A departure at Star of the Sea ● Lessons from an old house
Old Town
RocknRow
SUMMER 2019 | VOL. 2 NO. 1
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02 | 01945
A publication of Essex Media Group
Publisher
Edward M. Grant
Chief Executive Officer
Michael H. Shanahan
Directors
Edward L. Cahill
John M. Gilberg
Edward M. Grant
Gordon R. Hall
Monica Connell Healey
J. Patrick Norton
Michael H. Shanahan
Chief Financial Officer
William J. Kraft
Chief Operating Officer
James N. Wilson
Community Relations Director
Carolina Trujillo
Controller
Susan Conti
Editor
Roberto Scalese
Contributing Editors
Cheryl Charles
Emma LeBlanc Perez
Contributing Writers
Bill Brotherton
Gayla Cawley
Bella diGrazia
Thomas Grillo
Thor Jourgensen
Steve Krause
Bridget Turcotte
Photographers
Spenser Hasak
Owen O’Rourke
Advertising Sales
Ernie Carpenter
Ralph Mitchell
Patricia Whalen
Advertising Design
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Design
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LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Collateral damage
The Catholic Church from the beginning did an amazingly poor job handling what has become known
as The Crisis. Tone-deaf church leadership acted as if the problem would just go away. It didn’t.
And all our sympathies and prayers should go to the victims. Obviously.
But something else about this mess also bothers me: The vast majority of priests had nothing to do with
the problem yet because of their collars are being looked at in a suspicious — if not accusatory — manner.
And that’s unfair.
I’m a product of Catholic education. At St. Joseph’s grammar and St. Mary’s High schools in Lynn, and
Boston College, I encountered and greatly admired scores of priests. I grew up with a guy who became
a priest (the late Fr. Dick Mehm, who when we were kids taught me to be an altar boy), and became
friendly with many others — the late Monsignors John Carroll of St. John’s in Swampscott and John
Dillon Day; Fr. Nick Sannella of the Lowell collaborative, Fr. Brian Flynn and Msgr. Paul Garrity of St.
Mary’s in Lynn, and Fr. Tom Conway, O.F.M., of St. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street in Boston.
Good men and great guys, all.
As is Fr. Mike Steele, whom Steve Krause writes about in this edition of 01945.
Fr. Steele a few weeks ago departed Star of the Sea, where he served as pastor for 14 years, for St.
Margaret Mary parish in Westwood. I met him nearly seven years ago. I had just moved from the Back Bay
back to Marblehead and was coming off double knee replacement. (I thought running 3 ½ miles nearly
every day compensated for a diet that consisted primarily of cheeseburgers and cookies. I thought wrong.)
Because I couldn’t drive, my pal Shanahan (that’s him in the upper-left corner of this page) would pick
me up on Saturdays for 4 o’clock Mass at Star of the Sea (making me presumably the only guy on earth
with a Harvard Business School grad as a chauffeur). I couldn’t kneel, either, so Shanahan would get
a couple of folding chairs from behind the altar and set them up for us in a corner of the church. One
Saturday, Shanahan couldn’t make it, so I was sitting on a radiator when Fr. Steele spotted me. He actually
stopped his procession to the altar to retrieve the chair for me. As a thanks, Shanahan and I took Fr. Steele
to dinner on occasion, and over time I learned that his mother and two uncles went to St. Mary’s, that he
grew up in Saugus, and that he is related to the McGees (the late Speaker of the House Tom and Mayor
Tom, in whose inauguration he took part).
So from my pew, priests such as Fr. Steele, Msgr. Carroll, Msgr. Day, Msgr. Garrity, Fr. Conway, Fr.
Flynn, Fr. Sannella (who told me in no uncertain terms of his contempt for those who brought on The
Crisis), and every Jesuit who taught me at BC, are to be viewed with nothing but respect.
Meanwhile . . . What’s in a name? Everything.
When Jack Tatelman and Paul Mazonson decided to start a rowing club, Tatelman launched into a
lecture about water access safety and insurance. Mazonson cut him off. Mazonson was more concerned
with giving their endeavor a "cool name."
Thus was born RocknRow — Marblehead's very own rowing club with more than 60 members and a
fleet of salt-water "single shells" — 21-foot-long dagger-like boats powered by twin 8 ½-foot-long oars.
Thor Jourgensen has the details.
One day, Hayley Reardon picked up the guitar that other family wouldn't learn. Today, she is making
waves as a singer-songwriter. See Bill Brotherton's story. And Gayla Cawley writes about Amy Bucher, who
started in the photography business more than two decades ago when it was a male-dominated industry.
When Marjorie Roberts and her husband bought their house 47 years ago, she figured they'd fix it up
and move on. They're still there, and she says instead of flipping the house, the house has flipped them.
And, if you're over 50 and looking for a healthy activity, pickleball may be just the thing for you.
For these, House Money, fashion, style, and more, check out this edition of 01945.
INSIDE
04 What's up?
06 Lessons from an old house
10 Style
12 House Money
14 Marlehead's rockstars
18 Female entrepreneurs
20 Melancholy masterpiece
22 Local flavor
24 Holding the fort
26 Our Father Steele
28 Festival of Cod
30 Rewriting history
31 Pickleball
TED GRANT
COVER
RocknRow co-founder
Jack Tatelman rows
through the water
around Crowninshield
Island in Marblehead.
PHOTO BY
Spenser Hasak
Let us lead you home.
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1 Essex Street, Marblehead 781.631.8800 | 300 Salem Street, Swampscott 781.593.6111
04 | 01945
What's Up for Summer?
WHAT'S UP
Talking about race
WHAT: Abbot Public Library and the
Marblehead Racial Justice Team host "Continuing
Conversations on Race" aimed at exploring
privilege, bias and questions in a safe and
welcoming conversation.
WHERE: Abbot Public Library, 235 Pleasant St.
WHEN: June 24, 7 p.m.
Pop the bubbly
WHAT: For a summertime soiree where the
tinkling glasses are counterpoint to crashing
waves, mark The Marblehead Festival of Arts
champagne reception on your calendar.
WHERE: Fort Sewall, 8 Fort Sewall Lane.
WHEN: June 30, 5-7 p.m.
Hit the road
WHAT: The Firecracker 5K road race
celebrates summer's start with a jaunt through
Marblehead's neighborhoods followed by
awards, music, free kids club and more.
WHERE: Lynn van Otterloo YMCA, 40 Leggs
Hill Road.
WHEN: June 30, 9 a.m.-noon
Arts on the town
WHAT: The Marblehead Festival of Arts
celebrates its 57th year with a wide range of
exhibits, outdoor music, a film festival, street
festival, marketplace and children's activities.
WHERE: Various locations, visit
www.marbleheadfestival.org.
WHEN: July 4-7
Halifax Ho!
WHAT: The 38th biennial Marblehead-to-
Halifax Ocean Race is a 363-mile international
competition with support from the Boston Yacht
Club and Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.
WHERE: Water off Marblehead.
WHEN: July 7
Get your Glover on
WHAT: Marblehead's own Glover's Regiment of
Revolutionary War reenactors pack musket ballmaking,
marlinspike work, sea chantey singing,
candle making and 18th century snacks into a
two-day encampment.
WHERE: Fort Sewall, 8 Fort Sewall Lane.
WHEN: July 13-14
Time to tee up
WHAT: What's better than golf, food and fun
at The Marblehead Open to raise money for the
Marblehead Chamber of Commerce.
WHERE: Tedesco Country Club, 154 Tedesco St.
WHEN: July 15, registration and lunch buffet
at 11:30 a.m. Shotgun start at 1 p.m. followed by
barbecue and cocktails.
A high seas classic
WHAT: The Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta
celebrates classic yachts and characters and is
hosted by the Corinthian Yacht Club.
WHERE: Water off Marblehead.
WHEN: August 10-11
Hit the bricks
WHAT: Town-wide sidewalk sales offer a day of
shopping in Marblehead stores and dining locally
while enjoying great bargains.
WHERE: Atlantic Avenue and Pleasant Street.
WHEN: September 14
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06 | 01945
Lessons from
an old house
BY MARJORIE ROBERTS
W
hen my husband
and I bought our
home 47 years ago,
we thought that we
would renovate the
house and move on after a few years.
Now, after 47 years in our same house,
we realize that instead of changing the
house, the house has changed us.
Yes, we have made revisions, like
updating bathrooms and the kitchen.
Many of the changes have involved
peeling back the layers of time to expose
old beams and to remove layers of
paint from wide pine floors, beautiful
wainscoting, and other trim. Some of this
wood we believe are the "spite boards"
or wood of a certain width that was
required to be sent back to England, but
rebellious settlers resisted. An unexpected
occurrence of living in this 17th century,
or a lesson is my love and appreciation of
wood, the building material of the house.
As we have removed layers of paint and
sometimes walls, we have found notes
from previous builders, and left a few of
our own in the walls.
As best we can determine, our house
was built in 1670. Initially, it was a twostory
dwelling that remains attached
to another house by a common wall,
and now a single chimney that serves
five fireplaces in the two houses. The
history is a bit unclear as to whether the
two houses were built simultaneously,
or whether our house was added on to
the smaller house just behind, which is
not visible from the street. All of this
history is a bit confusing, but adds to the
intrigue and story of our house.
Also intriguing is a trapdoor section
of our living room floor, which gives
access to a crawl space and dirt basement
under the house. In this area are the
brick arches of an old cistern. We have
found discarded animal bones, metal
objects, a porcelain doll's head and bits
of clay pipes. Recently, a young woman
and former neighbor reported that as a
child, she discovered a tunnel under the
other house that led into a shed in the
backyard. Are the secret trapdoor and the
Marjorie and Tom Roberts live in a home that was
built in 1670.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
SUMMER 2019 | 07
Rory, 8, and Brendan Gurtler,
12 explore a secret crawl
space hidden under a trap
door in the living room
floor of their grandparents'
Marblehead home.
The wrapping staircase leading up to the second floor.
Rory and Brendan Gurtler
roast hot dogs in the large
living room fireplace.
tunnel related to earlier times of Indian
raids or the Underground Railroad?
Again, the house holds secrets.
One of the lessons from the house
is an important one of perspective. Our
home has hosted many families and
other guests since at one time it was also
an inn. As an inn, it was a mere four
rooms on two floors, with two fireplaces
on the first level and one on the second.
One has to imagine guests sleeping on
mats on the floor around the fireplaces
with some kind of a meal prepared
from the large cooking fireplace and its
beehive oven.
As I think of the other people who
have lived and died in the house, it
comforts me to know that there is a
community of others who shared my
dwelling and weathered many storms of
a physical, political, and personal nature,
and this simple house has held us all for
nearly 350 years. With this awareness,
comes the responsibility of care and
preservation of the house, since others in
the future will also call it home.
Another aspect of this lesson of
perspective is personal. In looking at my
life as part of the history of the house,
I have learned humility; my life events
have great significance to me but they
are just a part of a much larger collage,
which spreads out from the house's
history to the larger world.
Our house is attached to another,
and a walk down my street and through
the historic part of Marblehead shows
homes in close proximity to one another
like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that make
a charming landscape. When I first
visited Marblehead and drove down
the street where I now live, I remember
commenting, "Who lives here?"
I have learned another important
lesson, which is to love, like, or tolerate
my neighbors since they are part of the
fabric of my life. A feud among neighbors
changes the dynamics of the whole
neighborhood since this is a place where
one can borrow a teaspoon of cinnamon, a
hedge clipper or a snow shovel.
A highlight in our neighborhood is
the Lee Street annual holiday party in
mid-December. The location of the party
is rotated between several homes that
are considered to have more room for
a party than other smaller homes, even
though all are small. The party consists of
a potluck dinner at one home and dessert
and a Yankee swap at another. My home
has often been the setting for the Yankee
swap. Going back to the days of being
08 | 01945
Target your message
to an affluent audience
SUMMER 2019 | VOL. 2 NO. 1
A departure at Star of the Sea Lessons from an old house
Old Town
RocknRow
Stone & Compass | Marblehead Little Theatre | Food and fashion
an inn, my home bulges at the seams to
accommodate 40-plus guests with their
gifts and desserts. While it has evolved,
the Lee Street holiday party is now in its
42nd year.
I have mentioned the small scale
of my home, which originally had four
rooms, two on each floor with perhaps a
lean-to shed–like structure for housing
a farm animal or storing provisions. The
lean-to was ultimately expanded to create
a kitchen. In the 1920s a fire burned
through the roof of the house, and
subsequently a third story was added to
include a deck. Some people refer to our
deck as a "widow's walk" (a term from
Marblehead's fishing days when women
would watch for their husbands' return
with the fishing fleet from decks atop
roofs). From my widow's walk, I have
another reminder of perspective, which
is to embrace the local and also look
beyond.
Despite the expansion, the house
has little more storage than it may have
had in the 17th century, and certainly
nothing like could be expected in the
21st century. The limited storage space
has taught us another lesson to minimize
our possessions, avoid clutter and recycle
what is no longer needed. I have often
said, "Living in the house is like living
in a boat;" everything must have a place.
My comparison to living aboard a boat
comes easily since fishermen and shipbuilders
designed our house, given that
the local industry was fishing.
I have learned many lessons from
living in my house, neighborhood
and community. I try to remember to
preserve the traditions that have been
established as well as the historic home.
I am inspired by those who have lived
here before me, who surely struggled for
survival without central heat, plumbing,
or electricity, and possible raids from
Indians and pirates. The lessons that I
have learned are lasting for me. I hope
that others who will call this house
"home" will learn similar "lessons."
I am grateful to "01945" for giving
my story a home. My husband Tom and I
have lived in our house for 47 years. Our
children, Bronwyn and Daniel also called
it home until they found their own homes.
We are delighted when our grandchildren
come to visit, explore the secret space under
our living room floor, and visit neighbors
and their pets in this cozy section of
Marblehead. I enjoy the process of writing
and incorporate it in my clinical work as a
psychologist.
Dr. Corine Barone goes the extra
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10 | 01945
STYLE
LET'S GO
BY BELLA diGRAZIA
PHOTOS BY SPENSER HASAK
TO THE BEACH!
The best part about living on the waterfront is the unlimited access
to the ocean. If you are going to spend your summer with
your toes in the sand and getting your tan on, you'll
need the essentials. Grab your beach blanket, sunglasses and
a hat, and don't forget to do it with some style. Thankfully, the
boutiques that line the streets of Marblehead and Swampscott have
just what you need.
SUMMER 2019 | 11
Chic Streets Boutique, 434
Humphrey St., Swampscott
C
A) Large straw tote bag with
aztec print, $150
B) "Just Beachy"
bikini bag, $68
C) Quay, light
mirrored
sunglasses,
$55
E
B
F
D
G
Seaside
Allure, 9
Pleasant St.,
Marblehead
A
D) Lilly Pulitzer
kaleidoscope coral flip
flops, $38
E) Top it Off rainbow tassel
sunhat, $28
F) Lilly Pulitzer "Lexy" gold and
pink sunglasses, $48
G) Top it Off rainbow pom pom white
scarf, $28
12 | 01945
HOUSE MONEY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BLAKE SHERWOOD, COMPASS.
SUMMER 2019 | 13
A peek inside
13 Goldwait Road
SALE PRICE: $2,063,785
SALE DATE: January 31, 2019
LIST PRICE: $2,995,000
TIME ON MARKET: 526 days,
June, 2017
LISTING BROKER:
Blake Sherwood, Compass,
Chestnut Hill
SELLING BROKER:
Jane Maurer, Coldwell Banker
Residential Brokerage, Marblehead
LATEST ASSESSED
VALUE: $2,544,400
PREVIOUS SALE PRICE:
$2,500,000, May, 2008
PROPERTY TAXES: $27,130
YEAR BUILT: 1958
LOT SIZE: 0.44 acres
LIVING AREA: 4,000 square feet
ROOMS: 9
BEDROOMS: 4
BATHROOMS: 4 plus 1 half
SPECIAL FEATURES:
This oceanfront front home with
stunning views from nearly every
room was meticulously renovated
and restored in 2015. Additions
include a chef's kitchen with a floorto-ceiling
wine refrigerator, spacious
pantry and 9-foot island, perennial
gardens, irrigation system, and a twocar
attached garage.
Source: MLS Property Information Network.
14 | 01945
Top left: RocknRow co-founder Jack Tatelman carries a boat down to the dock with the help of fellow member Chris Leake. Top right: RocknRow member John Rogers rows
through the water around Crowninshield Island in Marblehead. Center right: Paddles belonging to the RocknRow club line the wall where they store their gear. Bottom
left: RocknRow boats are housed in the Marblehead Trading Company. Bottom right: RocknRow co-founder Jack Tatelman, left, speaks about the rowing season with John
Rogers, center, and Chris Leake.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
SUMMER 2019 | 15
Marblehead's
Rock
Stars
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
When Jack Tatelman and Paul
Mazonson decided to start a rowing club,
Tatelman launched into a lecture about
water access safety and insurance until
Mazonson cut him off.
"Paul said, 'Screw it. What we need is
a cool name.'"
Thus was born RocknRow —
Marblehead's very own rowing club
with more than 60 members and a fleet
of salt-water "single shells" — 21-footlong
dagger-like boats powered by twin
8 1/2-foot-long oars.
With membership spanning all
ages and split about evenly by gender,
RocknRow take to the water on rowing
excursions ranging from easy-going forays
to fierce 21-mile competitions.
Current club President Terrie Leake
said rowing is only half of RocknRow's
mission. The other half is devoted to
friendship and a love of Marblehead.
"My favorite thing is that we've
developed into such a nice community of
friends," she said.
The way Leake tells the story,
Tatelman and Mazonson were sitting
16 | 01945
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on Tatelman's lawn in 2007 when
they hit on a way to combine a love of
Marblehead community life with a love
of rowing.
Leake said the club's first boats were
stored on the roof of the Marblehead
Yacht Club pool house and the first
attempts at rowing resulted in members
snagging their crafts on Marblehead
Harbor mooring lines.
Marblehead Trading Company owner
Ralph Anderson and yard manager
Tom LeBouf reserve a corner of their
cavernous boat barn for RocknRow's
shells and wall space covered with
maps lining out rowing paths around
Marblehead Harbor.
The water is the limit when it comes
to rowing excursions ranging from
Marblehead rock and Tinker's Island
— a relatively easy hour-long row — to
the Blackburn Challenge: A 21-mile
slog around Cape Ann. Club members
have taken trips to Michigan, Maine and
Canada to row.
"Being in the water makes you feel
better about being alive," said Tatelman.
Practice and patient instruction from
RocknRow member and coach Jigger
Herman has helped members master
the shells, which feature sliding seats
mounted less than a foot off the water's
surface. Velcro straps hold feet in place
and oars are mounted in locks on each
side of the shell provide propulsion.
"Feeling comfortable in the boat
is the first hurdle to get over," said
RocknRow member John Rogers.
Rowing backwards is also an
adjustment and learning the proper
stroke takes time. But Christopher
Leake, Terrie's husband, said the learning
curve leads to a very pleasant place on
the water.
"It's serene and peaceful. It's almost
like yoga when you're rowing," he said.
RocknRow membership comes with a
$475 annual fee and there is currently a
membership waiting list. Some members
own boats while the club also purchases
shells for members' use.
Getting out on the water with
RocknRow means knowing how to swim
and learning to rig and launch a shell
off the dock near Marblehead Trading
Company.
"The big deal is to go around Brown's
Island," said Terrie Leake.
The club does have one hard and fast
rule: No rowing alone.
In its devotion to Marblehead,
Tatelman conservatively estimates the
SUMMER 2019 | 17
club has raised $100,000 for local causes.
The late summer Misery Island cleanup
is an annual club event.
Members socialize throughout the
winter on ski trips and in a book club
and start-of-the-rowing-season boat
preparation in May and the season's
September end are reasons to have
fun and take part in the 14-mile Lake
Sunapee row.
"It's the members that make the club
special. It's the spirit of the members,"
Tatelman said.
RocknRow even hosts an early June
"blessing of the fleet" to inaugurate the
rowing season complete with a pancake
breakfast. On a sadder note, club
members name shells after members who
have died.
The collage adorning a wall in
RocknRow's corner in the Marblehead
Trading Company includes a list of
commandments, including, "Thou shalt
pee before launching."
"I never envisioned the club would
last this long," Tatelman said, "We all
have a common love for the town and
the water."
For more information on RocknRow,
visit info@rocknrow.org
From left, RocknRow members John Rogers, Terrie Leake, co-founder Jack Tatelman, and Chris Leake
stand on a dock overlooking Crowninshield Island before launching their boats.
18 | 01945
Amy Bucher, owner
of Amy Bucher
Photographic,
edits a photo in her
second-floor studio
in Marblehead.
PHOTOS:
SPENSER HASAK
Female entrepreneurs are making
their mark in Marblehead, but to become
successful on their own, they've had to
overcome challenges along the way.
When Amy Bucher started in the
photography business more than two
decades ago, she found herself in a maledominated
industry. Most of her mentors
were men, she said.
Being in a field dominated by men
was challenging, Bucher recalls, but she
believes the transition to seeing more
women in photography, with some
owning their own businesses, has to do
with them having a knack for personal
interaction.
"You have to be able to relate to
people and women are able to do that,"
Bucher said. "I think it's important to be
able to communicate and work well with
other people and have an empathy and
understanding, and almost a motherly,
caring aspect."
A Midwest native, Bucher relocated
to Marblehead a few years ago. By that
time, she was an experienced business
owner, having started Amy Bucher
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
Photographic in 2001. Following the
move, she opened up a studio in Old
Town on Pleasant Street.
Bucher said she's been interested in the
field since she was a kid. Her first job was
as a photographer at a theme park when
she was 15 years old. She got her degree in
photography and made it into a career.
"I've always wanted to have my own
business," Bucher said. "I always wanted
to be able to create my own business and
organize it in a way I found interesting
and fun and fit into my schedule."
Making the decision to become selfemployed
was both nerve-wracking and
exciting, Bucher said, because there's a
lot of risk involved. She made sure to
give herself a safety net, setting aside a
cash reserve and saving up for equipment.
For other female entrepreneurs
looking to start their own business,
Bucher said she would advise them to
get involved with something they're
passionate about.
"Especially in a creative industry,
it's really important to be able to enjoy
the work you do so you can give more
of yourself to it and therefore, be more
successful and have more fun doing it,"
Bucher said.
Before Noelle LeBlanc started
Work Loft, a co-working space that
opened downtown in 2017 and provides
professionals an environment to work
remotely, she had to deal with a lot of
negative feedback from people doubting
she could become successful on her own.
Before opening her own space,
LeBlanc, 48, had worked in the high tech
industry for two decades and found that
none of her jobs were based anywhere
near her hometown.
When LeBlanc moved to Marblehead
eight years ago, she was working in an
international sales
role and found
that her days
were either
spent on
an airplane
or working
remotely
from her
kitchen.
Work Loft's Noelle LeBlanc.
PHOTO: OWEN O'ROURKE
SUMMER 2019 | 19
"I just got so bummed out by being
alone all day honestly," LeBlanc said. "At
first, it was really cool to be able to wear
sweatpants and then it was a bummer to
wear sweatpants all day. I wanted to go
out (so I) would go to the coffee shop
and I always guilted myself into buying
way more coffee than I needed just so I
could stay there."
LeBlanc learned there were lots of
professionals like her, which prompted
her to decide to open up a co-working
space to give them an option to work
remotely without being isolated from
other people.
Members can come and go as they
please, with LeBlanc comparing it to
having a gym membership.
Business is good. Work Loft is
undergoing a $55,000 expansion.
LeBlanc said there's been more of a
demand for private offices, so members
can duck into rooms to make phone calls
without disturbing others. There are five
private rooms right now and eight more
will be added this summer.
Starting out was difficult, LeBlanc
said, but not because of her own selfdoubt,
but rather negative feedback from
others that she had to learn to drown
out. She said lots of people around her
were terrified that she was leaving a
steady job and paycheck to open her own
business, telling her she might fail.
"Maybe this is unique to female
entrepreneurs — I kept hearing you can't
do it," LeBlanc said. "Would you say this to
a man? Maybe, but it doesn't seem typical
to me. It was always coming from women."
But LeBlanc said that wasn't how
she wanted to view the world and her
life. She advises other female
entrepreneurs to silence
negative comments that
stem from others' fear and
anxiety and only listen to
like-minded people.
"We all want to feel
secure," LeBlanc said. "I
understand that. What I don't
understand is defining our
lives and our choices by fear
instead of inspiration. When
people said you can't do this,
it's going to go wrong, I looked at those
people and I thought you're someone who
lets your choices be defined by fear instead
of opportunity and inspiration."
Nancy Mantilla has loved flowers
since she was a child.
She grew up on a farm in South America
where her parents had lots of gardens.
Her mother always made sure she was
responsible for taking care of the plants at
home, something that developed her passion.
Mantilla, 57, came to the United
States in 1982, where she attended
school in Boston and lived in nearby
Newton with an unrelated family. Money
was tight. At school, she studied English
and political science, but was still
drawn to flowers and started working at
Winston Flowers in Boston a
few years later.
She later moved on to
work in floral design at the
Ritz-Charlton, a luxury
hotel in Boston, which
included a stint as a pastry
chef. There, she learned the
ins and outs of the business
and struck out on her own
Flores Mantilla's Nancy Mantilla in 2000, opening Flores
PHOTO: OWEN O'ROURKE Mantilla in downtown
Marblehead.
"I was very excited," Mantilla said. "I
wake up every day and am blessed that
I'm still here and can do what I love."
Mantilla said her passion is gardening
and design and can't imagine her life
without flowers. In November 2017,
her 18-year dream came true when she
opened up her second location in South
End, Boston. She splits her time between
the two stores.
She'd advise other female
entrepreneurs to work hard, believe in
themselves and never give up.
"Nothing has been given to people
who don't work hard," Mantilla said.
"You always learn. I think the day you
stop learning is the day you die. So, I'm
alive. I'm learning every day."
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20 | 01945
M
masterpiece
E L A N C H O L Y
H A Y L E Y R E A R D O N
PHOTO: KATE GALLAHER
BY BILL BROTHERTON
Hayley Reardon said when her
parents were newlyweds, her dad, Pete,
bought her mom, Meredith, an Epiphone
guitar.
"My mom spent half a day trying to
learn 'Pancho and Lefty' and then gave
up," said Reardon, with a smile.
When her uncle, John Reardon,
would visit he'd play a bit. Her big sister
Chelsea, six years older, tried it for a
while but lost interest. Otherwise, the
guitar sat unused.
"The summer before sixth grade, I was
sitting around the house, bored one day.
My dad bought this guitar for my mom,
which she didn't play. I picked it up."
Today, Hayley, a 2015 graduate of
Marblehead High School, is making
serious waves as a singer-songwriter. Her
new EP, "Where I Know You," which
came out in March, is getting rapturous
reviews from fans and the nation's music
critics.
Performer Magazine described her
music as "brilliantly moving folk pop
with a lyrical depth and soul." American
Songwriter called her song "Numb and
Blue" a "melancholy little masterpiece."
No Depression magazine said "With
a contagious glow and maturity well
beyond her years, Hayley’s definitely a
talent worth tracking." Her music has
been compared to that of Patty Griffin,
Lucinda Williams and Tracy Chapman
rather than most of today's young singersongwriters.
And she's doing it on her own terms.
Record companies be damned!
Reardon has toured Germany and the
United Kingdom, and recently played
two high-profile shows: headlining at
Club Passim, the esteemed folk music
club in Cambridge, and opening for
Rodney Crowell, Brandy Clark and
the North Mississippi All-Stars at the
Shubert Theatre in Boston.
"The show ended with all of us on
stage performing 'Leaving Louisiana
in the Broad Daylight,' and I sang
Emmylou Harris' part," said Reardon,
with a broad smile.
Hayley's played Passim often, the first
time when she was 14 and opened for Don
White, the Lynn-based singer-songwriterhumorist
whom she calls her mentor.
"Hayley is my pal," said White, who
has served as Reardon's teacher/adviser
since she was 12.
White said her talent was undeniable,
even then. "My mother was dying, and I
thought of my mom while Hayley played
a new song, 'Good Morning Beautiful,'
in my house. She was 13 or 14, and it got
to me, and it was a song she threw away.
I covered it on one of my albums.
"Hayley is an excellent example of
how to have a career on your own terms,
as an independent musician, without a
record label telling her she has to wear
hot pants and do this or that," added
White. "Record deals are not always in
an artist's best interest.
She has a loyal fan base in England
SUMMER 2019 | 21
and Germany, because of those tours.
Many successful artists, like Jimi Hendrix
and Mary Gauthier, made a name for
themselves over there before coming
home.
"Hayley is instinctively smart and
fiercely independent," White said.
"When she was 16 or 17, she said to
me 'I'm already thinking about what
I'm going to do at the end of my music
career.' That's unusual for a young person.
I think she's interested in doing good
work and making a living in music. I
wonder if fame matters at all to her."
When Reardon was 12, her dad
brought her to an open mic at the King
Hooper Mansion "just to watch. But I
decided to play." The crowd applauded,
and Hayley was hooked. Before long, her
dad was driving her to open mics all over
New England.
"I was only 12. I couldn't play in
bars, but wanted to sing my songs. I was
pleased there was a network for that.
"At the start, I was so nervous. I was
terrified. I used to sit on a stool and put
my feet on the bar of the stool, because
they were shaking so bad."
Her first proper gig arrived the next
year at a King Hooper open mic when
she was invited to perform a 30-minute
showcase. A hat was passed after her set,
guests tossed in a buck or two, and at age
13 Reardon was making money doing what
she loved.
"It was pretty cool," she said. "I've
always been drawn to writing. In place
of learning other people's songs, I wrote
my own."
Marblehead is home to the me&thee
coffeehouse, one of America's premier
acoustic music spots, and Kathy Sands-
Boehmer, the me&thee's booking
manager, remembers the first time she
heard Reardon sing.
"Jeanie Stahl (a Marblehead singersingwriter
of note) brought her to a Bill
Staines show at the me&thee when she
was 12. Jeanie asked Hayley to play a
couple of songs for Bill and sat him down
in the Holyoke Room after the show.
Hayley played two songs and I will never
ever forget that moment. I was so taken
with one song that she sang called 'She's
Falling.' This song was about a young girl
who had been bullied at school and later
committed suicide. I knew immediately
that this young woman was someone who
was an old soul and who understood the
power of song. I've been so proud of the
part that the me&thee has played in her
career and thrilled that she'll be part of
our 50th-anniversary celebration next
season."
Reardon has performed at the
me&thee numerous times since.
Two albums of original songs came
out while she was still in high school.
But music fans really started paying
attention when "Good," a fan-funded
album, arrived in 2016.
Lorne Entress, who has worked with
Lori McKenna, Catie Curtis and Erin
McKeown, produced the album with
beautiful arrangements that highlight
the powerful messages in her songs.
REARDON Pg. 25
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LOCAL FLAVOR
Sipping on Summer
BY BELLA diGRAZIA
PHOTOS BY SPENSER HASAK
It's hot, the sun is shining, and you need
something sweet to cool you down. Drink a glass
of red sangria, the perfect daytime adult beverage
that anyone can make. The best thing about this
recipe is you can customize it to your own taste.
Sip it on your couch or on your deck.
Here are our six steps to making sangria:
1) Fill a gallon-sized pitcher halfway with Sprite.
2) 5 cups of Carlo Rossi Cabernet Sauvignon
3) 1 cup of Mathilde Pêche liqueur
4) 1 cup of Stoli Razberi
5) 1 cup of Bacardi Limon
6) Blackberries, oranges, peaches, apples and limes roughly cut
*For best results, let the sangria sit overnight and add one cup of Sprite the following day.*
You can find any of the above ingredients at:
• Vinnin Liquors, 371 Paradise Road
• Swampscott Farmer's Market, 22 Monument Ave.
• Whole Foods, 331 Paradise Road
24 | 01945
Holding the fort
PHOTO: OWEN O'ROURKE
Fort Sewall helped ensure the town's
survival in its earliest years four centuries
ago and Marblehead is returning the
favor by paying for a major revival of the
historical site.
Roughly the size of a football field
and flanked by rocky inclines battered by
ocean waves, Fort Sewall is a testament
to Marblehead's endurance and the
town's love of history.
Town residents and history lovers
beyond Marblehead's borders put
together a $1 million-plus plan to fix up
the fort. With more than $250,000 in
grant proposals to help pay for the work,
organizations led by the Fort Sewall
Oversight Committee won initial Town
Meeting backing this spring to pass a
Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion override
to pay for $750,000 worth of restoration
work.
The override breaks down to a $16.69
annual contribution by each town
property owner for five years. Support
through the town's tax base is only one
source of money for the fort's revival,
said Larry Sands, a Glover's Regiment
member with 20 years Oversight
Committee experience.
"We've raised $360,000 from 100
donors," said Sands.
Built in 1644 as an "earthwork fort,"
it is armed with two cannons aimed and
ready to fire across Marblehead Harbor's
narrow entrance. Economics spawned
the fort's construction: According to one
of the plaques at Fort Sewall's entrance
detailing its history, Marblehead's status
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
as "' ...the greatest towne for fishing in
England'" meant it needed protection
from pirates and French or Dutch
warships.
The fort's history inscribed on the
plaque explains how the French and
Indian War triggered coastal defense
construction. One hundred men worked
for seven days to bulk up the fort's walls
and add 10 more guns to its defenses.
The 1700s saw Marblehead become
a strategic defensive stronghold with six
forts bristling with guns in what is now
modern-day Fountain Park, Seaside Park
and other locations.
Glover's Regiment's formation as a
fighting force aiding in the war against
Britain sent Marblehead's men off to war.
"Women and the elderly manned
the fort," according to the history
summarized on one of the fort's plaques.
Their diligence paid off when a
British warship approached Marblehead
intent on burning down the town. The
sight of workers busily bulking up Fort
Sewall's ramparts sent the British into
retreat.
Named for Samuel Sewall, a
Revolutionary War-era town resident
who later became a judge, Fort Sewall
was enshrined in history on April 3, 1814
when British warships chased the USS
Constitution into Marblehead Harbor.
The sight of the fort's guns discouraged
the pursuers from pressing their luck.
"People underestimate the importance
Marblehead played in the American
Revolution. It is important not to lose
sight of history," Sands said.
Sands said 2019 is a fitting year
to kick off fort restoration efforts
celebrating Fort Sewall's 375th
anniversary. The work list is long and
builds, Sands said, on work started five
years ago on a master plan for restoring
the fort. In 2017, the fort's brick facade
received much-needed repointing
and prioritized future repairs include
"parging," or recoating the fort's interior
brick wall; repointing and repairing
upper-level doorways; replacing stairway
railings and refurbishing pathways
ringing the fort and leading in and out
of it.
Sands said the work will span the
next three years culminating in 2022
- the 100th anniversary of the federal
government's decision to return the fort
to town oversight.
Marblehead residents Slaid and
Julie Jones couldn't be happier to see
their favorite strolling spot slotted for a
spruce up. The couple walk the ramparts
overlooking the harbor even in chilly and
wet weather.
"It's one of our favorite parts of
town," Slaid Jones said.
"The views are great and it's quiet,"
added Julie Jones.
A Marblehead resident since 1980,
Sands said Fort Sewall is overseen by the
town Parks and Recreation Department.
He hopes money can be allocated
eventually to pay a town ranger to guide
tours around the fort.
SUMMER 2019 | 25
REARDON continued from Pg. 21
A band of respected, locally-bred
musicians backed her up during the
recording: guitar heroes Duke Levine
and Kevin Barry, who are in the current
J. Geils Band and Peter Wolf's band
the Midnight Travelers; bassist Richard
Gates, who's played with Paula Cole,
Suzanne Vega and a who's who of folk
artists; and drummer Marco Giovino,
who was in Robert Plant's Band of Joy.
How did Reardon end up in the
recording studio with such heavyweights?
She said Entress called unexpectedly and
said "I have this band. Come on down."
Their fee had been paid and the project
completed, so she went in for a oneday
session. "I liked how it sounded,"
she said, so, thanks to the kickstarter
campaign that raised money to make
"Good," a year later she was able to bring
Entress and the band back.
The Handwritten Sessions tour in
2017 was an epic road trip around the
United Kingdom. She intentionally
played only in people's living rooms
and backyards. London-based Webb
Street Studios documented the tour, and
Reardon released a candid live video
series and tour documentary.
That tour led to her most recent EP,
which was recorded in rural Vermont with
longtime musical friend Ryan Hommel.
She describes its five songs as "vivid story
snapshots of people in my life." One song,
"200 Years Old," is a standout. It's about
her late grandmother, Rebecca Atkins of
Marblehead, and her dementia.
"I loved hearing her stories about
getting all dolled up for YMCA teenage
dances. My grandmother liked Patsy
Cline, and would show up early to ask
the DJ to play 'I Fall to Pieces,' which
she played for me when I was about 10.
I’ve always cherished that image of my
young grandmother dressed to the nines
in a big empty ballroom, arriving before
everyone else just to request her favorite
song," said Reardon.
"Years later, I ended up helping to
take care of her when she had severe
dementia. … The only thing that would
bring her back to the present was when
I put on Patsy Cline. ... and for a second
she was with us again.”
She recorded a version of "America
the Beautiful" last July, partly as a tribute
to her grandfather Stan Atkins, who was
a fire captain in Marblehead. He would
sing patriotic songs with the Reardon
girls after school.
Reardon attended Belmont University
in Nashville, the place to be for a rising
musician who writes and performs
her own
songs. She
continued
to write,
but didn't
perform
much. "There
was so much
opportunity
there, I
suffered a bit
of paralysis,"
she said.
"Plus, I
missed home.
My creativity
was reset at home." After two years, she
transferred to Salem State, where she
studied English and continued to write
songs.
She said her parents grew up in
Marblehead, and there are a bunch of
relatives in town.
"I see Marblehead so differently now
that I left and came back. People get
behind you in Marblehead and support
you. It's a very special place. … It's a big
part of who I am.'"
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26 | 01945
Our Father
Steele,
who art in
Westwood
BY STEVE KRAUSE
PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK
How does a priest know if he's
been effective in a parish?
It's easy to look back on 14
years at a church like Star of the Sea in
Marblehead and come up with honest
self-assessment. It's better, though, to
hear it from others.
Father Michael Steele is departing
after 14 years as pastor of Star of the Sea
Church. As of June, he'll be off to St.
Margaret Mary's in Westwood, where
part of his assignment will be to oversee
the collaborative merger with St. Denis
in the same town.
Those who know him, and have
worked with him, know Fr. Steele will do
a fabulous job in Westwood.
"This is a great opportunity for him,"
said Ray McNulty, a member of the Star
of the Sea parish council and a religious
education teacher and lector. "He'll be
great for that situation."
Both McNulty and fellow parishioner
Kate Daily speak highly of Fr. Steele's
ability to relate to the youth of the parish.
"I think he's fabulous with the children,"
said Daily, a CCD teacher and eucharistic
minister. "He brings an energy to the
room ... I never really imagined being a
CCD teacher and a minister, and all of a
sudden, I was. It's been great."
McNulty goes one better.
"He dominates a room with the power
of his personality," he said.
Fr. Steele, 67, comes from an
educational background, and both
McNulty and Daily point to that as a
stepping-off point for his effectiveness
in the parish. Fr. Steele, before becoming
pastor at St. Joseph's Parish in Wakefield
26 years ago, was the superintendent
for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese
of Boston. And he's always made it his
mission to nurture young people and their
families as the backbone of the parish.
"Pope Francis says that the youth and
the family are the heart of every parish,"
Fr. Steele said.
To that end, the parish has a
standing-room-only children's Mass at
9 a.m. every Sunday that, according to
McNulty, attracts Catholics from other
communities.
"There's often a homily aimed at the
level of young people, and there may be
a program — depending on the time of
the year — where there may be a pageant
around the altar. And there may be dialogue
between the priest and young people."
Fr. Steele says what spurs him on is
"a zest for the gospel, and a calling for
others to give reach to the gospel. I have
a desire for family liturgy.
"We have to ask ourselves 'how are we
doing the work of God?' he said. "One
thing I did when I came here was to
SUMMER 2019 | 27
make it a point to listen to what people
had to say. It takes three years, I think,
to take the direction you've identified as
a goal. Before I came here, there were
no goals or objectives written down. I've
changed them three times since then.
Goal-setting is so important."
Fr. Steele takes a lot of pride in
how he has restructured the Catholic
education program in the parish, a source
of accomplishment shared by those he
works with in the parish.
"There are more than 1,200 people in
the program," McNulty said. And, said
Daily, he's made a difference.
"He's built a real sense of community,"
she said. "There are so many things to do
here, and he is willing to educate anyone
who comes through the door. He'll take
you any way you are. If you walk into
Mass late, he'll welcome you."
Fr. Steele, a 1968 Saugus High
graduate, has had varied life and
educational experiences. In 1969, he
was among the many at the Woodstock
rock festival in Bethel, N.Y. (he is
quick to point out, however, that he
refrained from partaking in the many
"refreshments" the festival had to offer).
He received degrees in philosophy
and sociology from Merrimack College
in 1972, and worked for a spell with
the Department of Health, Education
and Welfare in the Social Security
department.
He said he thought he might want to
be a priest as he was leaving college, but
a friend told him to experience life before
making a decision. What changed his
life, he said, was working with the poor
in Appalachia.
"You don't know how blessed you are
until you see what life is like for some of
those people."
By the time he went into the
seminary, he was sure. He had studied
at both Northeastern and the Boston
College School of Social Work, and
received his Master's Degree in Divinity
from St. John's Seminary in 1977 — the
same year he was ordained by Cardinal
Humberto Medeiros — and Pastoral
Theology a year later.
Even after being ordained, he continued
studying — this time at the University of
San Francisco Jesuit Graduate School to
receive an advanced degree in religious
education. He also attended the Institute
of Catholic Educational Leadership, and
the Sabbatical Program at the Pontifical
North American College's Institute for
Continuing Theological Education in
Rome.
His experience at Star of the Sea was
not his first in the area. He served as
a deacon at St. John the Evangelist in
Swampscott, and remembers Msgr. John
P. Carroll as a friend and mentor.
While in Wakefield, Fr. Steele was on
duty in 2001 when Michael McDermott
burst into Edgewater Technology and
killed five employees in a shooting spree.
For his response and counsel to fellow
employees and families of victims, he
received the Sen. Paul Tsongas Award for
Exemplary Community Service.
Perhaps as a result of all his
experiences, he's encouraged and
motivated young people in his parish
to commit to service. And, high school
seniors who attend the religious
education program, and who complete
four years of service, will receive $1,000
scholarships.
He loves what he does, and where he's
done it, but embraces the challenges the
new assignment will bring.
"I think there's always time for a
change in parish community," he said.
28 | 01945
1 2
3
Festival of Cod
4 5
1. Dawn Jenkins and the cod she created for the Marblehead Festival of Cod-VIP Launch party.
2. From left, Pam Duncan, Jocelyne Poisson, Betty Spellios, Karen McManon,
and Carol Moore look at some of the cods.
3. Kiki Taron Kinney with the hand woven brass cod she created.
4. Lis Horowitz and Pinar Gokce enjoy the cods on display.
5. Ann Arata played bass in a trio at the party.
PHOTOS: OWEN O'ROURKE
Rewriting
history
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
I
nspired by the rich history of
Marblehead and the roots of her
ancestors, New York Times bestselling
author Katherine Howe has penned
another bewitching story.
Howe grew up in Houston, but family
roots led her to Marblehead as an adult.
Being in the town and touching materials
that existed when her ancestors were
accused of witchcraft brought history to
life for the writer.
"One thing that makes Marblehead
so special is that it's not a museum," said
Howe. "It's a living, breathing colony
that has always been there. The house I
was living in was built in 1705. To think
that someone's foot was on this same
floorboard, who almost certainly saw the
hangings happen because people went
from miles around to see it — it was that
kind of proximity that inspired me."
Howe was a teenager when she
learned of her relationship
to Elizabeth Howe and
Elizabeth Proctor, both
accused of witchcraft
during the Salem
Witch Trials in
1692.
It wasn't until
after Howe wrote
"The Physick Book
of Deliverance
Dane" that she
learned she was
also related to the
woman on whom
she chose to base
the main character
of her story.
"I found out
on a fluke," said
Howe. "I was
messing around
on Ancestry(.com)
a couple of years
ago and found
that Deliverance
Dane, the woman
who I wrote my
book about, was
my eighth greatgrandmother."
Howe chose
Dane as her main character because, in
real life, she played a marginal role in
the witch trials. She wanted the freedom
to create a more fictionalized character
without readers already having a mental
image attached to who she was. It
didn't hurt that she found Dane's name
striking.
Howe describes her preferred genre
as "historical fiction with a slight magic
twist."
She received the 2016 Massachusetts
Book Award for Children's Middle-
Grade/Young Adult Literature for The
Massachusetts Center for the Book.
The award is given for books published
by commonwealth residents or on
Massachusetts subjects.
Howe won the award for her young
adult novel "Conversion," published by
Penguin Books. It's a story about a senior
at an all-girl preparatory high school,
where students are under many pressures.
The girl, Colleen, becomes
unexplainably ill with a mysterious
illness, only for her close group of
friends to follow suit. The girls suffer
from seizures, violent coughing, and hair
loss.
Colleen realizes that Danvers, where
the story takes place, was once Salem
Village, where three centuries ago a
group of girls exhibited bizarre behavior
and were accused of and executed for
witchcraft.
The town searches for an explanation.
Everything from pollution to stress is
considered until the realization is made
that the girls are suffering from a hysteria
outbreak.
Howe, who was living in Ithaca,
N.Y., at the time she wrote the novel,
was fascinated by the idea of mass
psychogenic illness as she watched
the number of girls suffering from
nonepileptic seizures and other sudden
ailments grow.
Similar instances occurred in North
Carolina in 2002 and in Monroe, La.,
half a century earlier, according to The
New York Times.
"It was all over the news," said Howe.
"This looks exactly like what happened
with the afflicted girls in Salem. What is
it about being a teenage girl today that is
so intense and crazy that (it) makes you
physically sick?"
Howe will release "The Daughters of
Temperance Hobbs," a novel that returns
to the world of "The Physick Book of
Deliverance Dane," on June 25.
All of her books are either available in
store or to be ordered from the Spirit of
'76 Bookstore.
Howe has appeared on Good
Morning America, CBS This Morning,
NPR's "Weekend Edition," the BBC,
and the History Channel. In 2012, she
hosted the Expedition Week special
"Salem: Unmasking the Devil" for
National Geographic.
Howe and her husband Louis Hyman
share their time between Massachusetts
and New York, visiting their historic
home by the sea on summer vacations
and holidays.
"I just can't give up Marblehead,"
said Howe.
SUMMER 2019 | 31
Pickleball
The fastest-growing sport you've never heard of
BY BILL BROTHERTON
The day is warm and sunny, and a
group of pickleball players, many from
Marblehead, are swatting around yellow,
hard-plastic, Wiffle-like balls on the four
courts at Collins Cove in Salem.
What is pickleball, you ask? It's only
the fastest growing sport in the United
States for men and women age 50 and
older. And a group of Marblehead
pickleball enthusiasts are raising funds
to build six first-class courts at Veterans
Middle School.
Joe McKane, a leader of Marblehead
Pickleball, the group working toward
building the Marblehead courts, said he
and his fellow players are here at Collins
Cove most weekdays from 1 to 3 p.m. "if
the weather is decent, not raining, and
temps are above 50 degrees."
He's hopeful Marblehead will have its
own courts by early fall. More than 100
donors have ponied up $34,000, he said,
and bids have gone out to contractors.
The construction cost will be about
$55,000, and the courts will be open to
all, not only Marblehead residents.
Other committee members include Pat
Bibbo, Bucky Grader, and Bryce Suydam.
McKane, keeping an eye on the courts
while we chat, said he picked up the
game during winters spent in Naples, Fla.
A tennis player can do well at the game
in a couple of outings, he said.
"I've been an athlete my whole
life. Pickleball is a great, fun game. It's
challenging and competitive. And everyone
here is fun to be with," McKane said.
Bryce and Ghillie Suydam of
Marblehead have been active players
for some three years, starting while
wintering in Naples. "Pickleball is easy to
get proficient at, but difficult to get really
good at," said Bryce. "Ghillie and I really
enjoy it."
They were two of the 4,000 players
who battled it out in the US Open
Pickleball Championship, which is held
in East Naples, Fla. each year. Amazingly,
PHOTO: OWEN O'ROURKE
Ghillie Suydam and Bryce Suydam playing pickleball at the Collins Cove courts in Salem.
the tournament was started by Jim
Ludwig, a St. Mary's High grad and
Lynn native who is executive director of
Pickleball For All.
Wendy Furman, taking a short break
after a lively game at Collins Cove,
said "Pickleball is wonderful. You get
exercise and it's competitive." She picked
it up in Delray Beach, Fla., and said
new residential developments there are
pushing for pickleball courts.
Kathy Walsh of Salem joined the
Marblehead group this day. "I'm a
beginner," she said. "It's a good workout and
I've met some nice, new people. And I'm
hitting the ball more often than before."
Ron Landman, retired principal of
Swampscott Middle School, said he got
hooked about three years ago. "It's windy
here, right on the water, but it's a perfect
day. It's always a perfect day when you
can play pickleball with friends."
Rick Haigis of the USA Pickleball
Association is Salem's pickleball
ambassador. Don't laugh. He's a busy
fellow; these courts are seldom empty.
Today, he's joined this Marblehead group.
Haigis said Salem Mayor Kimberly
Driscoll, wooden paddle in hand, can be
found battling it out here most Sunday
mornings. Two years ago, a tennis court
in terrible disrepair was replaced with
these green, lined courts.
The game's rules are posted on the
USA Pickleball Association’s website, but
I'll save you a visit to Google. The game,
supposedly invented in the mid 1960s
as a children's backyard game, combines
elements of badminton, tennis, and table
tennis. Played on a court about half the
size of a tennis court, lending itself to
faster action and quicker access to the
ball, pickleball is played by two singles or
teams of two players each. They compete
to score 11 points and must win by two.
The ball is served with an underarm
stroke so that contact with the ball is
made below waist level. A game typically
takes 15 or 20 minutes.
In Marblehead there are indoor courts
at the Council on Aging, the Lynch
Van Otterloo YMCA and the Jewish
Community Center of the North Shore.
Pickleball courts are also available in
Lynn, Peabody, and Beverly.
Marblehead's Recreation and Parks
Department has been incredibly helpful, said
McKane, and will make a major donation.
Gear is for sale on the group's website
with proceeds going toward building the
courts. Donations may be made at www.
marbleheadpickleball.org.
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