Obituary William “Bill” J. Frew

Branch Library Friends

William “Bill” J. Frew, 87, of South Boston passed away on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at the home that he loved.

Predeceased by his beloved wife Renee Heenan and sister Mary Dillon. Bill is survived by his daughter Nora Frew, son Joseph Frew, Joseph’s wife Kate and their sons Aiden and Lucas.

Growing up in South Boston watching planes take off from Logan, he dreamed of becoming a pilot and joined the US Air Force to achieve his dream. After leaving the Air Force in

1965 he joined Trans World Airlines. As a Captain for TWA, he was blessed to travel the world and had a lifetime of incredible stories many of which are included in his two memoirs. Following his retirement, he became an avid artist with a love for landscapes and the sky. He often mentioned how beautiful clouds were and worked to capture them on canvas. Bill was a lifelong resident of South Boston and an active member of the community. He was a member of the South Boston Arts Association, South Boston Writers Group and a very active member of the Gate of Heaven community.

Family and Friends are invited to Services at Casper Funeral Home on Thursday April 20th from 4-7 PM. Funeral Mass will be held at Gate of Heaven Church on Friday April 21st at 10am with burial to follow in Quincy at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Gate of Heaven Church.

Every organization needs friends – good, hardworking friends. The South Boston Branch Library is no exception. Kathy, Joe, and Liz, members of the “Friends of the South Boston Branch Library”, lined up last Saturday to do their librarybased fundraising. This involves receiving books in good condition that are donated by neighbors who no longer have any use for them, and then putting these books on sale to raise money for unbudgeted Branch Library expenses. The books are very reasonably priced at $1 or $2 each. Please note that many, many children’s books are available for any of your youngsters who love to read. The Friends sell books on the third Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. unless there’s another Branch Library activity taking place. The next Friends’ book sale: Saturday, May 20, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Boston One Day

Saturday was Boston One Day, which marked the tenth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. In the South Boston Seaport overlooking the Fort Point Channel, Martin’s Park was decked out in its warm, spring finery. Shades of yellow abounded, especially on the “Boston Strong” daffodils that adorned his Park, as well as so many other points around the City of Boston.

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Construction

“T” stop for the outbound #9 bus has been restored.

You’ll notice that West Broadway, including the West Broadway Residences, has been renovated extensively in prior years. Many new buildings are located at the Broadway “T” Station. Down A Street, iron work for the Eli Lilly & Co. building that was once to be GE’s national headquarters is nearly complete. And the word is that after a couple of years riding out the office downturn, A Street will become another center for life science buildings.

In our article about Andrew Square projects, we mentioned the planned reconstruction of the Old Harbor/Mary Ellen McCormack homes. A similar huge project in the Old Colony/ Anne M. Lynch homes is in its last phase – demolition, regrading, and new foundation work is ongoing along Mercer, Old Harbor, and East Eighth Streets.

Three major projects that involve South Boston’s public facilities are in various phases right now. We see that lock-up construction containers have been positioned in back of the Dorchester Heights Monument to the Evacuation of Boston. The monument will be refurbished so that visitors can go from bottom to the top and back as they wish. The Heights are already the highest natural point in Boston – from the top of the monument, the views would be unmatched. Moakley Park is subject to flooding and its many offerings need to be upgraded as well. Needless to say (we hope), although it’s called a “Park”, Moakley with its fields, courts, and Saunders Stadium is really an athletic complex, to be used by city-wide sports teams and players from all over Boston. Finally, construction of the revised Curley Community Center – a.k.a. the “L Street Bathhouse” – seems to be complete. We saw a rented Hertz truck removing furniture from the

Curley on Tuesday morning, but our requests about what was going on were met with “No Comment!”

But the Curley still remains closed – virtually two years late.

Despite the pandemic and possible downturns, South Boston’s future as a center of development is alive and well. Editors Note: SBOL was informed the delayed opening of the L Street Recreation Center was due to environmental issues. We are gathering more information and will report on it soon.

By Ginger DeShaney

When Rachel Titcomb was growing up, she started her day with Petula Clark. Now she wants her Southie neighbors to start their day with Petula’s.

“My mom really loved Petula Clark,” Rachel said. “She would blast Petula Clark every morning to wake me and my siblings up. It put us in such a good mood.”

That’s the idea behind the name of her new restaurant at 81 L Street: Petula’s.

“My sisters and brothers have flashbacks. There was a lot of Petula Clark going on in my house,” she laughs.

Petula’s will be an all-day restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is set to open in early May, starting with dinner service, and by June, breakfast and lunch will be added.

Rachel, the spot’s operating general manager and partner, has