01907_Fall_2019

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
TED GRANT
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
Editors
Bill Brotherton
Thor Jourgensen
Contributing Editor
Cheryl Charles
Contributing Writers
Bill Brotherton
Gayla Cawley
Bella diGrazia
Thomas Grillo
Thor Jourgensen
Steve Krause
Bridget Turcotte
Photographer
Spenser Hasak
Paula Muller
Owen O'Rourke
Advertising Sales
Ernie Carpenter
Ralph Mitchell
Patricia Whalen
Advertising Design
Trevor Andreozzi
Design
Tori Faieta
Mark Sutherland
ESSEX MEDIA GROUP
110 Munroe St.,
Lynn, MA 01901
781-593-7700 ext.1234
Subscriptions:
781-593-7700 ext. 1253
01907themagazine.com
04 What's Up
06 Wonder Women
10 Bleeding Big Blue
11 Boats + Beer = Fun
12 House Money
For Pete's sake
Not that I’m unbiased, but I think this is a pretty good edition of 01907. Knock-out cover and
stories with punch. I am saddened, though, that one of my favorite Swampscotians won't get to read it
and call me afterward to meet at Starbucks so he could tell me what he did and — especially — didn’t
like about it.
Peter McNerney died on Aug. 19. I got to know him first as a client in my earlier iteration as a
public-relations consultant, and eventually as a verbal sparring partner. He, like I, loved the debate.
Peter was a former Wall Street guy who had a variety of interests — stocks and bonds, model
railroads, music, and chess among them. And politics. I particularly enjoyed those conversations
(arguments, actually; we rarely, if ever, agreed, which is why we bothered to get into it in the first
place). I loved his many philosophies, including one comparing the brain to the U.S. Senate: 51-49 is
sufficient to make a decision.
Of all things, what brought us together were red-light cameras — those things attached to traffic
lights that record drivers running red lights. He worked for a company that sold them and they hired
my company to open doors. He had me convinced that they would make roads safer (and ultimately
cure me of speeding through yellow lights — probably while texting). Try as we did, we got nowhere
with local officials on the cameras. He eventually left the company and I went back to seeing yellow as
an invitation — if not a command — to accelerate.
Godspeed, Peter.
This is what he missed in this edition . . .
Anna O'Brien isn't normally a fighter, but when the opportunity came for her to honor her late
mother-in-law, she didn't hesitate. The 5-foot-5-inch O'Brien is gearing up for Haymakers for Hope's
"Belles of the Brawl" boxing match in Boston Oct. 9. The 31-year-old Swampscott High alumna is
fighting in honor of Josephine ( Josie) Racki, who died in October from a cancerous tumor in her brain.
Bella diGrazia has the blow by blow.
For 10 years, Burke's Tumbling Academy on Elm Place has been the place to go for gymnastics
lessons, cheerleading classes and physical fitness programs.
You'd hardly recognize the place these days. Owner Jen (Burke) and husband Rob DeMagistris
have nearly completed a major expansion that will double the facility's space to 15,000 square feet,
utilizing the space left vacant when Paradise Gym closed last fall.
Bill Brotherton has the story.
Chloe Smith, an equestrian, is settling into her freshman year at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, where
she will be riding horses as part of the equestrian team. She'll be riding Frankie, her 11-year-old horse.
Brotherton also has this story.
Joan McCormack, Erin Calvo-Bacci and Ashley Pezzano took different paths to success, but each
woman faced financial challenges, sexism and other barriers on the road to accomplishment.
Gayla Cawley chronicles their journeys.
Not that the entire edition is about women; it also includes stories about a couple of unique guys.
In the early 1970s, Nahant's Bob Risch started the Grand Pram, motivated by the reality that many
of the beachgoers he spent summer days sunbathing beside often disappeared after Labor Day.
Bridget Turcotte has the story.
And if you attend any Swampscott High football games this fall, be sure to keep one ear tuned into
Roger Volk. This is his 20th year doing the public-address announcing for the Big Blue.
Steve Krause writes about the voice of Swampscott High football.
For these, and our usual array of food and fashion tips and real estate news, start reading.
I don’t know if Peter would’ve liked this edition. But the conversation would’ve been more fun if he hadn’t.
INSIDE
15 Brawling Belle
18 Trail Tale
20 Tumbling Forward
22 Mac Attack
24 Leaf Keeper
26 Horse Sense
28 Suds of Summer
30 Carry & Clutch
31 Market Growth
COVER
Anna O'Brien prepares
for her Haymakers for
Hope bout, in the fight
against cancer.
PHOTO BY
SPENSER HASAK
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