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Jersey fits Schneider ● Ben breaking barriers<br />
Sole<br />
man<br />
WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19
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O1945<br />
A publication of Essex Media Group<br />
Publisher<br />
Edward M. Grant<br />
Chief Executive Officer<br />
Michael H. Shanahan<br />
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER<br />
TED GRANT<br />
Heart and sole<br />
of a well-heeled town<br />
FRESH • TIMELESS • LUXE<br />
02 | <strong>01945</strong><br />
Directors<br />
Edward L. Cahill<br />
John M. Gilberg<br />
Edward M. Grant<br />
Gordon R. Hall<br />
Monica Connell Healey<br />
J. Patrick Norton<br />
Michael H. Shanahan<br />
Chief Financial Officer<br />
William J. Kraft<br />
Chief Operating Officer<br />
James N. Wilson<br />
Community Relations Director<br />
Carolina Trujillo<br />
Controller<br />
Susan Conti<br />
Editor<br />
Paul K. Halloran Jr.<br />
News Editors<br />
Cheryl Charles<br />
Roberto Scalese<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Bill Brotherton<br />
Gayla Cawley<br />
Bella diGrazia<br />
Thomas Grillo<br />
Thor Jourgensen<br />
Photographer<br />
Spenser Hasak<br />
Advertising Design<br />
Trevor Andreozzi<br />
Tyler Bernard<br />
Advertising Sales<br />
Ernie Carpenter<br />
David McBournie<br />
Ralph Mitchell<br />
Patricia Whalen<br />
Production<br />
Mark Sutherland<br />
ESSEX MEDIA GROUP<br />
110 Munroe St.,<br />
Lynn, MA 01901<br />
781-593-7700 ext.1234<br />
Subscriptions:<br />
781-593-7700 ext. 1253<br />
Read online at:<br />
<strong>01945</strong>themagazine.com<br />
I'm a bit of a shoe freak. Actually, that's a lie or, at the very least, a gross understatement. I'm a full-bore-<br />
Imelda-Marcos-has-nothing-on-me shoe freak. I won't tell you how many pair I own because, other than<br />
your not caring, it would just give my good friend the divorce attorney another reason to call my wife and<br />
get the process started.<br />
Let's just leave it at this: A carpenter friend turned a spare bedroom in my house into a closet and the<br />
shelves he built for shoes fill an entire wall and I couldn't squeeze another pair onto them even with a (get<br />
ready:) shoehorn.<br />
With so many pair, I don't wear many all that often, and some are maybe 20 years old. For that, I thank<br />
Semyon Fox, the owner of Quality Shoe Repair on Atlantic Avenue and the cover boy on this, the third<br />
edition of <strong>01945</strong> The Magazine.<br />
I've been a customer of his for most if not all of the 27 years he's been in business in Marblehead. Even<br />
when I lived in the Back Bay, I'd bring my shoes to him for a shine or new heels or whatever those little<br />
things are that he puts under the toes to prevent scuffing. I wonder if, subconsciously, I moved back to<br />
Marblehead a few years ago to be closer to his shop.<br />
According to Thor Jourgensen's story, Mr. Fox's wife is a retired aesthetician; one daughter is a<br />
microbiologist and the other an electrical engineer; his granddaughter is a mechanical engineer. And he is<br />
a character. A cobbler, certainly, but first and foremost a character.<br />
Through his thick Ukrainian accent comes a wry sense of humor. He'll ask when you need your shoes<br />
and you tell him, say, Thursday, and he'll say, no — pick them up Wednesday.<br />
It's cash on the barrelhead — in advance. And I swear he has been using the same ticket stubs since he set up<br />
shop. He writes the customer's phone number — in pencil — on his portion of the stub, and the day they'll be<br />
ready on the customer's. He'll ask to watch you put the stub in your wallet so it won't get lost, because when you<br />
come to retrieve your shoes he'll erase the information and reuse the stubs over and over and over.<br />
I once was running late and couldn't get to his place before closing time, so I asked the aforementioned<br />
Jansi Chandler Grant to pick them up for me on her way home. He gave her the shoes — but only after<br />
he made me promise to slip the stub into his mailbox that night. (I did. I like my shoes, remember.)<br />
Mr. Fox is 78, so I don't know how much longer he'll be doing what he does. But I will tell you that<br />
Marblehead wouldn't be the same without him.<br />
My closet certainly wouldn't be.<br />
Not that you need other reasons to read this edition of <strong>01945</strong>, but there are several. Steve Krause goes<br />
between the pipes with Cory Schneider; Bella diGrazia chronicles the amazing recovery of Ben Farrar; a<br />
new program at the YMCA is benefiting cancer patients young and old; and a chat with Mrs. Claus.<br />
We think we've cobbled together a pretty good edition. Hope you agree.<br />
INSIDE<br />
04 Did you know?<br />
15 Sole man<br />
05 What's up<br />
18 Jersey fits Schneider<br />
06 Sew good<br />
20 Ben breaks barriers<br />
09 Mrs. Claus and effect 22 Local flavor<br />
10 Style<br />
24 Cornering cancer<br />
12 House money<br />
28 Picture this<br />
14 Rough seas for Mariner 30 Marblehead lobstermen<br />
COVER<br />
Semyon Fox repairs<br />
the sole of a shoe in<br />
his workspace at his<br />
Marblehead shop.<br />
PHOTO BY<br />
Spenser Hasak<br />
Photo Credits: Cory Silken<br />
Interior Design • Retail Showroom<br />
Diana James<br />
East Coast Design Inc.<br />
34 Atlantic Avenue<br />
Marblehead, MA <strong>01945</strong><br />
(781) 990-5150<br />
livingswellmarblehead.com
04 | <strong>01945</strong><br />
5Things<br />
1.<br />
Marblehead was the first<br />
community in Massachusetts<br />
to give free textbooks to its<br />
students, which was in 1873.<br />
Before that, students had to pay for their<br />
own books and supplies.<br />
2.<br />
Marblehead was the first town<br />
in Massachusetts to respond to<br />
President Abraham Lincoln's call<br />
for troops in 1861 for the start of<br />
the Civil War. Capt. Knott Martin commanded<br />
the first regiment that ended up reporting for<br />
duty at Faneuil Hall in Boston, proceeded on and<br />
marched to Washington D.C.<br />
WHAT'S UP<br />
Here Comes Santa Claus!<br />
WHAT: The Annual Christmas Walk<br />
One of the finest holiday happenings in<br />
the North Shore, Marblehead's Christmas<br />
weekend highlights the town's historic<br />
charm and festive spirit with a truly<br />
enchanting experience.<br />
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 29 to Sunday, Dec. 2<br />
*Thursday<br />
HOLIDAY SHOPPING<br />
PREVIEW PARTIES<br />
5 to 8 p.m., Retailers throughout Town<br />
HOLIDAY DÉCOR BY<br />
MARBLEHEAD GARDEN CLUBS<br />
5 to 7 p.m., King Hooper Mansion, 8 Hooper<br />
Street<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
By Gayla Cawley<br />
Donald Doliber, town historian, says<br />
by legend his family founded the<br />
town. A Doliber was one of the first<br />
settlers in Marblehead.<br />
There's debate about where the<br />
birthplace of the American Navy<br />
is, with the main rivalry between<br />
Marblehead and Beverly. Others<br />
recognize Whitehall, N.Y. Doliber said<br />
the claim is never officially going to<br />
be decided, but "we in Marblehead<br />
know the real birthplace."<br />
Doliber, a former history teacher<br />
and Marblehead native, shared five<br />
other things people may not know<br />
about the town.<br />
you didn't<br />
know about<br />
Marblehead<br />
3.<br />
The town had the first Brownie<br />
troop in the United States,<br />
founded by Marie Dennett in<br />
1916. Troops can then advance<br />
to become full-fledged Girl Scouts.<br />
4.<br />
Marblehead is the home of<br />
the Joe Frogger cookie, a<br />
Molasses-spice cookie made<br />
with rum that dates back to<br />
Colonial times. The cookie was made to be<br />
about the size of a dinner plate. Housewives<br />
would make them and then pack the cookies<br />
in sailors' bags, who would take them on<br />
board as they went to the Grand Banks. The<br />
cookies would get rid of the salty taste in<br />
their mouths. Legend says the cookies were<br />
originally made on Gingerbread Hill in town.<br />
5.<br />
In 1973, Marblehead served as<br />
a frequent day trip for a seal<br />
from Rockport, Maine. Andre<br />
the seal would keep coming<br />
back to Marblehead Harbor until he died in<br />
1979. Residents would always look forward to<br />
having Andre show up.<br />
GINGERBREAD FESTIVAL JUDGING<br />
AND OPENING RECEPTION<br />
5 to 6:30 p.m., Jeremiah Lee Mansion,<br />
161 Washington Street<br />
TREE LIGHTING AND CAROLING<br />
6 p.m., Festivities Begin<br />
7 p.m., Lighting<br />
St. Michael’s Church, 26 Pleasant Street<br />
*Friday<br />
FREEZE DANCE PARTY<br />
4 to 6:30 p.m., 123 Pleasant Street<br />
GINGERBREAD FESTIVAL<br />
4 to 6 p.m., Jeremiah Lee Mansion,<br />
161 Washington Street<br />
TREE LIGHTING CELEBRATION<br />
6 p.m., Entertainment & Festivities Begin<br />
7 p.m., Lighting<br />
National Grand Bank Parking Lot<br />
(across from 91 Pleasant Street)<br />
LOBSTER TRAP TREE LIGHTING<br />
WITH GLOVER’S REGIMENT<br />
7:15 p.m., Lighting<br />
Mud Puddle Toys, 1 Pleasant Street<br />
*Saturday<br />
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ON STAGE<br />
Performances by “A Dancer’s Dream”<br />
9 a.m., State Street Landing<br />
SANTA’S LANDING BY LOBSTER BOAT<br />
State Street Landing<br />
MARBLEHEAD FESTIVAL OF ARTS<br />
HOLIDAY ARTISANS MARKETPLACE<br />
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Abbot Hall<br />
MAGIC 106.7 -<br />
"BOSTON'S CHRISTMAS<br />
STATION" LIVE!<br />
11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 28 Atlantic Ave (Phillips & Lee)<br />
CHRISTMAS WALK PARADE<br />
11:45 a.m., State Street Landing, Washington<br />
Street, Atlantic Avenue, and Pleasant Street<br />
GINGERBREAD FESTIVAL<br />
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jeremiah Lee Mansion,<br />
161 Washington Street<br />
SANTA’S WORKSHOPS<br />
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., along Atlantic Avenue<br />
ENTERTAINMENT AT<br />
THE OLD TOWN HOUSE<br />
Noon to 4 p.m., 1 Market Square<br />
CANDLELIGHT STROLL IN THE<br />
HISTORIC DISTRICT<br />
4:30 p.m., Old Town House<br />
OLD NORTH FESTIVAL CHORUS<br />
8 p.m., Old North Church,<br />
35 Washington Street<br />
*Sunday<br />
GINGERBREAD FESTIVAL<br />
Noon to 2 p.m., Jeremiah Lee Mansion,<br />
161 Washington Street<br />
MARBLEHEAD FESTIVAL OF ARTS<br />
HOLIDAY ARTISANS MARKETPLACE<br />
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Abbot Hall,<br />
188 Washington Street<br />
SANTA’S WORKSHOPS<br />
Noon to 4 p.m., along Atlantic Avenue<br />
ENTERTAINMENT<br />
AT THE OLD TOWN HOUSE<br />
Noon to 4 p.m., 1 Market Square<br />
OLD NORTH FESTIVAL CHORUS<br />
7:30 p.m., Old North Church,<br />
35 Washington Street<br />
Bah! Humbug!<br />
WHAT: A theatrical reading of the<br />
Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol.<br />
Performed by a small ensemble of actors,<br />
the Christmas story will come to life<br />
throughout the town's historic mansion<br />
with the use of period costumes, clever<br />
props, and caroling. One lucky audience<br />
member will be chosen to portray the role<br />
of "Tiny Tim!" $30 for adults and $20 for<br />
children 10 and under.<br />
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m., and<br />
Saturday, Dec. 8, at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.<br />
WHERE: Jeremiah Lee Mansion,<br />
161 Washington St.
06 | <strong>01945</strong> WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 07<br />
Sew good<br />
BY THOR JOURGENSEN<br />
Charlie Katsoulakos describes his<br />
well-used Singer sewing machines as "old<br />
but good." The same praise could apply<br />
to the 92-year-old tailor whose sign with<br />
its distinctive needle and spool hangs<br />
above Pleasant Street.<br />
Working off of a neatly-arranged<br />
sewing bench, Katsoulakos accepts<br />
walk-in requests to stitch ripped or torn<br />
clothes while customers wait and waves<br />
off customer offers to pay for the repairs.<br />
He points with pride at wedding photos<br />
showing bridesmaids wearing his tailored<br />
dresses with precision-cut hems standing<br />
next to poorly-tailored dresses.<br />
Quick with a smile and in business<br />
for 55 years, Katsoulakos' definition<br />
of advertising is word-of-mouth<br />
compliments passed on from customers<br />
to friends and acquaintances.<br />
"Whatever I do, it's done right. Very<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
rarely does someone come back with a<br />
complaint," he said.<br />
Katsoulakos has worked with scissors,<br />
thread and needles since the age of 14<br />
when he learned the tailor's art from<br />
his father. He was a teenager when the<br />
German Army conquered Greece and<br />
brutally occupied the country. When the<br />
war ended, father and son worked together<br />
making, mending and altering clothes.<br />
"We had a store in Athens but the<br />
economy was so bad we couldn't both<br />
make a living," he said.<br />
He left Greece in 1955 and landed a<br />
job in a New York City clothing factory<br />
two days after arriving in the country.<br />
The language barrier proved difficult and<br />
Katsoulakos took a Greek friend up on<br />
his offer to move to Malden.<br />
"I rented a room and found a job. All<br />
of the stores were busy," he said.<br />
He also met his wife, the late Helen<br />
Zantos. They were married within<br />
six months and dove into hard work<br />
and raising their son, Michael, and<br />
daughter, Cathy. Katsoulakos worked<br />
days in a tailor shop and spent evenings<br />
doing alterations for clothing stores. A<br />
Swampscott store owner admired his<br />
work and urged him to open his own<br />
shop in Marblehead.<br />
"He said there were more people with<br />
more money," he recalled.
08 | <strong>01945</strong><br />
WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 09<br />
He took that advice and made the<br />
town his livelihood as well as his home.<br />
He lives off West Shore Drive and spent<br />
hours in the waters off Marblehead<br />
fishing aboard his boat, "Katina."<br />
"Marblehead people are very nice and<br />
very polite," he said.<br />
The basics of good tailoring haven't<br />
altered (pun intended) since he first<br />
picked up a needle. Fancy evening wear<br />
with frames sewn into gowns and tailored<br />
jackets to give them structure have largely<br />
disappeared. With age he has stopped<br />
doing major alterations on men's suits<br />
because of the time involved, but he'll<br />
tackle all and any other fashions.<br />
Katsoulakos opens his shop by 8:30<br />
a.m and stays open through late afternoon<br />
except on Saturdays when he closes at 2<br />
p.m. He is closed Mondays and fends off<br />
his son, Michael's, jokes about retirement.<br />
"He says, 'Why do you want to<br />
quit? You make money to pay your bills<br />
and the rest you can spend on scratch<br />
tickets,'" he joked.<br />
His grandchildren and greatgrandchildren<br />
aren't interested in<br />
tailoring but Katsoulakos is willing to<br />
train a sewing-minded apprentice.<br />
"If they want to put hours in, they can<br />
make a living," he said.<br />
Tailor Charlie Katsoulakos does a test-fit on a suit for Marblehead attorney Thomas Toranto.<br />
STORE CLOSING<br />
SALE<br />
(New Location to be Announced)<br />
SAVINGS UP TO<br />
65% OFF<br />
Everything<br />
In The Store<br />
Mrs. Claus and effect<br />
In an exclusive interview with <strong>01945</strong><br />
The Magazine, Mrs. Claus reminisced<br />
about the three decades she has been<br />
visiting the children of Marblehead on a<br />
lobster boat.<br />
"Santa asked me if I would like<br />
to go visit a charming little town in<br />
Massachusetts where there are lovely<br />
children," she said. "Santa asked me if I<br />
wanted to go with him and I did. But I<br />
had to ride in a fishing boat, which I had<br />
never been on before."<br />
She stepped aboard her first lobster<br />
boat at the age of 39.<br />
Thirty-three years, and 33 boat rides<br />
later, she can't imagine the Christmas<br />
season any other way. The event is a<br />
highlight of the town's long-standing<br />
Christmas Walk tradition, which has been<br />
around for almost 50 years. The day after<br />
the Christmas tree lighting, upwards of<br />
1,000 children fill the parking lot behind<br />
The Landing Restaurant in anticipation of<br />
Mrs. Claus and her hubby.<br />
Laura Best, a close friend of Mrs.<br />
Claus (wink, wink) said if Mrs. Claus<br />
changes her outfit, her hair, her jewelry<br />
during a visit, the children take notice.<br />
One year, Mrs. Claus wore different<br />
perfume and the children of Marblehead<br />
called her a fake, she said.<br />
Mrs. Claus' hair turned white<br />
when she was in her 30s, and she soon<br />
Mrs. Claus has been Santa's loyal companion when visiting Marblehead over the last 33 years.<br />
recognized her calling was to become the<br />
first lady of the North Pole. For more<br />
than three decades she has been the<br />
friendly face many children need when<br />
they're too nervous to sit on Santa's lap.<br />
"He's loud, he has a giant beard, and he<br />
horrifies kids," she said. "The parents stand<br />
in this long line to see Santa and they get<br />
up there and they scream and run. We<br />
say 'we've got another runner.' But if I'm<br />
sitting next to him and I bring them over,<br />
they can sit in my lap and talk to him and<br />
within seconds they are on his lap."<br />
Five or six Santas have come and<br />
gone, as have a few boat captains, but<br />
Mrs. Claus has remained the same.<br />
"I'm at the point where I'm known<br />
throughout Marblehead as Mrs. Claus,"<br />
she said. "I've been on many Christmas<br />
cards. The kids look at you and the<br />
wonder and the amazement in their eyes<br />
— it's priceless and very rewarding to<br />
have done it all these years."<br />
She has no plans to retire, but hopes<br />
that one day, her daughter can try on the<br />
magical outfit, that is worn just once a<br />
year, and become the next Mrs. Claus of<br />
Marblehead.<br />
Celebrating 36 years<br />
Monday-Friday • 10-6 Saturday • 10-5 Sunday 12-4<br />
427 Paradise Rd (Vinnin Square) • (781) 599-8829 • infinityboutique@verizon.net
10 | <strong>01945</strong> WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 11<br />
STYLE<br />
GIVE THE GIFT OF<br />
BY BELLA diGRAZIA | PHOTOS BY SPENSER HASAK<br />
STYLE<br />
It's that time of year when all of our money has gone to holiday gifts for the people<br />
we love most. Now, you need a look for the holiday party, without breaking the<br />
bank. She Boutique has the trends and the deals.<br />
GET THE LOOK<br />
J Available at She Boutique, 86 Washington St.<br />
Black high-waisted skinny jeans, $88<br />
Grey and black "All Business" check-print jacket, $68<br />
Silver emblem choker, $18<br />
Silver droplet, statement necklace, $18<br />
Red bell-sleeve blouse, $38<br />
Olive houndstooth circle mini skirt, $42<br />
Black cable knit turtleneck, $58
12 | <strong>01945</strong> WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 13<br />
HOUSE MONEY<br />
SOLD!<br />
SALE PRICE: $2,250,000<br />
SALE DATE: 10/31/<strong>2018</strong><br />
LIST PRICE: $2,475,000<br />
DAYS ON MARKET: 147<br />
LATEST ASSESSED VALUE: $1,776,000<br />
95 Beacon St.<br />
PREVIOUS SALE PRICE: $750,000 (land<br />
PREVIOUS SALE DATE: 11/2015<br />
LIVING AREA: 4,767 Sq. Ft.<br />
BEDROOMS: 4<br />
BATHROOMS: 3.5<br />
1 Driftwood Road<br />
SALE PRICE: $1,930,000<br />
SALE DATE: 11/14/<strong>2018</strong><br />
LIST PRICE: $1,950,000<br />
DAYS ON MARKET: 85<br />
LATEST ASSESSED VALUE: $1,238,900<br />
PREVIOUS SALE PRICE: $675,000<br />
PREVIOUS SALE DATE: 6/1998<br />
LIVING AREA: 4,264 Sq. Ft.<br />
BEDROOMS: 5<br />
BATHROOMS: 3<br />
Source: MLS Property Information Network.<br />
11 Crown Way<br />
SALE PRICE: $1,860,000<br />
SALE DATE: 9/7/<strong>2018</strong><br />
LIST PRICE: $4,300,000<br />
DAYS ON MARKET: 1,944<br />
LATEST ASSESSED<br />
VALUE: $3,300,800<br />
PREVIOUS SALE PRICE:<br />
$ 1,176,000<br />
PREVIOUS SALE DATE:<br />
10/1997<br />
LIVING AREA: 6,265 Sq. Ft.<br />
BEDROOMS: 7<br />
BATHROOMS: 4.5<br />
PHOTOS: JIM WILSON
****ECRWS****<br />
Residential Customer<br />
Marblehead, MA <strong>01945</strong><br />
PRST STD<br />
U.S. POSTAGE<br />
PAID<br />
N.READING, MA<br />
PERMIT 215<br />
E M G<br />
ESSEX MEDIA GROUP<br />
Target your message<br />
to an affluent audience<br />
Rough seas<br />
for Mariner<br />
BY GAYLA CAWLEY<br />
When Swampscott was a resort ● The hero behind Blocksidge Field<br />
Chocolate<br />
covered<br />
Rendering of the Mariner assisted-living facility.<br />
O1945<br />
Fall features food and fun and fashion<br />
FALL <strong>2018</strong><br />
Marblehead's<br />
Kathy O'Toole is<br />
A POLICE<br />
FORCE<br />
FALL <strong>2018</strong><br />
Contact us at:<br />
781-593-7700<br />
info@essexmediagroup.com<br />
Developers call it the Mariner, and<br />
the project is weathering rough seas on<br />
its way to becoming Marblehead's first<br />
assisted-living facility.<br />
Developers Michael Lafayette,<br />
Heather Cairns and Phil Helmes, of<br />
Pleasant Street LLC, won approval<br />
from the town last year for the Mariner<br />
and they have plans on track for an<br />
87-apartment development on Pleasant<br />
Street. But two neighbors have filed<br />
separate appeals in Essex Superior<br />
Court challenging the legality of the<br />
town's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA)<br />
approval of the project last year.<br />
Lafayette declined comment while<br />
litigation is pending.<br />
The 108-bed facility would include<br />
a memory-care component and the<br />
4.5-acre site will feature parks, walking<br />
paths, seating areas, patios and gardens.<br />
The residences would include private<br />
dining, a restaurant, pub, cafe, beauty<br />
salon, health and wellness room, library<br />
and movie theater, according to the<br />
developer's website. The site will include<br />
70 parking spaces.<br />
During the town permitting process,<br />
Mariner attorney Paul Feldman said<br />
there is a real need for assisted living in<br />
Marblehead, citing census figures that<br />
showed seniors 65 and older are the<br />
town's largest age group.<br />
Getting town approval for the<br />
project was no cakewalk for the<br />
developers. The ZBA denied the<br />
developers’ application to build the<br />
assisted-living facility in 2016, leading<br />
Lafayette, Cairns and Helms to<br />
appeal the board's decision with the<br />
Massachusetts Land Court, challenging<br />
the legality of the vote.<br />
The Land Court judge remanded the<br />
matter back to the ZBA last year, with<br />
the board opting to approve the project,<br />
reversing its previous decision.<br />
The Mariner has been a contentious<br />
issue among neighbors, as evidenced by<br />
the appeals filed in Essex Superior Court,<br />
with some arguing that the facility would<br />
not fit in with a neighborhood of singlefamily<br />
homes.<br />
Sole<br />
man<br />
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
16 | <strong>01945</strong> WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 17<br />
Smack dab in the middle of<br />
town just down Atlantic<br />
Avenue from Shubie's,<br />
Semyon Fox, owner of<br />
Quality Shoe Repair, fixes<br />
shoes and purses and doles<br />
out dry humor in a funnylooking<br />
little green shop.<br />
The space in front of his counter<br />
is the only place to stand in the shop<br />
without bumping into shelves and wall<br />
hooks lined with shoes and purses.<br />
"A lady didn't pick up her shoes for<br />
six months. I told her she should come<br />
in and get them and she said, 'I can't,<br />
they're out of style by now,'" he said.<br />
He has owned a shop in town for 27<br />
years and Marblehead residents have<br />
been good to him. Fox, in turn, has been<br />
good to them.<br />
"I have people who I have charged<br />
$25 and I've let them pay me $5 a week,"<br />
he said.<br />
A native of Kiev, Ukraine (he changed<br />
his last name spelling from "Fuks"), Fox<br />
said he started working at the age of 6<br />
chopping wood. At 78, he is old enough<br />
to remember German prisoner of war<br />
labor gangs rebuilding Kiev after World<br />
War II. A weightlifter and wrestler in his<br />
youth, he served in the Soviet army and<br />
eschewed his father's trade as a roofer to<br />
learn shoemaking.<br />
He earned a college degree and in<br />
1979, Fox and his wife, Genya, decided<br />
to get their young daughters, Margaret<br />
and Victoria, out of the Soviet Union.<br />
They embarked on an odyssey that<br />
resembled a John le Carre plot line<br />
stretching across three years.<br />
The family endured Cold War<br />
interrogation after interrogation, biding<br />
their time in Austria, then Italy, as they<br />
answered questions and submitted to<br />
Semyon Fox is the owner of Quality Shoe Repair in Marblehead.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
background checks. They finally settled<br />
in Albany, N.Y., where Fox sized up his<br />
prospects and searched for shoe repairers.<br />
"I had zero English and zero money.<br />
But I said I can make shoes just as well,<br />
maybe better, than you."<br />
He found work and Genya, who<br />
trained in the Soviet Union as a<br />
midwife, worked stitching handbags.<br />
A move to Lynn put Fox in the first<br />
wave of Russians coming to the United<br />
States late in the 20th century to trade<br />
communism for capitalism.<br />
Although he learned basic English<br />
from watching American television, his<br />
business skills needed honing.<br />
"My first shop sign was made<br />
out of cardboard and the words were<br />
misspelled," he recalled.<br />
The first shop he opened turned out<br />
to be in a bad location for his business.<br />
His second store on Franklin Street<br />
prospered for 10 years until Lynn's<br />
French-American population faded away.<br />
Positive word-of-mouth advertising<br />
kept him in business and he jumped<br />
at the chance to set up shop in the<br />
Atlantic Avenue building when the<br />
opportunity arose. He said he has<br />
survived while other shoe repair shops<br />
have closed because no job is too small<br />
for him.<br />
He'll stitch a broken purse strap<br />
and suggest additional work when<br />
customers such as Rick Humphrey<br />
walk into the shop. He charged the<br />
Marblehead resident $30 to repair a<br />
pair of loafers.<br />
"What he does is an art and he is a<br />
professional," Humphrey said.<br />
Fox is a master of understatement when<br />
he says, "I haven't made too bad of a living."<br />
His wife became an aesthetician and<br />
is now retired. His daughters live locally;<br />
one is a microbiologist and the other an<br />
electrical engineer. His granddaughter,<br />
Marie Hiett, became a mechanical engineer<br />
after graduating with honors. Successes<br />
aside, Fox has no retirement plans.<br />
"Retire? What will I do? Watch TV<br />
and fall asleep. I like working," he said.
WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 19<br />
New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider (35) stops a shot by Detroit Red Wings center Luke Glendening (41). PHOTOS: AP/PAUL SANCYA<br />
Jersey fits Schneider<br />
BY STEVE KRAUSE<br />
appearances in the NCAA finals.<br />
Unfortunately for him, the Eagles lost<br />
both games — to Wisconsin in 2006 and<br />
Michigan State the following season.<br />
"It was still a good experience," he<br />
said. "There was a lot I learned about<br />
facing that kind of pressure, and big-game<br />
experience. The exposure was good, too.<br />
"You only get so many opportunities<br />
to shine. You have to embrace as many of<br />
them as you can."<br />
Schneider maintained his academic<br />
standing in college — so much so that<br />
he was named to two Hockey East<br />
All-Academic teams. He also earned<br />
the Paul Patrick Daley Student-Athlete<br />
Scholarship in 2006.<br />
In 2004, just as he was getting out<br />
of high school, Schneider was the No. 1<br />
draft choice for the Canucks, and joined<br />
the organization in 2008.<br />
By 2010, he was with the parent club<br />
on a full-time basis, backing up Robert<br />
Luongo.<br />
Even though he grew up in Bruins<br />
country, Schneider admired New York<br />
Rangers goalie Mike Richter because of<br />
his success as an American goalie (he<br />
wears Richter's No. 35 now).<br />
Schneider saw action twice in the<br />
2011 Stanley Cup final, including once at<br />
TD Garden when<br />
the Bruins went out<br />
to a big lead right<br />
away in Game 6.<br />
"That was a<br />
tough series allaround,"<br />
he said.<br />
"I kind of felt it<br />
from both sides. I<br />
grew up here, but<br />
I certainly wanted<br />
our team to win.<br />
"The Bruins<br />
were a great team,"<br />
he said, "and they<br />
won."<br />
One thing<br />
he was happy to<br />
experience growing<br />
up here was the<br />
passion the sport<br />
brings out.<br />
"It's great to<br />
see," he said.<br />
He is also be grateful to the<br />
Marblehead Youth Hockey program for<br />
helping in his development.<br />
"Guys like Phil Somersby (whose son,<br />
Doyle, played for Boston University and<br />
is now part of the Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
Organization), they were great to me.<br />
your space?<br />
How will you reclaim<br />
"It's kind of<br />
weird to see Doyle's<br />
now playing in<br />
the pros," said<br />
Schneider. "I<br />
remember the day<br />
he was born."<br />
He credits Joe<br />
Pickering with<br />
turning him into<br />
a goalie, and has<br />
a soft spot in his<br />
heart for the late<br />
Howie Doliber, a<br />
former Marblehead<br />
High coach.<br />
"He was the salt<br />
of the earth," said<br />
Schneider.<br />
For now,<br />
Schneider's goal is<br />
to get his timing<br />
down and earn his<br />
way back onto the ice.<br />
"It's different now," said Schneider, who<br />
lives in Short Hills, N.J., with his wife, Jill,<br />
and two children. "There's no No. 1 and<br />
No. 2. With the games the way they are,<br />
everybody's going to play, and you have to<br />
earn your way onto the ice. Coaches are<br />
going to ride that hot hand."<br />
There's nothing quite as unsettling in<br />
professional sports as an injury.<br />
Ask Marblehead native Cory<br />
Schneider.<br />
Schneider has worked diligently to<br />
climb up the professional hockey ladder.<br />
After playing at Boston College, he did a<br />
minor league stint and then a backup gig<br />
for the Vancouver Canucks that included<br />
appearances in two Stanley Cup final<br />
games against the Boston Bruins.<br />
Five years ago, he got the break he<br />
had been looking for when he moved<br />
from the Canucks to the New Jersey<br />
Devils, where he blossomed. Two years<br />
ago, playing 60 games, he had a goalsagainst<br />
average of 2.82; and last year, in<br />
only 40 games, it was 2.92.<br />
The reason for playing 20 fewer games<br />
last year was not due to poor play; he<br />
got injured. Specifically, he had a torn<br />
labrum, something he calls "a wear-andtear<br />
injury."<br />
This meant surgery, rehab, and a late<br />
start to this season. He's just getting back<br />
into the swing of things.<br />
"I was just cleared to play a week or<br />
so ago," said Schneider, who was still<br />
rounding into shape in mid-November,<br />
having started three games and lost them<br />
all.<br />
Schneider was a rink and a pond rat<br />
growing up in Marblehead. But, oddly<br />
enough, he didn't exactly dream of<br />
playing in the National Hockey League.<br />
"Things happened fast," he said. "One<br />
day, I'm skating on Redd's Pond, and<br />
now, here I am. I never really had time to<br />
think about it, or plan it, or dream about<br />
it.<br />
"I always loved the game. And I had a<br />
lot of fun playing it."<br />
Schneider spent his freshman<br />
season at Marblehead High, where<br />
he said he enjoyed the experience of<br />
playing Magician hockey. After that,<br />
he transferred to Phillips Academy in<br />
Andover.<br />
"I got a good education there, and<br />
I played better hockey," he said. "And<br />
things broke right for me there, too."<br />
His diligence paid off. As a senior,<br />
he received Phillips-Andover's Yale<br />
Bowl and the Boston Bruins' John<br />
Carlton Memorial Trophy — both<br />
for achievement in scholarship and<br />
athletics.<br />
Schneider enrolled at Boston College<br />
in the Carroll School of Management —<br />
a major he has since parlayed into being<br />
part-owner of the "Stop It!" goaltending<br />
school where he first learned to play in<br />
the nets as a child.<br />
At BC, Schneider backboned the<br />
Eagles to a Beanpot championship<br />
in 2007, and led the school to two<br />
headboards<br />
kitchen islands<br />
accent walls<br />
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20 | <strong>01945</strong><br />
Ben breaks barriers<br />
Most people view going to<br />
college as a rite of passage.<br />
For Ben Farrar and his<br />
family, it's a small miracle.<br />
"I'm doing things I would never think<br />
I'd be doing a few years ago," said Ben,<br />
22, now a student at the University of<br />
New Hampshire. "Going back to school.<br />
Being on my own. Living independently.<br />
I live my life like any other college kid<br />
would."<br />
Ben was rendered quadriplegic during<br />
a school exchange program in France<br />
near the end of his senior year of high<br />
school in 2015. The students arrived on a<br />
Saturday, met with their respective host<br />
families for sightseeing the following day,<br />
and arranged to meet at the beach that<br />
afternoon.<br />
Ben, who was wearing a t-shirt and<br />
jeans, walked into the ocean to cool<br />
off. He got to a certain point and dove<br />
forward, head first. As his head hit the<br />
water, a wave crashed over the back of<br />
his neck and the force drove his head to<br />
the bottom of the ocean, said his mother,<br />
Yunita.<br />
"It was a freak accident," she said.<br />
"That split second that he chose to<br />
dive in and that wave — his head hit<br />
the sand and he immediately became<br />
quadriplegic."<br />
Ben later told his mother that he was<br />
underwater when he realized he couldn't<br />
move his body. His next thought was that<br />
if he was under water and couldn't move,<br />
he would die.<br />
Not knowing what happened, his<br />
friends initially thought he was goofing<br />
off and sat on his back. When he rolled<br />
over, they knew something was wrong<br />
and the three girls carried him out of the<br />
water. One, a lifeguard, used her leg as a<br />
stint to keep his neck straight.<br />
First responders could have taken<br />
him to two different hospitals. Lucky,<br />
they determined he needed to go to the<br />
hospital that specializes in this type<br />
of trauma, said Yunita. Immediately<br />
after arriving, Ben had an operation to<br />
stabilize a bone that had been crushed<br />
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE<br />
and was protruding into his spinal cord.<br />
"If they had taken him to the local<br />
hospital in France, they would not have<br />
been able to do the operation," she<br />
said. "He would have died from the<br />
transport."<br />
Yunita was at brunch with her<br />
husband and four children in Montreal<br />
when she got the call. She imagined he<br />
had a few broken bones or a sprained<br />
ankle, she said. She never expected to<br />
step off the plane and find him lying in a<br />
bed connected to wires and tubes.<br />
In most cases, they would have<br />
induced a coma, said Yunita, but Ben<br />
was able to keep himself calm and keep<br />
his blood pressure down. It wasn't until<br />
he suffered from an infection from<br />
inhaling the sea water that they induced<br />
a coma.<br />
After 6½ weeks in France, he was<br />
airlifted back to Boston, stopping in<br />
London, Iceland, and Newfoundland.<br />
The trip took 20 hours and in that time,<br />
nobody moved or talked to Ben, said<br />
his mom. He developed a sore on his<br />
coccyx, which developed to a stage four<br />
wound.<br />
The flesh of the wound essentially<br />
died because of lack of blood flow, said<br />
Yunita.<br />
In September 2015, Ben had surgery<br />
to clean out the wound and cover it with<br />
skin.<br />
He was treated at Massachusetts<br />
General Hospital for 10 days before<br />
he was transferred to Spaulding<br />
Rehabilitation Hospital. Five-and-a-half<br />
months and countless physical therapy<br />
sessions later, Ben finally went home.<br />
"It was amazing to have him home,"<br />
said Yunita. "We didn't know day-to-day<br />
if he was going to be OK until they let<br />
him go and leave the hospital."<br />
From there, Ben had health scares<br />
here and there, but he was determined<br />
not to let his new reality hold him back.<br />
Rather than going to college with his<br />
friends in the 2015-16 school year, he<br />
waited on his eligibility results for a stem<br />
cell replacement study at the University<br />
of Miami. When he wasn't chosen for<br />
it, he decided to shift his focus on his<br />
education, he said.<br />
He took online classes at North Shore<br />
Community College during the Fall<br />
2016 semester and made the Dean's List.<br />
From there, he decided he would attend<br />
the University of New Hampshire to<br />
study finance.<br />
"I'm not 100 percent sure what I want<br />
to do, but one thing I think I would be<br />
good at is advocacy or helping people<br />
who have spinal injuries by setting up<br />
foundations and stuff like that," said Ben.<br />
Ben has joined a fraternity and met<br />
many new friends. Over the past two<br />
summers, he spent time at Empower<br />
Spinal Cord Injury Camp, where he<br />
kayaked with friends. He hopes to learn<br />
to sail in the future.<br />
"The first time was nerve-wracking —<br />
my accident happened in water," he said.<br />
"I didn't know if I would be comfortable<br />
getting back into it. Once I did it, I was<br />
like, 'I could do that again.' I had a ton<br />
of fun."<br />
Ben said he has learned that he can<br />
do everything he did before his accident,<br />
he just has to put in the time and effort<br />
to learn how to do it differently.<br />
He spends nine hours a week at<br />
Project Walk in Stratham, N.H., an<br />
activity-based recovery program that<br />
helps increase mobility in clients who<br />
have spinal cord injuries and other forms<br />
of paralysis.<br />
"Once he's done with school, there<br />
might be a cure out there for him," said<br />
Yunita. "And if there is, we want to send<br />
him out there in a wheelchair and have<br />
him come back home walking. That's our<br />
vision. So we need to keep him strong."<br />
The three-hour sessions are not<br />
covered by insurance and cost $110 per<br />
hour, said Yunita. The physical therapy<br />
that is covered by insurance is only<br />
45 minutes long and is not sufficient<br />
to maintain Ben's strength, she said.<br />
The community has stepped up with<br />
fundraisers to help pay for the sessions at<br />
Project Walk.<br />
"It's awesome to know how many<br />
people are still pulling for me out there,"<br />
said Ben.<br />
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WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 23<br />
Holiday Dining,<br />
Easier<br />
The holidays are<br />
a time for friends,<br />
family, and food. Lots of<br />
food. Don't feel like you have to<br />
do everything yourself when there<br />
are places designated to lending a<br />
helping hand. Good food, great prices,<br />
and even better portions, Shubie's<br />
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is there for you this holiday<br />
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BY BELLA DIGRAZIA<br />
PHOTOS BY SPENSER HASAK<br />
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24 | <strong>01945</strong><br />
WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 25<br />
C O R N E R I N G<br />
CANCER<br />
BY BILL BROTHERTON<br />
Lindsay Northrop was a young wife<br />
and mother of two boys, ages 5 and 7,<br />
when she was diagnosed with breast<br />
cancer in 2014.<br />
"I was taking care of two young<br />
children, and trying to take care of myself<br />
through the cancer. My husband took on<br />
a lot. It was hard, for me, my husband, and<br />
my sons," said Northrop, a Swampscott<br />
native and Marblehead resident.<br />
Two years later, the cancer returned.<br />
Support outside of the home was<br />
difficult to obtain, she said, especially<br />
for a young woman. The average age<br />
of women receiving a breast cancer<br />
diagnosis is 62.<br />
Catherine Foley, a Beverly native<br />
living in Lynn, faced similar difficulties.<br />
70 Atlantic Ave,<br />
Marblehead, MA <strong>01945</strong><br />
781-631-7800<br />
Richard M. Miller,<br />
MD, FAAP<br />
Marblehead Pediatrics provides comprehensive<br />
health care for infants, children, adolescents<br />
and young adults from birth to age 22.<br />
We welcome new patients and accept<br />
most health plans.<br />
Lisa Gast,<br />
FAAP, DO<br />
She, too, was diagnosed with breast cancer<br />
in her 30s. "It's a scary thing. I was filled<br />
with fear and anxiety and uncertainty."<br />
Northrop and Foley, who today are<br />
both in complete remission, met at a<br />
support group recommended by their<br />
surgeons. They were considerably younger<br />
than everyone else in attendance. "It<br />
was the first time I ever went to a group<br />
meeting," said Foley. "Before that, it was<br />
like the Underground Railroad. Someone<br />
would say, 'Oh, call this person.' I'd call,<br />
and that person would be helpful, and<br />
Sarah O'Connor,<br />
FAAP, DO<br />
Hillary Johnson,<br />
MSN, CPNP<br />
Lynch/van Otterloo<br />
YMCA Executive<br />
Director Gerald<br />
MacKillop helped<br />
create the Corner<br />
Stone program, which<br />
is a new initiative<br />
that supports cancer<br />
patients, cancer<br />
survivors and their<br />
families.<br />
give me another number to call. I'd call<br />
that person. That's how things went."<br />
After the meeting, Northrop tapped<br />
Foley on the shoulder as they were<br />
walking out. The two shared their stories<br />
and recognized the urgent need for a<br />
young women's support group. Statistics<br />
show that one in eight women in the<br />
United States will be diagnosed with<br />
breast cancer during their lifetime.<br />
Northrop and Foley have started the<br />
Young Women's Breast Cancer Support<br />
Group, hosted by the Lynch/van Otterloo<br />
Rebecca Ehrenberg,<br />
RN, MSN, CPNP<br />
Monday: 8 a.m. - 9a.m. Walk-in 9 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. Tuesday-Friday: 9 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.<br />
Saturday: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sunday: On call for urgent care<br />
YMCA in Marblehead. It coincides<br />
perfectly with the local Y's innovative,<br />
first-in-the-nation Corner Stone program,<br />
a collaborative program providing essential<br />
daily-living support to individuals with<br />
cancer and their immediate families.<br />
Gerald MacKillop Jr., executive<br />
director of the Marblehead-based Y, is<br />
a former Lahey Health executive and<br />
has been involved with Corner Stone<br />
since the beginning. He and Martha<br />
Potvin, coordinator of the Y's health and<br />
wellness programs, "were 100-percent<br />
onboard" with helping the young<br />
women's group, said Northrop.<br />
Foley said young women face a<br />
complex set of challenges during<br />
treatment for breast cancer: They are in<br />
the prime of their life, juggling families,<br />
careers and relationships. Northrop said<br />
the group provides peer-to-peer support<br />
and mentorship. It meets at the Y the first<br />
Monday of every month at both noon and<br />
6:30 p.m.; and there is a private Facebook<br />
page where members can offer support<br />
and share resources as needed.<br />
"I thought of all the women behind<br />
me, and wondered 'Are they going to go<br />
through the same things I did?' I had so<br />
many questions when I was diagnosed. I<br />
was processing so much. We don't want<br />
other women to feel like we did," said Foley.<br />
"Most cancer organizations are focused<br />
around fundraisers," she continued. "They<br />
serve a very important service, but at<br />
the time of my diagnosis the last thing I<br />
wanted was to walk or run a 5K. I needed<br />
support and help with my emotions. I had<br />
cancer. That was my new normal. It was<br />
lonely and isolating, no matter how many<br />
people you have around you. That starts to<br />
disappear when you talk with others who<br />
have been through it."<br />
MacKillop said Corner Stone<br />
participants will have no-cost access to<br />
YMCA-sponsored health and wellness<br />
resources, programs and support to help<br />
them in their cancer fight. The initiative<br />
includes access to all seven YMCA of<br />
the North Shore locations.<br />
"Every family is touched by cancer,"<br />
said MacKillop. "Corner Stone will<br />
provide a safety net (…) If a person has<br />
to cancel a doctor's appointment because<br />
there is no one to take care of their<br />
children, we will take care of the kids<br />
here. If a person has been in treatment<br />
all day, the last thing they want to do is<br />
go out at night for a screening, especially<br />
if it means a trip into Boston. We can do<br />
the screening here, and the patient can be<br />
taken care of while other family members<br />
"I thought of all the women<br />
behind me, and wondered<br />
'Are they going to go through<br />
the same things I did?' I had<br />
so many questions when<br />
I was diagnosed. I was<br />
processing so much. We<br />
don't want other women to<br />
feel like we did."<br />
— Catherine Foley<br />
Catherine Foley of Lynn, left, and Lindsay<br />
Northrop of Marblehead host a weekly support<br />
group at the Lynch/van Otterloo YMCA as part of<br />
the Corner Stone program.<br />
PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK<br />
can take advantage of our offerings."<br />
MacKillop said Corner Stone provides:<br />
○ A complimentary Y membership<br />
to cancer survivors diagnosed within the<br />
past five years and their families for one<br />
year (with extended options for those<br />
still receiving treatment).<br />
○ Access to all member benefits and<br />
specialized programs to help those with<br />
cancer and recovering from cancer.<br />
○ A complimentary week of summer<br />
camp for all children in the family<br />
enrolled in the program.<br />
○ A schedule of special drop-in<br />
babysitting for parents who are currently<br />
in treatment.<br />
○ A non-clinical environment where<br />
patients and family can feel comfortable<br />
and supported.<br />
MacKillop said Dana Farber,<br />
Lahey Health, Steward Health, Care<br />
Dimensions hospice and Spaulding<br />
Rehab are onboard. Mass General Cancer<br />
Center and the Reid Sacco Adolescent<br />
and Young Adult Program for Cancer and<br />
Hereditary Blood Diseases have expressed<br />
interest in participating.<br />
“A cancer diagnosis is devastating,<br />
and the goal of Corner Stone is to build<br />
a community support structure and<br />
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26 | <strong>01945</strong> WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 27<br />
provide essential daily support for cancer<br />
patients, survivors and their families,”<br />
said Chris Lovasco, CEO of the YMCA<br />
of the North Shore. “For more than<br />
100 years, the Y has been a community<br />
resource that has experience offering a<br />
wide variety of crucial health, wellness<br />
and education programming. We’re<br />
excited to launch this new program that<br />
will benefit so many adults, children and<br />
families in our local communities.”<br />
Alan Kraning, a Marblehead resident,<br />
is excited by the possibilities Corner<br />
Stone offers. The retired software<br />
engineer had been an enthusiastic<br />
participant in Livestrong, the Y's 12-<br />
week small group program designed for<br />
adult cancer survivors. Kraning, a former<br />
smoker, had a cancerous growth in the<br />
back of his mouth removed in 2003.<br />
Nine years later, cancer was found under<br />
his tongue, necessitating surgery that<br />
included the removal of several teeth.<br />
"That's when I got serious, and started<br />
coming to the Y, first at the old place<br />
in downtown Marblehead, and working<br />
with a personal trainer. Livestrong hit me<br />
at the right time in my life. It integrates<br />
head, heart and body."<br />
Kraning said there's a stigma attached<br />
to cancer. "Some people think they can<br />
catch it, so they stay away from you. The<br />
isolation is tough, on the patient and on<br />
the family. When I was first diagnosed,<br />
I thought I had been given a death<br />
sentence. I was scared out of my mind.<br />
Livestrong shows you you're not alone.<br />
You're working out with your peers and<br />
you support each other."<br />
Kraning still exercises almost daily.<br />
The fact that Corner Stone is a year-long<br />
program is fantastic, he said. "Corner<br />
Stone takes a person's recovery well into<br />
the future. A person can take their time to<br />
adjust to exercise and schedules." Corner<br />
Stone will give him the opportunity to<br />
"give back and go forward, to share my<br />
story with other people who are going<br />
through what I went through."<br />
For more information on the Lynch/van<br />
Otterloo YMCA's Corner Stone program,<br />
go to www.northshoreymca.org or call<br />
781-631-9622. For more information on<br />
the Young Women's Breast Cancer Support<br />
Group (the next meeting is Dec. 3), contact<br />
youngwomensnsbcgroup@gmail.com.<br />
"Every family<br />
is touched<br />
by cancer.<br />
Corner Stone<br />
will provide a<br />
safety net."<br />
—Gerald MacKillop<br />
Lynch/van Otterloo YMCA Executive Director
PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK<br />
BY BELLA diGRAZIA<br />
Rick Cuzner thought he was going<br />
to spend his whole life as a mechanical<br />
engineer. Until wildlife photography<br />
came into his life.<br />
"It's kind of a hobby that grew and<br />
ended up spiraling," he said.<br />
The Marblehead native has been<br />
an engineer at Applied Materials in<br />
Gloucester for the last 14 years. His<br />
photographic passion took off five years<br />
ago, and it has only gorown since then.<br />
Growing up, Cuzner had an interest<br />
in wildlife and animals. He was always<br />
the one in his friend group with a camera<br />
in his hand during their many nature<br />
trips, and he was always the kid with the<br />
weirdest pets.<br />
Five years ago, when snowy owls<br />
became prevalent on the North Shore,<br />
Cuzner was hellbent on seeing one. And<br />
when he finally did, there was a camera<br />
in his hand and he snagged the perfect<br />
shot. His passion, and skills, only grew<br />
from there.<br />
The self-taught wildlife photographer<br />
Picture<br />
this<br />
PHOTO: RICK CUZNER<br />
wakes up every morning at 5 a.m. and<br />
goes out on the water, on his boat<br />
EndorFin, before he heads to work, eager<br />
to get in a few good shots. Every time<br />
he goes out, he takes at least 500 photos.<br />
He said there must be at least 100,000<br />
photos in his collection.<br />
"Nothing motivates me more than<br />
getting up and running out in the<br />
morning and marching up a beach<br />
in the pitch black so I can be there<br />
for sunrise, taking a photo," he said.<br />
"I think it makes my day job better<br />
because I start off my day doing<br />
something awesome."<br />
For Cuzner, the photography has<br />
been a stress release. Now, it is a family<br />
affair, with his wife Julie and daughters<br />
Katelyn, 13, and Susanna, 9, always<br />
supporting him.<br />
"My oldest is special needs, she has a<br />
genetic disorder, and we like to get her<br />
outside to run around and exercise and<br />
this motivates her," he said. "I'll give<br />
her a camera and a pair of binoculars<br />
and we'll head to the bird sanctuary.<br />
My youngest daughter is really just into<br />
taking pictures, so I give her this little<br />
point and shoot then she'll run around<br />
and start taking shots of rocks and<br />
flowers in our backyard."<br />
Cuzner's hobby turned into a town<br />
phenomenon after he started posting his<br />
work on social media. He said given the<br />
shy, introverted guy that he is, Facebook<br />
and Instagram really helped prompt him<br />
to share his work with the world.<br />
While he may be rich with social<br />
media followers, Cuzner said he isn’t in it<br />
for the money. He will participate in art<br />
shows once in awhile, but his photos are<br />
not for bringing in profit.<br />
He loves integrating his hobbies,<br />
especially his engineering background<br />
and photographic passion, and is always<br />
making something new to help figure out<br />
ways to get the next best photo. Most<br />
recently, he built a motorized rail system<br />
to put his camera on so he can get a<br />
moving pan of the star trails.<br />
His growing passion is not done yet.<br />
Next on his list? He hopes to put<br />
together a book with a collection of his<br />
photos. Cuzner built a career for himself<br />
and his family, but he made sure to never<br />
give up on his passions. Now, he enjoys<br />
the best of both worlds.<br />
“It’s interesting to see the wildlife<br />
around us that nobody sees,” said<br />
Cuzner. “People walk by and don’t take<br />
the time to really see what’s going on in<br />
our waters.”<br />
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O
30 | <strong>01945</strong> WINTER <strong>2018</strong>-19 | 31<br />
A day in the life<br />
of Marblehead lobstermen<br />
PHOTOS BY SPENSER HASAK<br />
Captain Dave Smith, left, and Ben Osborne unload their lobster catch<br />
after spending the morning at sea.<br />
“<br />
There are no offices out<br />
there, it’s just you in<br />
”<br />
nature in the open air<br />
- Ben Osborne, Marblehead lobsterman<br />
Above and below, Patriot Seafoods worker John DelloRusso, of<br />
Marblehead, pulls crates of lobster out of the water at the town landing<br />
Marblehead residents Ben Osborne, left, and Capt. Dave Smith unload their catch of lobsters at the State Street Landing.
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