Honoring, celebrating
Putnam's role in birth of USA
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — As part of the country’s 250th celebration, the town of Putnam dedicated its America Semiquincentennial Plaque in Rotary Park. 
It says: “Many colonists living in this area, now known as Putnam, actively resisted British rule. When the British closed the port of Boston in 1774 following the Boston Tea Party, men from northeastern Connecticut, including the town’s namesake, Israel Putnam, helped supply the city by walking sheep to Boston. At the time, present-day Putnam was part of the towns of Killingly and Pomfret.
In 1774, local patriots erected a Liberty Pole on Killingly Hill, now Putnam Heights. In January 1775, they purchased the nearby common as a training ground for their militia. After the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775, local militia members marched to Massachusetts in defense of colonial rights.
At the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, Israel Putnam is traditionally credited with urging the troops, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, residents here proudly supported the new nation. Some served in the militia and the Colonial army; others supplied food, weapons and materials; women made clothing and knit socks for the soldiers.
From this community came determined patriots who helped secure the birth of a new nation, The United States of America.”
Mayor Barney Seney thanked the forefathers for what they did 250 years ago. He also thanked the Putnam 250th committee, led by Selectman Gloria Marion, which worked for more than a year on the town’s commemorations. Also receiving special thanks were the Putnam Lions Club, the Albert Breault VFW Post 1523, the Aspinock Historical Society, James Callaghan (Putnam Rec director), Margaret Weaver (Killingly town historian) and many more. The plaque was sponsored by the town of Putnam, the Putnam Rotary Club and the Putnam Lions. The committee invited residents to visit the Cady Copp Cottage between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. July 11. Reserve a spot on the bus by calling the Recreation Department.
Putnam Poet Laureate Aubrey Waz-Grant read her poem “The Small Mundanities” drawing parallels between her Nana’s (born on July 4) memories and a country that’s “two and one half Nana’s old.” From the flagship to the mundane. (poem below)
In her remarks, read by Marion, State Senator Mae Flexer said America’s story has always been built by people working together to create something greater than themselves.” 
State Rep Christ Stewart said, thinking about how does that work, 250 years of history? “It’s the people; it’s the generations before you, the generations to come.” He talked about all the pieces to greatness in the “greatest country.” He urged everyone, no matter where you are, no matter what profession to know “you have a piece of the greatness of this country.”
Committee members Jeanne Benoit and Weaver both spoke about what it might have been like “standing where  you are today” in 1770s and then the plaque was proudly unveiled.
The Small Mundanities
By Aubrey Waz-Grant
My grandmother was born on the Fourth of July.
When she was little,
her mother told her all the fireworks, flags, and festivities were for her.
I think there is something so beautiful in the childish delusion that an entire city,
perhaps an entire nation,
could stop and decorate just for you.

At some point, we grow out of that.
I think that’s a shame.
Nana would have been ninety-seven today,
as the United States turns two hundred and fifty.
For those of you who are bad at math,
that makes our country approximately two and a half grandmothers old.
As someone who held my grandmother’s wrinkled hand each day in the final year of her life,
I can tell you, her ninety-five years lived
is hardly a blink, but somehow also a lifetime.

Nana wasn’t special simply for living ninety-five years.
She filled her time with love and adventure and hot dogs.
(Her favorite food was hot dogs and ice cream.
I wonder if that’s because of her birthday.
I digress.)
Sometimes I fear we distill life down only into the flagship moments:
a wedding day or the birth of a nation
Or a child. 

But my favorite stories Nana told
were of the small mundanities.

I liked to hear her tell me about her mother’s canning cellar,
wall-to-wall with preserved vegetables and fruit.
She told me that she tried to plant a garden
when she bought her house in New Britain,
but the soil was all rock.
She couldn’t coax anything out of it,
so she gave up
and ate Frosted Flakes instead.
I want to know the way the United States would tell these stories,
the similar minutiae that have built the nation
behind the major historical milestones.
I want to hear how the country chose when to pluck the stones from the ground,
rock by rock by rock,
to make room for newly budding shoots,
and when it chose to go inside
and turn on Wheel of Fortune.
I cannot find the Nana I know in her baby photos,
just as I cannot find the United States I know in the musty pages of a history book.

But I’d like to head to the Deary’s parking lot,
where we celebrated Nana’s birthday each year,
and eat onion rings and ice cream
that my brother will later throw up in his bed.
And while we sit and eat,
I want to listen
to the nation and my Nana tell me
her favorite memories.

.
caption:
Putnam unveiled a plaque for the USA's 250th anniversary July 4. More photos on page 6 and expanded photo array Wed. night on our FB page. Linda Lemmon photo.