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Big<br />
Blues<br />
SPRING <strong>2021</strong><br />
VOL. 6, NO. 1
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02 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
A publication of Essex Media Group<br />
Publisher<br />
Edward M. Grant<br />
Chief Executive Officer<br />
Michael H. Shanahan<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 />
Thor Jourgensen<br />
Contributing Editors<br />
Gayla Cawley<br />
Cheryl Charles<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Mike Alongi<br />
Elyse Carmosino<br />
Gayla Cawley<br />
Daniel Kane<br />
Steve Krause<br />
Guthrie Scrimgeour<br />
Ann Marie Tobin<br />
Photographers<br />
Spenser Hasak<br />
Julia Hopkins<br />
Design<br />
Sean Casey<br />
Advertising Design<br />
Sean Casey<br />
Edwin Peralta Jr.<br />
Advertising Sales<br />
Ernie Carpenter<br />
Ralph Mitchell<br />
Eric Rondeau<br />
Patricia Whalen<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 />
<strong>01907</strong>themagazine.com<br />
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER<br />
04 What's Up<br />
06 Fun Facts<br />
08 Note by note<br />
12 House Money<br />
14 Hard hitters<br />
18 Write Stuff<br />
A foodie's delight<br />
INSIDE<br />
20 Town slice<br />
23 Bakery way<br />
26 Hope's Anchor<br />
28 History's house<br />
30 Pastor Power<br />
TED GRANT<br />
What is it about food anyway? We seem to pay an awful lot of attention to it. I know I do. Maybe it's<br />
because one of the few things we have left as this pandemic careens toward its first anniversary is food.<br />
We have three articles in this month's <strong>01907</strong> devoted to food -- two about the fun of it and one about<br />
the seriousness of it.<br />
We could call this first article "Hello, Newman's." In this case, it's Deb Newman, sister of Jessica, who<br />
is part of the family that ran Newman's Bakery on Humphrey Street since 1966. The bakery is closed, but<br />
Deb has opened "The Baker's Daughter," a meatless diner farther down the street, closer to Marblehead,<br />
than the bakery was.<br />
"I wanted people to see you could eat yummy food and it doesn't have to have meat in it," she says. So<br />
far, the response has been very positive.<br />
Gayla Cawley has the story.<br />
Next we take a peek into an old town standby -- Cindy's Pizza and Subs, another Humphrey Street<br />
eating establishment. Cindy's has been around for more than 40 years, and about the only thing that's<br />
changed is that it's middle school kids now, and not high school students, who patronize it.<br />
"It's been great living and working in town for this long," said Cindy's owner Nunzio Freddo. "You get<br />
to see kids who you saw when they were little, now bringing in their own kids."<br />
Guthrie Scrimgeour has the story.<br />
Now for the serious. When the Anchor Food Pantry was ready to open last year, nobody had any idea<br />
just how vital a place like that would be. But then COVID-19 pandemic swept through the North Shore,<br />
bringing with it business closures and loss of jobs, and all of a sudden, the food bank became a necessity in<br />
the town.<br />
Elyse Carmosino has the story.<br />
Elsewhere, Swampscott resident Carolina Velasquez is encouraging the community to "Adopt a<br />
Grandparent," a national initiative she has joined that aims to bring joy to seniors during the COVID-19<br />
pandemic.<br />
Gayla Cawley has the story.<br />
When town residents Eddie and Carley Alvarez opened the doors to Alvarez Family Boxing back in<br />
late November, it was a culmination of a lifelong dream and a full year’s worth of hard work.<br />
Mike Alongi has the story.<br />
For Swampscott native Douglas Volk, getting his novel, "The Morpheus Conspiracy," from his mind<br />
onto paper was a long process — 39 years long to be exact.<br />
Daniel Kane has the story.<br />
Is Swampscott home to the oldest wooden structure in North America?<br />
The answer is complicated but comes down to this — unless and until the John Humphrey Memorial<br />
House on Paradise Road undergoes a dendrochronology examination, nobody knows the answer.<br />
Anne Marie Tobin has the story.<br />
If you crossed the treacherous intersection of Humphrey Street, Atlantic Avenue and Puritan Road as<br />
a child sometime in the past 40 years, you met Irma Rubin.<br />
Guthrie Scrimgeour has the story.<br />
Also, The Rev. Jeffrey MacDonald is bringing new perspective to Nahant Village Church. Elyse<br />
Carmosino tells how; In the year since the pandemic shutdown, Edi Rovi and the Swampscott band have<br />
had to undergo many adjustments and changers. Mike Alongi explains it; and among some of the town's<br />
fun facts, learn the history of the Gen. Glover House on Salem Street.<br />
The menu is pretty diverse in this issue. Grab yourself something to eat and dig in.<br />
COVER<br />
A pandemic can't keep<br />
Swampscott High<br />
senior Kiki de Melo<br />
away from her music<br />
PHOTO BY<br />
SPENSER HASAK
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4 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
WHAT'S UP<br />
Pooch pass<br />
What: If your dog is licensed with the<br />
town and has a rabies certificate, you<br />
can get a pooch pass to the dog park.<br />
Where: Go to swampscottma.gov for<br />
registration and five dollar payment<br />
processing.<br />
When: The park is located on town land<br />
bordering Swampscott Cemetery off<br />
Essex Street.<br />
Time to vote<br />
What: It's town election time with<br />
eight town-wide office seats and<br />
at least 18 Town Meeting seats in<br />
contention.<br />
Where: Visit swampscottma.gov or email<br />
sduplin@swampscottma.gov for more<br />
information.<br />
When: Tuesday, April 27. The last day to<br />
register to vote is Wednesday, April 7.<br />
Show your love<br />
What: For the Love of Swampscott is<br />
always looking for residents interested<br />
in fostering love and enthusiasm for<br />
our community.<br />
Where: Visit fortheloveofswampscott.org<br />
for more information.<br />
When: To suggest activities<br />
or volunteer, email<br />
fortheloveofswampscott@gmail.com<br />
One with nature<br />
What: The Swampscott Conservancy<br />
is dedicated to helping support the<br />
town in preserving open space and<br />
conservation land.<br />
Where: The group currently holds talks<br />
and webinars on Zoom with organizations<br />
including Salem Sound Watch.<br />
When: For more information, email<br />
swampscottconservancy@gmail.com<br />
Wowbrary<br />
What: The Swampscott Public Library<br />
has a big selection of children's and<br />
young adult books.<br />
Where: Go to swampscottlibrary.org<br />
Look for the Wowbrary window and<br />
click on a book cover image to place a<br />
book on hold for borrowing.<br />
When: For more information, email<br />
swa@noblenet.org
Target your message<br />
to an affluent audience<br />
Milling around<br />
Madam Clerk<br />
Little big reader<br />
SPRING <strong>2021</strong><br />
VOL. 4, NO. 1<br />
Contact us at:<br />
781-593-7700<br />
info@essexmediagroup.com
6 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
Beach<br />
Grazers<br />
At one point the beaches of<br />
Swampscott weren't always just a<br />
nice place for the summer. They<br />
actually served as a pound. Back<br />
when farming was commonplace<br />
in town and animals like cows and<br />
horses would regularly venture off the<br />
land, they were impounded (like a car<br />
would be today) along the beaches,<br />
where owners had to pay to bring<br />
them back home.<br />
The facts of<br />
<strong>01907</strong><br />
BY DANIEL KANE<br />
For the love of<br />
Glover<br />
The General Glover house<br />
located on Salem Street in Vinnin<br />
Square has been left unkempt<br />
for some time. During the<br />
Revolutionary War the property<br />
belonged to a British Loyalist, but<br />
was confiscated and given to war<br />
hero General John Glover as a<br />
retirement home. In more recent<br />
years, the property eventually<br />
became a restaurant before closing<br />
in the 1990s. Last year, it was<br />
issued a violation notice from the<br />
town of Swampscott for being a<br />
“blighted or unsafe structure.”<br />
Hallowed<br />
Ground<br />
Another piece of history is the<br />
Swampscott Cemetery. The town's<br />
only cemetery for more than 160<br />
years, it was established in 1852 as one<br />
of the first acts of the new community.<br />
The original section of the cemetery<br />
is listed on the National Register of<br />
Historic Places. Andrew's Chapel,<br />
located in the center of the cemetery,<br />
has been restored by the Andrew's<br />
Chapel Committee.<br />
Dory days<br />
Many years ago, the Naumkeag<br />
Native Americans fished the<br />
waters along Swampscott's coast<br />
and that tradition grew into<br />
some famous salt cod businesses<br />
throughout the years. The town<br />
even inspired the name of a<br />
traditional fishing boat called the<br />
Swampscott Dory.<br />
This Boston statue commemorates John Glover.<br />
SHUTTERSTOCK<br />
Wet walk<br />
Among the remnants of the town's<br />
fishing days is a set of stairs located<br />
across from St. John's Episcopal<br />
Church on Humphrey Street, which<br />
is only recognizable during the day's<br />
lowest tide.
Historic mansion.<br />
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8 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
And the band<br />
played on<br />
On March 17, 2020, just one week away<br />
from its annual spring concert with the<br />
jazz and percussion ensemble, Swampscott<br />
High School band members were stunned<br />
to learn that the school was ordered shut<br />
down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
“It was kind of surreal when it<br />
happened at first,” said Edi Rovi, who is<br />
in his sixth year as Swampscott’s band<br />
director. “We actually were talking about<br />
moving the concert up a week so we could<br />
get it in with no worries, but there were<br />
scheduling conflicts that got in the way so<br />
that didn’t happen.”<br />
In the year since, Rovi and the<br />
Swampscott band have had to endure<br />
a litany of changes, adjustments,<br />
disappointments and learning.<br />
The Swampscott High School band<br />
is a typical high school marching band of<br />
31 members, with woodwind, brass and<br />
percussion instruments making up the group<br />
— which Rovi calls “well-balanced” in terms<br />
of the numbers of each instrument type.<br />
There is also a separate jazz and percussion<br />
ensemble, and the band collaborates often<br />
with the Swampscott High chorus.<br />
The band is normally busy for the entire<br />
calendar year. Starting with band camp in<br />
August, a normal year for the musicians<br />
consists of performing at football games<br />
in the fall, visiting the annual University<br />
BY MIKE ALONGI<br />
of Massachusetts Band Day in November,<br />
holding concerts in December, March<br />
and May, performing at the graduation<br />
ceremony and performing at both the Lynn<br />
and Nahant Memorial Day parades.<br />
“Our schedule is usually pretty full for<br />
the entire year,” said Rovi, who teaches<br />
a host of music classes at Swampscott<br />
High including introduction to drums,<br />
introduction to guitar, history of rock,<br />
music technology and many others. “It<br />
was definitely a drastic change for us to go<br />
from always preparing for a performance<br />
to not having anything to look forward to.<br />
But we’ve been able to make the best of it<br />
regardless.”<br />
Naturally, every performance over the<br />
past 11 months has been canceled and the<br />
Swampscott band hasn’t performed for a<br />
live audience in over a year. But that doesn’t<br />
mean they’re not meeting.<br />
Band camp was canceled in August, but<br />
students began meeting again after school<br />
in late October. Rovi meets with his band<br />
members weekly, and the band has adjusted<br />
to not being able to all be in the same place<br />
at once due to safety protocols.<br />
“We started meeting virtually pretty<br />
early on after things were shut down, but<br />
we ran into the fact that performing via<br />
BAND, page 10<br />
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10 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
BAND, continued from page 8<br />
Zoom was really tough due to the quality,”<br />
he said. “Once we were able to start<br />
meeting again after school, we’ve been able<br />
to fit 24 kids at a time in the auditorium<br />
and we have the rest watch via Zoom, and<br />
then we rotate those groups so everyone<br />
gets a little of both.<br />
“It’s definitely been a stressful time<br />
and lesson plans have had to be altered<br />
dramatically,” Rovi added. “You’re just trying<br />
to make each day enjoyable for everyone and<br />
keep all the students engaged every day.”<br />
Despite everything from meeting<br />
together to getting feedback being altered<br />
dramatically by the pandemic, Rovi has seen<br />
great enthusiasm from every one of the band<br />
members. And it looks like things are starting<br />
to have potential for getting back to normal.<br />
While the December concert was<br />
canceled a few months ago, there are talks<br />
about a smaller scale concert in March that<br />
will hopefully be held in the auditorium.<br />
The May concert will hopefully be held<br />
outdoors, with two to three members of<br />
each bandmate’s family allowed to attend.<br />
Football has been approved to start in late<br />
February and the band is in talks with the<br />
principal and athletic director to perform<br />
at games again — although there are<br />
potential issues in terms of cold weather<br />
affecting the instruments.<br />
And as far as the Memorial Day<br />
performances in Lynn and Nahant, Rovi<br />
says that if the parades are happening then<br />
the band will be there.<br />
“We’ve met with the principal and<br />
the consensus is that it would be best for<br />
everyone if we could manage to make this<br />
spring concert<br />
happen and get<br />
things started,”<br />
said Rovi.<br />
“We’d love to<br />
do football<br />
games and<br />
we’re waiting<br />
to hear about<br />
that, and we’re<br />
really hoping<br />
that Memorial<br />
Day will<br />
happen as well.<br />
We know that<br />
a lot can change in a short period of time, so<br />
we’re just staying hopeful.”<br />
According to Rovi, one of the key<br />
reasons that the band has been able to<br />
continue on its path without a single<br />
outbreak has been personal accountability.<br />
“We told everyone from the beginning,<br />
we all have to take this seriously if we want to<br />
remain healthy and start getting things back<br />
to normal,” said Rovi. “They all understand<br />
the responsibility they have and they have<br />
continued to take the proper precautions, and<br />
it’s kept everyone safe this whole time.”<br />
Rovi has also learned a lot about<br />
himself over the course of the year, both<br />
personally and<br />
professionally.<br />
“The biggest<br />
things I’ve<br />
learned about<br />
are patience and<br />
flexibility,” said<br />
Rovi. “Patience<br />
has been tough<br />
because there<br />
have been so<br />
many new<br />
things to learn<br />
and it can be<br />
frustrating at<br />
times. Even though we’ve had 100 percent<br />
attendance almost every day this year, you still<br />
have to learn to be flexible as kids are dealing<br />
with so many different things in their lives. It’s<br />
truly been a learning experience for everyone.”<br />
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12 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
HOUSE MONEY<br />
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAN ST. JOHN/ LIGHTSHED PHOTOGRAPHY
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 13<br />
A peek inside<br />
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SALE PRICE: $2,000,000<br />
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YEAR BUILT: 1950<br />
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ROOMS: 9<br />
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high beamed ceilings, glass enclosed<br />
porch, large tiled deck, designer<br />
kitchen, and private deck off of the<br />
master suite.<br />
Source: MLS Property Information Network.
The Alvarez<br />
family never<br />
gave up the<br />
fight<br />
Brandon Martinez, 9, of Salem trains at Alvarez<br />
Family Boxing.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 15<br />
Carley, Misty, 3, and Eddie Alvarez, of Swampscott,<br />
look out from their boxing ring in Salem.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
When town residents<br />
Eddie and Carley<br />
Alvarez opened the<br />
doors to Alvarez Family<br />
Boxing back in late November, it was a<br />
culmination of a lifelong dream and a full<br />
year’s worth of hard work. And if you ask<br />
them, it was all worth it.<br />
“It’s been a lot of work, but I always<br />
tell people that it took 25 years to get<br />
to this point and we wouldn’t change it<br />
for anything,” said Eddie. “This whole<br />
experience over the past year-plus has<br />
really centered us and made us realize the<br />
importance of your little 'pod' and the<br />
health of those around you.”<br />
“When we made the decision to move<br />
forward, we said that nothing would stand<br />
in our way,” said Carley. “We already had<br />
money saved and we’ve always wanted<br />
this, so there was no looking back once we<br />
decided to go for it.”<br />
But opening their dream business<br />
didn’t come without some pandemic-sized<br />
obstacles.<br />
On the day the Alvarezes were handed<br />
the keys to their new space back in<br />
March 2020, there were rumblings of the<br />
COVID-19 shutdown. One week later, the<br />
entire country shut down for the foreseeable<br />
future.<br />
“It all came down to one question for<br />
me, and that was, ‘would you let a hurricane<br />
stop your dream?’” Eddie said. “We just said<br />
to ourselves that we had to find a way. We<br />
gutted the whole place and worked on it<br />
every day.”<br />
“We had so many people step up to help<br />
us, and we honestly couldn’t have done all of<br />
BY MIKE ALONGI<br />
this without their help,” said Carley. “There<br />
were months where we only had enough to<br />
pay rent, but people still came through to<br />
help us keep pushing forward.”<br />
The Alvarez family, made up of Eddie,<br />
Carley and their three-year old daughter<br />
Misty, moved to Swampscott from<br />
Somerville a little over two years ago. Eddie<br />
and Carley have both been involved in the<br />
fitness industry for more than a decade,<br />
with Eddie working as a boxing trainer and<br />
Carley as a health coach. They had always<br />
wanted to own a gym of their own, but fulltime<br />
jobs and a young family made it feel<br />
like the dream was always just out of reach.<br />
But after the move to Swampscott,<br />
Eddie and Carley decided that the time was<br />
right.<br />
Alvarez Family Boxing, which is located<br />
at 17 Canal St. in Salem, is a smaller space<br />
where the focus is on training in a safe,<br />
family-friendly environment. The small<br />
size makes you feel like you’re training in a<br />
private facility, but the variety of workout<br />
programs and equipment means that there’s<br />
something for everyone.<br />
“There’s something about the feeling of<br />
being in a private gym that motivates you to<br />
work harder, and that’s something that we<br />
strive for,” Eddie said. “It’s an ‘Instagramfriendly’<br />
space and that’s a draw for some<br />
people, but the majority of our clients have<br />
been families with kids. The kids can get<br />
a workout while the parents do their own<br />
thing and vice versa, which is really great.”<br />
One of the biggest draws for Alvarez<br />
Family Boxing is the fact that they don’t use<br />
the typical membership approach that many<br />
other gyms do. Instead of locking customers<br />
in for months or even a year at a time,<br />
Alvarez Family Boxing offers weeks-long<br />
memberships with much more flexibility.<br />
“We’ve both worked at big gyms<br />
and seen what it’s like to try and cancel<br />
memberships and how people get locked<br />
into long-term memberships,” said Carley,<br />
who has previously worked as a fitness<br />
director. “We understand that, especially in<br />
these times, people sometimes need more<br />
flexibility in their lives. That’s what we try to<br />
provide.”<br />
When the Alvarezes started building<br />
out their space and the gym began to take<br />
form, people walking by on the street began<br />
to take notice. Eddie says that they basically<br />
didn’t need to do any marketing for the<br />
gym because so many people had heard<br />
about it through word-of-mouth. That only<br />
intensified once they opened the doors, as<br />
the “Instagram-friendly” setup of the space<br />
acted as a marketing tool in itself.<br />
“People just walk in off the street to see<br />
what’s going on, and everyone we’ve met is<br />
glad to see that a healthy place where people<br />
can feel comfortable is close by,” Carley said.<br />
And the reception from the community<br />
has been remarkable, as Alvarez Family<br />
Boxing is currently booked to near capacity<br />
for the next two months.<br />
“The reception has been amazing and<br />
off the charts,” Eddie said. “I don’t think we<br />
realized the kind of market that a place like<br />
ours would have, and the support from the<br />
community has been unreal.”<br />
“It’s more than we ever expected,”<br />
Carley said of the reception. “We feel so<br />
ALVAREZ, page 16
16 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
ALVAREZ, continued from page 15<br />
lucky to have all these people that believe in what we’re doing<br />
and support us.”<br />
As far as the future is concerned, the Alvarezes want to<br />
continue to invest in their business so that they can give the best<br />
possible experience to anyone who walks through the door.<br />
“There’s no reason why regular, everyday people can’t have<br />
the same access to fitness that the elite athletes do,” Carley said.<br />
“We want to continue to build and expand training for women<br />
and young girls as well, but we really just want to be a great<br />
family place where everyone can come to get their workout<br />
done.”<br />
Alvarez Family Boxing is currently still open by appointment<br />
only, with one-on-one and family boxing sessions available.<br />
Misty Alvarez, 3, of<br />
Swampscott plays with a<br />
children's punching bag<br />
at Alvarez Family Boxing<br />
in Salem.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
Eddie Alvarez of Swampscott, owner of Alvarez Family Boxing in Salem, trains with<br />
Chelsea Martinez, 14, of Salem.<br />
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18 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
Well worth the wait<br />
BY DANIEL KANE<br />
For Swampscott native Douglas<br />
Volk, getting his novel, "The Morpheus<br />
Conspiracy," from his mind onto paper was<br />
a long process — 39 years long to be exact.<br />
Throughout those four decades, Volk<br />
wrote whenever he could, all while raising<br />
a family and becoming the chief executive<br />
officer of his Volk Packaging Corporation<br />
in Biddeford, Maine.<br />
"I would take whatever time I had, an<br />
hour here or an hour there, to write," Volk<br />
said. "Sometimes it was during lunchtime<br />
or when the kids were asleep, whenever I<br />
could find time. It just took over.<br />
"When the idea for the story first came<br />
to me, I didn’t know why," Volk added. "I<br />
had never done anything creative. But I<br />
was very focused. I tried to get the creative<br />
out and it was exciting. I had this story in<br />
my head for 10 years. It was all written in<br />
my head. It was something I had to do. If I<br />
didn’t, I felt like I’d be mad at myself."<br />
Flash forward to last year and Volk<br />
had not only completed "The Morpheus<br />
Conspiracy," but its two sequels, "The<br />
Surgeon’s Curse" and "Destiny Returns,"<br />
all three a big hit with readers and critics.<br />
Together they tell the story of the Morpheus<br />
Curse, a paranormal curse that gives a<br />
Vietnam veteran the power to invade other<br />
people’s nightmares with deadly results.<br />
The idea for the horror/thriller trilogy<br />
itself had deep roots in Volk's own<br />
experiences that include growing up in<br />
Swampscott. Volk played on the Big Blue's<br />
golf team and still remembers attending<br />
football games in the freezing cold. Years<br />
later as a young adult he would serve in the<br />
Vietnam War himself.<br />
Volk remembers the time all too well.<br />
From watching Walter Cronkite report on the<br />
war to listening to President Richard Nixon's<br />
false promises of peace at his inauguration,<br />
which Volk himself attended, in 1969.<br />
"There were thousands of protesters<br />
and students," Volk said. "Nixon made<br />
a commitment to ending the war but he<br />
didn’t do that. That struck me and hit hard<br />
for me, I was very upset about the whole<br />
thing. I could’ve stayed home but joined a<br />
reserve unit. It was a growing experience<br />
for me. I wouldn’t want to do it again but it<br />
left a mark on me."<br />
The tragedies of the war kickstart the<br />
entire "Morpheus Trilogy." "The Morpheus<br />
Conspiracy" begins with a Vietnam veteran<br />
named David Collier returning home to<br />
Swampscott, mocked and ridiculed like many<br />
soldiers were at the time, but also carrying<br />
a curse that allows him to invade people's<br />
nightmares, often killing his victims.<br />
The curse itself is actually the curse of<br />
war, Volk says, and it has heavy inspiration<br />
from the post-traumatic stress disorder<br />
that has plagued many veterans. Volk also<br />
spent time in a sleep study lab at Duke<br />
University in order to make his nightmarefueled<br />
story as realistic as possible.<br />
"One of the symptoms of PTSD is<br />
recurring nightmares," Volk said. "They<br />
lose sleep because of it. That gave me<br />
the idea. It was very interesting to study<br />
sleep. This was before the internet. It<br />
was a real challenge. I spent time in the<br />
sleep laboratory and this was before<br />
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and<br />
Accounting Act) so I was able to watch the<br />
doctors monitoring their patients (and) saw<br />
that firsthand."<br />
All that work helped the trilogy — now<br />
available to read on Amazon and Kindle<br />
— become a great success since the first<br />
novel was published in 2018. The response<br />
has been better than Volk himself ever<br />
imagined during all those years of creation.<br />
"It's all really exciting," Volk said.<br />
"I never imagined it would be here from where it was. The whole process, I miss it<br />
in a way. Netflix is looking at the stories right now and a film producer from<br />
Scottsdale has talked about them, but I don't know what will happen with any of<br />
that. Fun things are going on right now wherever it goes."<br />
– Douglas Volk
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Nunzio Freddo, owner of Cindy's Pizza & Subs in<br />
Swampscott, tosses dough as he prepares the first<br />
pizzas of the day.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 21<br />
BY GUTHRIE SCRIMGEOUR<br />
For more than 40 years, Cindy's Pizza & Subs has been the local<br />
hangout spot for middle school kids, and even during the pandemic,<br />
that hasn't changed.<br />
"It's been great living and working in town for this long," said<br />
Cindy's owner Nunzio Freddo. "You get to see kids who you saw<br />
when they were little, now bringing in their own kids."<br />
"The parents always knew that if they were hanging out at<br />
Cindy's then they were safe," said Freddo. "They would always come<br />
in and ask if the kids were giving me any trouble."<br />
Freddo said that they rarely ever do.<br />
"It's important to lay down the rules," he said.<br />
The rules are simple — be respectful to the guests and pick up<br />
after yourself.<br />
"We say, 'your mom doesn't work here,'" Freddo said.<br />
Even in COVID times, Cindy's status as the spot for local kids<br />
has remained, with business staying strong.<br />
"We were lucky we weren't hit that bad," said Freddo. "In the<br />
beginning it was a little slow, but it picked up as the year went along.<br />
It gets better and better every month."<br />
The toughest part of the pandemic for him has been wearing a<br />
mask all day.<br />
"Especially when you're standing in front of a hot oven," he<br />
explained.<br />
Freddo has laid out a new set of rules for his young customers —<br />
stay socially distant and wear a mask.<br />
He thinks that the restaurant's ability to survive during the<br />
pandemic comes from the quality of its products.<br />
Freddo's father had a saying: It doesn't matter where you are — if<br />
you have a good product, people will always find you.<br />
"We've pretty much stuck with that," Freddo said.<br />
The menu has stayed nearly the same over the past 40 years,<br />
which features specialty pizzas, subs, salads, and fried foods.<br />
Freddo has been working at Cindy's since he was in sixth<br />
grade, which was more than 40 years ago when his dad bought the<br />
restaurant.<br />
On Sunday mornings, he and his family would wake up before<br />
the crack of dawn and commute from Somerville to open the<br />
restaurant — which at that point was also a convenience store — at<br />
4:45 a.m. The first thing he did was assemble the Sunday papers,<br />
section by section.<br />
"Back then we sold 300 Sunday papers, so it took a while," said<br />
Freddo. "That was our Sunday morning. It was tough, but as a family<br />
we all just did what we had to do. Growing up in a strict Italian<br />
home, whatever your dad<br />
PIZZA, page 22
22 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
PIZZA, continued from page 21<br />
said, that went."<br />
After the first year of operation,<br />
the family moved into a house in<br />
Swampscott a few blocks away from the<br />
restaurant. He was grateful he could walk<br />
to work. He attended Swampscott Public<br />
Schools and met his wife, who also grew<br />
up in town.<br />
"It was a small community and you<br />
knew everyone," he said. "And working<br />
here, everyone knew you. You couldn't do<br />
Nunzio Freddo, owner of Cindy's Pizza & Subs in Swampscott, puts an Italian cold cuts pizza out for<br />
display.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
anything wrong because if you did, they<br />
would tell your dad."<br />
He said he misses the sense of<br />
community that used to come with town<br />
events, which has been lost due to the<br />
pandemic.<br />
"Like anything else though, they're<br />
going to come back," he said. "We just<br />
have to be patient."<br />
Now, Freddo arrives in the restaurant<br />
a little later, at around 7 a.m.<br />
The first thing he does is prepare for<br />
the day, making the sauce and tossing the<br />
dough, an old family recipe. His mother<br />
Anna, who is 77, still comes in to help<br />
prep in the morning.<br />
Then comes the lunch rush, a brief<br />
lull, and the dinner rush. They finally<br />
close up shop at 9 p.m.<br />
It has been a little less active in the<br />
winter months, he said.<br />
During the summer, even in the<br />
pandemic, there is no lull. The restaurant<br />
stays busy all day.<br />
When the weather gets better, Cindy's<br />
plans to set up outdoor seating, and once<br />
again bring the neighborhood kids in<br />
for the classic pizzas, subs and fries they<br />
have been eating for the last 40 years.<br />
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SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 23<br />
Chip off the old bakery<br />
BY GAYLA CAWLEY<br />
Deb Newman stands in her new<br />
restaurant, The Baker's Daughter<br />
Diner, on Humphrey Street in<br />
Swampscott.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
For many in Swampscott, the<br />
Newman name immediately<br />
conjures up images of a<br />
longtime staple in the<br />
community, Newman's Bakery, which<br />
closed its doors this past September.<br />
At the time of its closing, siblings<br />
Bernard and Jessica Newman were<br />
operating the bakery, but it was their<br />
parents, Joe and Bertha Newman, who<br />
started the family business in 1966.<br />
Seeking retirement, Bernard and<br />
Jessica decided it was finally time to close<br />
the long-running bakery last year, but<br />
another sibling, Deb Newman has been<br />
working to keep the family legacy alive.<br />
Two months after Newman's Bakery<br />
closed, Deb Newman opened up a food<br />
establishment of her own, aptly named<br />
The Baker's Daughter Diner. Her sister,<br />
Jessica, is even involved, working in<br />
customer service at the front counter.<br />
However, while Newman learned the<br />
trade from growing up, and also working,<br />
in her parents' bakery, which they bought<br />
when she was only 10 years old, she is<br />
quick to differentiate between the two<br />
establishments.<br />
"My place is not Newman's Bakery,<br />
the second," she said. "It's different."<br />
Along with operating in an entirely<br />
different location on Humphrey Street,<br />
Deb runs a diner rather than a bakery,<br />
and one that also has a much different<br />
type of menu.<br />
The Baker's Daughter, located at 646<br />
Humphrey St. in Humphrey Plaza, is a<br />
meatless diner, borne out of Newman's<br />
desire to provide great-tasting vegetarian<br />
food, unlike the bland options the selfprofessed<br />
finicky eater has had to deal<br />
with in the past.<br />
"The reason I wanted to open up a<br />
meatless diner and bakery was because<br />
I'm a big animal advocate," said<br />
Newman. "I wanted people to see you<br />
could eat yummy food and it doesn't<br />
have to have meat in it. I have to say the<br />
response has been great, even from meat<br />
eaters."<br />
BAKERY, page 24
24 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
BAKERY, continued from page 23<br />
Although Newman, 65, said she has<br />
always been an animal advocate, she<br />
did not decide to become a vegetarian<br />
until her time in law school, when she<br />
began to read about animal law and the<br />
brutality of factory farming.<br />
"I decided, why am I even eating<br />
meat?" she said. "I thought to myself, if<br />
I really had my consciousness raised, I<br />
would have been a vegetarian long ago.<br />
I do aspire to become a vegan. That's<br />
something I hope to do also."<br />
On the diner's website, Newman<br />
describes her meatless dishes as "comfort<br />
food you'll crave. No more blah. No<br />
lowered expectations. Just yummy stuff<br />
made from scratch — appetizers through<br />
dessert," the website said.<br />
For a diner that operates from 7<br />
a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, aside from<br />
Monday when it's closed, and from 7<br />
a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends, what that<br />
boils down to is a lot of egg dishes,<br />
including a variety of omelettes and<br />
breakfast sandwiches, Newman said.<br />
"People love the bread pudding that I<br />
make," she said. "There's a lot of savory<br />
things too. The menu is quite extensive<br />
actually for a meatless place so I think<br />
The Baker's Daughter Diner owner Deb Newman plans to offer an extensive menu.<br />
people are surprised at all of the options<br />
there without meat and it tastes good."<br />
Deb has also kept a bit of Newman's<br />
Bakery alive in Baker's Daughter, noting<br />
that she couldn't help herself from<br />
making baked goods, some of which are<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
made from recipes that would be familiar<br />
to longtime Newman's customers.<br />
"I have a whole case of baked goods,"<br />
she said. "Some of them are recipes from<br />
my father, so people are happy about that."<br />
While Newman said the response<br />
70
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 25<br />
from the community has been great so<br />
far, she is unsure if her business will<br />
survive given the hardship brought on by<br />
the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
Baker's Daughter was only open for<br />
four months before she had to shut it<br />
down entirely in late December, as it<br />
became too cold for people to sit outside<br />
Humphrey Street has a new meatless restaurant owned by a familiar face.<br />
and eat. Even when the diner was open,<br />
Newman was not able to open up the<br />
actual indoor dining area. Patrons either<br />
ate outside or got takeout, she said.<br />
"I thought it would make more sense<br />
financially just to pay my rent rather<br />
than hope that people come in," said<br />
Newman. "Wintertime is typically less<br />
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busy for all food businesses, plus I think<br />
with the pandemic, people are staying in<br />
more and cooking for themselves more.<br />
Until it warms up a bit, I think I'll just<br />
stay closed."<br />
At the time of publication, Newman<br />
was hoping to reopen in early March,<br />
but had some doubts about the future of<br />
Baker's Daughter. However, unlike others<br />
at her age who have opted for retirement,<br />
Newman, who is also active on town<br />
boards and committees and with her<br />
animal advocacy, plans to keep working,<br />
even if it means starting something new.<br />
"I like to have something to do,"<br />
she said. "I know it sounds ridiculous. I<br />
wanted to have a meatless diner. I had<br />
been thinking about it for a few years.<br />
I guess I just thought it would be fun.<br />
With everything that's happened with<br />
the pandemic, it may not last which is<br />
unfortunate, but I'll find something else<br />
to do. I need to be doing something.<br />
"I don't understand how people retire at<br />
my age and just sit around and do nothing.<br />
I'm very healthy and feel quite youthful<br />
and also my parents both lived into their<br />
90s and I probably will too. What am I<br />
going to do all day? Watch TV?"<br />
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26 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
Hope's<br />
Anchor<br />
BY ELYSE CARMOSINO<br />
When a small group of Swampscott<br />
community members decided in 2019 to<br />
open a food bank, they had no idea how<br />
soon or how desperately their services<br />
would be needed.<br />
Just days before the new pantry was<br />
set to open its doors in March 2020, the<br />
COVID-19 pandemic swept through<br />
the North Shore, shutting down nearly<br />
every aspect of everyday life and bringing<br />
with it a wave of job losses that caused<br />
communities everywhere to fear the worst.<br />
“Friday, March 13 was our last day in<br />
school,” said teacher Laura Spathanas, a<br />
former member of the Swampscott Select<br />
Board and one of a group of individuals<br />
who helped found what’s now known as<br />
the Anchor Food Pantry. “That Monday,<br />
March 16, we were up and running.<br />
“We opened our Facebook page and<br />
started getting funds, then we went to the<br />
store and bought enough food at that point<br />
to make 40 bags of groceries.”<br />
Currently located at the Swampscott<br />
Senior Center inside Swampscott High<br />
School, the food bank is actually an<br />
iteration of the town’s Interfaith Food<br />
Pantry, which was originally run by a group<br />
of four to six local churches.<br />
For nearly two decades, the involved<br />
parishes rotated duties, providing monthly<br />
food donations to approximately 30 to 35<br />
seniors and families.<br />
Then in the late summer of 2019,<br />
Spathanas and several others received some<br />
news.<br />
“Those churches reached out to a couple of<br />
community members, one of them being an<br />
employee at the Swampscott Senior Center, to<br />
say they couldn’t really sustain what they were<br />
doing but wanting to know if we had any ideas<br />
for how we could continue doing what they<br />
were doing in a different way,” Spathanas said.<br />
“That’s when I got involved.”<br />
Senior Center representative Gina Bush<br />
reached out to For the Love of Swampscott<br />
president Diane O’Brien for help, and<br />
O’Brien went on to recruit Spathanas.<br />
Unaware of what lay in store, the group<br />
quickly went to work.<br />
“The three of us met continually with<br />
the churches after that to answer (the<br />
question) ‘how can we help these<br />
families and even make it bigger? How<br />
can we make it a whole community<br />
pantry?’ We talked for several months<br />
and eventually came up with the<br />
concept for the Anchor Food Pantry,”<br />
Spathanas said.<br />
After researching Swampscott’s<br />
specific food needs, the three women<br />
created the pantry’s mission statement<br />
and found a temporary location in a<br />
central part of town.<br />
A board of directors was then<br />
appointed, and the pantry finally held<br />
its first board meeting in February<br />
2020.<br />
Then the pandemic hit.<br />
“At the time we thought, ‘oh this<br />
is a two-week shutdown. We’ll do<br />
what we can (to get food to families),’”<br />
Spathanas said. “Then things kept<br />
rapidly changing and we had to just<br />
keep plugging along.”<br />
Even before the pandemic, food<br />
insecurity had been a growing issue in<br />
Swampscott.<br />
According to the Massachusetts<br />
Department of Elementary and<br />
Secondary Education, 16 percent of<br />
Swampscott students identified as<br />
economically challenged during the<br />
2019-2020 school year — an alarming<br />
uptick compared to just 4 percent in<br />
2004 and 8 percent in 2009.<br />
Spathanas also noted that, according<br />
to data included in the Swampscott<br />
2025 Master Plan — which was<br />
adopted in 2016 — approximately one<br />
quarter of Swampscott households<br />
qualify as low-income and earn less<br />
than 80 percent of the Area Median<br />
Income, making them eligible for<br />
housing assistance through most state<br />
and federal programs.<br />
The need is just as pressing in the<br />
community’s senior households, with<br />
Spathanas adding that according to a<br />
survey conducted by the Swampscott<br />
for All Ages (SfAA) Needs Assessment<br />
Report in October 2019, 22 percent of<br />
respondents aged 65 and older reported<br />
a median area income of less than<br />
$25,000 per year.<br />
For many involved in the pantry,<br />
those numbers aren’t surprising.<br />
“When we did the research, the<br />
number of students coming from<br />
families below the poverty level was<br />
higher than what I think people expect<br />
for Swampscott,” Spathanas said. “But<br />
the teachers said, ‘we know. We’re<br />
TOP: Laura Spathanas helped found Anchor Food<br />
Pantry, located in the Senior Center.<br />
MIDDLE: Anchor Food Pantry board member Kayla<br />
LeClerc helps feed 50 households every month.<br />
BOTTOM: From left, Kayla LeClerc, Susan Cripps, and<br />
Laura Spanthanas said hunger in Swampscott is a<br />
reality.<br />
PHOTOS: JULIA HOPKINS
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 27<br />
leaving food in their lockers. We’re making<br />
sure we have snacks in our drawer. We’re<br />
making sure they have food throughout the<br />
day and over the weekend.’"<br />
“People say, ‘why do you have to do this in<br />
Swampscott?’ It’s because this is the reality.”<br />
Since last spring, however, the Anchor<br />
Food Pantry has managed to help mitigate<br />
some community need by providing services<br />
to an average of 50 households each month.<br />
The frequency of each family’s visits is<br />
based primarily on individual needs, with<br />
some coming every week, some every other<br />
week, and some once a month.<br />
Spathanas added that although the<br />
pantry is currently focusing on keeping up<br />
with demand, the board eventually hopes to<br />
expand its services by providing families with<br />
the necessary tools to get back on their feet.<br />
“It’s definitely been a reactionary time,<br />
trying to get families what they need, but<br />
eventually we want to try to provide other<br />
things,” she said. “As amazing as it’s been<br />
opening this pantry, we want them to, at<br />
some point, no longer need to come.”<br />
The Anchor Food Pantry is open on<br />
Monday mornings and Wednesday evenings.<br />
Those interested in providing monetary<br />
donations can make checks out to Anchor<br />
Food Pantry at 43 Berkshire St., Swampscott.<br />
Due to an upcoming change in location,<br />
the pantry is not currently accepting<br />
food or item donations unless otherwise<br />
specified on the Anchor Food Pantry<br />
Facebook page or website.<br />
When reflecting on why she felt called on<br />
to assist with the pantry, Spathanas — who<br />
referred to the outpouring of community<br />
support for the pantry over the last year as<br />
“amazing” — recalled the help she received<br />
from family during her own difficult times.<br />
“Growing up I never needed to visit a<br />
food pantry, but when I was young and out<br />
of college and starting a job, I went every<br />
weekend to my mother’s food pantry. I went<br />
through her cabinets. I did my laundry there.<br />
If I didn’t have her, I would have struggled,”<br />
she said. “Right now, this particular year has<br />
been really hard on so many people, so we try<br />
to make it like that — like a family.”<br />
Laura Spathanas, president of Anchor Food Pantry, unloads donations brought by Jeff Gunther of<br />
Swampscott from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynnfood drive.<br />
PHOTOS: JULIA HOPKINS<br />
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28 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
The house where history lives<br />
BY ANNE MARIE TOBIN<br />
Is Swampscott home to the oldest<br />
wooden structure in North America?<br />
The answer is complicated but comes<br />
down to this — unless and until the John<br />
Humphrey Memorial House on Paradise<br />
Road undergoes a dendrochronology<br />
examination, nobody knows the answer.<br />
What is known is that the home was<br />
built shortly after Sir John Humphrey<br />
arrived in America in 1634 with his<br />
wife, Lady Susan, and their children<br />
from Dorchester, England. Landing in<br />
Salem Harbor, the ship was loaded with<br />
ammunition, heifers and the bricks, oak<br />
beams and other products believed to have<br />
been used to build the home.<br />
A wealthy barrister and member of the<br />
Massachusetts Bay Company, Humphrey<br />
was the first deputy governor of the<br />
Massachusetts Bay Colony, serving under<br />
Gov. John Winthrop. Humphrey had<br />
received a land grant from King Charles I<br />
containing 1,500 acres in Swampscott.<br />
"The only way to determine the true<br />
age of a structure is dendrochronology,"<br />
said Swampscott Historical Society (SHS)<br />
President Molly Conner. "Without that, we<br />
cannot know for sure. We know that it was<br />
built by the earliest colonists who settled<br />
here, so it is a First Period house. It's a socalled<br />
memorial house because we can't say<br />
for sure if it dates back to 1637, but we do<br />
think it was built by John Humphrey as he<br />
brought framing and brick from England.<br />
Until we have information that can only<br />
be obtained through dendrochronology, we<br />
don't know if this is one of the oldest, or<br />
the oldest wood-framed houses in North<br />
America."<br />
Dendrochronology is a scientific<br />
process in which core samples of wood<br />
collected from the structure are analyzed<br />
to determine the age of the wood, thereby<br />
narrowing down the date the structure<br />
was likely constructed. The process is more<br />
commonly used to determine the age of<br />
trees through the examination of tree rings.<br />
Conner said there are only two<br />
businesses left in the eastern United States<br />
in the dendrochronology business, one of<br />
which has a vast reservoir of wood samples<br />
from England with timbers dating back to<br />
the 17th century.<br />
Conner said an English historian found<br />
that the house has many features that are<br />
very similar to the Fairbanks Home in<br />
Dedham, which was built between 1637<br />
and 1641. Fairbanks Home is considered<br />
the oldest house of timber-frame<br />
construction in North America as verified<br />
by dendrochronology.<br />
Conner said the Humphrey family lived<br />
in the house for only a few years before<br />
Humphrey went off to the Caribbean and the<br />
home was sold to Lady Deborah Moody in<br />
1641.<br />
"She was one of the first women<br />
landowners in the New World," Conner<br />
said.<br />
For the past 100 years, the house has<br />
served as the home of the society, which<br />
purchased the home in 1921 with the help<br />
of public donations.<br />
The home was originally located on<br />
what is now Elmwood Road. The structure<br />
was moved in 1891 to its current location<br />
on Paradise Road to make room for a<br />
development designed by famed architect<br />
Frederick Law Olmstead. The original<br />
chimney, measuring 14 feet by 16 feet was<br />
left behind.<br />
There have been 11 owners of the home, the<br />
current one being the Swampscott Historical<br />
Society which purchased the home 100 years<br />
ago with the help of public donations.<br />
"If you drive around town you will notice<br />
their names in street names and beach<br />
names," Conner said. "Burrill Street (John<br />
Burrill, Sr. and Honorable Eberneser Burrill),<br />
Mudge Street (Hon. E. Redington Mudge)<br />
and King's Beach was named after the third<br />
owner, Daniel King," Conner said.<br />
The home has many fascinating features<br />
The Sir John Humphrey Memorial House<br />
on Paradise Road in Swampscott is<br />
thought to be one of the oldest<br />
wood-timber buildings in North America.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 29<br />
and interesting details including original<br />
floorboards, a secret passageway and<br />
hand-decorated beams and paneling.<br />
The home contains an archive of<br />
memorabilia and historic photographs,<br />
documents and artifacts collected that<br />
document and preserve Swampscott's<br />
history.<br />
The first floor contains a parlor<br />
furnished with donated items from the<br />
Victorian period. In the kitchen, the<br />
pantry area was the original fireplace,<br />
with a small narrow passage to the main<br />
chimney of the house. The framing<br />
and handrail of the main staircase are<br />
believed to date to the mid-17th century.<br />
The kitchen stairs and the upper<br />
rail hall have wide boards called "king's<br />
boards" because the Massachusetts<br />
Colony was required to keep all wide<br />
timber for the king's fleet. The ceiling<br />
beams are original white oak with<br />
wooden pegs.<br />
The second floor has a museum<br />
room that displays a collection of<br />
artifacts and items donated to the SHS<br />
over the years. Many of the beams<br />
across the ceiling were decorated by<br />
Native Americans in the early 1700s,<br />
said Conner. A panel has been removed<br />
from the wall to expose handmade<br />
bricks and mortar mixed with seaweed.<br />
The third floor has a child's room<br />
and storage area, both with wide<br />
floorboards and original white oak<br />
beams. The set includes a settee, chair,<br />
rocking chair and table. All are handcaned<br />
with seats woven from rush with<br />
geometric designs that give a threedimensional<br />
appearance.<br />
Swampscott Public Library Assistant<br />
Director Susan Conner (no relation) said the<br />
house is a "really key element in Swampscott<br />
history, which after becoming the home of<br />
the Swampscott Historical Society, has had<br />
a long and interesting existence."<br />
Before the pandemic hit last year,<br />
Humphrey House opened its doors<br />
to the public every year on the Fourth<br />
of July and also hosted society events<br />
in September. The society's annual<br />
members' spring garden party was also<br />
held there. Prior to the pandemic, the<br />
annual (and popular) third-grade field<br />
trip was held at Humphrey House.<br />
"We've always had trouble finding<br />
volunteers to stay open, so we are<br />
limited," said Conner. "But we have had<br />
private group events at times and also the<br />
school tours, which we hope maybe will<br />
resume this spring. When you tour the<br />
house, you definitely step back in time."<br />
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30 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
Faith has a new voice in town<br />
BY ELYSE CARMOSINO<br />
The Rev. Jeffrey MacDonald<br />
is bringing new perspective<br />
to Nahant Village Church.<br />
As the congregation’s<br />
interim pastor and consultant,<br />
MacDonald, who began his tenure in<br />
January, has experienced a somewhat<br />
unusual career trajectory.<br />
The Marblehead native spent his first<br />
few years after graduating from Brown<br />
University as a news reporter, completing<br />
an internship at The Salem News before<br />
eventually moving on to a bigger<br />
newspaper gig in North Carolina.<br />
After spending a total of four years<br />
working full-time in the industry — a<br />
foray he described as a “great experience”<br />
— MacDonald said he wanted to explore<br />
different avenues, ultimately deciding to<br />
pursue a new role in the church.<br />
He went on to enroll in Yale Divinity<br />
School, although at the time, he was<br />
unsure of what exactly his next steps<br />
would be.<br />
“Reporters are interested in truth,<br />
and so are people who study the Bible<br />
and ask the big questions about life. It<br />
was sort of the next stage of my truthseeking,<br />
I think,” he said of his divinity<br />
school experience. “It sort of crystalized<br />
for me while I was there that I could<br />
continue to do journalism and I could be<br />
ordained and serve the church.<br />
“I could do both. I could write about<br />
the truth with a lowercase ‘t’ and the<br />
truth with a capital ‘t’ depending on<br />
which day of the week it is.”<br />
Since then, MacDonald has split his<br />
time between journalism and the church,<br />
managing to find fulfillment in both.<br />
“It’s evolved over time, what I do. It’s<br />
been an interesting journey,” he said as<br />
he recalled his first post-divinity school<br />
journalism appointment on Plum Island<br />
in Newburyport.<br />
“I was getting assignments from<br />
editors I had never met or spoken to who<br />
were emailing me while I was there,”
SPRING <strong>2021</strong> | 31<br />
he said. “It was kind of a novelty at the<br />
time, getting assignments from people<br />
you didn’t talk to. I was just out there<br />
on Plum Island, which felt like the<br />
end of the world, carving out my own<br />
news bureau and serving at a great little<br />
church.<br />
“I was like, 'wow, this is a pretty cool<br />
life I’ve made for myself.' It was very<br />
meaningful work on both sides.”<br />
Since being ordained in 2000,<br />
MacDonald has had ample<br />
opportunity to cover both religion<br />
and hard news, and his unusual<br />
career path has provided him a<br />
front row seat to some of the most<br />
historic breaking news events of the<br />
21st century.<br />
He’s reported on the 9/11<br />
terrorist attacks and the Sandy<br />
Hook Elementary School shooting,<br />
and as a freelance writer for USA<br />
Today, he reported on the Whitey<br />
Bulger trial in 2013, and the<br />
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial in 2015.<br />
Rather than shying away from<br />
part-time reporters, MacDonald<br />
said news outlets often see value<br />
in hiring writers with diverse<br />
professional backgrounds.<br />
“They recognize that having<br />
someone with pastoral training<br />
doesn’t hurt on certain stories,” he<br />
said. “It can help bring a certain ear<br />
and certain sensibility to certain<br />
types of stories, including those<br />
that involve tragedy.”<br />
He added that the skills he<br />
employs as a journalist also play a<br />
strong role in how he conducts his<br />
congregations.<br />
“It affects the way I do ministry,<br />
too. Different pastors have different<br />
styles, and I think a lot of my style<br />
involves asking questions. Asking<br />
questions of the scriptures and<br />
questions of the parishioners that<br />
help bring out what’s there inside,”<br />
he said. “There’s so much richness<br />
in the Bible and there’s so much<br />
richness in our congregations. The<br />
stories people have to tell and the<br />
wisdom they have to share doesn’t<br />
always reach the surface unless it’s<br />
drawn out through questions. I<br />
feel like I’m using tools from my<br />
journalism toolbox frequently in<br />
ministry.”<br />
MacDonald most recently<br />
served at First Parish Church in<br />
Newbury from 2013 until this past<br />
October, when he left to become<br />
an interim pastor at a United Church of<br />
Christ in Kensington, N.H.<br />
Then late last year, he learned from<br />
his area minister that Nahant was also<br />
looking for an interim pastor after saying<br />
goodbye to former full-time pastor, the<br />
Rev. Megan Snell last year.<br />
After completing a series of<br />
interviews to determine whether it<br />
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would be a good fit, the church made the<br />
decision to hire MacDonald for a fourmonth<br />
contract with the option to extend<br />
as needed.<br />
“It’s considered a specialized<br />
ministery to do interim work,” he<br />
said. “It’s a matter of shepherding a<br />
VILLAGE CHURCH, page 32<br />
The Rev. Jeffrey MacDonald ministered<br />
in Newbury and New Hampshire before<br />
coming to Nahant.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
Look your best<br />
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32 | <strong>01907</strong><br />
VILLAGE CHURCH, continued from page 31<br />
congregation from their prior pastor to<br />
the new one.”<br />
Inspired by his experience of<br />
balancing two careers, MacDonald also<br />
Rev. Jeffery MacDonald will remain<br />
Nahant Village Church pastor through at<br />
least April 30.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
published his latest book, “Part Time<br />
is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time<br />
Clergy,” in 2020.<br />
His book explores the changing face<br />
of traditional worship by recounting<br />
his experience working with nearly two<br />
dozen churches across the United States<br />
that function without a full-time staff.<br />
Approximately 43 percent of mainline<br />
Protestant churches currently have no<br />
full-time clergy, and that number<br />
continues to grow, according to<br />
MacDonald.<br />
“I wanted to learn from churches<br />
that have done really well with clergy<br />
who are not full-time and in the office<br />
all week designing programs. That’s<br />
the type of church that I’ve always<br />
served and I know anecdotally that<br />
some churches have done extremely<br />
well with it,” MacDonald said. “I<br />
wanted to learn more about what’s<br />
happening in the churches that are<br />
growing and thriving, doing impactful<br />
mission, even when they don’t have<br />
full-time staff.”<br />
MacDonald will remain with<br />
Nahant Village Church through at<br />
least April 30. Until then, he looks<br />
forward to continuing his work with a<br />
new congregation.<br />
“I love to see people in<br />
congregations grow together, flourish<br />
together,” he said. “The process (of<br />
looking for a replacement) helps a<br />
church reconnect with its roots and<br />
its mission. Churches evolve, and<br />
you really want to crystalize what<br />
people are passionately perceiving is<br />
their mission and their calling at this<br />
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