Shaw-Majercik Funeral Home bought by local funeral director
WEBSTER — Richard “Dick” Majercik announced the sale of Shaw-Majercik Funeral Home to Robert Fournier, owner of Gilman & Valade Funeral Homes & Crematory of Putnam and Thompson.
According to Majercik, “For 54 years I have cared for the people in my community. The time has come to step back from the daily operations of the funeral home.  While I still plan to continue working for Bob, I am ready to enjoy a well-earned rest from the long hours and unending dedication that funeral service requires.”
Bob Fournier, a third-generation funeral director, has been serving Connecticut families since 2005, carrying on the tradition of care begun by The Gilman & Valade Funeral Homes in 1919.  
“For the last 19 years, Dick and I have assisted each other in various aspects of our businesses.  We share the same commitment to providing excellent funeral service, and I am honored to continue his tradition,” said Fournier. 
The price was not disclosed.
 “It was very important to me that Shaw-Majercik Funeral Home remain locally owned.  With Bob’s experience and compassion, I am confident that the families of the greater Webster area will continue to receive the best care possible,” said Majercik. 
Shaw-Majercik and Gilman & Valade Funeral Homes will continue to operate under their own names. Majercik said: “I want to let you know how excited I am to see the Shaw-Majercik legacy continue well into the future. You can rest assured that the prepaid funeral plans you made with me remain in full effect with no changes.” 
Fournier added, “Several of our team members have a local connection to Webster and are excited to be part of the community.  Bill Juzwic, Jamie Heath, Bill Werner, and Adrienne Fournier are some of the familiar faces you will see on our services.”  
Shaw Funeral Home was founded in 1910 by Bernard J. “Benny” Shaw and his wife Minnie Scanlon.  In 1971, after returning to Webster from serving in Vietnam, Dick purchased the funeral home and after several years renamed it Shaw-Majercik Funeral Home.  
The Gilman Funeral Home, founded in 1919 by Alexander Gilman, and the Valade Funeral Home, founded in 1924 by Alphonse Valade, merged in 1980 under the direction of Lawrence J. Bellerose.  In December 2005, Robert “Bob” Fournier purchased both funeral homes.  In the summer of 2022, Fournier also purchased Dougherty Brothers Funeral Home in Plainfield and Griswold Funeral Home in Jewett City.

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Projects everywhere
Commuter lot redo
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Town officials still have a Memorial Day goal for the opening of the renovated commuter lot on Kennedy Drive.
Both the base and final asphalt coatings are finished, according to Town Administrator Elaine Sistare. The landscaping beds have been created and May 19 Advance Resources was putting metal edging on the beds to prevent soil from eroding out of the bed. A metal guide rail has replaced the wood post and cable that ran along the length of the project on Canal Street. Also re-installed are the two EV chargers. The lot also has conduits for 13 additional EV chargers. The entrance/exit has been moved further away from the Rt. 44/Kennedy Drive intersection and a complete storm water management system has been installed.
But before it opens, the lines have to be painted, the light poles have to be installed, the landscaping beds have to be planted.  She said that they are considering putting an 8-foot evergreen to replace the evergreen that stood just west of the restrooms. “We need to make sure it doesn’t mess with the sight line, though,” she said. Naturally, this is weather permitting.
They are trying for Memorial Day but Sistare said she’d be “be more comfortable with saying the end of the month as the goal.”
The first week of June, she said, the town will open the restrooms. They’ll clean out the cobwebs that may have built up in the last six months. The restrooms will be open during the day and she said generally the Highway Department makes sure it’s locked every night. The restrooms were closed just after the Fire and Ice event because of the lot project and also because the restrooms were being destroyed by vandals.
Danco Bridge Waiting
The replacement of the Danco Bridge is still waiting for Eversource to move a wire. Sistare said that was schedule for the end of May but she was just notified that it will be pushed to the week of June 4. Considering when the asphalt plants might close — mid to late November — the construction schedule will now be a tight one. “We’re running up against the end point. If we move right along, we should be able to finish,” she said. Travis Sirrine, highway superintendent, said the town has done a few things already to help facilitate the Eversource electrical and gas work. The town has done extensive tree work/cutting and has put gravel in the area that Eversource will need to work in, moving poles.
Sidewalks Done by July 4
The goal for the finish of the last of the four large sidewalk projects is July 4, according to Mayor Barney Seney.
Currently the Mather Corporation of Bloomfield is working on the School Street section of sidewalks. 
“We are repairing walls and laying sidewalks as we go along,” Seney said. The other three projects under the “Sidewalk Project” umbrella, Grove Street, Woodstock Avenue and Church Street are already done. Millions in state Local Transportation Improvement Project grant money has funded the projects. Seney said the town was required to handle the engineering and inspections.

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The commuter lot paved. A few more touches left to do. Linda Lemmon photos.

Advance Resources putting in edging. The guard rail along Canal, right.

Sidewalks going in along School Street. Expanded photo array Wed night on our FB page. 

Aspinock Memories
America's long history of Memorial Day
By  Bill Pearsall,
Putnam Municipal Historian
The last weekend of May we look forward to celebrating a three-day holiday known as Memorial Day.
Here are some facts that you may or may not know about this holiday.  Originally it was known as Decoration Day and originated in the years after the Civil war but did not become an official federal holiday until 1971.  Many states were already observing the day with ceremonies, visiting cemeteries, holding family gatherings and participating in parades.  Memorial Day unofficially marks the beginning of the summer season.
So, you may ask, where did Memorial Day come from?  The Civil War ended in the spring of 1865 claiming more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and led to the establishment of the country’s first National Cemetries.
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War Veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month.  That was May 30, 1868, and it was designated for the purpose of strewing flowers, saying prayers and decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion and now whose bodies lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and continued the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each state had made Decoration Day an official state holiday celebrated on May 30 each year.  Southern states continued to honor the fallen on separate days until after WWI.
Memorial Day, as “Decoration Day” gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War.  But during WWI the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars including WWII, the Vietnam War, the Korean War and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day.  But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend for federal employees.  The change went into effect in 1971.  The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Cities and towns across the United States including Putnam host Memorial Day Parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations.  People also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and memorials.  Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance of those fallen in war – a tradition that began with a WWI poem, In Flanders Fields: 
Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time. Thanks go to History.com for the information in this article.
Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.

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A Memorial Day Parade in Putnam before 1925. Photo courtesy of the Aspinock Historical Society.

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