new pg 3 6-2-22
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caption:
Amayah Chavez passed the gavel to Emily St. Martin. Courtesy photo.
New Rotary
Interact Club
president takes
the reins
PUTNAM — Putnam Rotary Interact Club President Amayah Chavez passed the gavel to Emily St. Martin, the 2022-2023 Interact president. Chavez, a graduating senior from Putnam High, reviewed her very busy year. She spearheaded participation in the Relay For Life, TEEG backpack distribution, Halloween costume distribution, holiday gift distribution and Salvation Army Bell Ringing. She also started new projects including creating holiday ornaments for shut-ins, a car wash for the people of Ukraine, toiletry kits for the homeless, creating tie dye socks for this year’s Relay For Life and more.
Rotary President Scott Pempek told the club members he learned at a recent district conference that the Putnam Interact Club is one of the most active Rotary youth clubs in the District. He thanked Chavez and advisors Roberta Rocchetti and Woody Durst for a successful year.
Emily St. Martin, soon to be a senior at Putnam High, spoke about her hopes for the coming year including recruiting more Interact members and starting a blood drive for the American Red Cross.
Awards went to: Iayah Burke and Mikayla Walford for all their Interact participation, Emily St. Martin for being top student seller of daffodils for the American Cancer Society and Amayah Chavez for such a productive Interact year.
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two pg 3 6-2-22
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PUTNAM/DANIELSON — Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers (PTSMC) has acquired two clinics, Tri-State Rehab and Sports Center in Putnam and Danielson.
With the deal, PTSMC expanded to 31 locations across the state, now employing more than 300 full-time and part-time clinicians and administrative staff.
The current director of Tri-State Rehab, physical therapist Thomas Harney, has been with the group since its inception in 2003.
He has been a physical therapist for more than 40 years. Harney will remain the director of both clinics with PTSMC.
He is joined by nine staff members, including four physical therapists, Paul Dinwoodie, Lisa Guilbault, Micaela Nowacki and Kyleen Sidwell, three physical therapist assistants, Kelli Kaliszewski, Ashlee Peloquin and Cameron Walton. There are also two members of the administrative staff, Melani Hayes and Michaela Horne.
Harney said: “Being in the industry for almost 20 years, you get to know who the leaders in your field are. PTSMC has a reputation as a preeminent physical therapy provider across Connecticut, and we are happy to be able to join such a well-established and highly regarded organization.”
President and owner of PTSMC, Alan Balavender, PT, MS, said: “The team at Tri-State Rehab has earned the trust of both patients and healthcare providers throughout Windham County by consistently providing excellent care,” he said, adding, “We are thrilled to have all of their staff on board as the newest team members at PTSMC.”
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eagle pg 4 6-2-22
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captions:
Ruthie Brown talks to Troop 92 . Photo by Donna Dufresne.
Owen Gratton installing flagpole. Photo by Gabbi Gratton.
caption, page 5:
Memorial to Revolutionary War veterans. Photo by Donna Dufresne.
By Donna Dufresne
April 29 a group of volunteers descended upon the Old Abington Burial Ground to support Owen Gratton’s Eagle Scout project. The goal was to clear brush, clean and repair gravestones, and honor the 60-plus Revolutionary War veterans buried there.
Boy Scout Troop 92, parents, neighbors, and gravestone experts worked tirelessly to revive the long-neglected cemetery. Gratton, a sophomore at Killingly High School, lives in Abington near the burial ground. He and his family have helped place veteran flags for Memorial Day for several years, but many of the stones have become unreadable due to lichen or have succumbed to nearly 300 years of New England winters.
Like many small towns in Connecticut there is no money available to maintain the colonial cemeteries, especially those which are no longer accepting burials. Although the town provides mowing, there is no budget for repairing, cleaning, and keeping the brush and invasives at bay. Veterans from the French Indian War, Revolution, and the War of 1812 have gone unrecognized due to the deterioration of their stones.
The Old Abington Burial Ground is significant as it holds the bones of many of the first proprietors and settlers of Pomfret. For example: the Ingalls, who operated taverns and manufactured silk in one of their houses during the Revolution, were one of the many prominent Abington families. The writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of their descendants. Some of the infants of Captain and Elizabeth Cunningham are memorialized in marble stone. Elizabeth gave birth to many children but only two survived into adulthood. The Kimballs, Sharpes and Fays of the Jericho Section of Abington, as well as the Griggs, Osgood, and Grosvenor families hold their ground in stones that lean heavily toward the earth. Ebenezer Holbrook, Squire Sessions, and Nathaniel Ayers, who operated some of Pomfret’s early mills, lie beneath the rugged ground. This sacred ground is a treasure trove of social history, a record of infant and maternal mortality, disease patterns such as smallpox, economic trends and military records.
Eagle Scout Projects are designed to benefit communities rather than individuals, and ultimately engender civic engagement. During the process, an Eagle Scout develops and demonstrates leadership and organizational skills and service that fulfill a community need. With the help of a diverse community, Owen has designed a project that will have a lasting effect on Pomfret History. He was able to engage gravestone repair expert, Michael Carroll from Rediscovering History, who donated the new flagpole and flag; Ruthie Brown from the New England Gravestone Network, who cleaned several of the stones infested with lichen, and a posse of Boy Scouts who cleared brush along the stone wall. Owen’s father, David Gratton, donated a granite stone which was engraved by Mercer Monuments of Plainfield as a donation.
Dufresne: “The memorial stone recognizes the veterans in the Old Abington Burial Ground whose names we may not know, a reminder of stories forgotten and yet untold as we uncover and rediscover the past. But more importantly, the vision of one Eagle Scout has reminded us that it takes a village to preserve and keep history alive. The volunteers, including myself, came from diverse backgrounds, political and belief systems. Yet we became a mighty force, contributing our skillsets, expertise, and labor to meet the goals and objectives of an excellent Eagle Scout Project that will outlive our efforts. The revival and restoration of the Old Abington Burial Ground proves that Civic engagement, community, leadership, organization, and service can be accomplished with grace – an example of true American grit."
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Memorial pg 4 6-2-22
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Far left: Teagan Riel, 4, and her mother Alyssa Riel of Danielson. Left: Amelie Ordanini-Levesque, left, and Nora Anderson of Scout Troop 62330 laid the wreath in Pomfret. Leader Ashley Anderson stands behind. Linda Lemmon photos. More photos at: putnamtowncrier.com on Wed. night.
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