The Planning and Zoning Commission at its February 28 meeting unanimously approved amendments to the zoning regulations which remove some restrictions on accessory dwellings. A hearing was held prior to the meeting to discuss amendments to Section 6.6 of the town’s Zoning Regulations which details requirements for two family dwellings and detached accessory dwelling units. The amendments to the regulations removed the residence requirement, which stipulated that “the owner must reside in one of the two dwelling units”, and the restriction requiring that the area for a detached accessory dwelling unit be minimally 80,000 square feet. Additionally, the word “detached” was removed from “accessory dwelling units”, “legally non-conforming” was added to the condition that the dwellings “comply with the requirements of the use district in which such dwelling is located”, and the stipulation that limits the number of dwelling units per lot to two, now includes, “unless otherwise authorized by these Regulations.”

The decision was made as part of a five-year-plan the PZC approved last year with a goal of increasing the number of accessory dwellings by 25% and the number of income limited accessory dwelling units to five. The plan was developed in response to compliance with Connecticut General Statute 8-30j, which requires towns to develop plans to accommodate income limited residents every five years.

The commission will also be looking at redeveloping old, large houses into multi-family dwellings, such as those at 260 and 264 Main Street. The commission expects to discuss this possibility in an upcoming meeting.

Kuan Kim, revered throughout Asia for thousands of years, is the Chinese goddess of infinite mercy and compassion.  Her name means “she who listens to the sounds of suffering in the world.” In the Buddhist tradition she is an aspect of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva who sprang from one of the Buddha’s tears.  She once took the form Miao Shan, a woman who was spurned by her father for refusing to marry; later, Miao Shan sacrificed both arms and legs in order to heal her father.  Her appeal is particularly widespread because she gives assistance in this world: she provides earthly blessings to children, as well as health and long life. She rescues people from injury, suffering and despair.  She is particularly a protector of women. Kuan Yin is a symbol of unlimited compassion that anyone can have for themselves and others.

The pager sounds: “Cardiac distress – difficulty breathing.” The washer lid slams down. The fire under half-cooked dinner for four is turned off.  She is out the door mounting her ‘Radio Flyer’. The engine roars to life; pistons flying, blue lights flashing, rubber humming against the pavement. Little grey woodland creatures running for their lives, leaping to trees and branches, hearts pounding, eyes bugging. In a flash the Flyer fades in the distance. The furry creatures, tails twitching, retreat to their safe spaces to recover their wits.

A moment later she is there at the scene, dismounts the Flyer, slings her medical bag over her shoulder and heads inside. Inside, her calm demeanor and friendly voice reassures the victim while her eyes, ears and hands go about assessing and providing essential immediate medical care. Before long the ambulance arrives, the patient is loaded onto the stretcher, into the ambulance, and is en route to the hospital.  Back outside, she pulls a container of disinfectant wipes from the backseat of the Flyer and begins to wipe down her hands and all that has been touched or used. The scene now secure, she heads home to finish the laundry and dinner.

The pager sounds: “Car vs Pedestrian.” And she is there.

The Pager sounds: “Vehicle rollover.”  And she is there.

The Pager sounds: “Structure fire.”  And she is there.

The Pager sounds: “Possible overdose.” And she is there.

Her boys need encouragement or help with homework.  And she is there.

Her boys need dental care. And she is there.

She only needs one word to describe her days: Wacky.

Stacy Gendreau has been a volunteer EMT with both Hampton and Chaplin Fire Departments for 27 years. When not being “there,” she is a busy Mom, renovating her home and looking after her family, and her bees.  Soon she will be completing the set-up of her art studio and unleashing creative drive on the world.  There is a well-founded rumor that Stacey is a direct descendant of Kuan Yin. Be like Stacey.

During the month of February, Hampton Fire Company members responded to 17 emergency dispatches, attended two training sessions and two administrative meetings. Just over 200 man-hours were logged.  Meetings and training sessions are held on Wednesday evenings at 7 o’clock.  New members are needed and welcome.  And the pager sounded.

Firehouse Dog

That Hampton was once a premier resort town is no secret; but few knew that its place on Society Pages was firmly established prior to its lure as a summertime destination. An outsider might wonder why a farming community in a town as small as Hampton would inspire such widespread interest. Perhaps a few examples of the newsier items found on the society pages can explain the fascination:

June 8, 1892: Mr. Frank Whittaker is adding a porch to the house north of the hotel.

August 15, 1902: The Chelsea Inn Gulf Club played the Brooklyn club on the links of the latter club Saturday. Apparently, Brooklyn air did not agree with the Hampton club, it being defeated to the score of thirty-one down.

December 12, 1902: We are glad to note that the furnace in the church has been repaired, thereby preventing the escape of gas into the church, which was such a great annoyance last winter.

December 16, 1904: W.W. Burnham has recently had a telephone installed in his residence. There are now ten telephones in this town.

August 28, 1908: Tuesday while Mr. Ennis was out admiring nature, he discovered a giant mushroom on the farm of the late Harry Neff.

May 7, 1909: W. H. Phillips has purchased a two-cylinder Buick touring car.

November 20, 1909: Mrs. Frank Stocking on Saturday picked a bunch of dandelions.

Though Howard Valley reported events such as Mr. Swift and Mrs. Warner of Abington were callers at Fred Humes’ last Sunday, and one headline announced “Wild West Show Attracts Rawson People”, Clark’s Corners seemed to generate more news than other areas of town with its “Social Affairs of the Week”. Who knew affairs were societally acceptable then? (for at least a week)

Mrs. Paul Revere Gordon would later pen a letter claiming: Clarks Corner’s theme song is ‘whatever high society in Hampton doesn’t want, stick it in Clark’s Corner’…Come over to C. C. and learn what noise is. We know nothing of Hampton’s “high society”, though news of a campground here offers a clue: The old aluminum mess kits passed into the pioneer history of Camp Fernow last week when china dishes and silver knives, forks and spoons were placed on the new mess tables. The new dishes followed the disappearance of the mess line.

While this clipping solves the “high society” puzzle, Clark’s Corner’s social activities might account for the noise: At P.J. Naven’s are Miss Anna Lynch, Mrs. Mary Lynch, Mrs. Arthur Racicot and child, Miss Winifred Rourke and friend, all of Willimantic, Mrs. John H. Kelly and son Raymond, and Miss Annie McMahon of New Haven. Wow! P. J.’s long-standing stint as Mayor of Clark’s Corners must have been a generational thing.

In other weekly news: “Jerome Evans of Hartford spent the weekend at his parents’ home here. Miss Dutton, operator, spent Saturday in Boston. Miss Lenora Jennings has returned from Plainville after a week’s stay. Miss Ruth Scott has left for Plainville where she is employed. Mrs. L. H. Jewett spent Thursday at Coventry Lake. A. Newman of New Haven called on his daughter recently.  Mrs. William Oliver is recovering from grip.” There was also a speaking and spelling contest at Clark’s Corner school house with Clarence Kneelandgewofare the winner — small wonder with a name like that to spell! And then there was this tidbit: On Labor Day a traveler called on the local grocer and made some purchases. Later in the week the grocer received a letter which contained the following news: Dear grocer: In making change for me on Labor Day you gave me too much change, so I am returning the ten cents. Now that’s news that probably would make the front page today.

Whatever anyone thinks of what was reported, one must admit, they didn’t miss much:

Frank Phillips was in Willimantic recently.

Mrs. John Fitts who has been very ill is slightly improved.

Mrs. E. B. Phillips picked some blue and white violets last Sunday.

Mrs. Edwin St. John is sick.

A family of Italians moved into the Shanley house last week.

1. W. Hammond was in Abington on Saturday.

Miss Mildred Burnham is confined to her bed from the effects of chilling her feet.

You didn’t have to travel very far from Hampton to make the news:

Robert Colburn was in Chaplin on Sunday.

Herman Allen, Mrs. F. J. Moran, Mrs. Stanley Weaver and Mrs. C. B. Jewett were Thread City visitors during the week.

Miss Eleanor Sharpe has returned from a visit with relatives in Woodstock Valley.

And sometimes you didn’t even have to travel out of town:

Mr. and Mrs. W. N. Jewett were visitors here from Clark’s Corners this week.

Moving from one home to another was considered newsworthy — Mrs. Ralph Burnham and grandchildren have gone from the home owned by Mrs. Rosella Congdon to the home in Bigelow owned by Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Hughes — though it’s hard to understand how this November 7, 1902 item — The Selectmen of Hampton have secured the old Demming Place in that town for the purpose of making it into a town farm, and it is also proposed to build a lodging house for tramps on the premises, making the tramps chop wood in payment for lodgings. – qualifies as the sort of news usually reserved for the “silk-stocking crowd”.

The dizzying array of social clubs no doubt contributed to the whirlwind days and steamy nights: the Harmony Club, the Betterment Society,  Young Couples Club, Home Economics, Hampton Community Club, the Village Improvement Society, Young Homemakers Club, to name a few, and at the center of our eclectic universe – the Little River Grange, reporting on its “water-cooler talk” — Carl W. Jewett has been recently elected secretary of the vegetable club…A local milk meeting was held in Hampton, called by Charles Fitts, president — and on other drama:

March 16, 1906: “Valley Farm” was presented by Little River Grange Dramatic Club at the Town Hall on Wednesday evening of last week. The drama was of excellent merit and those participating took their part in the most satisfactory manner. Not exactly the most effusive of praise, from columnists who felt compelled to let us know that: Charles Parker of this place has a freak chicken his incubator hatched Tuesday.

The Congregational Church was also a constant source of entertainment: Sunday evening several hymns will be pantomimed by Miss Ruth Burnham, accompanied by invisible singers,  and we also reaped the rewards of a local chapter of an international ministry:

March 8, 1901: There was a bean supper given in the Town Hall on Wednesday night, the 27^th, by the Christian Endeavor Social Committee. After the supper a spelling match was held. In “Hampton Remembers”, Ethel Edwards recalled making “oodles of dinners” and “bushels and bushels of beans”. This is the only one, however, that was immediately followed by a community event. In fact, Gertrude Pearl relayed that the minister “wished we’d stop havin’ baked bean suppers Saturday night. He like baked beans but he said if a Saturday night you had a baked bean supper, then folks didn’t come to church on Sunday. “

Nearly a century later, The Hampton Gazette would provide a society page in columns titled “Social Notes”, “Neighbors”, and “About Folks”. Here, too, travels were worth noting, as in this September, 1980 account which recorded destinations as close as Karen and Kristin Hoffman, Tonia Becker, Judy and Alyssa Hochstetter and Rebecca Trowbridge attended Clever Camp at the 4-H camp and as far flung as Asia, when Mr. and Mrs. Akira Memii of Japan visited Akira’s brother’s pen pal in grammar school, Sue Hochstetter.

While the fortunate few invited to the playground of Hampton’s fashionable elite were recognized — Recent visitors to Hampton include Mr. and Mrs. Peter Milner and family of Quebec, Ms. Ellen Osborne Coolidge of Montreal, Ms. Whitney Dean of Boston, Ms. Agnes Forman of Florida, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hawley of Florida, and Mrs. Gordon Gray of Philadelphia —  most months contained information on our own comings and goings:

Mrs. John E. Holt returned May 16 from a visit to her home in Versailles, Kentucky. During her stay she entertained Mr. and Mrs. Morris Burr, Mr. and Mrs. T. Frederick Curry, and Mrs. W. Harold Stockburger.

George and Margaret Hemphill will be spending the next six months in England and on the continent, while their son, Tom, remains in Hampton.

Josiah and Nickolas Brown traveled by Amtrak for ten hours to visit their friends the Medbery children in Buchannan, Virginia.

The ‘traveling grandmothers’, namely Marion Osborn, Dot Overbaugh, Vera Hoffman, Eleanor Moon and Bea Thayer made their annual trip to Vermont to see the foliage.”

There was this seasonal reminder: Sure signs of spring – the return of robins and other southern birds. Welcome home Frances Chadwick and Mrs. Worcester, Bill and Vinnie Stocking, and Dick and Ethel Jaworski.

And this explanation: If things seem a bit quieter around town, Dorothy Holt is in Kentucky but will be home early in May.

Alice Matthews contributed the monthly column to the Gazette, and it must have been a tough assignment, as Eleanor Moon and Mary Pearl attempted it only briefly, returning the arduous task to Alice rather quickly. Along with travels, births were announced, as well as nuptials. And while this remains a curiosity — Let’s start with an apology to Wendy Frattini. Mrs. Frattini owns her own home where she resides with her two children — an inexplicable retraction as the referenced article didn’t mention where Mrs. Frattini lived or with whom, another apology was more evidently warranted a few months later: I would like to start with an apology to Noel Waite for making him a bigamist in last month’s column. Apparently Noel was erroneously named as the groom in his brother’s wedding as well as his own.

“Weddings, weddings, weddings,” Alice bemoaned, but she was only responsible for naming the happy couple and their happy parents. Earlier clippings in the Chronicle and the Courant included every last detail of wedding attire, such as Miss Eleanor Pearl’s: The bride, who was given in marriage by her father, wore a gown of white crepe and a veil of tulle. She carried a shower bouquet of bride roses and baby breath…the matron of honor wore a gown of pink roses. The bridesmaids’ gowns were of blue crepe and they carried yellow roses…The bride and groom left for an unannounced wedding trip, the bride wearing a green ensemble.

Honestly, it’s a wonder Hampton’s youth ever found one another, as young women were focused on sophistication, as with the Ladies’ Aid Society where ladies of the church and their friends were invited to the Annual Summer Silver Tea, and the Hampton Homemakers where: Mrs. Egbert B. Inman Jr. and Mrs. Carl Pite presented the program, “Entertaining with a Cosmopolitan Flair”, while the young men followed woodsy pursuits, as with the Boy Ranger Lodge “raring to go” in the direction of great doings in the weeks to come. They expect to indulge in some unusual pow-wows very soon.

They did dance a lot: The Recreation Committee will sponsor a “Beatnik Dance” Saturday from 7:30 to 11pm. at the firehouse. Young people on the planning committee include Nancy Hoffman, Mary Lu Trowbridge, Gail Chatey, Janet Thompson, Patricia Jones,  Thomas Trowbridge, Shirley Freeman, Alan Freeman, Scott Johnson, John Osborn and Kathy Thompson. Wow! Perhaps we could contact some of these people for tips on accomplishing this amount of participation! And ask what constituted a “beatnik dance” while we’re at it.

The Gazette’s society page wasn’t limited to the social scene of Hampton’s glitterati. Major accomplishments were also listed:

Sue Hochstetter spent several days in Kansas City, Mo., attending a symposium on allergies. 

Eunice and Ron Gluck recently became Connecticut State racing canoe champions.

Steve Surridge is taking flying lessons.

Pat Donahue recently entertained members of the Willimantic Paints and Palette Club.

Gerry Donahue achieved the position of sales director of Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Randy Thompson’s hobby of parachuting has paid off in an unexpected way. He is working at Kennedy Space Center.

This one paid off, too: Eben Ostby (of Pixar fame) received his M.S. in computer science from Brown University

Some notices weren’t without a degree of drama: Graduations fifteen hours apart were the breathless schedule followed by Kay and Tom Gaines and November 6, if you consult your Hampton Community Calendar, is Kevin Kavanaugh’s birthday. Wife Jeanne staged a twenty-four-hour miracle.

Other lofty accomplishments: Leila Polttila of Sarah Pearl Road was walking in the woods in Howard Valley and found a balloon released from a school in Green Brook, New Jersey.

We don’t know what the reason for the eventual demise of the Gazette’s society page was, but at one point Mrs. Matthews published her phone number with the stern warning: “I cannot print what I do not hear”. It’s comforting to know that as grueling as it was to keep up with Hampton’s juicy gossip, she never resorted to paparazzi tactics like stalking neighbors and peeking in windows, nor did she depend solely on the intel one usually collects at the Town Dump.

It is a curiosity to many, who might pose the question “who cares?”  Not only did they care to know these things, but they cared enough to report them! But perhaps the operative word is “cared”. For their neighbors, their community, one another, they cared.

With all the old newspaper clippings we’ve relied on for this issue, we thought we would reserve this month’s “Remembering” for a 1917 article which affirms the New England saying “You can’t get there from here.” Who knows? Perhaps Hampton was the original source.

HAMPTON IS HARD PLACE TO REACH

Woman in Tears After Many Suggestions and Goes Back to New York.

It all happened because a woman from New York missed her train to Hampton at 2:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Owing to her inability to determine the best method of getting to Hampton, she went back to New York. Apparently there is only one through train a day between Hartford and Hampton by way of Willimantic, and she did not get it. But many were the suggestions she received as to how she should get there.

She walked up to the announcer with a little 8-year-old girl, and asked the way to Hampton, showing her ticket. “You go to Willimantic, on a train leaving here after 5 o’clock,” said the announcer, “and then you can go across to Hampton by trolley or jitney.”

“I beg your pardon,” spoke up an interested listener, a woman. “But the best thing for her to do is to go to North Windham, and she can get a trolley from there to Hampton without any difficulty.”

“Excuse me,” put in another woman, “but as a matter of fact there is no trolley service between North Windham and Hampton.”

“Really now, but there is,’ said the first woman, sweetly.

“No, there isn’t, because I have been there,” put in the second woman, in honeyed tones.

“All right have it your way,” replied the first woman refusing to become angry. “By the way, there is my train,” and she hurried away to catch it.

“Well at any rate,” said the announcer, as soon as he could get in a word, “you can get a trolley from Willimantic.”

“Yes, and you can tell the woman,” added a man who had been listening and was about to start off to catch his train, “that she can find plenty of transportation either at North Windham or at Willimantic to get her to Hampton.”

The air of finality in the voices of both men ought to have convinced the poor woman, but instead she burst into tears. Throughout the discussion her face had alternately radiated with hope and clouded with gloom, like a flickering candle, but sure that she would never see that haven of refuge, more difficult to reach than trenches filled with barbed wire entanglements, her courage gave way and she cried. Her little daughter not knowing what “mamma” was crying about but sure it was something serious, began to cry too.

Meanwhile the controversy had sprung up anew. The announcer had said lightly that there was a trolley to Hampton from Willimantic, and the statement was immediately challenged by a woman standing near.

“There is none at all, I know,” she said firmly.

“Burt she can get a jitney,” said the announcer, glaring at her and turning to the weeping woman, he asked her kindly if she had any money.

“A little,” sobbed the woman.

“Well you can get a jitney out to Hampton for about a quarter,” he said with an air of settling the whole business, but the woman was not to be consoled. The circumstances surrounding the trip to Hampton were too precarious for her to tackle, evidently, and she had bought a return ticket to New York, and had mounted into her train.

“Gosh,” said the announcer, wiping his brow, after the woman had gone, “that Hampton must be a heard place to reach.”

Auntie Mac was frankly shocked to hear of an event in Hampton this past month about which she knew absolutely nothing! Imagine her surprise and embarrassment, and the excruciating curiosity that followed, to be advised (for she is not without spies in every corner) of a gathering held by several members of the secretive “1932 Club” just scant weeks ago on an unseasonably warm afternoon in the private wooded garden of an unnamed patron of the arts. It seems that famed Hampton painter, 91-year-old Virginia O’Brien, had been commissioned by Prince Ernst August, great-grandson of the last resident of Hampton Court, London, to fashion a portrait of our Hampton’s notables in a setting reminiscent of his ancestors’ grounds. In honor of the season, Virginia was hoping to evoke a combination of Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring” and Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” but her independent and mischievous subjects had other ideas.

Ida Plourde, 97 and resplendent in Jeanne Lanvin French couture, posed gracefully on a smooth oversized boulder, urging her companions to gather round her on the grass so the artist could begin, but only Betty Garner, nearly 90, took heed, murmuring that she adored Ida’s lovely British accent and wanted to sit as close as possible. She begged Morris Burr, 93, to join them, but he was having none of it, as he’d been tasked with creating an after-portrait chicken barbecue for the group and Jack Meister, 91, had hidden his tongs. “I can’t let you do it, Morris,” Jack was heard saying, having recently converted to vegetarianism after years as the town vet and currently running a foster home for errant Rhode Island Reds.

“Oh do sit still, for heaven’s sake!” cried Virginia. “Sylvia, help me out here,” she implored retired elementary school teacher and fellow artist Sylvia Curry, nearly 90, who looked sternly at the group and managed to grab Helen Zisk, 97, by the hood of her parka and sit her down at Ida’s feet where Anne Mitchell, 95, had spread a camel’s hair throw and was sipping a hot beverage. “I may be tiny but I don’t need to sit in the front row,” muttered Helen to Anne, before climbing into a small lilac behind the group, settling on a branch above Jane Marrotte, 90, who Ida and Betty had asked once again to hear the story of how Jane was born in what became her own bedroom, on the family-named Robbins Road.

Sylvia finally coaxed Morris and Jack into position—Morris on the blanket beside Jane, and Jack standing beside Ida with a brotherly hand on her embroidered shawl, and Virginia captured the sylvan tableau in what I hear was a pastel masterpiece of light and shadow. The chicken was then served with a delightful Domain de Miroirs chardonnay flown in as a gift from the Prince himself. Sadly, the painting was whisked away to London before anyone other than the woodland guests could admire it. “Darn shame,” Morris was reported to remark to Jack later. “I think Virginia really did justice to our ageless physiques.”

I truly wished I’d been there to witness this adventure, my dears, but the season is just beginning, and you have Auntie Mac’s word that she will leave no social stone unturned in the coming months, so no Hampton event, fete, soiree or revelry will escape her notice.

Auntie Mac

Aka: Stone Soup (All foods sound better in French)

During COVID, and now in its aftermath, we all have had to adjust to many things. One thing in particular is the availability and the quantities of products we use to prepare our meals. This month’s recipe is for a soup that provides both sustenance and an important lesson about sharing and community.

The base for the soup is a simple ingredient from a locally abundant product in Hampton: a stone. The original recipe comes from Europe. But first, before the actual recipe, we need to know the back story of stone soup. To be brief, I’ll provide the “Cliff Notes” version. It’s about a poor wandering traveler who is hungry and comes upon a village. He stops at the first house he sees and asks the owner if he can get something to eat. The homeowner says that this is a very poor village and he has nothing to spare; he also tells the traveler he will hear the same response from all the other villagers as well.

The resourceful traveler leaves but then has an idea. He returns to the house with a stone and says to the owner that he can make a wonderful soup from his stone, all he needs is a large pot, some water and a fire. After some convincing, the owner lets the traveler in and the traveler places his stone in the pot, covers it with water and lights a fire. As the stone simmers, the owner’s sons return from their work in the fields, and they had some onions and carrots. The traveler said the soup would be much improved if he could add some of the onions and carrots; they consent, and he adds them to the pot. Soon several neighbors were passing by, one with some fresh beans and the other with some cabbages. The traveler asked if they could spare some of their vegetables for some of the soup; they both agreed. Now the simmering soup was creating a wonderful aroma that others in the village could smell. The interested villagers stopped by and saw that a soup was being prepared, and they too went back to their homes and returned with scraps and bits of food which were added to the soup. At the end, all the villagers had a very hearty and pleasing soup created by the entire community that had its beginnings from two humble products, a stone and some water.

The actual recipe for stone soup is very simple, it only needs two ingredients:

• One stone, preferably a Hampton stone (Always go local!).
• A group of friends and neighbors with odds-and-ends from their kitchens — the larger the group the better the soup!

Peter Witkowski

My refrigerator key is different from anyone else’s. It’s my car key. I can hear you asking, how can a car key open your refrigerator?  Because my car is my refrigerator now.  On February 19 I noticed in the morning when I poured the milk over my breakfast cereal, that the milk wasn’t cold. I ran and looked at the thermometer I keep in the fridge to tell me the real fridge temperature. It said 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I checked the freezer compartment, and it was still all frozen. I called the major store appliance repair unit, and they sent out a truck. The guy checked the fridge and said he would have to order a new part for the fridge, as he did not have that part in his truck. The earliest date he could give me for the installation of the new part was February 28. Immediately I moved the milk, cheese and meat from my dead fridge to my new fridge: the car trunk.  Boy, am I glad my fridge died in February and not July. The car trunk would not be cold in July. Apparently, machines talk to each other now, because after United Parcel delivered the new refrigerator part, the service repair unit rescheduled the fridge fix to February 25.

Normally, if there is a day in February when the meteorologist predicts that the next day will be 60 degrees, I am elated, because I can then take a walk outside without any ice on the roads.  Now that prediction makes me depressed because my new refrigerator will die!  But today, February 25, nature heard my complaint about 60 degrees and my car trunk being too warm, and voila! Snow, sleet and ice.  The fridge repairman called and said he would be at my house about 12:30 PM.  I told him the driveway wasn’t plowed yet, so please descend my hilly driveway slowly. Just after he hung up, my snowplow driver came and plowed the driveway.  Do machines have ESP, because I hadn’t called the plow driver. After the repairman fixed the refrigerator and left I kept hearing noises outside.  I looked out and saw he was having trouble getting his van up my driveway, which had frozen right after getting plowed. He did get out after trying several times. The store van didn’t have studded tires, that’s why he had trouble. As my Vermont step-son would say, Vermonters understand ice and that snow tires and 4-wheel drive can’t compete with studded tires on ice. My first winter here in Hampton on my hilly driveway I got studded tires after talking to my stepson for advice. I think the real problem is that Connecticut legislators don’t understand ice. By state law in both Connecticut and Massachusetts you have to take your studded tires off by April 30.  But in MA you can put them on your car on November 1, yet in CT, not till November 15.  If you live in Woodstock, just a few miles away from Webster, MA, you don’t get glare ice till November 15?  Maybe those folks who live in the Berkshire mountains in MA have more pull with their legislators than the folks in Litchfield County and Windham County, CT have with their own legislators.

No home appliance is made as well as it used to be. My husband and I lived in Scotland, CT for 32 years.  In our last year there we started looking for another house that was not so full of stairs as our Scotland one. Stairs to get into the house from the back door, from the side door, from the front door, and lots of stairs inside the house.  Meanwhile, our current fridge had died after three decades of faithful service. We figured that it would cost a lot to fix an ancient fridge, if they even made parts for a fridge as old as ours. So in 2015 we shopped for a new fridge, bought one, and guess what?  It died, but fortunately during the six-month warranty period. The store service truck came, and the fridge needed a new major part that would have cost us $500 but was free because of the warranty.  And that major part was right in the truck. The serviceman who came to my Hampton home on February 19 said this same major store appliance repair service doesn’t let them keep many parts on their trucks anymore; the repairmen have to order new parts from the worksite.

I then called a girl friend for the real scoop. She said the reason that appliances don’t last for decades anymore without needing repair is that not all parts are manufactured here in the US anymore, but elsewhere, and if you need a new part for the fridge, guess what!  Shipping takes longer. Sigh. I cannot help but think of my great-grandfather, who was an immigrant from Sweden. When he got to the US in the mid 1800’s, he was asked at the immigration entry site in New York what his name was. He answered, Anton Johansson.  “Oh, the government worker said, that’s Anthony Johnson in this country.  Next customer please.”

Now Anthony understood cold.  After all, Sweden was very frigid in winter. He told my grandfather that when he was a small boy in Sweden, his mother would rub all her children with bear fat and sew them into their clothes (with a trap door) once winter came, just so the skin wouldn’t crack and bleed. When he moved to Long Island, he became a confectioner. He made candy and ice cream.  The candy he sold both to merchants on Main Street and in his own store by his home. The ice cream he only sold in his store. Why?  Because it had to be eaten right after it was made.  No electricity yet, just an ice box. The ice box was a wooden cupboard in which you put ice you had sawn off of ponds in the winter. You kept that ice in a wooden structure called the ice house and kept it covered with sawdust for insulation. Anthony would understand my dilemma.

My “fixed” fridge still does not work, so I went to a store and bought a new fridge before we lose those cold outside temperatures.  When we moved to Hampton in 2016, I was talking to a Hamptonite woman about new appliances, and she asked how old my fridge was. I said only a year old. She answered, maybe you will be lucky enough to go five years without it breaking down. I responded that our old fridge had gone decades without a problem, and she said that they don’t make them as well as they used to. They now manufacture planned obsolescence so you have to buy a new appliance every few years. I am sorry to report that she is right. Anyone else having problems with new appliances?  Gee, do you remember the auto lemon law? That was passed because so many people were getting new cars with problems. The CT statute covers defective vehicles under two years old or under 24,000 miles. Should we ask for a new law mandating that all appliances (refrigerators, dishwashers, stoves, washers, dryers) must be defect free for X number of years or come with a warranty for X number of years for any repair of defect, covering parts and labor?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Angela Hawkins Fichter

Leon Berard

Leon Otis Berard passed away peacefully on March 13, 2022 at Advent Health in New Smyrna Beach, Florida surrounded by his loving family. Born April 11, 1937 in Willimantic, Leon graduated from Windham Regional Technical School in 1955, served his country in the US Army from 1955-1962, and then established Berard Builders here in Hampton, a company he retired from in 1998.

Leon was a life member of both the Hampton Volunteer Fire Department and the Hampton-Chaplin Ambulance Corp, and held many offices in each organization. For many years he was a communicant at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. He also served his community on the Zoning Board and the Building Board of Appeals. As a volunteer, Leon also worked with the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford. Leon was such a fixture in our lives here – in church, in the fire department, on the porch of the General Store where he always had a friendly word for everyone. It’s not surprising to those of us who knew him, and benefited from his charitable spirit of volunteerism, that after retiring to Florida, he continued to give of himself, with the Port Orange Florida Family Days Community Trust, and along with his wife, with the Children’s Miracle Network, the American Cancer Society and Wal-Mart Super Center #582 activities.

Predeceased by two brothers and a sister, he is survived by his wife of 63 years, Lillian, his children John and wife Laurie, Michael and wife Brenda, and Jackie Moffitt and husband Milton, as well as eight grandchildren. Our condolences to them all.

Carolyn Gaines

Carolynn Levin Gaines passed away on February 9, 2022 in the 99^th year of her life. She and her husband, Tom Gaines, who survives her, recently celebrated their 75 years together.

Born on December 29, 1922, Carolyn grew up a first generation child of Jewish immigrants in Chicago. Throughout her life, she embraced the same empathy her family exhibited during the Great Depression, when the back gates of neighborhood homes willing to share food were marked.  Her home was so indicated. Graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, Carolyn majored in Journalism and Home Economics at the University of Wisconsin. After graduation, she obtained employment with the Chicago Times, the Woman’s Home Companion and as a publicist for Borden. While visiting Tom in Hawaii, where he was stationed during World War II, she wrote an eyewitness account of a tsunami that devastated Hawaii in 1946. Throughout her life she would write articles in a wide range of publications, and in 2005, she published “The Modest Memoir of a Yankee Yenta”.

Carolyn and Tom lived in New York City, and in South and Central America, where they resided in the housing development they built in San Jose, Costa Rica with then President Jose Figueros, before retiring to Hampton where Kay, as she was known here, was involved in many facets of our community. A founding member of The Hampton Gazette, she contributed to the monthly column “EarthCare” for decades. Our condolences to Tom and their children, Gary and wife Bonnie, Elizabeth and husband John, Andrea and husband, Hugh, and three grandsons.

Carl Kaufman

Carl Kaufman passed away on March 18, 2022 at his home here in Hampton surrounded by family, and the song, “Oh, Come Angel Band”, in the 66^th year of his life. Born on April 22, 1955, Carl was from Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania, where he worked for Kaufman’s Fruit Farm for 42 years, helping with the harvest in summer and fall and driving a truck for the wholesale department in the winter.  After moving to Hampton, he worked for Willimantic Waste and Kahn Tractors until cancer took his strength.  Diagnosed in June of 2021, Carl’s battle with the disease that would take his life was a brave one. His family was grateful to have a last Thanksgiving and Christmas with him.

Carl loved the outdoors, hunting and horticulture. He loved meeting new people and made many friends on his truck routes for Kaufman’s Fruit Farm. He also went on many of the Christian Assistance Ministry’s disaster relief work projects. His daily routine of reading his Bible in the morning before work was a constant reminder to everyone around him to draw near God. Though he lived in Hampton for only a few years, Carl was a member of the Hampton Fire Company, whose uniformed members greeted those who attended his services. Carl made a strong and lasting impression here; he will be missed.

Our condolences to Carl’s wife, Judy, their three sons, Albert of Pennsylvania, and Marcus and Wendell of Hampton, three daughters, Sabrina, Carla and Willy Leinbach, of Hampton, Alice of Ohio, and three grandchildren, Wyatt, Charlotte and Dominic.

One of the most picturesque hamlets, barns, and as it turns out, kitchens, in town has been recognized as such. Bright Acres Farm Sugar House recently set the stage for a television commercial promoting, naturally, health. The locale on Old Kings Highway was selected as “just the right” sugar house for the filming of a commercial for Middlesex Health.  Shortly after six o’clock on the morning of January 17, a fourteen member crew started filming as Bright Acres owners, Richard Schenk and Judy Wilson, ran the evaporator to produce the right amount of steam until the desired footage was obtained. The crew also used the Schenk’s kitchen to film a short scene of children enjoying “Grandpa’s maple syrup”, which was, of course, produced on the premises. Rich and Judy described the experience as a “fascinating process. The amount of preparation, equipment, technology, talent and expertise required to film a 30 second commercial is astounding!” One member of the family was tapped for his acting skills. “All professional actors were used in the actual commercial. However Mattie, our nearly 15-year-old lab, was given a starring role beside ‘Grandpa’ in a couple of scenes,” Judy stated, adding “Rich did have to split the wood for the actor, who was then filmed splitting already split wood, and he did provide the actual sound of the wood being split.”

The airing of the commercial, which can be seen at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLnPGpjfzx0  coincides with the sugaring season itself. Treat yourself to the view, and to a sample of their syrup.

Award winning artist and printmaker Shirley Bernstein will be an honored participant in a three year in the making collaboration with her contemporary group Printmakers Network of Southern New England. The show will open March 24, 2022 and run till January 23, 2023. Inspired by Twain’s writings and quotes and his connection to the many varying aspects of the human condition, the artists have sought to connect with his themes and commentary. In so doing, each artist has chosen a Twain quote as an inspiration for their work. Shirley choose the Twain quote, “The air there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn’t it be?…

It is the same the angels breathe.” Understandable when one sees the ten 12” by12” woodcuts that celebrate the skies in all their magnificent variety that the artist will be offering in this show.

Shirley was a founding member of this group some 30 years ago and they have a well respected reputation for helping to manifest an understanding of printmaking through exhibits, demonstrations, and as a tool used in Physical Therapy. This collection includes a variety of printing creations that hope to challenge and inspire the audience to  think and feel the many ways we connect, not just with Twain’s writings, but with each other. Bernstein’s reductive woodcuts are invitations to ponder the world above us. She has a colorful approach to her art, a moment’s glimpse into the richness found in the ever changing sky.

The reductive woodcut process requires not only talent, but patience as well. Starting with a wood block, the artist cuts away, using carving tools, the areas not to be printed. Each inked color requires the artist to eliminate more wood. The more colors, the more cuts. Each color is then registered on the same piece of paper and run through the hand press. It is a lengthy process and requires skillful forethought and patience. The end product is a rich homage to the ever presence of beauty often unnoticed and taken for granted.  More information about Shirley is available in her bio and on her website, shirleybernstein.com.

Shirley Bernstein was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned her BFA at the University of the Arts (formerly Philadelphia College of Art) and earned her MFA from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She majored in printmaking and minored in painting and drawing. She has been a Hampton resident since 1989.

Shirley has an extensive exhibition record that includes both her oil pastels and prints and has shown her work both nationally and internationally. Her work is in the collections of Pacific Rim International Print collection, The Newport Museum, Robert Blackburn Collection at the Library of Congress, Slater Museum, Indiana University Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Union Carbide Corp., Neiman Marcus, Arjo Wiggins, Eastern Connecticut State University, Wheaton College Rare Books, Staubiz Design, Dodd Center, Fletcher Memorial Library, Special Collections at UCONN, Fairfield University, McNeese State University, The Newark Library and Syracuse University, as well as private collections in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

While keeping up with a busy exhibition schedule, Shirley was also a dedicated college art professor.  She received the Teaching Excellence Award at Quinebaug Valley Community College where she retired from in 2013. She has also taught at the University of Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State University, New York City’s Cooper Union and Fashion Institute, Indiana University, Kean University in New Jersey, Beaver College and University of the Arts in Pennsylvania, and Knoxville College in Tennessee.

Wayne Erskine

An upcoming issue will feature another artist, Lula Blocton, who will be exhibiting in New York.