Our publishing year began and ended with the town’s commemoration of Memorial Day, with photographs of the parade and ceremony, and recognition of all the participating organizations, and above all, our veterans. The Memorial Day addresses were featured on the front pages. In 2024, our Korean War veterans, one, George Miller, in person, and fourteen through representatives, shared their experiences, stationed in such far flung places as Japan, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Casa Blanca, the North Pole and the Sahara Desert, and one, Gordon Hansen, who served for two years on the front lines. We started this tradition two years ago, commemorating the World War II veterans when the last of them, Tom Gaines and Clarence Thornton, passed away. The Gazette gathered and organized their words, through speeches, letters, and interviews, which were delivered on Memorial Day by friends and family members. This year, as we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, we honored those who served during that era, hearing from eight veterans whose stories are recorded in this issue, from Jamie Boss, who also produced the video, “My Year in Vietnam, 1968-1969”, comprised of photographs he captured and narrated, to Al Ameer, who returned to Hampton to serve as a first responder here for 60 years. As the pastor of our Congregational Church, who gave the benediction, later wrote, “the power in the truth of what they spoke was profound.”

In July of 2024, “Our Rural Heritage”, the series we started in 2018 “to tell the stories of our old barns while they’re still standing” which expanded to other aspects of Hampton’s history, featured “Our Parades” to include the memories of former residents, and in the May 2025 issue, “Our Veterans” chronicled our patriotic history, from the French and Indian War to the present, and shared an excerpt from a letter of a resident veteran of the Civil War. Every subject is accompanied by a related remembrance.

The series also covered “Music!”, recording personal memories from the last century, “Hidden Springs Farm”, a horse rescue, Quiet Corner Winery at “Open Door Farm”, and “Living off the Land”, Helen Matthew’s turn-of-the-century account of harvesting wild plants from early spring to late fall.

We started a series on “Our Roads”, and ended our two year exploration of the town center, which covered all of those village institutions, from its beginnings with the Congregational Church on its 250th anniversary, and culminating with the old town pound, the village blacksmith, and the library, compliments of Janice Trecker, on its 100th anniversary, an article enhanced with Jean Wierzinski’s “A Tale of Two Sisters”, the history of Harriet and Eliza Durkee’s role in the Fletcher Memorial Library. We also wrote an article on Morris Burr’s (not nearly as famous yet far more infamous) relative – Aaron.

We also reported on current events, our Annual Town Meeting and one with our State representatives, Pat Boyd and Jeff Gordon. Town officials kept us apprised with a new feature, Veterans News, from advocate, Garry Brown, and information from the Town Clerk on important matters such as dog licensing and transfer station stickers, and from the Registrars of Voters on voting events. Those responsible for the budgets reported on them, and we published the referendum results. The Planning and Zoning Commission reported on conservation subdivisions and residential development, and noticed us on the importance of filling out the survey for the Plan of Conservation and Development. The elementary school consumed a lot more ink, with headlines ranging from “Grievance Points to Need for NAACP Invitation” to “School Officials Review Test Scores, Note Progress”. We reported on the controversy surrounding the resignations of Principal Merendina and Custodian Harris, the resultant turmoil with articles such as “Rancor and Hostility Distract from Board Focus”, and the consequential complaints filed with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, and the Freedom of Information Commission, the latter resolved amicably one month later in the complainant’s favor. We published four letters of opinion this year, on these and other topics.

There was plenty of good news to report for the schools, with the announcements of graduations, honor rolls, and Dean’s Lists, and the publication of elementary school students’ essays, poems, and biographies.

Regular features included the “Recipe of the Month”, with fifteen contributors, “Auntie Mac”, a favorite among readers at large as well as those needing advice, and the garden column, with subjects ranging from “The Scented Garden” to “Overgrown!”, including one of “Our Neighbor’s Gardens”, this year, Linda Wenner’s splendid wildflowers. We also started a new series, “I’m From Here”, beautifully written by June Pawlikowski Miller, born and raised here and, gratefully, still living among us and sharing such lovely and loving commentaries on our “Small Town, Big Heart”. This and other forms of art – Pete Vertefeuille’s photographs of birds, ten poems from adults and children alike – elevate our publication, and we are always pleased to receive them.

The 2025 annual calendar’s theme was “Hampton Farms”, illustrating all the various ways we continue our agriculture roots. Twelve of our local artists contributed photographs and paintings capturing barns, pastures, cornfields, farmer’s markets, cows, chickens, sheep, maple syrup pails, horses plowing fields, and a Christmas tree farm.

Sadly, we bid farewell to 19 residents, including front page tributes to Phyllis Stensland, the elementary school’s first, longest serving, and most loved paraprofessional, Jean Romano, who was the Gazette’s “gold standard” for years and Chairman for a few, Maurice Bisson, who became nationally recognized when he was elected First Selectman as a write-in candidate, due in large part to his extraordinary neighborliness, and Al Ameer, who we honored months earlier when he was acclaimed locally and on the State level for his 60 years of service as a first responder.
We also paid tribute to other deserving residents. Kathy Donahue was our Citizen of the Year, for her service on town boards and committees, and for her volunteer efforts for the school, on holidays, and in community kitchens. We also covered the dedication of the Town Pavilion to Michael Chapel, life-long resident, long-time Selectman, forever friend and neighbor.

Community organizations kept us apprised of their happenings, Fletcher Memorial Library’s monthly and weekly events, the exhibits at Top Shelf Gallery, summer’s Music at the Fletch, and new books. We also reviewed resident Jamie Boss’ memoir, “Coming of Age in Vietnam”, and former resident Janet Robertson’s memoir, “It Looked That Way to Me”, both of which can be found on Fletcher’s shelves. The Recreation Commission, the Seniors and the Scouts reported their news, and the Fire Department’s “Smoke, Mirrors and Spotlights” listing the emergency dispatches of our first responders. Joshua’s Trust, the Friends of Goodwin Forest, and the Connecticut Audubon Society listed their monthly events, and we published several excerpts from Edwin Way Teale’s “A Walk through the Year” which he penned at Trail Wood. The Congregational Church published their annual events, among them the Trekker Organ Recital and Soup n’ Silents, and Pastor Paula Mehel was introduced to the community with the article, “New Pastor in Sync with Church Vision”. The Howard Valley Church opened its doors at Christmas time for a special candlelit service, hosted by the owners, the Chokas family, and officiated by members of the Mennonite community.

Other annual events we announced were Walking Weekend in the fall, Arbor Day in the spring, Holiday Happenings at Christmastime, and the Harvest Festival at summer’s end, where the Gazette provides for a Community Poem – this year’s theme, I Hope… with stanzas ranging from “It Stops Raining! It Keeps Raining!” to “An end to prejudice, and ignorance, and hunger” — and a community poll. This year’s Hampton Poll had 77% of participants favoring the development of senior housing, with 23% opposed, the State Poll for favorite fall fair was, overwhelmingly, Brooklyn, and in the National Poll on the Presidential Election, 22 of the 38 participants selected “I always vote” on the likelihood of casting a ballot.

One of our favorite holidays, and our readers’, is April Fools, which we celebrate with a special issue generously sprinkled with humor. This year we continued the tales of the Ebenezar and Eliza Bakker Button Family, discovered, along with their gristmill, last year living under the bridge by Utley Road, though they’ve resided here for over two hundred years. This April they were interviewed for a front page article on life along the Little River and we were introduced to new family members Katrina, Joost, Kaspar and Piet. Along with columns from regular humorists Angela Fichter and Kit Crowne, we published a recipe for bologna cake, Our Rural Heritage featured Hampton tales of “The Funny Farm”, and the garden column offered a survey titled “You Know You’re a Gardener If…” which included such criteria as — You consider well-aged feces a thoughtful gift.

This last year, nearly a hundred people, from here and afar, contributed articles, announcements, recipes, poems, opinions, photographs, and advertisements, and we thank you all. It is your presence on our pages which make The Hampton Gazette a community newspaper.