For the last two years, the pandemic’s restrictions have prevented many communal celebrations, especially our holiday traditions. Trips along Memory Lane have helped us to compensate. This, too, has been especially true around the holidays. We’ve shared remembrances of gatherings, of those who are no longer with us, of customs in our homes and in our town.  Reminiscing has, somehow, brought us nearer to one another. Hopefully, next year we’ll return to collective health, and our retrospections will culminate with what we can anticipate in the current season.

Although the New Year announces itself with much reverie in many places, it’s much mellower in our little hamlet. For a few years the Recreation Commission sponsored dances at the Community Center, which housed several holiday festivities, the Gazette providing cultural cuisine and entertainment for St. Patrick’s and  Cinco de Mayo, and the Historical Society hosting a Mother’s Day Tea. The Community Center has followed in the footsteps of the Little River Grange, the institution that, for over a century, sponsored holiday traditions and many dances, whether there was a holiday or not.

In Hampton Remembers the Second Half of the Twentieth Century, Louis Chatey shared a newspaper clipping of a school Valentine’s Day Dance, recalling that while Debbie (Schenk) Moshier was voted queen, the young men were too timid to come forward, and so Leon Pawlikowki, the bus driver, volunteered to be crowned king. Anyone from another town seeing the photograph and reading the caption, Louis pondered, must have wondered – what on earth is going on there?

Spring brought several celebrations. Easter was all about bonnets and baskets and Sunday bests. There was only one “Easter Parade”, according to a diary entry in Hampton Remembers, put on by “perfectly respectable men, the First Selectman and the Minister among them,” who wore “gorgeous flower-garden hats, high heels, and fancy gowns.” Easter Egg Hunts, however, have been an abiding tradition, at the Church and in the Community.

When I was Matron of the Juvenile Grange, we had an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. We hid the colored eggs in the tall grass around the Grange Hall and then the Mac Millan’s dog came over and he began to find the eggs before the children did!

Margaret Marcus, from Hampton Remembers

We’ve celebrated Earth Day with participation in “Adopt-A-Road”, and Arbor Day was recently revitalized at our elementary school with the assistance of the Recreation Commission and the customary poems, posters and planting of trees. Long ago, spring was also celebrated with the Strawberry Festival and May Baskets.

Maybaskets was the thing then…Each family would get one and it would be everybody else hangin’ it and you’d kind of suspect when there was no word out of where we’re goin’ this week – it didn’t take too much figgering to figger it would be at your house, y’know. And then of course you didn’t do it till it was dark and then you had to catch everybody.…they would ring the bell and have it on the door-step and then they’d go to the door, whoever they were hanging the basket on, and they’d have to run out and catch all the kids who were hiding up the trees and all over – and it’d take two hours…It was a grand chase! When you caught anybody, and you had to physically tag ‘em, then they had to help you find the rest of ‘em…It was mostly a game of hide and seek, only at night.

George Fuller, from Hampton Remembers

Memorial Day remains a community favorite. The American Legion sponsored the many events — intramurals between the town’s seven schools, a parade, concerts in the afternoon, the Ladies Aid sold a picnic lunch and the Little River Grange hosted a chicken barbecue. Through the years, we’ve retained most of these festivities, with various organizations participating in the parade, and a ceremony with a gun salute, the raising of the flag, taps, prayers, songs, and a commemorative speech. The Congregational Church provides breakfast, the town supplies the ice cream the General Store used to distribute, the Gazette, the annual chicken barbecue, and the Recreation Commission sponsors music, dance and baseball.  Even Covid couldn’t keep us from some of our commemorations, socially distanced activities like a take-out barbecue, a list honoring veterans at Town Hall, taps, and a virtual presentation, Hampton Remembers Memorial Day, featuring photographs of parades and ceremonies and veterans, some no longer with us, as well as their words of wisdom.  Whatever the events, the message we communicate is always clear.

Memorial Day left a lasting impression on me because it was a time to learn and be reminded about patriotism and service to our country and about gratitude…It really brought home to me the sacrifices so many made for our country…I felt back then (and still do today) so grateful for those sacrifices and being so proud to be from a town that does not forget.

 Debbie Fuller

Long ago, there were 4^th of July celebrations. George Miller shared a memory of the 1942 parade, recalling “oxen, teams of horses and the Fire Department which was the 1927 LaFrance Pumper and Barney Pawlikowski.”  An entry in Hampton Remembers describes “large picnics of over a hundred people on the Fourth of July…when all the summer families brought their own food, spread out blankets on a lawn and had a sociable day…On the evening of the Fourth of July Mr. James Goodwin put on for the town a very elaborate fireworks display on his lawn just north of the church.”

At one time we traveled all around town for Halloween to visit folks who looked forward to seeing us in our costumes. We also walked the village on foot, which is the custom that has continued, thanks to the generosity of Main Street residents who have always assumed the responsibility of greeting trick-or-treaters with jack-o-lanterns and candy.

Trick-or-treating on Main Street was awesome! We always went there and to the Moon’s and Berard’s. Mr. Berard used to always dress up and scare us! I remember one year at the Church’s house on North Bigelow, they dressed up like giant pillows and chased us!

Melissa (Pawlikowski) Bangs

Establishments like the grange and the schools also provided parties.

We had the best Halloween parties at the school, Lela Henri and Linda Grindle put on the best haunted house and the cake walk was epic! I looked forward to that all year!

Tadria (Pawlikowski) Milhomme

Of course we had the annual Halloween party with prizes for the best costumes and a dance following. The Grange Hall was always jammed with all sorts of ghost and pirates and princesses.

Dot Holt

The Grange continued to host Halloween parties into the 60’s, as Kit Crowne recently reminded us when he recalled the year he decided to dress as a woman : “Hamptonites – gentle by nature and tolerant of the many peccadillos we frail humans possess – weren’t prepared for the spectacle of a 13-year-old cross-dresser invading their midst…It was, as the saying goes, a night that will live on in infamy.”

Of course, there were a few “tricks” as well as “treats”.  In Hampton Remembers, Arthur Kimball relayed that “Halloween was a lot of fun with a favorite prank being tipping over outhouses.”

The season of autumn itself was celebrated in our rural area, the Little River Grange sponsored a Harvest Supper and the Fish and Game Club hosted a Hunter’s Dance. Students still commemorate Veterans’ Day; however schoolchildren no longer have the Thanksgiving feast they once shared.

The entire school walked from the old school to the Congregational Church to celebrate together. The younger grades dressed with pilgrim or Indian headdresses and each grade contributed something to the dinner. One class churned butter, one made a relish, I think the littlest kids filled nut cups….Visualize 200 people walking single file from the school to the church. People living along Main Street loved to come out and watch.

Diane Becker

We would get all bundled up and walk to the church. We would feast together! The entire kindergarten through grade six and all staff. We all wrote what we were thankful for on paper turkeys we traced with our hands. It was the best school event of the year!

Helen Halbach Merasco

The first community Thanksgiving feast we recall is the one our Mennonite neighbors invited us to after they first arrived in town two years ago. It was a feast, and a gesture, none of us is likely to forget.

And then there’s Christmas. Last year, we shared people’s special memories, past and present, riding in a horse drawn sleigh to the Congregational Church where a tree was lit with real candles, of Santa Claus visiting the Little River Grange with a present for every single child, of Christmas programs performed in the one room schoolhouses.

Some traditions, such as caroling to our elders, have continued:

Does anybody remember being greeted at one house by an elderly gentleman clad only in long johns, brandishing a shot gun? Some fast talking by one member of our group convinced him that our intentions were harmless.

Pearl Scarpino, the Hampton Gazette, 1978

And selecting Christmas trees, at Warren Stone’s, Popover Hill, and Halbach’s where their children remember the “Charlie Brown” varieties:

We ended up with the most deformed, disproportioned, asymmetrical tree of all! It was such an annual event that we kids would make bets ahead of time as to which tree would be left for us!…The use of “imperfect” (but I use that term rather affectionately) Christmas trees lasted into the years when my own children were growing up.

Kathie Halbach Moffitt

And our candlelit village, which continues to enchant us:

White lights, wreaths, menorahs, red bows and berries….a beacon of home and hope as you turn onto Main Street.

Wendy Timberman    

Happy Holidays, Hampton. Here’s to home and hope.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature, the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

Rachel Carson

A few years ago, we contemplated purchasing an artificial Christmas tree. Juan and I were remembering the prior winter when we trudged through snow that was over a foot deep, hauled an ice coated tree up two hills, struggled with securing it into the trunk of the car, which almost remained stuck in the frozen slush of the parking field, and transported it, precariously, a few icy miles home.

Once in the house, securing the tree – erect and squarely in the stand – and wiring it to the wall, is never a picnic,

but that year was particularly frustrating because as soon as we wiped up the pool of water on the floor from the ice melting on the limbs, we realized the stand’s basin, full of water, sprung a small leak. Aside from the trudge, which involved all three of us, Juan was the one who had to deal with all of it, the circumstances acerbated with an allergy to pine, and understandably, he was the one who initiated the conversation on “alternatives”.

There are some families, they tell me, who simply unearth the Christmas tree from the attic– and – voila! Lights and all! They’ve only to add the decorations, sans the prickly needles. Our ultimate decision, therefore, was entirely due to ease. We never dreamed that our daughter would respond so strongly when we informed her of our plan to purchase an artificial tree. We never imagined it would be an issue. After all, though involved in the selection process, she wasn’t the one engaged in any of the other rituals – the hauling, the wrestling, the wiring. We assumed she wouldn’t care. We were wrong. She reacted as though we’d announced – no more Christmas presents for you for the rest of your life! So, we acquiesced once more, and vowed to ourselves to really savor the experience since this would be the very last time.

And enjoy it, we did.  At the Christmas tree farm, we were informed that the trees this year were in “our own backyard”, or as close as one could come to it – the grove on Cedar Swamp Road – so we could walk, as we used to, when we went into the woods to select a tree on a neighbor’s invitation.  It was a sunny, windless December day, with only a dusting of snow, as if for show — one of those rare winter days when one wants to stay outside, or so, perhaps, it seemed as this was our last venture into a field to select a tree. The lot was mercifully flat and filled with perfect trees, and our neighbor volunteered his truck for the five minutes it took to take the one we selected home. Perhaps because this was our last, it seemed easier to hoist and secure than the others, and less prickly.

We’ve never seen a tree so perfect for the room, in its height and its girth, and so perfectly shaped; it charmed on its own without ornaments. Yet we strung the lights, the popcorn and cranberries, and placed the collection of decorations on its perfect branches, prolonging the process as this was the last of its type. And there it was, the glorious centerpiece of Christmas; and this, the last, was the most glorious of all.

As promised, we savored many moments of it, seeped in its peaceful splendor, spending time in the quiet of the evenings there, drinking mulled cider and hot cocoa, sharing stories and memories, listening to Christmas carols and sometimes silence. We always keep the tree up till Three Kings Day, since that, too, is our family’s holiday, however we kept this one up longer because it retained its scent and its freshness for so long, and because it was our last.

And, of course, it wasn’t. Yet it wasn’t the tree’s perfection, its twinkling magic, the togetherness it invited, the nostalgia it evoked that convinced us of this. It was actually all that the tree offered afterwards. It was the birds, who visited it first as a curiosity, returned throughout the long, cold months to nibble on the popcorn and the cranberries, to seek its shelter, to build nests in early spring, and to cheer us throughout the season. After the trudging and the hauling and the erecting, after the bustle and the sparkle and the excitement, the birds reminded us that we want to spend the long winter rest that follows this way: in the company of wildlife.

There were a lot of folks who switched to natural trees last year, who decided to bring a bit of the out-of-doors inside. During the pandemic, there were many people spending more time outside, city dwellers traveling to towns like ours to breathe freely, to seek connections, a cure for the isolation, a diversion, some reassurances from the thriving health of the natural world. How fortunate we were in our own back yards. How fortunate for the daily reminders of nature’s significance in our lives.

We’re reminded every morning when the flame of the sun rises through the silhouettes of trees, and every evening as it sets with a pastel splash across our horizon, and through the night in the magic of glittering stars. We’re reminded in every season, with the iconic cycles of New England’s fields and forests and farms, and with the privilege of witnessing the subtleties, the scent of mown hay, the crispness of fallen leaves, the feel of snowflakes, the first green growth unearthed in early spring. And we’re reminded whenever we trudge through deep snow, in the cold of a December afternoon, in search of a tree from a forest of them, and bring one from “our own backyard”, home.

Merry Christmas everyone.  May you spend time savoring your moments of excitement and of peace, of music and of silence, of togetherness and of nostalgia, and in the New Year, may you spend time with family, with friends, and with nature.

Dayna McDermott

This month features Christmas Breakfast from two cultures sharing the same purpose:  something tasty to look forward to after the presents are unwrapped, and hearty enough to provide plenty of energy to play with them.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole

Koty’s and my Christmas Eve tradition was to make this casserole together before bed. Christmas morning it was baking while we opened presents before eating. 

Ingredients:

bread – 12 slices of brioche (challah will also work, day old preferred)

olive oil – for cooking purposes

onion – 1 large yellow and 3 green onions, chopped

Italian sausage – casings removed

dry mustard

salt & pepper

bell pepper – green and/or red, finely chopped

cheddar cheese – shredded

6 eggs

2 cups milk

Preheat oven: To 300 F degrees. Prepare bread: Cut the bread into cubes and place them onto a baking sheet. Place the bread into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, just enough to dry the bread out but not toast it. Remove from the oven and set aside. Prepare sausage: In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sausage and cook until onion has softened and sausage is cooked through. Use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage as it cooks. Finally, season with salt and pepper and dry mustard. Build casserole: Add half the bread cubes to a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish and top with half of the cooked onions and sausage. Next, add half the chopped bell pepper, chopped green onions, and 1 cup of shredded cheese. Repeat layers with remaining bread, onion, sausage, bell peppers, green onions, and cheese. Prepare the eggs: In a bowl whisk together the eggs and milk and pour over the casserole evenly. Finally, cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and put in the fridge overnight. Bake and serve: The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 °F and remove the foil from the casserole dish. Place into the oven and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. You’ll know the casserole is done if you insert a knife in the center and if it comes clean, it’s done. Serve hot!

Judy Noel

Maple Bread Pudding

A Canadian favorite. Simple ingredients — eggs, sausage, milk, day-old bread, and, of course, pure maple syrup. Ingredients:

6 breakfast sausages

¼ cup brown sugar

six slices day-old bread, buttered

3 cups milk

3 eggs

vanilla

maple syrup

Cook breakfast sausages and cut into small pieces. Generously butter an 8”x 8” baking dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar into the buttered dish. Add the sausages, and top with buttered bread. Mix the milk, eggs, and a touch of vanilla and pour over casserole. Bake one hour at 350. Add maple syrup, to your liking, 15 minutes before removing the casserole from the oven.

Diane Gagnon

It was a cold December 24^th long ago when my sister and I heard that the Elks were giving out dolls to all the little girls in town. We were living in Boonton, New Jersey. It was just a small city with a blacksmith shop where we loved to go after school. The smell of hay was such a treat to a city child. The main street had a five and ten, a drug store, a theater, and an A&P store where Mama did her shopping. The Elks home was about eight blocks from our house. We hurried along only to find that the line of kids was so long that they were standing outside.

“How long do you think we’ll have to wait till our turn comes?” I asked my sister.

“I don’t know. It will be a couple of hours I guess”, she said, “and I’m frozen already.”

We were not dressed warmly enough as there were ten of us in the family and my parents could not afford warm coats and shoes for each of us, so we wore each other’s hand-me-downs. My coat had no buttons on it so I pinned it the best I could. My shoes were worn thin and my feet were cold. But I didn’t mind it one bit just as long as I was going to get a new doll.

It was late in the afternoon dusk when our turn came to meet Santa and get our dolls. It was one of the happiest moments of my life when he handed me the package. I opened the box, and there was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen. She had soft, curly hair, her face was porcelain, and her beautiful blue eyes opened and closed. She was dressed in a lacy dress, her face was framed in a white bonnet, and on her feet she wore white socks, and a pair of patent leather shoes.

My sister and I were so delighted with ourselves that we forgot our frozen feet and ran all the way home to show the family what Santa had given to us. They couldn’t believe their eyes when we showed them our dolls and that night two happy and tired little girls went to bed.

And that is why, to this day, my granddaughters always get a Christmas doll.

Irene Becker, reprinted from The Hampton Gazette, 1980

It was a cold December 24^th long ago when my sister and I heard that the Elks were giving out dolls to all the little girls in town. We were living in Boonton, New Jersey. It was just a small city with a blacksmith shop where we loved to go after school. The smell of hay was such a treat to a city child. The main street had a five and ten, a drug store, a theater, and an A&P store where Mama did her shopping. The Elks home was about eight blocks from our house. We hurried along only to find that the line of kids was so long that they were standing outside.

“How long do you think we’ll have to wait till our turn comes?” I asked my sister.

“I don’t know. It will be a couple of hours I guess”, she said, “and I’m frozen already.”

We were not dressed warmly enough as there were ten of us in the family and my parents could not afford warm coats and shoes for each of us, so we wore each other’s hand-me-downs. My coat had no buttons on it so I pinned it the best I could. My shoes were worn thin and my feet were cold. But I didn’t mind it one bit just as long as I was going to get a new doll.

It was late in the afternoon dusk when our turn came to meet Santa and get our dolls. It was one of the happiest moments of my life when he handed me the package. I opened the box, and there was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen. She had soft, curly hair, her face was porcelain, and her beautiful blue eyes opened and closed. She was dressed in a lacy dress, her face was framed in a white bonnet, and on her feet she wore white socks, and a pair of patent leather shoes.

My sister and I were so delighted with ourselves that we forgot our frozen feet and ran all the way home to show the family what Santa had given to us. They couldn’t believe their eyes when we showed them our dolls and that night two happy and tired little girls went to bed.

And that is why, to this day, my granddaughters always get a Christmas doll.

Irene Becker, reprinted from The Hampton Gazette, 1980

The Gazette begins our publishing year by recognizing a resident on the front page of our February issue who personifies good citizenship. Usually, these are folks who volunteer in community organizations and at community events. There were few of those this year, yet there was plenty of neighborliness, and plenty of people who served on various commissions, committees and boards, meeting on virtual platforms throughout the pandemic to maintain important functions of the town.  We also recognize citizens for “life-time achievement”.

Our selection of Citizen of the Year comes from a pool of candidates nominated by residents, so please send your suggestions to: the Hampton Gazette, P.O. Box 101; or hamptongazette@yahoo.com; or contact any member of the editorial board. We look forward to hearing good news of your good neighbors.

The Hampton Gazette

Versatile and friendly with a “can-do-attitude” are words which aptly describe Toby Vertefeuille, who recently resigned from his position with the town’s Department of Public Works after more than sixteen years of service.  Toby departed from employment with our Public Works Department to join Windham Materials, a sand, stone and gravel supplier on Plains Road in Windham Center. Their gain is our loss.

Toby always did his best for our community. If an assignment meant learning a new skill to better serve Hampton, he mastered it. For a while he served as Foreman, saving the Town quite a lot of money whenever possible, while following prescribed regulations with an eye to safety, protecting people and the environment. Along with the daily, multitude of tasks involved in road maintenance, Toby was one of the crew who drove a snow plow all night and salted our roads whenever necessary.  He took on that responsibility so no one would endanger themselves when they had to drive to get to work, school, or an appointment the next day. An arborist, he was the one who identified all the dangerous trees and branches, and when the bucket truck was purchased, he was the one who felled hundreds and hundreds of them, again to ensure that Hampton residents would be safe.

Born and raised in Hampton, Toby loves his town and its people. And it showed in his work, and in the way he treated his neighbors and their concerns. A conscientious worker, and person, he always went above and beyond duty.

Toby, Hampton bids a you a heartfelt “good luck” and “thank you”.  May you continue to excel at whatever you endeavor to do.

Juan Arriola

Possible campaign financing and election violations by Town officials have been referred to the State Election Enforcement Commission (SEEC). After receiving several complaints from citizens, the Registrars of Voters, on the advice of a staff attorney at the SEEC, referred the concerns to the commission for consideration.

Among the complaints is a possible campaign financing violation alleging that First Selectman, Allan Cahill, used the Town website for political purposes in violation of 9-610 which prohibits the “use of public funds by incumbent or for promotional campaign or advertisement”. The First Selectman’s blog, published on the Town website, titled “A Response from Selectman Cahill” and dated October 31, 2021, sought to answer criticisms of his administration and urged residents to “Please vote for me to continue our town’s progress during these challenging times…Vote Row C.”

Other complaints involved Town Clerk Shannon Pearl Haddad, and many of these involved the municipal ballot, which is the Town Clerk’s responsibility to produce.  One error was the inclusion of a position on the Planning and Zoning Commission that did not exist.  Upon the Town Clerk’s public notice of the opening, a Republican candidate was endorsed for the seat, and a Democratic candidate petitioned onto the ballot to fill the position.  Shortly afterwards, however, the Registrars of Voters questioned the vacancy when they noticed discrepancies with PZC appointments, with member Stan Crawford appointed in 2019 filling an unexpired term until 2022, while the term of Gary DeCesare, appointed in 2020, supposedly expired in 2021. The Registrars researched the ordinance and the statute, both of which verified that appointed member serve until the term expires; subsequently, the Office of the Secretary of State confirmed that the position was not up for election.  “If the Registrars had not noticed the discrepancy and researched the issue, the voters would have elected someone who could not legally fill the seat, or the appointed person would have relinquished a seat which was lawfully his,” the referral states.

A later version of the ballot failed to reflect the cross-endorsement of Diane Gagnon, candidate for the Board of Education, who received the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee and petitioned on to the Democratic slate. One of the Registrars caught the mistake and interceded prior to its printing. An even later version of the ballot retained the name of candidate Juan Arriola, who had withdrawn from a vacancy seat on the Board of Education in order to remain as a candidate for the four year term. Unfortunately, the Town Clerk ordered the official ballots prior to the deadline for withdrawal, October 12, and the ballots had to be re-ordered on the advice of the Office of the Secretary of State and at considerable cost to taxpayers. Eight absentee ballots containing erroneous information were sent to applicants, and Ms. Haddad did not re-issue corrected ballots, claiming that applicants needed to request and apply for them, contrary to State statute which dictates that the Town Clerk must “promptly mail to each applicant to whom such an absentee ballot has been issued, a correct absentee ballot” along with “a statement explaining the error” and a copy of the relevant statute. The referral noted that both of these errors involved the Board of Education, a seat Ms. Haddad was seeking. There were also discrepancies involving the spelling of one candidate’s names, with official ballots misspelling the name that was spelled correctly on the sample ballots.

A second area of concern involved the issuance of absentee ballots. Ms. Haddad issued ballots to two grand list voters, one of whom was actually registered in town, and the other, William Pearl, who was not. While persons listed on the Grand List as owning at least $1000 worth of property are eligible to cast ballots in referenda regarding financial matters, such as purchases and budgets, only electors can elect. The absentee ballot was rejected, as was another, which the Town Clerk failed to endorse, forcing the absentee ballot counters to reject it. This, too, was included in the referral.

The last concern was that Ms. Haddad performed official duties during the Municipal Election. While Registrars of Voters and Town Clerks can perform their official duties when they’re running for re-election to those offices, they are prohibited from performing election duties when they are running for any other office. Since Ms. Haddad was seeking election to the Board of Education, her assistant should performed the official duties during the Election.

A final referral was submitted jointly by the Registrars of Hampton and Killingly regarding Mr. Pearl, who applied for and submitted an absentee ballot in Hampton on October 12 and voted in Killingly’s Municipal Election on November 2.

The SEEC will review the referral and decide whether or not to conduct an investigation into any of these matters.

Gazette Staff

Local builder and volunteer Paul Wakely recently passed away at the age of 69. Born on June 8, 1952, Paul was a veteran of the US Army, serving from 1972 – 1974. Graduating from UCONN in 1977 with a degree in Finance, Paul was employed at Dun & Bradstreet, but his love of the out-of-doors led to a career in building. In 1983 he became a partner in Lehto & Wakely Builders, and in 1999 he formed Paul Wakely Builders and Wakely Property Development. A strong believer in staying in shape, he played football and rugby at UCONN, ran the Boston Marathon in 1978 and the Hartford half-marathon in 2014, and in 2009, he biked 4133 miles in the Trans Am Bikecentennial route from Yorktown, Virginia to Florence, Oregon, a journey he chronicled in The Hampton Gazette. He contributed to our town in many ways, serving on the Recreation Commission, Inland-Wetlands, Green Energy Committee, the Board of Finance, and the Fletcher Memorial Library where he completed many building and grounds projects, earning him the nickname “Schneider” among family members. He volunteered with and served on the board of Habitat for Humanity and was very active in his family’s Wakely Foundation. These are things Paul did, but not who he was. The consummate teacher, Paul never missed an opportunity to impart a life lesson upon his children and grandchildren. He believed in giving people the benefit of the doubt, living, and moving on, with good and bad decisions, and caring for, and holding dear, his friends and family. Our condolences to his wife Sharon, son and daughter-in-law Benjamin and Meaghan and their children Nolan and Margaret, son Jacob and his fiancé Nakita Herne, daughter and son-in-law Samantha and Nicholas Rizer, and their children Westin and Ellis. Donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

I am running for the position of First Selectman to continue to serve the Town of Hampton. Over the past 25 years I’ve volunteered and served on different boards including the Board of Education, many committees and community organizations.  I currently serve as the Chairman of the Board of Finance, which provides fiscal oversight, a system of checks and balances, and additional representation for taxpayers. I also serve as their representative on the Hampton Scotland Inter-district Education Cost Sharing Committee, on both governance and programming sub-committees. Due to the decline in student enrollment in both schools, this committee was appointed by Hampton and Scotland Selectmen to research and discuss sharing services and to draft a cooperative agreement, which will be disseminated to the public and discussed in public forums. I support an advisory question to facilitate citizen input, but it’s the school boards that statutorily make the decision on educating students in our towns.

If elected, I will continue to work with our boards, commissions, organizations, employees, and community members to best serve our residents. I regularly attend, participate in, and provide information at board and committee meetings, and host Zoom meetings for Town organizations and commissions to help keep the community connected. I’m committed to citizen access to voting on major purchases and budgets in accordance with State Statutes and Town ordinances.  Because I believe in the importance of an informed citizenry, I intend to improve communication by upgrading the website to provide timely notifications and improve its accessibility. I will also reinstitute the First Selectman’s column in the Gazette, and contribute to other local publications. I believe in providing residents with ample opportunities to participate in decision processes and welcome differing views so that Hampton’s future plans are community based.

I believe our greatest assets are our nature preserves, and our citizens – their spirit of volunteerism and diverse interests. I continue to participate in the Senior Organization – helping to prepare scheduled luncheons and organizing flu shot clinics, and to volunteer with the elementary school and the Recreation Committee to plan holiday activities, decorations, and treats for students and teachers. Our construction company has sponsored youth sports teams, donated materials, and provided labor for improvements at the Hampton Elementary School. Through the years I’ve supported many organizations that make our town a community.  I believe this to be an essential role of the First Selectman. I appreciate the opportunity to further serve our community.

I have lived in Hampton for over 36 years and my three children were well educated in our schools. I am concerned that too many decisions being made for our town are made without the knowledge or input of citizens of Hampton. Whether or not to close our elementary school will have an impact on our town for generations to come. My two opponents are actively working to close Hampton Elementary School and send our students to Scotland. Our schools are the heart of our town. They represent our future and guarantee the vitality of our community. Schools bring young families to our town who help secure our tax base and Hampton’s future. Closing our school will not bring us substantial savings, will jeopardize our home values, our sense of community, and most of all, our children.

Hampton Elementary School is our town’s greatest asset. It has done exceptionally well through the Covid crisis, not having to close its doors but also offering remote classes for families who choose to keep their children home. Hampton is in relatively good financial state; our mil rate is 23.70. How will joining forces with Scotland, whose mill rate is 39, improve our financial situation? What will happen to our lovely elementary school? Will we watch the building decay instead of seeing our young children streaming out each day?

I believe we should collaborate to find ways to address this rather than becoming the first town in our state without an elementary school of its own. Most rural towns are suffering from declining school populations. We need to find ways to share resources and services to make our schools more affordable.

If elected, I will continue my work as chair of the Hampton Green Energy Committee finding ways to save our town money and help reduce the harmful effects of climate change through energy efficiency and renewable energy. I will provide better communication between Town Hall and townspeople, making people aware of services and programs that are available and informing them about upcoming meetings and events. My experience as a business owner, organizer, conflict resolution teacher, energy consultant, and former First Selectman and Board of Education member give me the knowledge and expertise needed to guide our town through these difficult times. Please vote on November 2, now more than ever, your vote counts. I would appreciate your support.