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caption, page 1:
Reborn
DAR and town officials helped rededicate a marker --- and a neighborhood. More photos on page 4. Expanded photo array on Wed. night on our FB page: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. Linda Lemmon photo.
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Dedication
Near right: DAR and town officials speak at the rededication of the DAR marker in Washington Park. One of three new Autumn Blaze maples is at left. Lee Konicki talks with DAR officials at the marker. Linda Lemmon photos.
History, pride honored
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The sounds of modern-day traffic on Rt. 44 faded into the background as Washington Park stepped back into time.
Town officials and members of the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapters rededicated the park’s marker with its new “George Washington” maples.
In her invocation, chapter chaplain Carol Ryler said: “Nothing is really ended until it is forgotten. Whatever is kept in memory still endures. Therefore, we the members of the Deborah Avery Putnam Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution rededicate this marker in grateful recognition of the significance of this site.”
Lee Konicki, chair of the Economic Development and Redevelopment Commission, noted that not only was the 1932 marker rededicated but the small Washington Park neighborhood had also rededicated itself and is now a vastly improved, proud neighborhood. The ceremony is a tribute to both the long proud history of the park and of the neighborhood. “We have preserved a part of our natural heritage,” he said.
Konicki said Ronald P. Coderre, a commission member, mentioned the DAR marker a couple years ago. When Konicki became chair, the idea “kinda snowballed.” He thought as the gateway to downtown Putnam, the neighborhood as a whole had improved and taken pride.
He contacted the DAR chapter in late spring — sending along a 1932 news clipping of the original marker event — with the idea of rededicating the park and planting new “George Washington” trees. The tree dedicated to Washington in 1932 had died and the maple that followed had also “succumbed,” according to Melody Guillemette, vice regent for the Deborah Avery Putnam Chapter, NSDAR in Plainfield.
The same type of markers with trees were planted in Davis Park in Danielson by the Sarah Williams Danielson Chapter and in Plainfield by the Deborah Avery Putnam Chapter to celebrate the George Washington Bicentennial, Guillemette said. Helping with this rededication were DAR members Carol Ryley, Mary Ellen Tomeo and Laurie Jane Waite.
Konicki said the state owns two-thirds of the tiny park. The one-third farthest from Rt. 44 is town owned so the three maples were planted stepped back from Rt. 44, on town land.
Konicki said the state wanted native trees planted so Autumn Blaze maples were chosen.
Guillemette said the Daughters of the American Revolution’s mission is to promote historic preservation, education, and Patriotism.
She said the marker was erected in 1932, in observance of the Washington Bicentennial, by the Elizabeth Porter Putnam Chapter, NSDAR. She was the mother of General Israel Putnam. The chapter was organized in 1897 with 50 Charter members. By 1929 they had 224 members from Putnam, Thompson, and Woodstock. A few notable members were Ellen Larned, Windham County historian; Emma Shaw Colcleugh, journalist; and Gertrude Chandler Warner, author of the Boxcar Children Series.
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