The Town of Hampton, along with the Towns of Eastford and Pomfret, are moving forward with the signing of a contract with KB Ambulance Corporation, Inc. of Killingly, to provide ambulance transport services for residents and visitors to the three towns. KB has been providing services to the Town of Hampton since February 1, 2020, for an interim trial period. The contract will be for a three-year period beginning July 1, 2020. As of the end of May all three towns have signed the contract; the final step will be the signing by KB.

The terms of the contract state that the three towns will pay KB $51,600 per year for emergency transport services. KB’s personnel, vehicles and equipment will be housed at the Pomfret Emergency Operations Center located on Route 44 next to the town’s DPW garage. The Town of Pomfret will provide KB with two bays for emergency vehicles, an office, and an unfurnished bunk room at their emergency operations facility.

KB will provide full time paid EMTs and EMRs on a 24 hours, seven days per week schedule. The KB employees will be managed and supervised by the company’s full-time paid administration and an operations manager.

Certainly, the most important question on the minds of Hampton’s citizens is response time. Hampton’s residents have been accustomed to an ambulance located at the town’s firehouse on Old Route 6 West. The new location will be in Pomfret, albeit relatively near the Hampton border. During the interim trial period KB responded to 12 to 15 calls per month in Hampton with an arrival time of between 10 to 20 minutes. It should be noted that during the interim period KB was responding mostly from their facility in Killingly, a farther distance to most areas in Hampton than will be had from the new facility in Pomfret.

With all the change coming, there is a comforting note in that Hampton’s Fire Department will continue to respond to all calls in Hampton using its squad of volunteer EMTs and EMRs, the only change will be that KB will provide the transport to appropriate and designated emergency medical facilities.

Peter Witkowski

The Board of Finance’s hopes that their role in a controversy over a town purchase would end after they documented their concerns with the State were dashed when the issue reared its divisive head on the pages of The Willimantic Chronicle. In remarks in an article on April 24, and in commentary submitted to the newspaper on April 25, First Selectman Allan Cahill announced that another vote to rescind the ordinance that established the Board of Finance, thought to have been resolved at a January 6, 2020 referendum, lurks on an uncertain horizon.

“The Board of Selectmen, along with myself, can manage the business of Hampton better and more efficiently without alienating the Community as a result of the BOF’s political posturing,” Cahill wrote. “That is why the question to repeal the Ordinance the BOF will again be added to a Town Meeting moving forward.” The vote will not be scheduled until residents are able to gather again, Cahill said.

Residents voted in favor of retaining the Board of Finance to continue as the town’s fiscal authority in a 254-172 vote at a referendum the Selectmen scheduled after the finance board hired an attorney “to assist in recommending procedures to protect the Town’s finances from unauthorized expenditures” when the Selectmen purchased a bucket truck to remove hazardous trees without the statutorily prescribed taxpayer approval. This latest attempt to abolish the Board of Finance appears to be in response to the March 11, 2020 complaint the finance board filed with the State’s Attorney concerning “statutory infractions committed” by Town officials. The finance board documented the events that led to, and followed, the controversial purchase on the advice of counsel, forwarding their concerns to the Office of Policy and Management as well.

The Selectmen voted to purchase the truck to remove 250 trees identified as hazardous on October 7, 2019, presenting the plan to the Board of Finance on October 8. The finance board scheduled a meeting to review the costs of options available for removing the trees prior to the October 24 Town Meeting the Selectmen scheduled for taxpayers to consider the purchase. However, the Selectmen cancelled the Town Meeting and instead purchased the truck for $173,600 on October 30 “without the statutorily mandated approvals of both the Board of Finance and the Town’s legislative body,” the complaint alleges. Documentation subsequently obtained by the finance board revealed that the purchase was funded with monies from a capital account for trucks and equipment, the balance of the line item approved for paving roads, and an unearned portion of the First Selectman’s salary. On advice of counsel, the finance board submitted a complaint concerning the unauthorized purchase to appropriate state authorities.

In his written response to the Chronicle, however, Cahill characterized the complaint differently, claiming that the Board of Finance leveled “unfounded allegations” against him that were “unequivocally untrue, slanderous and threatening.” In both the article and in his correspondence Cahill asserted his right as First Selectman under Connecticut General Statute 28-8a to “take such action as he deems necessary to mitigate the major disaster or emergency”, defined as “any catastrophe including, but not limited to, any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm or drought, or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, explosion, or man-made disaster in any part of this State” as declared by the Governor. At the December 23 Town Meeting prior to the referendum, Cahill pointed to his powers in emergency circumstances under Homeland Security to justify the purchase of the bucket truck, however this was the first time that the hazardous trees were publicly deemed “an emergency”.

In advocating for another vote to abolish the finance board, Cahill contends that they have “lost sight of their responsibilities” and “over stepped their job description.” Finance board members have pointed to the Town ordinance and State law to refute that charge. “The BOF, according to the Handbook for CT Boards of Finance, a guidebook for the application of the statutes, ‘has complete charge of the town government’s financial activities’,” member Perry Matchinis wrote in a response submitted to the Chronicle. “Its function is ‘to consider the town government’s finances from an overall viewpoint’,” Matchinis wrote, quoting the guidelines prescribed for the “Board of Finance Under Selectmen-Town Meeting Form of Government”.

Matchinis’s response reiterated statements made by finance board members when they voted to document their concerns with State agencies. “The focus of the Hampton BOF has always been, and will continue to be, protecting against violations of statutes, and crafting policies and procedures to protect the rights of citizens and prevent further unauthorized expenditures,” he wrote. Cahill, however, views their motivations differently, claiming the town is “at risk…physically and financially” due to the finance board’s “political biases and ignorance,” he stated. “The BOF’s dysfunction is debilitating for this town and it is time for the Board of Selectmen to move ahead without political roadblocks for the safety and well being of our town taxpayers and children. It is time to vote to dismantle the Board of Finance and get back to running the town with efficiency and fiscal responsibility.”

As of press time, the Governor has yet to establish guidelines that would allow for Town Meetings and Referenda.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission has voted to authorize an investigation into the absentee ballots used in the January 6, 2020 referendum regarding the Board of Finance ordinance.

In accordance with State statute, absentee ballots must match the sample ballot used for demonstration purposes and the official ballots distributed at the polls, which identify the town, the date, and the type of voting event, instruct the voters to fill in their selected choice, and state the actual question next to the corresponding ovals. The absentee ballots in question, however, contained several additional instructions on all aspects of the process. Most disturbing was the heading. Instead of the language on the ballots used at the polls: “Official Ballot, Town of Hampton, Referendum, January 6, 2020”; the absentee ballots stated: “Town of Hampton, Official Absentee Ballot, January 6, 2020, Referendum — Rescind Ordinance Establishing a Board of Finance”.

According to the Registrars of Voters, on the morning of the referendum a citizen who received an absentee ballot brought to their attention that it contained additional information not normally included. The voter was particularly concerned with what was perceived as a directive and an attempt to influence the vote. When the rest of the absentee ballots were processed prior to the close of the polls, it was discovered that all of the others were marked in the same manner as the one that generated the initial concern. The officials processing the ballots, who have served in this capacity for many years, confirmed that they had never before seen an absentee ballot that differed from the official ballot. After contacting the Office of the Secretary of State, the Registrars were referred to the Elections Enforcement Commission and were directed to send copies of the official ballot, the absentee ballot, and the sample ballot. After reviewing the materials, commission members determined that the matter warranted an investigation.

The absentee ballots for referenda are produced by the Town Clerk, the official ballots, by the Registrars. The questions included on the ballots are based on the legal notice for the Town Meeting which precedes the vote, in this case “Shall the ordinance titled ‘Establishment of a Board of Finance’ be rescinded?” While the Registrars claim they’ve always asked the Town Clerk to proof the official ballots to affirm that all information matches the legal notice, the Town Clerk does not typically ask the Registrars to proof the absentee ballots, stating in their referral “we have never previously had a reason for concern”.

Peter Witkowski

Food Pantry

The Food Pantry at the Congregational Church has been generously supported by friends and neighbors in the area.  We want to be sure that those who would benefit from our pantry receive what they need.  Please encourage people who might need access to non-perishable food items to reach out to us. Some funds are available in the form of grocery gift cards which can be used to purchase bread, milk, eggs and non-perishable items. In addition, we are in touch with individuals who would be willing to pick up and deliver groceries. For assistance, contact the person who you are most comfortable with: Karen Burnham 860-208-6013; Lisa Grady 860-428-9565; Allen Cahill  860-942-9542; Pastor Jinny Smanik 860-490-9730.

Community Garden

Because of a possible food shortage this summer, and beyond, Main Street resident Mark Benard has offered the use of the large field behind his home for a community garden. We are offering individual garden plots and also a plot to benefit Hampton seniors.

Individual gardens: Those with an individual garden are responsible to tend their own gardens. The gardens will be marked out into approximately 20′ by 30′ sections. If you are interested in a garden plot of your own, see contact details below.

Hampton Seniors’ garden: This will be a community project; the produce raised will go to Hampton seniors or local food banks. We will be planting sweet corn, green beans, and potatoes in this garden. Volunteer help to plant, weed, and harvest will be appreciated. Contact me if you are interested in helping with this garden. I will also be posting on “Nextdoor Neighbor” about when the garden will be ready to plant. After this garden is planted, feel free to stop in to weed or hoe at your convenience.

For questions, please contact Vernon King at 860-753-2200.  

Hard Work: If there’s an inherent thread that runs through the farms featured in our series, it’s hard work. And if ever there was a family who epitomized that principle, it’s the Vargases.

An article published in 1960 in New England Dairyman titled, “Fighter, Farmer, Father” featured Al Vargas, “president of Hampton’s Local New England Milk Producers’ Association, school bus driver, justice of the peace, alternate trial judge,” and patriarch of one of the town’s largest families. Al’s wife, Addie, and all sixteen of their children – Lorraine, Virginia, Adrienne, Theresa, Alfred, Dottie, Arthur, Lawrence, Patricia, David, Beverly, Wayne, Glen, Marlyn, Daniel, and Alan – were present for the interview, and “a happier and healthier group would be hard to find” the reporter wrote. At the time, the children ranged in age from 35 to two, and with four of the daughters married, the family included 17 grandchildren, a number that continued to grow. And though the surname is no longer listed on the town’s rolls, several members of the family remain – the Christadores, Paul Cichon, Brad Waite, and the Emonds, who reside in the old homestead.

Many of the farmers we’ve featured inherited their farms, yet Al Vargas’ route to agriculture was more circuitous. A successful career as a boxer started when he was only sixteen. During his ten years in the ring, he won most of his fights, and half of those with knockouts, and though he was a middleweight, heavyweights, who appreciated his style and aggressiveness, frequently trained with him. One of his regular sparring partners fought the heavyweight champion, Max Schmeling. “Al Vargas, the boxer, brought to dairy farming the same aggressiveness, the same singleness of purpose,” the article stated. “But he brought more than that. He brought a gentle nature.”

His journey to our town was also unique. When the time came for Al “to put the gloves away”, he became a truck driver, travelling all over New England. In the middle of a wintery night in December 1936, while descending the desolate hill which was once Route 6, he found himself stranded when a connecting rod on his truck broke. Approaching a lone farmhouse, he knocked on the door several times, and almost left to look elsewhere when a light finally appeared from within and a woman answered. Mrs. Weeks shared her hospitality with the stranger that night, letting him use the telephone to call a mechanic and inviting him to sit in the warmth of her kitchen until his truck was fixed. The next morning, after the truck was repaired, and after a hearty breakfast, he departed “with profuse thanks for her kindness” and returned to his five motherless children.

Driving the same route the next week, he stopped at the farmhouse to “thank the good woman once again.” The visits continued. Mrs. Weeks, a descendant of Colonel Litchfield who once owned vast holdings in the town, was a widow trying to maintain her small farm of 125 acres, only 50 of which were tillable. Eventually the two were married, and Al continued to drive the truck while learning all he could from neighbors on farming, until he was ready to devote himself to agriculture full time.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Vargas passed away, and Al was left once again with five children to raise on his own while continuing to learn about the business of agriculture, but “they got along, somehow,” and two years later, he married Miss Addie Robbins of Canterbury, who also had a daughter. Together they brought ten more children into the world and onto the farm, which continued to grow as well, accruing acreage, improving the stock and the soil, and developing into a modern operation.

With land owned, or the use of which was acquired, the Vargas farm expanded to 400 acres, including 200 acres of tillage and 100 acres of pasture. At the time the article was written, the 38 Holsteins included several blue-ribbon recipients in county fairs, 20 cows were producing 1400 pounds of milk every two days, delivered from the bulk tank to the tank truck, and plans for the next season, with the maximum number milking, anticipated the delivery of 2200 pounds of milk every other day.

+The Vargas farm was also the first in the State to be licensed to sell milk right from the farm, according to grand-daughter Carrol Reuthe. “That was no small feat,” she said. “It meant that the milk was of the highest quality, tested weekly. “

“I remember taking my small, antique milk can down to him to fill up and then picking it up in the evening,” Kathy Thompson recalled. “Loved that raw milk with the cream on top.”

In addition to running a dairy farm, Mr. Vargas drove a school bus, and was active, not only in the agricultural community, where his fellow farmers continued to re-elect him as president of the Milk Producers Association, but also in the community at large, where he was involved in the “politics” of the town. Mr. Vargas’ opinion mattered to townsfolk.

+Along with the original homestead, there is only one remnant left of the once sprawling farm. At one time, a pole barn, open on one side to permit access, sheltered the cows utilizing a “pen-stabling” model. An aluminum roof provided for cooler quarters. A concrete cow yard strewn with fresh bedding consumed a considerable area. The four-stall milking parlor, the only remaining building which has been converted into an apartment, was easily accessible to the pole barn. There was also an “immaculately clean” milk room, where a 250 gallon bulk tank cooled the milk until it was picked up and trucked to Providence. The Vargas farm stored 150 tons of hay and 200 tons of grass silage. Equipment for forage production included a field chopper, an automatic silo filler, and a hay drier in order to harvest and store hay at its maximum protein content. The hay-drying shed provided a capacity of 450 fifteen-inch bales.

Hard work was not relegated only to the out of doors. Inside, Addie Vargas provided daily meals for a dozen people, and on holidays, forty family members gathered at her table. Reportedly, the family used twelve quarts of milk a day, sixteen on Sundays, 22 dozen eggs a week, and a bushel of sweet corn per meal when it was in season. Addie Vargas did all of her own baking — pies, cakes, cookies — for which she was quite famous, volunteering her homemade goods for community events. On the day of the interview, she was making 22 dozen doughnuts for a church breakfast. Her culinary talents were legendary.

“She won lots of ribbons for her baking at Grange Fairs,” Diane Becker recalls. “Her kids had homemade bread for their sandwiches every day.”

“Every Sunday they had a main meal in the middle of the day and at suppertime, on Sunday only, they had cake and ice cream for supper,” Kathy Thompson relayed. “When Lisa was little she always asked to go to Gramma and Grampa’s for Sunday supper, with good reason.”

Townsfolk remember her baking like it was yesterday. It was very memorable. The whole family was memorable. As was the farm.

But those who were raised there remember it best.

Wayne Vargas recalled that his father used to milk by hand before the milking parlor was automated, and that he and his brothers began helping out in the barn by age six. They used to hold the cow’s tail while their dad milked by hand. They would all get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to work in the barn before school.

David Vargas remembered that they all had jobs to do on the farm and couldn’t have any after school projects because there was work to be done. He recalled that his mother used to have a wood cook stove in the kitchen that she used year round, and did all her canning on it in the summer. She didn’t get an electric stove until the late 1950’s. He also relayed – unfathomably – that the house only had one bathroom!

“I will always treasure my life growing up on a working dairy farm,” Carrol said. “I believe it’s what gave me the work ethic I have till this day.”

“Al Vargas is a good dairy farmer, as he was a good fighter. But the fine family that he has reared on his dairy farm is the greatest tribute to him and Mrs. Vargas,” the article concluded, leaving the last words, on family life on the farm, for Al himself: “We don’t make much money, but this is living.”

Recipe of the Month: Molasses Crinkles

We might not have her recipe for doughnuts, but these cookies are especially fabulous when dunked in coffee.

Cream ¾ cup of butter. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar. Add 1 egg and beat well.

Mix together:

2 ¼ cups flour

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. cloves

½ tsp. ginger

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix 1/3 of the dry ingredients into butter mixture. Add 4 tbs. molasses and mix. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix well. Chill for a half an hour. Shape dough into balls one inch in diameter, roll in sugar and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 7-10 minutes.

Addie Vargas

Through 20 years and 175 gardening articles I’ve published in the Gazette, I’ve never written, I realized, about beginning one. I’ve written about every color of flower, color contrasts, compliments, and echoes, several specific plants, the principles of design, herb gardens, vegetable gardens, rock gardens, cottage gardens and cutting gardens, garden paths, walls, fences, furniture and ornamentation, the gardens of other neighbors, states and countries, gardening in winter, spring, summer and fall, in sunshine and in shade, in the desert and in the quagmire, attracting birds, bees and butterflies, waking the garden up, and putting it to bed. But I’ve never written about beginning a garden. And that’s what many residents are beginning to do: garden. There aren’t many positive consequences of the pandemic, but this is one.

The first consideration when starting a garden is siting it. Location is the most important contemplation because the amount of sunshine and shade the plants require, and receive, is the most essential ingredient for success in growing them. Situate your first garden where you can appreciate it. That might be where it’s most visible from a window, or an entrance to your home, a place where your family congregates, or in a secluded corner of the yard if privacy is your primary motive.

The second consideration is size. Though your garden needs to provide interest through at least three seasons, limit it to a space you can maintain. There is nothing as discouraging to novice gardeners as labor intensiveness, and new gardens are far weedier habitats than established ones. The floor of the new garden is not yet filled, and weeds will seek every inch of freshly turned and fertilized soil. You can always enlarge your garden later — I expanded a garden that was established twenty years ago this spring, simply because tall plants spread to the rim where I wanted to showcase smaller ones. And if you decide on more than one garden, limit it to three. I have forty – yet I installed only a couple of new ones at a time, and by “new” I mean that it’s not only the first, but definitely the second, and sometimes even the third year before the garden matures enough to be responsible for some of its own maintenance.

Soil is the third deliberation. Gardeners must determine whether their soil is overly alkaline, or “sweet”, or acidic, or “sour”. Test the level with a simple pH kit; under normal circumstances, your soil will fall within a healthy range. If not, lime will neutralize acidic soil, and sulfur will neutralize alkalinity. Take advantage of your conditions and select plants that will thrive there. Naturally sweet soil? Plant lavender and delphinium. Naturally sour? Azaleas and astilbes.

Fertilizer, which will also neutralize the soil, is essential. The presence, or absence, of worms will inform you of the health of your soil and the amount of nutrients needed. After eradicating the turf from the area, remove and save the top soil, mix organic material into the subsoil, smooth the surface with a rake, and cover everything with the reserved soil. Though you’ll have to rid the garden in the first year of whatever weeds the cows included in their diet, I’ve always relied on dried manure from a local farm mixed into our compost – a pile of leaves, grass clippings, the remains of fruits, vegetables, coffee grinds and egg shells.

The mulch with which you cover the garden’s surface will also leach into the soil, neutralizing and fertilizing it. Mulching the soil is necessary to retain moisture, improve aeration, and suppress weeds. There are many options– shredded bark, wood chips, chopped leaves, pine needles, peat moss, straw. The type you select will depend on the nutrients each provides, price, availability, and aesthetics.

The most exciting aspect is, of course, the flowers. List all the ones you love — favorites from memories of your mother’s garden, a friend’s, books. Garden catalogs are a great source for familiarizing yourself with flowers and the particulars of nutritional needs, blooming times, and eventual size. Select plants for all seasons. In Connecticut, perennials usually bloom from May’s bleeding hearts and columbines through October’s chrysanthemums; however this only accounts for half of the year. Incorporate an evergreen or berrying shrub for winter and order bulbs for February through April. This is a joyous task, for in spite of the planning, daffodils are always a surprise when they bloom, and they never fail to delight us. Bring a list to a local nursery, but be prepared to spend more than you anticipated because you’ll be overwhelmed with the beauty of several flowers when you view them in person.

Along with reserving room on your list and in your wallet for flowers that prove irresistible, leave ample space between the plants. Though you’ll have patches of empty soil, the perennials will spread in their second season to mingle with one another. Your soil will also invite wildflower seedlings, many of which you’ll want to include: Joe Pye weed, goldenrod, daises, wild asters, mullein – are all welcome additions to the garden, and it’s always preferable to unite with nature rather than fight against it.

We also have many gardeners in town – and I’m one of them — who happily share plants. There’s no need to purchase familiar favorites, like phlox and lilies, which are readily available and easily transplanted from your neighbors’ gardens. Save your money for the rarities you fall in love with at the nursery. Neighbors’ flowers often come with unexpected companions in the form of desirable seeds or seedlings. Another fringe benefit: hardiness and rapid spread. The flowers we inherit from neighbors grow as generously as the gift itself.

Dayna McDermott

I love words. I come from a family where words and language were just as nutritious as the best breakfast. For my father, it was not just because of his vocation as a lawyer: it was how a word tasted, sounded, informed or felled an opponent. Words were for games of the highest order, whether in the courtroom or at the dinner table. Words simply delighted him like nothing else; many of my finest memories are of making up phrases, or “mashups” of several words for a new definition of a moment’s descriptive need. For my mother, this relentless activity drove her slightly insane, as it was wild, reckless, and without purpose. As a reading teacher and librarian, words and language were tools that took many of her students toward unexpected adventures and hopeful worlds away from growing up in families and situations (similar to her own Depression upbringing) that could be more than difficult.

That said, I am now struck by our use of “extreme” language that has come to describe our new world circumstances: “uncertain times”, “challenging events”, and “unprecedented” are the phrases I hear, throughout the day. Every day. EVERY day.

“Stay Home-Stay Safe”, “PPE”, “flatten the curve”, and the previously mentioned “social distancing” (April 2020) are part of our new decade’s lexicon. These are not fun words. They are deadly serious and rightly so. There are also new additions that bring us out of the pandemic doldrums, in our socially-distanced connections: “virtual happy hour”, “covideo party” and “quarantine and chill”. And there is the ubiquitous prefix of “corona” for various verbs and our wonder at how “corona-babies” (the children born or conceived during the pandemic) will fare.

My neighbor (a kinder-friend of over fifty years), daily reminds me that a fifty cent word will do just as well as the three dollar versions that I have long favored. And as we bicker in that life-long-friend way, we realize the power that words have had on our lives.

Words can hurt, and heal, surprise or attack—they soothe, uplift, empower, make us laugh, and ultimately provide the framework for how we live everyday. Words shape the plans we make and the actions we take.

We are living in a precarious time. Our words are the very currency for connecting, whether for positive or negative. Writer Alexandre Dumas once said, “All human wisdom is contained in these two words—wait, and hope.” So, no matter how many words you may use in these coming days, please, make them count.

Mary Oliver

Dear Auntie Mac,

My husband and I are unemployed at the moment, and like many people, we’re spending time on social media. I’ve connected with lots of old friends who I haven’t heard from in years, as has my husband. One of his new contacts, however, makes me a little nervous – his first “true love”. They communicate online quite a lot it seems, as he relays the various subjects they’ve covered daily, and I feel a little “left out” and a little jealous. He has even reverted to referring to her with the term of endearment he used in high school, “Sweet Pea”. Should I be concerned? Or am I being ridiculous?

#overlyanxioustimes

My Dear Neighbor:

Auntie Mac is of two minds on this complex and thorny issue, which given our current circumstances is in itself surprising since she often believes she’s misplaced the one mind she was born with. But let us venture forth, carefully, into this minefield strewn with uncertainty, nostalgia, and unspoken dissatisfactions.

First, let’s look at the lay of the land, shall we? We’re all confined to our spaces, deprived of much of the contact we did not know we so badly craved, where a trip to the transfer station is transformed into a grand and daring outing. As you have discovered, social media can connect you not merely with old friends, but with the actual past and the people and places you shared with them.  These ghosts of our childhood know things that our spouses can never know—the smell of your mother’s kitchen, the sound of the pile drivers in the river at night–and these renewed connections we are now cultivating bring to mind the passion and enthusiasm of youth—we travel back in time before children, financial problems, and middle age to a time of freedom, optimism, and more energy.

The mutual recalling of past events and places that two people shared long ago is a balm to the soul, and it is no wonder that your husband treasures these jaunts down memory lane with someone from his past. But this is where the thicket begins to close in, for romantic connections, although long severed, are never eliminated.

It is impossible to say—although not prohibitive to ponder: has the magnifying glass of the pandemic enlarged your husband’s interest in nostalgic spelunking, or was the first love destined eventually to make an appearance? (At this juncture Auntie Mac would like to point out that it might have been more helpful if she’d been known as “Old Horse Face” or “Butterfingers,” but even still, the reversion to pet names is indeed troubling.) This is where some hard work on both your parts must come in.

What she recommends, dear, is that since time is indeed on everyone’s side these days, you two should have a long and very frank conversation about how you’ve both been feeling since the pandemic and its attendant regulations began. Expect to talk about any unhappiness that may have been seeping into your relationship. You must be honest about your feelings regarding this new on-line relationship; feelings are perfectly permissible to have, whether or not the other person thinks you should have them. He needs to know what you think so he can take steps, if he chooses, to address that. The same goes for him. These will be difficult conversations. Dissatisfaction that didn’t have words previously will now have names. The names these days of some of these dissatisfactions are stress, fear, frustration, boredom, money problems, job troubles, or other family concerns. These are some of the things that send partners trotting off into the past, hoping for some form of escape from the demands of life. The old flame seems to be a beacon of deliverance. That deliverance is short-lived, however, and can lead instead towards rocky shores. This is not a question of mistrust or fidelity. You must both, in these uncertain times, be each other’s beacon and gently encourage each other to explore past friendships while guiding each other away from dangerous waters that may well pull you both under.

Your Auntie Mac

While the coronavirus spread across the world, the nation, and the state, the nightly news also reported on community spirit spreading across neighborhoods to counter the accumulating cases and the accompanying anxiety. As the tragic news grew and drove us physically further apart, people discovered new ways to connect despite the mandatory distancing. We watched Italian neighbors singing with one another from their balconies, neighbors in Brooklyn, New York dancing on the sidewalks while one of them supplied music, and in Willimantic, a gentleman serenading his neighborhood nightly with bagpipes, all with the mutual goal of unifying and uplifting ourselves. Here in Hampton, where we have neither balconies, nor sidewalks, nor, apparently, bagpipes, past and present members of our community “gathered” around a social media page: Hampton Remembers the 2^nd Half of the 20^th Century.

John Osborn, who grew up in Hampton during the “golden era” remembered for the many children who lived and played here, started the group last year. For several months, a handful of people participated with memories and photographs. But membership swiftly grew shortly after resident Kathy Thompson posted a thirty minute montage of Memorial Day parades and other celebrations filmed by Fred Curry over several years. With the imposed isolation and a yearning for connections, over 400 current and former residents started to contribute recollections to the page that has proved “a lovely diversion”, and serves as sort of a virtual sequel to “Hampton Remembers, a Small Town in New England, 1885-1950”, the book Alison Davis published in 1976, a collection of interviews she recorded of residents who were born and raised here. Granted, our time in the last half of the last century was not as exciting our grandparents’, who witnessed electricity, automobiles, telephones, refrigeration, indoor plumbing, and gasoline operated machines come to Hampton. But our years here have meant everything to us.

Over the course of several weeks, people from across the country and as far away as Spain have posted pictures of graduations, weddings, birthdays, proms. Old homesteads, railroad stations, the General Store, Little River Grange, one room school houses, and the students who attended them. Newspaper clippings of celebrations and commendations, film clips of games played on Lenny’s Field when everyone and their father played baseball, parades on Main Street when no one would ever dream of missing them, parishioners pouring from the church on Easter Sunday wearing the hats and the coats and the gloves purchased for the occasion.

Accompanying commentary has solved mysteries, identified people and places, recounted folktales, stirred long forgotten memories, explained rural legends, extended family trees. We’ve been able to visit our friends and revisit our families here, our departed grandparents, and parents, with people remembering them with dear, dear memories.

Contributors have written brief biographies through the lens of their connections to Hampton. People whose roots are here, whose ancestors’ roots are here, people who discovered roots here, set down roots here, and people who were here briefly, yet still call this place “home”. As John Osborn wrote, “It doesn’t matter that we are spread out across the country. We still see ourselves as neighbors.”

Everyone is welcome to join Hampton Remembers the 2^nd Half of the 20^th Century. And a new edition of Alison Davis’ original “Hampton Remembers” is available by contacting markmdavis@yahoo.com.

Members of “Hampton Remembers the 2^nd Half of the 20^th Century” remembered the Consolidated School with questions like – who was your favorite teacher – Mrs. Bingham and Mr. Paradise the favorites among many we recalled with affection. We also remembered a cafeteria that was a lot like grandma’s kitchen, and cooks like Sadie Fitzgerald and Mrs. Lee, who invented our all-time favorite lunch: Hampton Burgers.

Mrs. Lee’s Hampton Burgers

• Halve six (Thomas) English muffins and put them on a cookie sheet.
• Lightly toast them under the broiler in the oven.
• Mix about 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef with two whisked eggs and about 1/4 cup of milk which has added to them about 1/4 cup oatmeal (quick) or bread crumbs and any seasoning you like — oregano, pepper, fine herbs, etc.
• Spread the muffins with this mixture — thicker on the edges for even cooking.
• Broil to desired doneness, and then, if you like, top with onion (which could have been added to the original meat mixture too), sliced green peppers, mushrooms — whatever you like — then broil until done.
• Lastly, top with any cheese you like — mozzarella, cheddar — then return Hampton Burgers to off/warm oven to melt the cheese.

Happy Memories of Hampton School Lunchtime!