Essex Heritage Hero Event, Joint effort with Danvers Historical Society, Graduation at St John's Prep, Trail Openings Exceed Expectations

Essex Happenings, Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Essex Heritage Hero Event a Great Success at the Blue Ocean Music Hall

The weather for late spring was sensational.
The venue and the host were exceptional.
The meal and the service was super

The staff at Essex Heritage executed a well prepared plan without a hitch.
The guest list exceeded expectations
The speakers and the MC were articulate and humorous when needed.
The associates who offered toasts were warm and heartfelt.
The honorees were humble and appreciative
The families of the Heritage Hero’s most supportive
The crowd was warm and receptive
The proceeds from the event will be put to a wonderful use
There is not much more than can be said about the Essex Heritage 2010 Heritage Hero event

Danvers Historical Society and Essex Heritage Hosts Photo Safari and More

Saturday morning, May 22 was a perfect morning to take photographs of a formal garden, and the Danvers Historical Society was a perfect host organization. It was a bit hazy in the early morning and there was still a bit of dew on the grounds, but I suspect that made the photo “ops” even more spectacular. Essex Heritage offered the second of our Photo Safaris at the Glen Magna Farms in Danvers on this pleasant late spring morning and the weather certainly cooperated to make the occasion a special day. Essex Heritage and the Danvers Historical Society hosted over two dozen amateur photographers who sampled top of the line camera equipment from Olympus and used the equipment to take photos of the spectacular formal grounds and timeless historic architecture on the grounds of Glen Magna Farms. Essex Heritage is pleased to be able to offer these opportunities as a result of a partnership with Hunts Photo and Video in Melrose; This Saturday was a busy day at the Farm, as the Society was also hosting a wedding on that day. It would have been difficult to find a Saturday in May when there was not a wedding scheduled on the grounds of Glen Magna. The site is one of the most popular in the entire region for nuptials. I suppose that the huge tent and the decorations that makes the location a favorite for local weddings was a special addition for the amateur photographers that morning.

The event and the special surroundings also made a wonderful setting for a “Smart, Green and Working” photo opportunity in front of the famous Derby Summer House that is one of the features of the property. This wonderful example of early American architecture is a National Register property and clearly most photogenic. The leadership of the Danvers Historical Society gathered a large contingent of their board and other society members who were joined by our Safari participants and with everyone holding signs, one of the signatures historic resources in the entire county was highlighted as a resource worthy of preservation efforts. Essex Heritage in indebted to the Danvers group for their special partnership with us, and their efforts on this unusually busy Saturday in Late May is much appreciated. We trust that the Safari participants all had as a special day as the wedding party that gathered later in the day for their personal celebration.
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St. John’s Prep Graduation and Golden Eagle Reunion

On a day that started cloudy and later on turned out to be mostly fair with a touch of humidity, slightly over 300 young men graduated from St. John’s Prep on Sunday. The graduation as in other years went off right on schedule and the student and faculty speakers were articulate and passionate in their presentations. The faculty speaker was Michael Leonard, and even though he was no relation to me, he did the family name proud with his remarks to the graduates. A number of awards were provided to a wide range of graduates and as usual there were a number of superstars that seemed to capture a large percentage of the primary awards.

Prior to the graduation services a breakfast was offered in the Milano Dinning Hall on campus to the Prep class of 1960 where golden Diplomas were provided to about fifty former Prep students who celebrated their fiftieth anniversary of their graduation from the Prep. In addition to the Class of 1960, there were also several former graduates who had previously celebrated their golden anniversary and were in attendance to see a few more graduates join the ranks as Golden Eagles. I enjoyed breakfast with a former classmate of mine from the class of 1954, Roland Morency from Salem, and Jim Mc Cann and Paul Hennessy from the class of 1952. . Paul and I spent several years together on the Board of Trustees at the Prep and are still connected to the school today as we co-chair a committee that is developing programs to offer planned giving opportunity to alumni of the Prep.

Even though the class of 1960 graduated from the school a half a dozen years after me, I knew many in the class and enjoyed seeing many of them again. John Doyle has long provided insurance services to me as a client and David Akin was until fairly recently the Fire Chief in Yarmouth on Cape Cod where I spend time in the summer. After David retired from the fire service he became a deacon in the Catholic Church we attend in the Town of Yarmouth. He is a leader in programs in that region that support the homeless. George Atkins is an Attorney practicing in the City of Salem, and is the current volunteer President of the Salem Partnership, an organization that I also served as President early in the 1990’s. I also enjoyed speaking with Tom O’Leary who was the Senior Planner at the Registry of Deeds in Salem, and we worked together on many occasions in the early days of the Salem Partnership. Joe Levis from Andover who also served with me on the Board of Trustees at St. John’s was also a member of this class that was celebrated today. All in all the breakfast and graduation celebrations were a most pleasant experiences, and helped prepare me for graduation day 2011 when my grandson Brendan Leonard will become a graduate of the Prep and also join the ranks of the thousands of alumni who serve this region and others parts of the country. .

Trail Openings in Newburyport and Salisbury a Monumental Success

Congratulations to the leadership of the Coastal Trails Coalition and our own Bill Steelman for a monumental success at the Trail Openings on Sunday in the north of this region. Crowds estimated at 4000 to 5000 enjoyed the weather and the wonderful amenities that have been added to that region to improve the quality of life in Newburyport and Salisbury. The Trail openings were a great success and the crowds and the comments from the participants clearly show that the residents of this region want more recreational projects like this one in the future.
As always we value your comments, questions and observations about the work of Essex Heritage.

Please contact me with your thoughts or any questions you may have at www.essexheritage.org. We are always striving to make Essex Heritage work as effectively as possible and your input and suggestions are always welcome. We can always provide more information and better communication, and one of the goals of these postings on Essex happenings is to provide that opportunity. Thanks You. Tom Leonard