Last Tuesday we recalled a partial list of the boys and girls who won races and field events in July 4 festivities in South Attleboro in 1970. Those youngsters are today between the ages of 50 and 60. While they are 5 to 15 years my junior, quite a few names are familiar to me since they either distinguished themselves later in high school or had older siblings that I remember as classmates.
I hope today's remaining list of these victorious young athletes prod your memories to recollect a few as well...
In the 50-yard, three-legged race for girls 5 and 6, winners were Patty Turgeon and Lisa Bartlett, Jo Anne McCluskey and Leslie Pye; 7 and 8, Debra Theroux and Sandra Gagnon, Georgette Churchill and Kathy Gingras; 9 and 10, Michelle Maynard and Rene Brunelle, Pauline Jerauld and Susan Joubert; 11 and 12, Dori Jerauld and Brenda Roy, Charlene Bertrand and Debra Beland; 13 and 14, Debbie Lima and Sandra Smith, Charlotte Roy and Cheryl Turgeon.
Boys, age 5 and 6, Tim and Chris Hanewich, Peter Turgeon and Bobby Gurn; 7 and 8, Paul Poliquin and Joseph Lima, Gary Machowski and John St. Andre; 9 and 10, Mike Costa and Billy Sweeney, Robert Brunelle and David Gagnon; 11 and 12, Edward O'Brien and Raymond David, Paul Brunelle and Stephen Krawchuck; 13 and 14, Bob Caruthers and Gerard Narkiewicz, Steve Wheater and Kevin Maston.
In the 50-yard sack race for girls, 5 and 6, Patty Brunelle, Patty Turgeon and Jo Anne McCluskey; 7 and 8, Christine Sampson, Theresa O'Brien and Sandra Gagnon; 9 and 10, Sharon Dunning, Laurie Armell and Pauline Jerauld; 11 and 12, Dori Jerauld, Beverly Turgeon and Brenda Roy; 13 and 14, Lisa Ezyk, Cheryl Turgeon and Denise Turgeon.
Boys, 5 and 6, Robert Fontaine, Ricky Hart and Peter Turgeon; 7 and 8, Spencer Churchill, Jeff Leedham and Todd Foley; 9 and 10, Stanley McCluskey, Keith Carruthers and Bill Sweeney; 11 and 12, Mark Laprade, Stephen Krawchuck, and Stephen Decoteaux; 13 and 14, Kevin Maston, David Shuga and Bob Caruthers.
In the watermelon contest for girls, 5 and 6, Cathy O'Brien, Cathy Sklarski and Judy Gingras; 7 and 8, Robin Striga, Kathy Gingras, and Debra Theroux; 9 and 10, Dorothy Viera, Sharon Dunning and Michelle Bertrand; 11 and 12, Debra Marques, Christine Striga and Charlene Bertrand; 13 and 14, Cindy Purcell, Darlene Almeda and Cheryl Turgeon.
Boys 5 and 6, Mark Beland, Paul Purcell and Larry Theroux; 7 and 8, Albert Sicard, Daniel Michaud, and Kevin Sklarski; 9 and 10, William Rollinson, Robert Gravel, and Mark Audette; 11 and 12, Raymond David, Gary Bourgette and Stephen Decoteaux; 13 and 14, Lewis Roy, John Sacco and Steve Wheater.
I hope you all came through "Blizzard Nemo" without too much inconvenience; it seemed the advanced tracking of the storm's path and the four or five days warning we were given put things in a much better position than for the Blizzard of '78. Mayor Dumas, Barry Lacasse, Police Chief Kyle Heagney and Fire Chief Scott Lachance and all municipal personnel who coordinated efforts to stay on top of the blizzard deserve commendation and congratulations. Everyone is deserving of kudos, from those staffing the Emergency Operations Center, department heads who remained at their posts throughout, and police, fire and the standout public works crews who manned the plows and front-end loaders to keep the streets passable. Let's not forget National Grid, who came in for so much criticism in the wake of the 2011 hurricane - I don't think anyone can demean their effort in this storm. Even with the terrible conditions, I didn't hear any reports of customers being without power for an unreasonable amount of time. We were without power for 17 hours, from Friday at 9 p.m. to early Saturday afternoon - made for a pretty cold night, but that was to be expected. Thousands of people in this state and in neighboring Rhode Island were in the same position or worse...
Wishing a happy birthday to one of my favorite figures in history, Honest Abe Lincoln; on my penny, he still looks pretty good for a 204 year-old fella'...
Please don't forget to stop by City Hall to pick up nomination slips for this year's Historical Preservation Awards, which are shortly going to be chosen by the Attleboro Historical Commission. It's not only buildings and houses which are considered, but deserving people as well. Time is growing short, so pick up your ballot and fill it out today!
Let's be good to one another and try to do someone a good turn daily.
Try to keep the less fortunate in mind over these difficult months and do what you can to aid the hungry and the homeless; as the grand old Firesign Theater put it back in the 60s, "wer'e all Bozos on this Bus." 'Tis true you know! Peace...
TOM McAVOY of Attleboro is a community columnist.
