We began and ended our publishing year with the pandemic and its impact, and though we were thrown into the realities of its dark repercussions at the start of our year, we finish, miraculously, with a light at the end of the tunnel.
Our organizations adapted to provide to the imposed restrictions through the duration. The library offered curb side circulation and sponsored a reading, concerts, and a home-grown market on the lawn. Our churches provided virtual services, the historical society’s annual meeting was in the pavilion, and the seniors resumed their luncheons last month, initiating a new column, Andrea Kaye’s “Baby Boomers and Beyond”. Goodwin and Trail Wood offered webinars and socially distanced hikes, and Laura McCabe wrote an article on our trails at a time when we really relied on them. Since no one was venturing far from home last summer, Linda Navin contributed an article on exploring Connecticut, and in October, “Ghost Tour” guided us on a journey to the spookiest places in the state. With a resilience reserved for youth – and kudos to their leaders – the scouts literally weathered everything, and sent us the pictures to prove it.
We reported on all of these organizations, and in their spirit, carried on. Auntie Mac dispensed wit and advice in equal measures, Angela Fichter shared her humorous perspectives on “The Curse of Computerized Appliances” and “The Peril of Directions”, and the Reluctant Gardener wrote of a common lament in “Lawn-Mower Blindness Claims another Victim, or, What Peony?” Pete Vertefeuille’s exceptional photographs graced a few of our covers and accompanied several articles, Pat Boss provided crossword puzzles with local and seasonal themes, and neighbors contributed recipes, seven Letters to the Editor, and 17 poems. Marcia Kilpatrick offered gardening advice in “Green Thumbs”, including “Nip the Knotweed”, which the Conservation Commission detailed along with other projects, and the garden column acknowledged our realities with articles like “Beginning a Garden” and “Our Shared Story”, and since we weren’t permitted to visit one another’s, last year “Our Neighbor’s Garden” featured Hampton’s public garden at Fletcher Memorial Library.
We couldn’t visit our neighbors’ barns either, so the series which explores these relics of Hampton’s agricultural past relied on memories and memorabilia. “Our Rural Heritage” reported on Hill Top Farm with information from those who once worked there, the contributions of the family with the Arthur Pearl barn, the farm from “All Our Yesterdays” fame, and in conjunction with the celebration of Josephine Dauphin’s 100th Birthday, “Sunny Crest”. We reported on chicken farms with a story, recipe and poem from Cindy Bezansen, who continued to entertain us with tender tales of her feathered flock. We also featured Hampton Hill Garage, and in consideration of the pandemic, “Our Country Doctors”. We displayed collages of graduation programs and photographs from 1933 to 1966 as part of “Pomp and Pandemic Circumstances”, and chronicled the evolution of our schools, from seven one room school houses to three, to the consolidated school, to the Hampton Elementary School, to virtual learning. We reported on the openings and closings of our schools and students’ accomplishments, publishing the honor rolls and dean’s lists and graduations. We recognized elementary school staff on their retirement, and one of our first responders, Dale Demontigny, on her retirement from nursing. We honored the 21 residents we lost last year, one of our town’s sons, nine veterans, and two former Chairmen of the Hampton Gazette, Jim Ryan and Gordon Hansen, who was also 2016’s Citizen of the Year. We honored this year’s Citizen of the Year, Kathi Newcombe, and recognized those who contributed to important projects – the Pribbles for the reconstruction of the Fuller-Badger-Rockwell Dam, and the members of the Mennonite community for construction of the town’s new pavilion and for supplying neighbors with generators during the storm last August. Terri and Dale Warner’s contribution to “Coming to Hampton” reminded us of how much we enjoy hearing everyone’s story on how they found us, and we started a new series, “Remembering”, with recollections of our town from 1900 through the 60’s, a natural sequel to the memories we shared with one another during the pandemic.
Despite all the controversy, there were no political opinions sent to our newspaper on the presidential election. There was, however, commentary on another national issue, with letters from candidates for State Senate in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement, poems from our youth, one titled “Still Breathing” and the other announcing, “I want to be loud against the injustice…I hope you will be loud, too”, and a memoir, “Fighting Racism at the Roots”.
On the local level, while budgets were subject to approval solely by the Board of Finance last year due to restrictions on meetings, this year detailed budgets, and the subsequent referenda, were reported on the front pages of the May and June issues. We also reported on the Fire Department’s Length of Service Award deficit and funding, the Affordable Housing Plan presented by the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the return of Regional District #11’s surplus funds to the town. And though the town conducted far fewer voting events than ever before, the Registrars of Voters published far more detailed directions on the methods of safely casting a ballot.
Holidays were difficult this year. The Seniors sponsored a Christmas decorating contest since we couldn’t spread our usual caroling cheer to elderly residents, a captioned pictorial display of some of Hampton’s special places served as a “Christmas Card” to the town, and “Our Rural Heritage” shared Christmas memories. Community members surprised elementary school students with decorations and goodies for several holidays, and many organizations collaborated for the school’s recent celebration of Arbor Day.
Most of all, we missed our Memorial Day traditions. July’s front page customarily features the Memorial Day addresses and photographs, but our publishing year began and ended instead with remembrances. In an effort to fill the void a little, and with an understanding of the solace we’ve discovered in our shared memories, the Gazette produced a video of the commemorations of the last fifty years, available on YouTube at “Hampton Remembers, Memorial Day”. We were also happy to sponsor the Annual Barbecue – your patronage exceeded our expectations – thank you. The continuation of our publication is possible through the barbecue, our loyal advertisers, your generous donations, and the annual calendar — we thank the artists who contributed – we’re already preparing next year’s. And we thank you for your contributions of information during a time when communication was not easy. The Memorial Day video proves that our town depends, and has depended, on the time and the talents of many people, evidenced in the photographs of the parades and the ceremonies, and in the words of the speakers, who remind us of the neighbors who “build the strong, cohesive communities that make it worth returning home.”
We have enclosed an addressed envelope in this issue for your donations and your ideas which help us to produce a monthly newspaper, an annual barbecue, a yearly calendar, and projects like the Memorial Day video. Thank you for your support.
Juan Arriola, Chairman