Fifty Plus Advocate June 2021 Central Edition

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Central Edition

Vol. 48 | No. 6 | June 2021

Comic, actor and dad is self-described as ‘almost domesticated’

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‘A family is love’

By Dakota Antelman Contributing Writer HUDSON - Phil Knutel has three adopted children.

Halfway across the country, Maggie Byrnes briefly helped families like Phil’s navigate the adoption process.

Roughly three years ago, a chance DNA test brought these two together with one truth — Byrnes is Knutel’s birth mother.

After having to give Knutel up for adoption herself, Byrnes delved into a life of social work. Knutel grew up and began raising children the same way his adoptive parents had raised him.

Now, a mother and her son have reconnected.

Growing up in Michigan Byrnes lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan. But her strictly Catholic family was not pleased when she got Adoption | 15

Hudson man reconnects with birth mom decades after adoption

Above: Phil Knutel stands with his birth mother Maggie Byrnes at the Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine.

Right: Phil Knutel (right) stands with his two biological brothers who he reconnected with after meeting his birth mother, Maggie.

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New AARP Analysis Shows Massachusetts COVID Cases and Deaths Declining in Nursing Homes; Chronic Problems Remain

By Mike Festa, State Director AARP Massachusetts

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the chronic, ongoing problems that have plagued the nursing home industry for decades, including staffing shortages, poor infection control, transparency, and accountability.

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he latest release of AARP’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard shows that both cases and deaths in nursing homes declined in the four weeks ending March 21, 2021. Although these rates are improving, chronic problems in nursing homes—revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic—continue.

In Massachusetts, during the four weeks ending March 21, 2021, .49% of nursing homes reported a shortage of nurses or aides, down from 2.4% from the previous reporting period.

Deaths of nursing home residents in Massachusetts have significantly decreased from the previous period, dropping from a rate of .79 to .10 per 100 residents. New infections among residents and staff also declined to less than half of previous levels. Resident cases fell from 2.4 to .34 per 100 residents, and new staff cases declined from 2.4 to .49 per Mike Festa 100 residents.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the chronic, ongoing problems that have plagued the nursing home industry for decades, including staffing shortages, poor infection control, transparency, and accountability.

Following the COVID-related deaths of nursing home residents and staff in Massachusetts, now is the time to eradicate these failings that jeopardize the health and safety of nursing home residents.

AARP continues to urge elected officials to act immediately, focusing this year on: • Enacting or making permanent the components of AARP’s five-point plan – Prioritizing regular and ongoing testing and adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for residents and staff — as well as inspectors and any visitors.

– Improving transparency focused on daily, public reporting of cases and deaths in facilities; communication with families about discharges and transfers; and accountability for state and federal funding that goes to facilities.

– Ensuring access to in-person visitation following federal and state guide lines for safety, and require continued access to virtual visitation for all residents.

– Ensuring quality care for residents through adequate staffing, oversight, and access to in-person formal advocates, called long-term care Ombudsmen.

– Rejecting immunity for long-term care facilities related to COVID-19.

• Establishing minimum nursing staffing standards • Ensuring progress is made so that in-person visitation can safely occur and facilitating virtual visitation • Creating a pathway for single occupancy rooms in nursing homes The AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard analyzes federally reported data in four-week periods going back to June 1, 2020. Using this data, the AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the dashboard to provide snapshots of the virus’ infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff, to identify specific areas of concern at the national and state levels in a timely manner.

The complete Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard is available at www.aarp. org/nursinghomedashboard. For more information on how COVID is impacting nursing homes and AARP’s advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes.

Mike Festa is the State Director for AARP Massachusetts. For more articles visit www.fiftyplusadvocate.com.

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Massachusetts surgeon pioneers multidisciplinary breast cancer clinics

By Jane Keller Gordon Assistant Editor

I preached a philosophy of open access. I trained my staff to treat breast cancer as a medical emergency.

L

ike clockwork, every year on Dr. Michael Wertheimer’s birthday, he receives cards from several breast cancer survivors, some of whom he treated 10 to 20 years ago. It’s not surprising. During his long career as a surgeon, Wertheimer was the founder and director of two multidisciplinary breast cancer clinics in Massachusetts and the director of a third. In every case, he showed deep compassion for women.

Wertheimer said, “My career paralleled the modern history of breast cancer. It’s been like a changing kaleidoscope… Now, we have early detection, better trained surgeons, and individualized, targeted therapies, but we still have a long way to go towards prevention.”

In the late 1970s, Wertheimer became involved with breast cancer surgery at the newly established University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School. “Back then, there was no mammography. A woman with a breast lump would come to the hospital to see her GP, who would walk her next door to a surgeon. She

— Dr. Michael Wertheimer

Dr. Micheal Wertheimer

would be admitted as an emergency, would sign a global consent form for a biopsy and radical mastectomy, and would wake up not knowing the outcome,” said Wertheimer.

Ideas changed in the early 1980s.

Clinical trials, some of which Wertheimer participated in, began to document that modified radial mastectomy, lumpectomy, and radiation were just as good. Ultimately, said Wertheimer, “It was the women’s

movement that forced the surgeons to change.”

Leading progress Wertheimer launched a fledgling multidisciplinary breast clinic at UMass. “I preached a philosophy of open access. I trained my staff to treat breast cancer as a medical emergency.

We set up our own pathology room in the clinic and after a needle biopsy, I could make a breast cancer diagnosis

in a few minutes right in the office…

Next, we offered treatment options, for the first time ever,” explained Wertheimer. Word got out and women flocked to Wertheimer’s clinic.

A chance to correct access and outcome disparities Twenty-eight years after joining UMass, in 2005, Wertheimer and his wife, also a well-known and highly respected UMass doctor, made a tough decision. They had moved to Boston after raising their children in Worcester and were reverse commuting from Boston. Cambridge City Hospital, now called Cambridge Health Alliance, presented Wertheimer with an opportunity he could not refuse.

Serving an indigent and underserved community, Cambridge, a famous Harvard-affiliated public hospital, had no mammography and no treatment options for breast cancer. Politically committed to reducing access and outcome disparities, Wertheimer became the founder and director of a second multidisciplinary breast cancer clinic. He said, “I had control of patient flow. When a woman had an abnormal mammoMassachusetts | 5

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Comic, actor and dad is self-described as ‘almost domesticated’

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor Wilmington – Steve Bjork of Wilmington decided as a child to become a comedian. He achieved his career goal with three decades of appearances at comedy clubs nationwide and on television commercials.

Along the way, he wrote the book on being “almost domesticated.”

Steve Bjork

PHOTO/JEFF PAGE

life,” Bjork relayed. “At 12, I had to pretend that I wasn’t getting all the jokes. That’s when I decided to work as a clean comedian.”

From stages to pages Entering his freshman year at Salem State in 1986, he worked as a doorman at the now-closed Stevie D’s Comedy Tonight in nearby Middleton. He learned stand-up skills by observing Boston’s comic legends onstage.

adventurous energetic

PHOTO/JEFF PAGE

Childhood influences The 7-year-old Bjork received a Bill Cosby album from his mother because its cover pictured the cartoon’s “Cosby Kids.” Hearing the live comedy album sparked Bjork’s career choice.

“The idea that a guy could just talk onstage and keep people laughing absolutely captured me,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow! No heavy lifting. This is for me!”

When “Saturday Night Live” popularized Eddie Murphy, Bjork’s mother bought the comedian’s first album for her then-12-year-old son.

Together, the family listened to Murphy’s album – unaware of its adult content.

“It was probably one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my

Steve Bjork (center) with his children (l to r) 12-year-old twins Blake and Isaiah; Kari, 10; and Cheyenne, 14

Bjork focused on performing open mics in 1990, starting at Boston’s original Stitches. Several months later, he landed his first paying stand-up gig. He got $25.

“I showed the paycheck to my father,” Bjork proudly proclaimed. “He looked at it, looked at me and goes, ‘You better get your grades up.’”

Since then, Bjork has performed around New England and beyond on tours. He opened for The Platters, and shared stages with fellow comics Dave Chappelle, Tommy Chong and Steven Wright.

Bjork’s humorous observations go from stages to pages in his book “Almost Domesticated.”

In his collection of essays and short stories, readers can figuratively take his supermarket shopping trip to the deli.

“They’re serving #15,” he noted.

“My slip of paper has got the symbol for infinity.”

As seen on TV As an actor, Bjork’s TV commercials range from Bauer Hockey and Olympia Sports to T-Boost male revitalizing caplets.

For the T-Boost job, he auditioned and got hired without knowing the commercial’s product.

“If I had any integrity at all I would have asked, ‘What’s the product?’” he acknowledged. “It wasn’t until I got the gig that I learned it was for male enhancement.”

Before-and-after scenarios were filmed with Bjork’s character and an actress playing his wife. A bedroom scene contrasts her donning lingerie while Bjork wears a sleep mask. After

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PHOTO/DICK SEARFOSS

Steve Bjork on the set of a T-Boost TV commercial

taking T-Boost, he’s lounging in a leopard print robe with a rose in his mouth.

“It was fun,” he said, “but T-Boost isn’t necessarily a product that I want to be a spokesperson for.”

Family matters After raising an only child, Bjork and his now-former wife adopted four siblings. He aspires to follow his role model’s example of fatherhood.

“My father was the best dad in

the world,” he shared. “If I’m half the man that he was, then I’m doing a good job with these kids.”

Bjork took his children on a road trip complete with a hotel stay and a chance to see him onstage. Their regard for a comedian’s profession differs from the 7-year-old Bjork.

“They got to witness dad make 500 people laugh,” he recounted.

“The highlight of that trip for them was the hot tub.”

“Almost Domesticated”

by Steve Bjork

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Working amid pandemic When some pandemic restrictions loosened in spring 2020, Bjork was among the first New England comics to return to work. His atypical comeback took place at a drivein-style show in a parking lot.

“I’ve got a lot of bills,” he quipped.

Since then, Bjork continued working his childhood dream job while adjusting to the changing pandemic restrictions through 2020 into 2021. His work schedule included outdoor venues, virtual shows, and club gigs with socially-distanced, limited seating capacity.

“You’ve got to cherish those moments when you can laugh,” he noted.

“If I can bring laughter to somebody who has had a rough day. I can’t think of anything much better than that.”

Learn more about Steve Bjork at stevebjork.com and his book “Almost Domesticated” at online booksellers including amazon.com.

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Massachusetts surgeon pioneers multidisciplinary breast cancer clinics Massachusetts | from page 3

gram, she was walked over to me. No one fell through the cracks.”

Wertheimer added, “In 2009, our clinic was the first in the state to be certified by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a branch of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons.

The hospitals from the other side of the river in Boston were looking at us.”

Even more important, data proved that Wertheimer and his colleagues met their goal. “We had corrected the access and outcomes disparities in this population. It was wonderful,” he said.

Opportunity knocked again for

Wertheimer in 2010 when he became director of the Beth Israel (BI) Deaconess Medical Center’s Breast Care Center. There he rebuilt a multidisciplinary clinic, raised funds to build a new breast center, and again achieved national accreditation by NAPBC. Now retired, Wertheimer and his wife split their time between their apartment in Boston and a house on Martha’s Vineyard. Having retired a few times, Wertheimer was gifted several university chairs embossed with institutional logos: UMass, Harvard. Sitting in any of them, most likely, he is helping someone navigate breast cancer treatment options or helping someone in some other way.

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Bose inventor finds his Viking muse

By Jane Keller Gordon, Assistant Editor

SOUTHBOROUGH – Dr. William R. Short, who lives in Southborough, describes himself as a “Viking nerd” in spite of devoting much of his life to Bose Corporation. Mentored by the late Dr. Dr. Amar G. Bose while earning his B.S., M.S. and Sc.D. in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Short went on to become a Bose Fellow, earning many U.S. and foreign patents. In 1987, he and Dr. Bose received the Inventor of the Year Award for the Bose Acoustic Wave® music system and Bose Wave® Radio, for which they share the patents.

For the past 15 years, Dr. Short has pursued his other passion full time.

The Vikings called Dr. Short said, “Along with others, I am driven to understand how the Vikings fought and how they lived. Their culture was strange and twisted, and hard for us moderns to accept. Everything revolved around violence, including their code of conduct, code of law, and religious beliefs.

But violence only took place under the right circumstances.”

According to Dr. Short, the Vikings’ poetry speaks of “orðstírr,”

PHOTO/JANE KELLER GORDON

With scientific experiment at his core, using Hurstwic as his base, Dr. Short set out to build a core of trained fighters to conduct experiments about Viking warfare.

William R. Short

which he translates to word glory.

“The only thing that survives your death is what people say about you…

And the Vikings believed that the date of their death was preordained, so it was okay to take risks,” said Dr. Short.

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Short’s passion for the Vikings was ignited when he began reading their sagas

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conducted many data-driven experiments, creating detailed graphs and plots. “We broke a million shields trying to figure out how they work,” said Dr. Short. In one case, the group investigated the veracity of a Viking saga in which a powerful archer defended his home with two locks of his wife’s hair after his string broke. “We tried it and it worked,” say Dr. Short, with a bit of a twinkle in his eyes.

Hurstwic fight school/ research laboratory

and poems. Situated throughout Scandinavia and Iceland from about 800 to 1100AD, the Vikings passed on engaging stories, engineered ships and tools for warfare, and conducted voyages for trade, exploration, and piracy. Dr. Short’s fascination with the age was cemented when he attended a summer program in Iceland.

Fight school/research lab Soon after, he joined and then took over Hurstwic, a Rhode Is-

land-based Viking reenactment group. Dr. Short originally ran Hurstwic as a fight school and research laboratory at the Higgin’s Armory in Worcester. When the museum closed, Dr. Short leased space in Millbury MA. With scientific experiment at his core, using Hurstwic as his base, Dr. Short set out to build a core of trained fighters to conduct experiments about Viking warfare. He established a group of eight to ten

Drs. Short and Bose – Inventor of the Year Award

people who met three times a week to replicate the brutal, aggressive moves of the Viking warriors. They reverse-engineered Viking weapons and even Viking ships. From time to time, Hurstwic held open training sessions for a larger group of trainees.

Dr. Short and his colleagues

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New comprehensive book Dr. Short has produced films and training series, lectured, and published several books on the Vikings.

He has travelled to Iceland dozens of times. On July 15, 2021, he and Icelandic martial arts instructor and co-author Reynir Óskarson will publish a 512-page book, “Men of Terror: A Comprehensive Analysis of Viking Combat.” The book started out as a set of descriptions, notes, graphs, tables and plots. During COVID-19, Dr. Short reached out to Óskarson and proposed that they write a comprehensive book on the subject, using scientific methods to understand how the Vikings fought and lived. “We’re very excited about this book,” said Dr. Short.

For more information on the Viking-age, Hurstwic, and lectures, visit Hurstwic.com. “Men of Terror” may be purchased from Amazon.

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Basketball’s Massachusetts inventor valued accessibility above all else, historian says James Naismith (wearing suit) poses with members of the 1892 Springfield College Secretarial Basketball team. This team is sometimes referred to as the first basketball team in existence.

By Dakota Antelman Contributing Writer SPRINGFIELD - There’s a wing of the basketball world focused not on NBA perfection, but on pickup game proficiency.

Historian Jeff Monseau sees that and thinks the sports’ Massachusetts-based founder, James Naismith, would be proud.

“He didn’t create basketball for these beautiful physical specimens who play the game today,” Monseau said in a recent interview. “He actually created it for the 50-year-old archivist who has a belly.”

Monseau describes himself as that archivist with a belly. He works for Springfield College in Springfield, Mass and says he’s not particularly physically active. Yet, he thinks about basketball on an almost daily basis.

Basketball’s “Paul Bunyan” style creator Springfield is the birthplace of basketball. Monseau’s college, in turn, evolved directly from the institution that employed Naismith as a physical

A portrait shows James Naismith in the late 1880s, shortly before he invented basketball.

education teacher while he crafted his game.

Naismith came to town in the late 1800s appearing, according to Monseau, as a “Paul Bunyan-like character.”

He had dropped out of high school to work as a lumberjack. He returned

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to school, though, and later earned a theology degree from McGill University. Through it all, he loved a variety of sports.

Religion’s opposition to early contact sports While religious leaders at the time decried such an uncommon personal marriage of sports and faith, Naismith pushed forward supported, in part, by a few mentors in his college’s athletic department and by his own personal dogma.

“My life’s work is to do good to men, and [to] serve God,” Naismith wrote on his actual application to work as college physical director. “Wherever I can do that best, there I want to go.”

Monseau calls that physical document one of his “treasures” as an archivist. It describes, he feels, the essence of how Naismith thought about sports and his work.

“As he watched the game of basketball develop, the skill level went up, and the beauty of the sport went up,” Monseau explained of Naismith’s observations after inventing basketball.

“But, for him, the main thing would still fall back to the fact that he wanted more people to play the game.”

Modern growth aligned with basketball’s original intentions Roughly 130 years after Naismith created basketball in a Western Massachusetts gym, that idea of growth and health drives modern efforts to bring people onto courts and keep them healthy into old age.

“You walk on a court and you’ve never met anybody,” Steve Bzsomowski of Never Too Late® Basketball said in a recent interview. “But some way or another, you all wind up working really well together...it’s the greatest feeling

in the world.”

Never Too Late® is a Boston-based organization that runs basketball camps and clinics across the country.

Professional coaches lead drills and scrimmages to help players get comfortable enough in competitive settings to enjoy pickup or rec league opportunities in their communities.

With many players lacing up their sneakers into their 60s and beyond, Bzsmowski adds that safety remains paramount as coaches also teach players to adapt their skills according to physical limitations that come with age.

“We’re emphasizing playing in control,” Bzsmowski said. “...You don’t want to go there and have somebody whacking you. You don’t want to go for a layup and have somebody tackle you.”

A game built for everyday people James Naismith was small, tough and focused on health. He liked sports but got beat up playing football. He then created a new game focused on reducing violence, promoting socialization and more.

Jeff Monseau, meanwhile, is a scholar. He studies Naismith and plays his game happily in informal pickup settings.

Talking about a sport he feels was built with accessibility in mind, he thinks back to Naismith in terms not unlike those used by modern basketball movers like Bzsmowski who simply want to expand the sport and keep people playing as they age.

“He thought it was a really good way to connect with other people to then hopefully make them better people,” Monseau said. “...If you could connect on a level that, you know, they would communicate at, then also you could affect how they would be.”

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•9

An advocate for the invisible, dismissed and devalued

By Peg Lopata Contributing writer

Rough Start Bazile grew up in Roxbury with thirteen siblings.

“We were very poor and hungry,” said Bazile.

Fast forward to now and you’d meet a self-employed consultant, mother of four adult children and grandmother of three; an activist and educator. Her journey from feeling invisible, dismissed and devalued because she was Black and female to who she is today wasn’t an easy one.

Perhaps her determination comes from the many times she saw Malcolm X speak as a child. Perhaps it can be explained by her meeting a kindly dean at a local university as a teenager. Whatever the her source of

PHOTO/COURTESY OF EDITH BAZILE

BOSTON - Edith Bazile, an educational consultant in her sixties and volunteer from the Boston area is on a mission. Her childhood experiences have made her into a woman intent to rectify some of society’s gravest problems, such as racism and schools that fail to properly teach Black and Hispanic students, especially those with learning disabilities.

Edith Bazile

that drive, her path has been all about helping Black and Hispanic children not suffer the deprivations, indignities and neglect that she felt while in Boston’s schools.

The way out begins While in high school Bazile was a part-time typist at Polaroid, a camera company with facilities at the time in Cambridge. One day bicycling home she discovered Northeastern University and began to hang out there. She dreamed of attending

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I strove to be the teacher I never had, especially for Black students like me who come from poverty.

— Edith Bazile

this university. But not only was she not educated well enough due to the limited courses offered at her high school, she wasn’t even informed about how to apply to college. No one encouraged her to pursue higher education.

“As a Black girl I felt invisible at school and dismissed by society. I was told,” said Bazile, “that I wasn’t college material.”

To date? She’s almost completed her doctorate.

Next steps Bazile knew education was her ticket to avoid poverty. She had to find a way to attend Northeastern.

“I saw too much devastation amongst my peers and within my community. I feared for my life without a college education,” said Bazile.

“I wanted to be somebody.”

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After graduation she worked as a speech-language pathologist, special education teacher and administrator, and a literacy specialist. She never forgot Dean Latham.

An advocate | 19

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Bazile went to every building and talked to anyone she could find on the Northeastern campus looking for help. Eventually she found Roland Latham, a dean at the university, a black man, who understood her plight.

“Dean Latham was the angel who saved my life,” said Bazile.

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fiftyplus advocate + JUNE 2021 + www.fiftyplusadvocate.com

Watertown woman’s well-traveled life informs her art

By Peg Lopata Contributing Writer

ative life, but her life in general.

“Life is all about change,” said Bader.

A source of joy, frustration and fun Though learning from others is important to her, Bader is largely a self-taught artist. She enjoys engaging with materials, being expressive, and playing, and says for her, art is an exploration, but is also a source of joy, frustration and fun. She’s also learned how to make changes. This philosophy not only guides her cre-

A traveler No one can come more face-toface with this fact that life is about change than an explorer. And Bader is an explorer in art and in her life.

She was born in Algeria, near the Moroccan border, when Algeria was a part of France. During the postWorld War II years her family lived in Germany for five years, returning

ic serv

“Shapley”

Giliane Bader

to Algeria when she was seven years old. They were on the move again at the end of a civil war in Algeria, this time to Paris. She was sixteen. It was not a happy time, Bader explains.

“As with others coming from Algeria, I was relegated to the back of the classroom,” she explained.

Giliane Bader | 11

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“A program I enrolled in was a lifesaver as the pandemic started,” she said. “Over three months, I spent hours every day focused on learning and doing while being part of a community of like-minded artists. My art is a passion that gives meaning to my life, especially during this pandemic.”

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www.fiftyplusadvocate.com + JUNE 2021 + fiftyplus advocate

• 11

Hudson’s Dan Milton prepares to run his 25th Boston Marathon

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor

Running start An interest in running began for Milton in his late 20s when a niece shared an observation at Thanksgiving dinner.

“She said, ‘You’ve got a big stomach,’” he recounted. “I didn’t like hearing that, so I decided to start running.”

With little training, Milton participated in his first Boston Marathon in 1995.

“I didn’t know anything about running at the time,” he acknowledged. “I just wanted to see what the marathon was like. I showed up at the starting line in my Converse high-top basketball sneakers.”

About five hours later, he reached the finish line.

“I was amazed how excited everyone got watching runners,” he recalled.

“That’s what brought me back again.”

World Marathon Majors Milton expanded his major marathons geographically to Chicago in 2008. Meanwhile, he continued in

PHOTOS/ED KARVOSKI JR.

HUDSON – Dan Milton of Hudson has already achieved one of his goals.

He ran all six of the Abbott-sponsored World Marathon Majors: Boston; Chicago; New York City; Berlin, Germany; London and Tokyo. Now, he’s on the road to realizing another goal.

Milton finished his 24th Boston Marathon in 2019 and did 2020’s virtual version. He’s currently preparing to run his 25th in-person Boston Marathon, rescheduled to Monday, Oct. 11.

“For over 20 years, I’ve been talking about doing 25 of these and I’m finally going to do it,” he said of Boston Marathons. “It’s what has kept me running for over 27 years.”

Dan Milton displays his World Marathon Majors medal.

Boston.

At 2013’s Boston Marathon, he finished a few minutes before the bombs exploded.

“My family usually hangs out right where the bombs went off,” Milton relayed. “They didn’t make it there that year, thank God.” When Milton also finished 2013’s New York City Marathon, he had completed half of the six World Marathon Majors.

“I figured, ‘Why stop now?’’ he asked himself. “Let’s do them all.”

Six days after running his 19th Boston Marathon, Milton completed 2015’s London Marathon. No longer sporting basketball sneakers, he wore a head camera and videoed London sites while running.

“I was able to get the Tower of London on the video,” he noted. “It was pretty wild, going across the iconic Tower Bridge – I had tears in my eyes.”

Later in 2015, he ran the Berlin Marathon. It marked his third major

Watertown woman’s well-traveled life informs her art Giliane Bader | from page 10

Happier Times Luckily, her time in Paris was short-lived and her father’s work sent the family to Tahiti.

“The island was an amazing place at that time, in the sixties,” she said.

After living in Tahiti, she did a lot of traveling, including trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where her parents lived for a few years, and Turkey, Egypt and the French West Indies. She eventually settled in Cambridge, a place she fell in love with at first sight.

Her travels inform her art As she shares on her website, “The fauna and flora, colors, patterns and light qualities I encountered in

Africa, the Mediterranean and Tahiti flow throughout my work.” Her life experiences inform her work, as well.

“I think that a well-traveled life, along with some difficult experiences, has given me a frame reference different than most,” Bader said. “I have been exposed to many cultures and ways of life, changes and adaptation.”

Her works reflect all she has experienced. Some pieces show her connection to New England; others have the vibrant colors of the Caribbean. Many of her designs recall the jumble yet order of an African marketplace. Her art expresses a life well-traveled.

To learn more about Bader and her work, visit her website: https:// www.gilianebader.com/

marathon in different countries in one year.

Milton completed all six World Marathon Major in 2016 when he finished the Tokyo Marathon.

“It’s a great feeling to set your mind to do something and accomplish it,” he shared. “Who flies 14 hours away from their home to run a marathon? Obviously, I do. I love running!”

Memorable 2020 virtual marathon Milton would have loved his 25th Boston Marathon to take place in 2020 on the roads from Hopkinton to Boston. However, the 2020 pandemic restrictions postponed the race from April to September and from in-person to virtual.

Yet, Milton managed to incorporate a Boston Marathon landmark into his virtual race along with five friends.

His Hudson home was also included.

“The distance from outside my house to the starting line of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton is exactly 13.1 miles – a half-marathon,” he explained.

“We ran to the starting line, turned around and ran back to my house for our virtual marathon.”

Celebrating 125th Boston Marathon Now, he’s drawing on nearly three decades of running experience as he trains for the 125th Boston Marathon – his 25th in-person.

Milton has run a total of about 60 marathons. His best finish time is 3:15:47. In Boston, his best is 3:19:40.

“It has always been about qualifying for the Boston Marathon, so I can get closer to my 25th,” he noted. “I’m relieved to finally get there.”

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fiftyplus advocate + JUNE 2021 + www.fiftyplusadvocate.com

12 •

Arlington singer reflects on a lifetime working in the performing arts

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor

Will McMillan wears many hats – figuratively and literally.

ARLINGTON – Singer-songwriter Will McMillan of Arlington has performed professionally since his infancy. Now, whether onstage or online, he’s determined to continue sharing music with audiences of all ages.

“Music has a way of touching people’s hearts,” he noted.

From baby steps to professional actor Originally from Washington, D.C., McMillan also grew up in New York and Connecticut. He began appearing in commercials as a baby.

At age three, he landed his first speaking commercial role for Drake’s cepts Ring Ding Jr. Set in a football staGroup dium, his character ordered the treat from a vendor. It got passed down a row and finally reached him.

“Everyone took a bite of it before vised it got to me,” he recounted. “I got the empty wrapper.”

The 10-year-old McMillan was a standby for 1972’s original Broadway production of “Pippin,” which required him to be onsite for all performances. He repeatedly watched the

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Will McMillan performs onstage at Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham.

PHOTO/GRETJE FERGUSON

musical starring showbiz VIPs Ben Vereen, John Rubinstein, Jill Clayburgh and Irene Ryan.

“It clearly imprinted in my mind what I wanted to do when I grew up,” he recalled.

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As a particularly memorable gig, he cites NBC’s 1976 made-for-TV movie “Bound for Freedom” with Fred Gwynne (“The Munsters,” “Car 54, Where Are You?”). While it’s common to place a stand-in near the camera, Gwynne stayed to deliver his dialogue with direct eye contact for McMillan’s close-ups.

“It was my first example of how powerful the chemistry between two generous actors can be,” McMillan shared. “I remain forever grateful for that lesson.”

Finding his voice in Greater Boston McMillan moved to Massachusetts in 1980 to attend Harvard University where he sang with an a cappella group. Although he chose to leave before graduating, his Harvard connections led to soloing with Pops orchestras.

While gigging with a rock band, his voice teacher’s influence redirected him to jazz and cabaret.

“I became curious about what the human voice could do without all sorts of electronic amplification and reverb,” he explained.

In 1995, McMillan helped found the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists. In 1996, he started working daytimes as event manager at Cambridge Center for Adult Education and performed nighttime gigs.

He hosted “Will & Company” for several years at Harvard Square’s Blacksmith House. The Independent Reviewers of New England awarded his effort with 2002’s Best Cabaret Show.

“There were lots of really good local singers and songwriters who

just needed a date on a calendar,” he relayed. “The challenge was always finding new places to perform.”

McMillan found performance venues spanning from Boston’s Scullers Jazz Club to Yin Par Le Garcon Chinois in Shanghai.

“It was magical to fly entirely around the planet and then land in this place with all these jazz lovers,” he quipped.

Developing intergenerational audiences After several promotions, McMillan worked as assistant director at Cambridge Center for Adult Education when he got laid off in 2012.

Meanwhile, a cabaret colleague had been encouraging him to teach Music Together sing-along classes with children and their grownups.

“Within the shock of getting laid off and having a weekend to clearout 16 years of my work life, the first phone call I made was to her,” he said of his colleague.

Since then, McMillan teaches Music Together in Arlington. Now, most classes take place in-person outdoors, with a Zoom option.

Around the same time, he partnered with pianist Joe Reid to perform primarily at retirement communities and libraries. Their one-hour programs feature music of acclaimed songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, Oscar Hammerstein and Cole Porter.

“Everyone at retirement communities knows all these songs,” McMillan noted. “I love when people are moved to join in and sing along.”

Their work schedule increased annually until pandemic restrictions Will McMillan | 13

www.fiftyplusadvocate.com + JUNE 2021 + fiftyplus advocate

• 13

No Place Like Home

Arlington singer reflects on working in the performing arts

By Marianne Delorey, Ph.D. Executive Director, Colony Retirement Homes

Will McMillan | from page 12

“Home is heaven for beginners.” – Charles Henry Parkhurst

A few years ago, my brother and I were playing a game with our kids that was like Mad Libs — you take a common phrase and remove some key words. You then ask the other team for “a noun” or “an adjective” and the resulting phrase is usually surprisingly funny. The adult team was given the phrase, “Home is where you hang your hat.” We took out “hang” and “hat” and asked for a verb and a noun. They kids responded, “Home is where you organize your emptiness.”

All of the adults around the table winced at the existential angst this evoked, but we realized there was some truth in it. I think of that goofiness when I think about what a home means to me. It is more than just the four walls that surround us. It also represents where you are at your most bare, your most vulnerable, and you can be broken amongst people who will hold you gently until you are ready to face the world. It seems, then, that home should also be the safest for us physically.

That is not always the case, and so the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has been focusing on Healthy Homes – ways to improve the health outcomes of people in housing by improving the building in which they live.

This has been a long year — the year we retreated into our homes.

So many people started looking around their houses and realized how much work it needed. There is a housing and renovation boom, the cost of lumber is off the charts. What does that mean for the elderly who are wondering if their home will keep them safe if they live another decade, maybe two?

Elders and their loved ones should start with the following questions 1. Is your home in a safe neighborhood?

2. Do you have what you need (stores, doctors, social opportunities) relatively nearby?

3. Is your building envelope (roof, walls, windows) moisture free and draft free?

4. Are there parts of your home that might cause accidents (weak or steep stairs, loose rugs, poor drainage, landscaping problems, cords that cross the floor)?

5. Are there seasonal issues like snow removal that give you pause?

6. Are there known toxins (mold, lead paint, asbestos) in your home?

7. Do you have the amenities you need to age successfully?

8. Can you continue to keep the home and the yard up during the next 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?

If you feel your home could be safer, consider looking into one of the resources below to improve the health of your home.

• MassHousing – home improvement, septic system repair, and lead paint removal loans • Rebuilding Together, Inc. – assists low-income, elderly and disabled homeowners with home repairs • Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission – home modification loan program for persons with disabilities • Veterans Affairs Regional Loan Center – loans and grants to qualifying veterans to adapt existing dwelling to meet specific needs • USDA Rural Development Office – home improvement loans and grants to low-income homeowners in rural areas • Depa rtment of Public Health – lead poisoning prevention program And most importantly, if you think you should move, now or even in 20 years, make a plan. Many places have waiting lists and you want to set yourself up in advance to have as many options as possible. Plan now and apply well beforehand so that when you are ready, there is a new home waiting for you. Maybe then, you can hang your hat safely.

Marianne Delorey, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Colony Retirement Homes. She can be reached at 508-755-0444 or mdelorey @colonyretirement.com and www.colonyretirementhomes.com

cancelled about 60 performances in 2020.

When COVID hit, McMillan live streamed 112 Facebook singalongs.

His previously recorded music with pianist-producer Doug Hammer is now available via Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify and other digital platforms.

McMillan added, “Sometimes I feel like music is completely irrelevant, like when I saw what happened with the insurrection in Washington, D.C. And yet, other times, I think hearing a song that’s sung with tenderness is exactly what someone needs to heal a wound. Then, I feel music is very important.”

Learn more about Will McMillan at willsings.com.

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14 •

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viewpoint Weed Removal Therapy

By Janice Lindsay Contributing Writer

T

he far end of our back yard is a bog. The house sits on a slight rise.

Behind it, maybe ten yards away, lies the edge of a quarter-acre of dampness. Our lot lies near the bottom of a gentle, half-mile slope, so rain water and snowmelt collect behind our house.

When we moved in, we noticed a network of natural trenches carrying water from the bog to a constructed trench beside the house that emptied into a stream, that flowed into the nearby wetlands, that emptied into the lake. To encourage and direct the flow through our yard, we laid drainage pipes in these natural gutters and covered them with small stones, pea stones.

Now we had a network of pea stone paths, maybe 150 feet of walk-

way about a foot wide, where we could stroll among the grasses and wildflowers that grew in the little unmanicured field.

Weeds (weed: any plant that grows where you don’t want it) loved our paths. In one growing season, those paths might disappear under a blanket of clover, dandelions, saplings, and grasses. So somebody must weed the paths. That somebody was me.

And I discovered Weed Removal Therapy.

The job was never done. I worked a section at a time. The whole project could take days, weeks. When I finished one end, it was time to start again at the beginning. So any time during the growing season, whenever I felt overwhelmed, frustrated, or sad about anything, I could don my gardening gloves, and grab my weed-collection bucket, my kneeling pad, and my favorite, sturdy threepronged weeding tool whose proper name I don’t know. Look out, weeds, here we come.

Weeding put me in the soothing company of birds, bees, butterflies, and wildflowers (that is, flowers

that did not grow in my path).

And what a sense of satisfaction, to survey a few feet of path whose e d ge s had been hiding and muddled by uninvited greenery, but now looked clear, clean, and simple.

I returned to my indoor life with renewed peacefulness and proper perspective.

And now, as I ponder Weed Removal Therapy, I wonder if I could weed my life as efficiently as I weeded the paths: root out distractions, unnecessary complexities, and picky details that require attention but don’t contribute to the enjoyment of my path.

I could delete those emails that look interesting and I think I’ll read them later but I never do; same with some magazines and newsletters; books I won’t read again; clothes I

won’t wear again; household items I save because maybe I’ll use them some day, but probably won’t. I could unsubscribe to marketing emails from online vendors. I might miss a good sale occasionally, but mostly I waste time deleting the emails.

Maybe I could weed out checking the online news so often. How much do I really need to know? The news used to be a morning paper and TV at 6 p.m. We seemed to manage.

Wouldn’t it be grand if we could weed out those worries concerning things we can’t do anything about?

Or regrets about past events that we can’t change? Or fears about future problems that might never happen?

But weeding is not so easy when it involves possessions with their attached memories, or long-standing habits, or persistent thoughts swirling in our brains. These often have roots even deeper than the dandelions that marred my pea stone paths. They can seem too much to tackle, even for my favorite, sturdy three-pronged weeding tool whose proper name I don’t know.

Contact jlindsay@tidewater.net.

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www.fiftyplusadvocate.com + JUNE 2021 + fiftyplus advocate

• 15

Hudson man reconnects with birth mom decades after adoption

Phil Knutel sits with his son, Alex and his birth mother, Maggie, on his boat.

Adoption | from page 1

pregnant part-way through college.

So, Byrnes paused her pursuit of an English degree and headed off to a “home for unwed mothers” in Cleveland, Ohio.

“It was this real hush-hush kind of thing,” she said.

Living in that facility, Byrnes sent letters home weaving a fictional tale of world travels to keep her younger siblings from learning what was actually happening.

At one point, a family member told Byrnes she should simply marry the father of her child.

“He said no one else would want me,” Byrnes recalled.

For the trauma of that time, though, Byrnes eventually gave birth

Answers to Super Crossword (puzzle on page 14)

to Phil. She said she “sorrowfully” put him up for adoption and moved forward with a life now reshaped by her experience.

No longer was she studying English. Instead, as Byrnes went to grad school, she dove into a career in social work. One particularly kind nun back at the home in Cleveland had inspired her.

Byrnes got her Masters of Social Work, moved to Colorado and, at one point, helped screen families seeking to adopt children through the US government’s “Operation Babylift” in the final days of the Vietnam War.

Searching for each other As he and his mother both grew up, Knutel settled into his own life, adopted from Cleveland by parents who happened to live only an hour from Kalamazoo.

His adoptive parents took care of him.

Due in part to strict and harsh words from a state trooper who warned a young Knutel not to look for his mother, though, it took until Knutel’s late teen years to consider reconnecting.

At that point, he engaged in an unknowing act of kinship with Byrnes.

“I remember sort of looking around for my mother, looking at people’s faces in a city of a million,” Knutel said.

Knutel knew he had been born in Cleveland. So, he started looking while living in the city for a year in college.

Byrnes, meanwhile, knew Knutel had been adopted in Kalamazoo and, therefore, did similar looking there.

Meeting thanks to modern technology Not immediately connecting, Knutel and Byrnes continued on divergent but somehow similar paths.

Byrnes eventually got married and had two sons in Colorado.

Knutel got married as well, relocating to Hudson and adopting three sons.

As they aged, Byrnes and Knutel

both eventually sought DNA testing through the company 23andMe in part to identify any propensity for genetic diseases.

Neither found anything medically alarming. Instead, they found each other.

“I was astounded because he looked so much like me,” Byrnes said. “…And we have so much in common.”

The two first connected by messaging within the 23andMe service.

They then jumped to phone calls.

Then they met in person.

“It was just a surreal experience,” Knutel said of that first meeting. “It was something I never really thought would happen.”

Experiencing a larger system Knutel and Byrnes spent years wondering about each other. That, in some respects, is not unusual within parts of the adoption community.

For years, “closed adoptions” were the status quo across the US, NPR host Steve Inskeep wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed.

However, that caused problems even after modern adoption systems introduced reforms, Inskeep elaborated.

There is now a growing wave of writing, activism and legislation to further change the adoption system to make it easier for biological parents and their children to connect if all parties consent to such a relationship.

Discussing new questions That decision to connect is personal, Inskeep notes.

For Knutel specifically, all this has posed unique questions -- his youngest son started talking about wanting to meet his birth mom when he was just four years old.

“I don’t think I was really prepared for that,” he noted.

Knutel says he’s wary about setting up false expectations but has engaged in conversations about identity, family and ancestry, conversations he’s uniquely qualified to handle.

At the end of it all, as he navigated a life quietly underpinned by his story of adoption, Knutel pulls a prominent lesson from his new relationship with his mother.

“Maybe you do [meet your mother],” he tells his sons. “Maybe you don’t. If you do, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine. A family is what you make it, based on love, not on biology.”

16 •

fiftyplus advocate + JUNE 2021 + www.fiftyplusadvocate.com

Dedham High teacher’s work experience benefits his performing arts students

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor

shared. “We had our baby shower in Dayton, Ohio.”

DEDHAM/WEYMOUTH – Dedham High School’s music and drama teacher Steven Bergman of Weymouth brings lessons to his classes that he learned from working professionally in various capacities of the performing arts.

The educator is also an award-winning composer, musical director, keyboardist and playwright.

“The work that I do with professionals helps me raise the bar of my work with students,” he explained.

“And the work that I do with students helps to keep me balanced when I’m working with adults.”

Math major gets musical gigs Originally from Miami, Bergman played keyboards with bands in high school and college. His career path took a sharp turn after graduating from Florida International University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

He got hired to work as musical director at Miami’s Actors Playhouse.

With a professional theater credit, Bergman relocated to Boston to study

Steven Bergman

at Berklee College of Music where he graduated in 1992.

“I wanted to be in a part of the country where music was much more appreciated than South Florida at that time,” he noted. “I traded weather for culture.”

Also in 1992, he played keyboards at Boston’s Charles Playhouse for

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From theaters to classrooms As a composer and co-lyricist, Bergman’s “Jack the Ripper: the Whitechapel Musical” and “Curse of the Bambino” were produced at several regional theaters, both accompanied with CDs. He also writes short and full-length plays.

Among Boston’s regional thePHOTO/BRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY aters where he has worked multiple stints as musical “Together Again” starring showbiz director are Lyric Stage Compalegends Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca ny, SpeakEasy Stage Company and of NBC-TV’s 1950s “Your Show of Wheelock Family Theatre.

Shows.”

As an educator, he taught mu“They’re comedic royalty,” Bergsic and theater from 2001 to 2006 at man said of the duo. “Imogene Coca Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School, a was such a fragile, petite woman offprivate college-preparatory school in stage. Then the moment she crossed Waltham. the proscenium line, it was amazing to “My second week of teaching was watch this transition of energy all of a 9/11,” he noted. “I quickly saw that sudden come to life.” educators not only teach students, but Bergman worked a few stints at are also there to support them when Beverly’s North Shore Music Thethey’re feeling stressed from school or atre including 1994’s “South Pacific” life.” with 1968 Olympics’ artistic gymnast To complement his teaching liCathy Rigby. He also began instructcense, Bergman earned a master’s ing youth programs at this and other degree in arts education from Fitchvenues. burg State University. From 2006 to 2018, he worked as choral and drama Newlyweds on the road instructor at Littleton’s public middle Most of his 1990s musical diand high schools. recting gigs were at the now-closed Expressly for youth audiences, Worcester Foothills Theatre. There, he he wrote the music and lyrics, and met his now-wife, actress and director co-wrote the book of “Reigning Cats Maryann Zschau. & Dogs.” Winner of 2015’s Jackie Soon after marrying in 1997, their White National Children’s Musical honeymoon of sorts was a national Theatre Award, the show explores actour of “Nunsense Jamboree” starceptance, personal identity, friendship ring Georgia Engel (“The Mary Tyler and loyalty. In addition to Bergman’s Moore Show”). Bergman played keymiddle school in Littleton, the muboards and Zschau understudied three sical has been staged in Groton and roles. Meanwhile, Engel kept the travWatertown. eling troupe entertained.

“Georgia liked doing whatever Education in challenging times was popular wherever we were,” BergBergman began teaching at Dedman recounted. “We wound up puttham High School in the 2019-2020 putt golfing in Indiana.” academic year when remote learning Between the tour’s 1997 and 1998 started in March. He hopes his sturuns, Bergman played keyboards at dents learn life lessons as well as the Nashville’s iconic Grand Ole Opry performing arts. for the “Nunsense Jamboree” televi“Be invested and passionate about sion special, DVD and CD featuring whatever you do – whether it’s in the Emmy Award-winner Vicki Lawarts or not,” he said, relaying his advice rence (“The Carol Burnett Show”). to students. “Find a passion and activAfterward, the tour continued – as ity that feeds your soul, especially in did the newlyweds’ developments. these challenging times.”

“During the tour, we found out we Learn more about Steven Bergwere going to be parents,” Bergman man at everydayaholiday.net.

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Worcester author chronicles one of Revolutionary War America’s most notorious crimes

By Brett Peruzzi Contributing Writer WORCESTER - For author and independent historian Andrew Noone of Worcester, the inspiration for his first book was almost literally in his backyard.

The remains of Bathsheba Spooner, who was the first woman executed in the United States, are interred somewhere in Green Hill Park, which is just across the street from Noone’s home. She was convicted of plotting the 1778 murder in Brookfield of her husband Joshua Spooner with three men, including her teenage lover. “The Spooner tale is perhaps Worcester County’s number one back burner legend,” said Noone.

“Always there, but little thought of.

Once I moved onto the park, and a friend reminded me of the tale, I was hooked.”

A compelling tale Noone’s fascination with the story led to years of research and writing, and the publication early in 2021 of his book Bathsheba Spooner: A Revolutionary Murder Conspiracy. It’s historical non-fiction, complete with over twenty pages of end notes, but rich with evocative details and dialogue. It draws the reader deep into the tale as it unfolds, with the tribulations of the Revolutionary War as its backdrop, until it reaches its shocking conclusion.

“The story is astonishingly rare in its ingredients,” said Noone. “War, lust, duplicity, teenage romance, serial adultery, thievery, slapstick criminality, social elites, American and British soldiers and mass executions. It’s like a made-to-order Netflix series.”

“Aside from the popular interest,” continued Noone, “the saga’s of course of genuine historical interest.

It was the first capital case (post-Declaration of Independence), first mass execution, first woman executed and the most extensive trial notes of the century.”

Marker at the site of Joshua Spooner’s 1778 murder in Brookfield

lage far from the British-controlled coast,” he said. “Over the past twenty years, Worcester’s role has been happily reevaluated.”

Andrew Noone’s book chronicles one of the most notorious crimes in 18th century America

ing career has helped me to organize and think through lots of oftentimes disjunct material,” Noone observed.

“Different disciplines have also helped me to broaden my cultural perspectives.”

“My motivation in writing the book was not the story itself,” admitted Noone. “Rather, I decided to use it as the hook upon which to hang the history of Worcester in the Revolution. Boston historians and authors such as Emerson and Longfellow have overplayed Boston’s significant, but not solitary role in the conflict.”

Noone feels Worcester’s role in the American Revolution has been traditionally underrepresented. “Following the Boston Tea Party, Worcester took center stage as the safe, removed vil-

Digging up the details How does one go about researching a crime that occurred over two hundred years ago? “The book is a balance of primary and secondary sources,” Noone explained. “The American Antiquarian Society was a treasure trove. For me, few things are as rewarding as digging out a journal entry no one had published before, or even found. I was amazed at the letters I found, and diaries, which directly reference the tragedy.” He also found centuries-old property deeds at the Worcester registry of deeds that helped piece together parts of the story.

“The hardest part was organizing all of the notes,” Noone acknowledged. “I found that harder than even the writing. I had an oversized box full of about forty miniature legal pads. My cross-reference system left much to be desired. The toughest two days was laying out all the details from the day of the murder. My floor was covered with about 100 index cards.”

Noone has been busy this year giving presentations at historical societies about the book, which is available on Amazon and at some local bookstores. But he’s already thinking about his next research topic. “Without giving too much information,” he said, “my next book will deal with another Worcester history which had national implications. And it’s probably not the one you might think.”

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Leaving a legacy that matters Working for the good of the plan et and the next generation page 8

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A diverse background The 64-year-old Noone is somewhat of an unlikely chronicler of early United States history. A Worcester native and lifelong resident, he works as a music teacher in the public schools, and is a professional musician, having served in the past as a church organist and music director.

Scholarship does come naturally to him, however, after earning two graduate degrees, one in musicology, and the other in art history. “My teach-

Worcester author and independent historian Andrew Noone

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My Life My Story

Program adds life stories to veteran’s medical records BOSTON –

By Mary Pritchard, Contributing Writer

T

he My Life My Story program has been changing the way veterans and their doctors connect. Dr. Susan Nathan, MD, of the VA Boston Healthcare System and her colleagues have been participating in the program for several years.

“We interview veterans about their life stories and write a one-thousand word first person narrative which we review with the patient. With their permission, the story goes into their medical record,” she said. “We get to know who they are outside of their medical and/or mental health situation. We also give them copies to keep or share. They are printed on letterhead and presented with a letter thanking them for their story, service,

and sacrifice along with a pamphlet about the program.”

It has become clear to the medical professionals who participate in the project that the stories of their patients - knowing who they are belongs in their medical chart. “It’s a wonderful starting place; in the first person voice,” Dr. Nathan said. “This is who I am, these are some of the things I’ve been through and this is what’s important to me.”

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Veterans’ stories are displayed and shared with the healthcare providers of the VA Boston Healthcare System

Founded in Wisconsin, program continues to grow According to Dr. Nathan, the program began in 2013 at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Maddison, WI. With the success of the program, it was implemented more widely and continues to spread with 60 VAs and 5,400 veterans across the country participating so far, and more than 1,000 veterans interviewed at VA Boston.

“While the program has been developed and grown through the VA, it has been spreading to area nonVA hospitals. It’s a culture shift, at least locally, that knowing the story of this person sitting across from you is important,” she said. “This facility is a large education and training hub where students, residents, and fellows do clinical rotations. Integrating this process directly into the education experience means that wherever they ultimately end up, healthcare providers

will start off with who their patients are in their entirety.”

Healthcare providers interview veterans and hand write their stories Dr. Nathan, Attending Physician in Geriatric and Palliative Care and Site Director for My Life My Story Project at VA Boston, Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Adjunct Instructor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, noted that the handwritten, not recorded, interviews involve an increased level of listening, focus, and intensity which allows the interviewer to get a lot out of the interview. “Sometimes the veteran’s story is so close to the surface that they have an eagerness and openness to share and they just begin sharing their story. Sometimes they aren’t used to being asked in a medical setting about non-medical things,” she said. “Sometimes we do

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This is who I am, these are some of the things I’ve been through and this is what’s important to me.

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One question we ask is ‘what is something you’re most proud of,’ – the answer is usually ‘my family’ - their legacy is their family. To be able to help them share that with family – it’s a different sense of helping them feel well and be well. Being let into this person’s life changes our relationship and encounter. We become true partners in this.

People open up quite a bit. They share things they’ve been through. We are entrusted with their health and now we see another side that would not normally be part of the healthcare encounter, it’s not a transaction, it is a relationship… a partnership.”

— Dr. Susan Nathan,

this with the help of a family member, but this is their telling of their story at this moment in time, often starting simply with ‘let’s begin at the beginning, where did you grow up and what was it like?’ For patients who are seriously ill or approaching the end of their life, this provides them and their families with a legacy they can keep forever. For a person who wants to, at that moment it’s important to share their story and experiences. Now they have a place to do that. For some, it might be hard to share those stories with loved ones but now they can.

New project highlights women veterans A new project originated at VA Sierra Nevada Healthcare System, “Through Our Eyes – The Women Veterans Experience Roadshow,” is a traveling poster exhibit of women veterans displaying their current day portrait and military portrait along with their stories. VA Boston is recreating this project to feature stories and portraits of women veterans from our local Boston Community.

For more information visit www. boston.va.gov/education/Faculty_Development/My-Life_My-Story.asp

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An advocate for the invisible, dismissed and devalued An advocate | from page 9

“I sought to be like him” she said. “I strove to be the teacher I never had, especially for Black students like me who come from poverty.”

And now…

Today, Bazile advocates for students with disabilities from preschool age to twenty-two. She aims to make sure Black and Hispanic students have equal access to resources and services. She also works as a professional development consultant at the Collaborative for Educational Services, Northampton, MA, for educators teaching students who are incarcerated for treatment or containment. As a volunteer, she

also serves on several boards, publishes regularly, assists individual parents with issues concerning their children, and does workshops with parent and community groups.

Her advocacy, she said, is “focused on the provision of high quality, inclusive education, curricula decolonization and ensuring students gain access to college and career readiness.

I also advocate to ensure equitable funding for schools that serve Black and brown students.”

Though she often faces resistance and gets frustrated, it doesn’t deter her.

“I love children,” said Bazile. “Investing in our youth is rewarding and satisfying.”

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