Dear Friends and Fellow Members:
Please join us on April 14 at 6:30, for our annual membership meeting. Light refreshments will be served.
On a very sad note, one of our members, David Brooks passed away on March 13, after a short illness. David was the spouse of Deb Cote, our Historical Society President. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, June 11, 2016, at 11 am at the Episcopal Conference Center, Pascoag. David had begun to be very active with the society following his retirement last year. This past Christmas for our open house, David, and Mary Ann Lowe helped make magic moments for over 100 children, as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. You will wonder that I share with you this story, given the sad news about David, but above all he enjoyed a good laugh. I’m sure I will tell this poorly, but Mary Ann shared with me a conversation with one little girl. Apparently she observed Mary Ann for some time, eyes just slits, while sitting on Santa’s lap. “Are you Mrs. Claus?” she asked. “Yes,” replied Mary Ann. “If you are, then what did I leave you last year?” Luckily, the little girl’s mother mouthed “cookies” allowing Mary Ann to keep the illusion safe.
Another little girl left her note for Santa, asking for a watch: It goes around your wrist, and has a clock on it.I guess kids today don’t wear watches so much anymore.
Things have been rather quiet at the museum, the cold rather discouraging too much “hanging around,” and explaining why until about mid-March the Christmas trees (live!) and other decorations were still up. Many thanks to Jim Ignasher who magically made the majority of the decorations go away!
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are hoping to use the property for more rentals this year, however we require the assistance of a few volunteers so that someone can be on site during the day of the event. Let me know if you are interested in helping.
We will be soon be planning the school programs for this year, so please let me know if you would like to help with the children. Of all the things that we do at the museum, I think these programs are the most rewarding.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy spring, and I hope to see you at the Membership Meeting on April 14, 2016, at 6:30. I’ll put a pot of de-caffeinated coffee on!
Maggie Botelho
Program Director