training.

He also spent some time at the Randolph Field School in San Antonio, Texas, which was the “West Point of the AAF.” There he had to participate in a test program for air sickness pills and “we were the guinea pigs. They set up a big brig between the barracks, a swing made up like a cockpit, and buckled us in; then they would push you for 20 minutes to cause air sickness. There was a water bucket for people to get sick in. One guy got in the cockpit, saw the bucket, and got sick even before the test started.”  Phil said he was the first one to survive the whole 20 minutes. He wasn’t sure if he’d been given the pill or a placebo.

Two years later, after his discharge in 1945, he went to Syracuse University on the GI Bill to study engineering.

Meantime, there was a lady in his life, Matilda. She went to the Catholic school in Cortland and their paths would cross. She had gone into a nursing program established by the government at Syracuse University. One day, after returning home from the service, he rode his bike to Tillie's house and found a friend visiting her. Phil said he told the friend, “See you later.” The friend departed, and Phil says he and Tillie “took up where we left off.” They married two years later on December 28, 1947, the day after Tillie's birthday.

Phil left Syracuse University just two months short of graduation to accept a job offer he couldn’t refuse. He and Tillie had three kids by this time, and they needed the money desperately, he said. The offer was from an acquaintance, Edwin Hoffman, who was a poultry pathologist at a feed mill in Worcester, Massachusetts. Edwin asked Phil to come to Worcester to help him run the feed mill. He offered him a salary 50% higher than the going rate. “In those days if you were making $100, you were doing well,” said Phil. Edwin offered him $150. “That was big money in those days. I bought a new house and a used car. Later, the family moved to Oxford, where he would set up his own design firm, Philip L. Hopkins, Inc., and built an office next to his house.

The feed mill in Worcester needed a lot of work. He took care of that, and soon Phil was designing feed mills for farming customers all over New England. He was able to compete with large companies because he designed a pneumatic bulk feed conveyor system for moving the grain from the mill into the tankers. What made it unique was that it could utilize any kind of power generation system, needing just 100 horsepower to operate. It could be a waterwheel, he said. He used the same technology to design a hydraulic system for the bulk feed tanker bodies and designed specialized trailers to transport them

The business would take him on the road. He'd drive 50,000 miles a year, so much that he eventually decided to buy an airplane to cut down on the traveling time. “With the airplane I could do three days of work in one day. If I was building a feed mill in Maine, it would take me a day to travel to it and a day back. But I could fly up there in an hour and a half.” The airplane was a tool, and Phil became a businessman pilot.

The plane was a Cessna 140 two-seater. He bought it in 1960, took lessons, applied for a student pilot license, and went on to earn an instrument rating. His next plane was a Cessna 172 4-seater, after that a brand new Cessna 182, and finally a Cessna 210 that could seat six people and cruise at 200 mph.

At first, Phil would fly out of Worcester airport. Later, John Lewis of Oxford built an airstrip here, and Phil supplied the metal hangar. It was located on Federal Hill Road, just a strip, part of a landfill at the town dump. It was closed some years ago, and is now a warehouse storage facility.

Traveling all over New England now meant that Phil would fly into airports and learn about hangars. And thus he started a secondary business, selling hangars. He matched up with a company in Alabama called Pascoe, which produced prefabricated metal buildings. One day he got a call from a competitor, Red Banks, who told him, “I've heard of you, and I have a question. How come you can sell the same hangar cheaper than I can? Phil explained he had a deal with Pascoe, and convinced Red to come work for him. “Everybody made money,” said Phil.

He had bought the Cessna 210 in 1972 and sold it in 1977 when it needed a new control panel. By that time, Phil had decided to close the feed mill business. The country was in a recession, just like now, he said, and rather than allow the business to “fritter away,” he closed it.

Next week: Part 2

Barbara Van Reed

Conventional wisdom says that local political campaigning doesn’t begin in earnest until after Labor Day. But while it may not have been in high gear so far, there has been plenty of campaigning going on.

The primary election was last Thursday, rather than on the usual Tuesday, which could have thrown some people off, but voter turnout was expected to be low in any case-- as there were very few contests in the local primaries (The only contests are on the Democratic side, where incumbent Congressman Richard E. Neal was challenged in the newly drawn First Congressional District and incumbent James B. McGovern in the new Second Congressional District. On the Republican side, there was not a single challenger for any position. While Republicans could vote to show support for their candidates, they did not have any choices to make).

While local candidates for state representative did not have any challengers in the primaries, they do in the November election, and they've been campaigning hard.

In a change for local towns, candidates for state representative and US  Congress  will be different for Dudley than for Webster and Oxford. State and federal redistricting last year means that Dudley is now part of the 6th Worcester District, where Republican Peter J. Durant (R-Spencer) is being challenged by Democrat Kathleen Walker. The district also includes two precincts in Charlton, one in Spencer, and all of Southbridge.

Webster and two precincts in Oxford stay in the new 18th Worcester District, which now includes Douglas and Sutton. Republican Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) and Democrat Donald Bourque are vying for that position.

None of the candidates for state representative have a challenger of their own party in the primaries.

But there will be actual contests in these towns in November, and the candidates have been actively campaigning right along. The incumbents, Peter Durant and Ryan Fattman, have been working the new towns since the day the redistricting was announced last October, even though it will not go into effect until after the November election, in January 2013.  Neither has missed a beat making appearances in Dudley and Webster and familiarizing themselves with town parties, officials, and residents. One Webster resident told me last week that Ryan Fattman has been to his house three times.

Mr. Fattman’s Democratic challenger, Don Bourque, who is chairman of the Webster Board of Selectmen, made campaign headlines last week because he sponsored an Emergency Appreciation Day at the 200 Sportsmen Club for fire department personnel in the district last month. It seems  Republicans were unhappy with that gesture, and brought it to the attention of the Oxford and Douglas selectmen, who then summoned their fire chiefs to explain their departments’ participation.

We are not going to take a position as to whether the event was appropriate or not, but it does seem to be an issue of party politics. Mr. Bourque said the event was not a fundraiser, and there was no intention to mislead anyone as to its nature. It was clearly stated in the invitation that the Committee to Elect Don Bourque was the host. “This thing cost me $900, $300 to rent the Sportsmen’s Club and $600 for food.  And you can publish that,” he told us.

For state senate, Richard T. Moore will continue to represent all three towns.  He has no challengers in the primary, and there are no Republicans running for the position.

Moving back to the federal side, Dudley is now part of the First Congressional District, while Webster and Oxford are in the Second.  Democrat Richard E. Neal (D-Springfield) will continue to represent Dudley if he is wins the primary tomorrow, in which he has two challengers. There is no Republican on the primary ballot, so whoever wins the primary will win the election.

Webster and Dudley remain part of the Second Congressional District, in which Democrat James B. McGovern is the incumbent.  He is being challenged in the Democratic primary by William Feegbeh.There is no Republican on the primary ballot. Again, whoever wins the primary will be the winner.

On the face of it, it would seem Mr. McGovern wouldn’t have to worry too much about his challenger. Mr. Feegbeh is a relative unknown who has never been elected to public office, has no staff, and no funding.  In an interview with Mr. Feegbeh in July, we wrote that he has a sincere interest in politics and concern for educational and housing opportunities, but little in the way of demonstrated ability to effect change.

Mr. McGovern is campaigning, nevertheless. He has made 175 stops in the new district to get to know it, visiting Webster in April and Oxford just last month.

Mr. McGovern is running for his ninth term in Congress. He is the second-ranking member on the House Rules Committee and a member of the House Agricultural committee. He recently sponsored a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which has allowed huge inflows of corporate money to sway elections.

Former state senator Louis Bertonazzi has challenged voters to turn out and demonstrate that their community votes. Last week's primary had its somewhat predictable results, but there's much more to vote for in November. 

By Barbara Van Reed

“There are lots of people who say shop local, but this is actually doing it,” said David O’Connor, founder of the Webster Cash Mob. “Actually doing it” means a group of people “mobbing” a local business at a specified time and spending a minimum of $10 on goods and services, giving the business a bit of economic stimulus.

Loyal 2 Local is the Mob’s mantra, first put into action earlier this month at Booklovers’ Gourmet, where 35 people descended on the East Main Street store on a Saturday afternoon. “I was nervous about it,” said Dave, “I was afraid people wouldn’t come or think it was canceled if there weren’t a lot of people there.” But 15 showed up at the appointed time, and then more and more came, making it a very successful afternoon for store owner Deb Horan.

The Cash Mob concept originated in Cleveland, where its inventor Andrew Samtoy held the first mob event in November of last year.  In a short time the idea to boost local business spread to all parts of the country and internationally. Webster’s cash mob is the first in Central Massachusetts; there are nine in Boston and surrounding communities.

The group has no agenda except to support local businesses. Many of them have been around for 20-plus years, and some of them are struggling, Dave said, and we want to help keep them in business.

Dave first heard about Cash Mobs in the spring when he saw a Chronicle segment on TV about a Cash Mob group near Boston. At the time he was active in the Webster Residents Forum on Facebook, and the tone there could be negative at times, he said. He wanted to do something positive and remembered the Chronicle story.

He sent an invitation out on the Webster Residents Forum Facebook page, and got an immediate positive response from 70-80 people. The idea sat for most of the summer, but finally he decided, let’s pick a day, and someone suggested Booklovers’ as the first stop. Dave himself had never visited the bookstore and coffee shop. “What a great place,” he said, “I'll be going back there.”

The Webster Cash Mob has grown to over 210 members and Dave is hoping that many more will join. He felt the group should have its own Facebook forum, which you can find at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/webstercashmob/.

Next on the agenda for a mob visit is The Gift Gallery on South Main Street on September 15 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Take 2 Consignment store is scheduled for October. For now, Dave plans to hold the events monthly, though many shops want to participate, and he’s sorry to have to push them so far out.

He invites retailers to tell their story, explaining why they’d like to be mobbed, and of course he welcomes more participants. “This idea wouldn’t be anything if it wasn’t for the people who participate and spread the word,” he said. He wants to make it a great experience for everyone involved. We’re asking our members to spend just $10 each, but that $10 from a lot of individuals can make a real difference for the retailer, he said.  “Deb Horan had a big smile on her face when we left.”

After the “mobbing,” participants get together to celebrate at another local establishment, giving it a business boost as well. Dave wouldn't divulge the location of the next celebration. It's to be a surprise.

Individuals from other, nearby communities have asked him about starting their own cash mobs, and he's happy to give them advice.

Dave does have a life apart from Facebook. The Webster native works as a property damage claims representative for Mapfre’s American Commerce Insurance company in New York and New Jersey.  He’s also a freelance photographer and designer, and you’ll see his wife Melissa and little daughter Anna in the Webster Cash Mob pictures.

We’ll be announcing the Mob targets in The Patriot in advance, and we’ll be publishing photos of the events afterwards.  Of course, all you need to know is available on their Facebook page as well.

Oxford Annual Fall Festival

This is another opportunity for local businesses to sell their goods,  products, and crafts to individuals dedicated to shopping locally. The Oxford Lions Club will host its third Annual Fall Festival on Saturday, September 22.

The outdoor fair will be held at the Bandstand at Joslin Park in the center of Oxford. There will be plenty of entertainment, activities, and food. Vendors can contact Joe or Connie Tagg via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 508-987-5987.

By Barbara Van Reed

Among the unique, architecturally historic buildings in Webster is the Church of the Reconciliation, tucked just off the Main Street bend at 5 North Main. The building, with its gracefully pitched roof and 52-foot bell tower, was given a facelift this summer with a new coat of paint and a new set of Plexiglas protective coverings for its wonderful stained glass windows. It had been about twenty years since the Plexiglas had been replaced and had become cloudy, obscuring visibility of the stained glass. “Now we again see how beautiful those windows are,“ said The Rev. Janice C. Ford, Rector at the church.

The church’s history is closely intertwined with the history of Webster, the Slater family figures very prominently in its founding. The first service of the Episcopalian Church was held in the old town hall in East Webster in 1869. The following year William Slater, a grandson of Samuel Slater, purchased property on North Main Street and presented it to the parish. The well-known Gothic revival architects Richard and R. M. Upjohn of New York were commissioned to design a wooden church in the neo-Gothic tradition with a 52-foot bell tower and seating for 300 people.

The 14 lovely stained glass windows are best appreciated from inside the building. There they come alive. Among them: The Nativity, the Life of Christ, St. Andrew, St. Cecelia, and The Good Samaritan. The windows were given in memorial by its members over the course of the church’s first one hundred years, and each has its own history.

During a guided tour of the church, Pastor Ford pointed out that the interior was finished entirely with chestnut, the pews, chancel, the altar, the pulpit, everything with the exception of the rood beam, which is a hand-carved  solid oak beam above the chancel. She pointed out the careful arrangement of the chancel furniture: the altar, the choir seating, the reredos altarpiece, presbytery chair, and pulpit, to bring the people closer to God. Along the center aisle are four original gaslight candelabras, which have since been electrified.

The Slater family involvement didn’t end with the church building. Lydia Slater donated a magnificent Hook and Hastings pipe organ in 1873, which was enlarged and refurbished by the Slater family in 1912. The tower bell was first run in 1884; it was donated by Mr. H.N. Slater. The five sisters of William Slater gave the parish hall, located behind the church, in his memory in 1898.  In 1914, through another Slater gift, it was enlarged and raised with a basement gymnasium and kitchen. It was the first gym in Webster, and local boys could play basketball there, while the Slater sisters taught young ladies their “stitches.”

The Rev. Ford came to the Church of the Reconciliation in 2008 and is its first female pastor.  As beautiful and peaceful a sanctuary as this church is, “People don’t just come walking in on Sunday mornings anymore,” said Pastor Ford, so we see our mission as being outreach.

“People do search for God or for meaning in their lives. They recognize the need for an anchor in life. But they don’t have time to invest in finding a church they feel comfortable in or called to.”  Among the things that stand in the way, she says, are the stresses of life; people are too busy to give up a Sunday morning. Some are fed up with traditional church, finding it boring, unexciting, she said. Some think churches cause more problems than they solve, the abuse issues, for example, or the financial scandals at some of the mega-churches.

“Some people who see the need for church, having gone as a child perhaps, are disappointed. They are not feeling fulfilled by traditional churches. Some of the sacramental churches, like the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Episcopal churches, can be hung up on rites and liturgy, versus focusing on how Scripture helps you find God in your life, and on living with Christ. That seems to be lacking in some churches.

“Our culture has made God uncool,” she says. “Our culture tells us, ‘look how good and wealthy we are,’ and God falls by the wayside.

“I want disciples of God in my church, not members. In this parish we are evolving, and we are reaching out.” That outreach includes use of the parish hall by Alcoholics Anonymous, a food pantry, Christmas gifts for families in the community, and donations for the Boys & Girls Club and New Hope.

“Though we are a small church, we felt God was using us for evangelism, but people were not walking through the door, so we needed to find a different way,” she said. Last November church members had an all-day meeting with the diocese governing board, and concluded that another way to reach out, another way for people to hear the Word, was to have a satellite facility. Not another church, but another location, and perhaps not even in Webster. The Bishop agreed. Two months later an anonymous parishioner heard about the goal and made a large donation to get it started.

The church council has decided that the satellite location will be in Dudley, and they are looking for a place where they can meet weekly, not on a Sunday morning, but probably during the week, maybe on a Wednesday or Saturday night. “We are looking for available space; it could be an empty store, or an office.”

That new space may not be as beautiful as the Church of the Reconciliation building, but it might be a place for people to come to and find that anchor they've been looking for.

Note: Historical facts are from the church website.

By Barbara Van Reed

If you've been to an Indian Ranch concert this year, you may have seen John Moon and the NEADS booth just inside the entrance gate. John and his crew are there to talk about the Canines for Combat Veterans (CCV) program-- which matches highly trained assistance dogs with wounded veterans--and to  sell tickets for a cash raffle that benefits the program.

John asked us to give a shout out to the people at Indian Ranch, especially Suzette Raun, president, who invited them to attend the concerts last summer and again this year. She arranges for them to have the prime position at the entrance, giving them an opportunity to inform and educate people about the NEADS programs. “We get to talk to people about how someone with physical limitations can gain some independence and mobility with a highly trained canine at their side to do some of the tasks most of us take for granted – picking up a set of keys, our cell phones, even a quarter, or opening up a refrigerator door to pull out a bottle of water or medication.”

He said, “It costs NEADS nearly $25,000 to raise and train an assistance dog over 18 months, and as a non-profit, we rely on the generosity of others – time, talent or treasure. We give the veterans their dogs for free.”

The raffle at Indian Ranch is for $500 cash, and John told us he raises as much as $1,700 per concert. “We are very thankful for the exposure to so many considerate and generous people who attend the concerts.  Many raffle winners give back some or all of their winnings to support the CCV program.”

Headquartered in Princeton, MA, NEADS ( National Education for Assistance Dog Services), the non-profit was founded in 1976 to train dogs to assist people who are deaf or have a physical disability. The group was invited to Walter Reed Army Hospital in 2006 to discuss how their trained dogs could be of assistance to combat veterans. NEADS recognized the growing population of combat veterans and formed the Canines for Combat Veterans program to specifically address their needs.  They have placed more than 35 dogs with veterans since then.

John, who is the director of programs and communications for NEADS, invites people to visit their main campus in Princeton on Rt.140 or to attend the next graduation on November 18 at the Four Points Sheraton in Leominster.

Letter from the editor 8-15-12, part 2

Oxford Bandstand celebrates 25 years of concerts in the park

The Oxford Bandstand Committee this year celebrates the 25^th anniversary of its dedication and first concert.  Joyce Sirard recently brought us a copy of the 1987 dedication program, which describes how the idea for the bandstand came about.

She writes “the Bandstand idea came to me after working on the Founders Day Committee. Permanent staging for Joslin Park was needed for performances during Founders Day.” She goes on to say that a notice was put in the papers and seven people came to an organizing meeting in October of 1986. All agreed that a bandstand was needed.

At a second meeting held the following month, Loretta Johnson, a member of the Oxford Women's Club, and also interested in constructing a bandstand, attended, and she and Ms. Sirard became the co-chairmen of the Oxford Bandstand Committee. Rick Ghilani, chairman of the Ashland Bandstand Committee was a guest speaker at the meeting. Ashland had just finished a bandstand and Rick had some excellent ideas. “That was all we needed. We were ready to forge ahead,” she writes.

February saw finalization of the design concept and the beginning of fundraising.  By March, the committee, now meeting every other week, conveyed its design wishes to Larry Crowley of Crowley Construction.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held April 11, with music provided by the Oxford Middle School Band under the direction of Klancy Martin. It was the last band to play on Joslin Park before the construction of the bandstand.

The dedication program lists many of the people and companies instrumental in getting the bandstand built. They included Jim LaMountain of LaMountain Brothers Co. (excavation), Lee Moody of Depot Road Leasing (foundation forms), John Esposito of L & L Concrete Products Co (foundation), Lorenzo Bilodeau and David Cournoyer of Custom Masonry (bricking), Harry Richardson and Mark Anderson of Quality Remodeling (wood structure) along with Ray Wood and Ken Myers, David Kemp (floor forms), John Rickets (electrical), Bob parker of Parker Welding (wrought iron fence), Paul Bilodeau of JG & L Landscaping (landscaping).

In addition to Ms. Sirard and Ms. Johnson, the original bandstand committee members were Karen Olival, Violet Gillies, Rita Spooner, Ruth Morgan, Nancy Peters, Ted Peters, Paul Bilodeau, Harry Richardson, Larry Crowley, Russell Rheault, and Roger Bacon.

Twenty-five years later, Joyce Sirard is still actively managing the bandstand concert schedule and activities. Bring a blanket or chair and enjoy the final concert of the season on Sunday, August 26, at 4:30. The Inlaws will be performing.

Joyce has notified us that Children's Day and Teen Night have been rescheduled for August 25. the events were rained out on the 11^th.