Who'd of thought that the skinny kid with the distinctive nose who left his senior year at the Morgan School to join the Marines to fight in World War 11, and survived the historic Battle of Iwo Jima, and returned to Clinton to live a homebody lifestyle, would end up in Connecticut's Hall of Fame, in the company of the likes of former President George H. W. Bush, and the late Governor William O'Neill and five Medal of Honor recipients.
The ghosts in the Philo Kelsey Homestead
by JoAnn Dolan
Editor's note: In 1980 we despooked our circa 1800 farmhouse, known as the Philo Kelsey homestead. Our grandson Jason recently arrived for the Thanksgiving holidays, bringing along a ghost detector to see if our first go around did the job. For readers who missed the original accounting, we present a revival of that story.
Over the years between baseball games, fights over the telephone and asking, "What's for supper?". our kids have spoken of sensing a certain "presence" in our house.
No one ever said outright, "We've got ghosts", except for our next door neighbor, Abbie, who grew up in the house. When we moved in, Abbie told the children that there was a door upstairs which if you closed it at night, would be always be found open in the morning. But she said they didn't have to be afraid because the ghost was friendly and particularly liked children.
I suspect the kids experimented but between the three of them, they were never certain if one of them hadn't popped out of bed to open the door.
If you believe in ghosts, our house is a perfect place to have picked up a few. The house is over 200 years old and is called the Philo Kelsey homestead. After Philo and his wife Lydia died, possibly in the house because they were the owners, there were a lot of families who preceded us.
The room containing the alleged mysterious door which won't stay closed in the night is located just above the borning room, which is next to the outside door of the keeping room. An oldtimer, who once lived here, told us a story that he had been told of an old woman dropping dead as she went out this door.
Hal is certain that she was on her way to the outhouse. I argued he had no way of knowing this, that she just as well could have been going out to pick strawberries, and suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. Hal insists she was headed for the outhouse, which almost had us believing he had psychic powers until he destroyed his credibility saying he could "feel" his Giants would have a winning season.
If our house has ghosts, I feel I've done my part in maintaining a welcoming atmosphere---lots of cobwebs, dusty corners and closets in which things rattle.
When we moved here, we had three children. The plan was to homestead and experience all those things associated with living in an old farmhouse in the country. We filled up the barn with animals, planted a garden; I picked berries and made jam and braided rugs, but all the time I had my eye on that borning room until finally on an April morning, I got the baby to plunk in it.
Prior to Scott's joining us, I chalked off the claim of a "presence" to Abbie's tale and the children's imagination, the natual sounds of an old house, mice and acorns slipping between the lathe as plaster crumbled.
But Scottie, tiny type that he was, despite being tucked into bed in the borning room, next to the living room/keeping room. with light and friendly sounds flowing freely through the open doorway, would say, "I'm scared. Something's looking at me."
Well, between getting meals, the kids to the bus stop and beach in summer, through puberty and eventually off to college, I never had time to dwell upon any inhabitants that weren't yelling for lunch money, a ride to practice or underwear out the dryer.
When Scott was 14 years old, two events happened to finally bring us into contact with our ghostly tenants.
I was working for a newspaper and interviewed a psychic couple who conducted classes in extrasensory powers, and who also had despooked several houses.
At about the same time, Scott and his friend Hank decided to conduct their own ghost hunting expedition. They started in the attic. When Hank knocked on a wall, "IT KNOCKED BACK! " they said. When they fled downstairs, they heard a loud thump in the study. They examined the empty room and all was in place. Upon reentering the living room, buckets of soot suddenly cascaded down the chimney, and they evacuated to Hank's house next door.
The psychic couple said the possiblities of "an encounter" sounded promising and offered to conduct a "rescue operation" for any spirits eager to escape from the chaos of our household.
The seance included Roger and Nancy, the psychics, Scott and Hank, the ghosthunters, several co-workers from the newspaper, and a very reluctant Hal. And, of course, where we go, the three dogs and cats follow so for any additional persons to have joined us in the living room, they had to be ethereal.
After an initial tour of the house, the psychics confirmed the presence of strong spiritual energies, particularly in the borning room and the room above it where the door won't remain closed throughout the night.
Roger's role is the guide while his wife, Nancy is the medium who goes into a trance and allows her body to be borrowed for a spirit to speak.
Nancy sat back in her chair, closed her eyes and gradually her breathing slowed and became rhythmical.
"I'm here," a low voice whispered, breaking the silence.
Roger asked for the speaker's name.
"Enoch," was the one word reply.
"Can you tell us something about yourself and why you are here," Roger invited.
"What a strange question to ask, " the voice replied.
The gist of it was Enoch did not realize he was dead, had not remembered dying nor when he lived except that an English king ruled the colonies, which led Roger to place the date about 1760.
Enoch agreed with the date, and commented on the strange changes that had taken place, different house furnishings, and odd looking vehicles in the yard instead of a horse pulled wagon.
Roger convinced Enoch that it was time to leave and make the cross-over into the heavenly realm where he would be reunited with "someone you know." He instructed Enoch to concentrate on three bright lights coming to meet him and assist him in the crossing.
Enoch's final words were, "Fare thee well."
We were disappointed. We had expected a female ghost. Nancy consented to a second trance to see if someone else might be waiting in the spiritual wings.
An anxious voice exclaimed immediately, "I know I died. I had to stay, you see. There was a baby...a boy...but he's gone now."
Roger soothed her, promising to help and it was okay that she had stayed in the house. He asked her to tell us about herself.
"My name is Mary Eliot. I had a boy. I would have named him Jonathan but the bleeding didn't stop and I never got to hold him. But I had to stay to watch over him."
She named the date of Jonathan's birth as May 14, 1797.
She said she did indeed watch over Scott and the other children but it was "not quite as nice" as watching over her own son. She described Scott as a wiggly baby, pulling off his covers that she "couldn't pull back."
Mary was eager to accept Roger's invitation to concentrate on the single bright light coming toward to her guide her to the other side.
Mary's last words were, "Oh, you've gotten so big."
Naturally, the next day I made a beeline for the town hall. I turned page after page in early handwritten volumes. I went to the Historical Society and searched the geneology books of the Eliot family. I checked the cemetery records. I was told there was a fire that had destroyed many of the early town records. End result, I found no record of a Mary or Jonathan Eliot associated with May 14, 1797.
Eight years after our despooking session, our daughter called from Illinois to announce that our latest grandson had been born on May 1st and his name was Jonathan.
So far, Jason has detected no spirits on his ghost detector, but the readers of the Kelseytown Gazette will be the first to know if he does.
This Veterans Day 2009, the only remaining unidentified veteran's grave in the Indian River Cemetery is the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.
All other veterans' graves have been identified by name, war, date of death and location and catalogued into a Database and Map created by a Morgan School senior, Devon Isaacson for his Eagle Scout accreditation.
While veterans' graves are marked with bronze service medals issued by the U.S. government, Devon is the first to produce a collection of Clinton's interred servicemen in the historic Cemetery. (There are two other town cemeteries in which veterans are buried.)
Devon and VFW member George Eccleston who orders the 650 American flags that, with the scouts help, are annually placed on veterans' graves on Memorial Day.
In his project, Devon divided the cemetery's 45 acres into 15 parcels and the wars into nine time periods: French & Indian War (1754-63) Revolutionary (1775-83), Civil War (1861-65), War of 1812 (1812-15), World War 1 (1914-17), World War 11 (1939-45), Korea (1950-53), Vietnam (1959-73) and Iraq (2003-present).
Examples of the type of veterans' information Devon compiled: Reuben Buell, Revolutionary War, Lexington Alarm. Buell's tombstone (photo) reads:
In memory of Doct. Reuben Buell who, in the Hope & Faith of the Gospel, fell asleep Sept 16 1802 . Etats 83. 'The righteous shall be in everlasting rememberance'
Buell obviously survived his war experience, as did most veterans in Devon's study.
But in another location in same parcel, is Aaron Edwin Bushnell, Civil war, Co K 12th Regt NY Artillery, died, July 12, 1864 (18 years old)--who most likely did not.
There are currently 248 veterans buried in Indian River.
Devon enlisted a crew of fellow scouts to assist in perusing each veteran's grave, recording its information and typing it into a computer.
Graduating with his class in June, Devon is currently attending Middlesex Community College with plans to transfer to Southern, earn a degree and return to The Morgan School as an English teacher. He is an accomplished bassist and a back-up vocalist in a band. He accumulated 300 hours of volunteer work at Mystic Aquarium, and has worked part-time in local jobs at Lenny & Joe's and the Gap. He enjoys story writing and art.
Clinton Historical Society librarian Bert Godwin gives high praise to Devon's veterans' study, " We're thrilled to have it for our collection. The information is going to save researchers unimagineable amounts of time. It's very well done."
As a youngster, Devon was one of the Scouts helping the VFW place new flags on Clinton's veterans' graves on Memorial Day. Today he knows better than anyone, including the VFW membership, just who those veterans are that will be honored on Wednesday at Veteran Day ceremonies.
The Traveling Nurse
Jean Mozur was unhappy in her nursing job with two years to go until retirement.
She did not do what most people would do, and endure the two more years. She quit, and signed up with a nursing travel agency, and went off to see the United States.
She spent 6 months working in Providence before moving on another assignment in California, and then onto Nevada and finally to Alaska where she is now.
She's worked in hospitals, a nursing home and on private duty. Her current job is a visiting nurse. She has since left the nurse's agency--which arranges for employment and housing---and is an independent contractor, and traveller.
Jean was back in Clinton this summer for her daughter's wedding. She could have moved on to new territory, but she was not ready yet to leave Alaska. Raised in the northern part of New York state, Jean loves Alaska's vast open spaces, the mountains, the cold and snow, the salmon runs in the rivers, the small villages of native Alaskans.
She lives in Juneau, with a population of roughly 30,000. She has a large room in a large house, in which the tenants share a community kitchen and other living facilities. Sometimes they share dinners, mostly she cooks her own meals. She belongs to an organization which sponsors skiing, hiking and biking trips (which she does) and cultural activities like painting classes (in which she plans to enroll this winter) and sightseeing trips ( always on her agenda.) Jean is also an avid photographer.
Currently, Jean is working part time so that she has the freedom to experience all that Alaska has to offer. She knows her employer like her to go fulltime, and she'll take that up under new business.
Jean plans to stay in Alaska until she reaches retirement age in August 2010, and then she doesn't know. Maybe, on to Hawaii, or back to Nevada to an area near Lake Tahoe. Maybe, even back to Clinton.
Jean said when she lived in Clinton and was unhappy in her job and commuting to West Haven, she had no energy. Now she is bursting with it, and if she ever does come back, she knows so many activities in which she wants to become involved.
In mid 1940's, the late Ella Sabbatini made history at the Cheseborough-Ponds facility on John Street by becoming the company's first female foreman.
In summer 2009, Georgia Szewczak made history in the same location, now owned by Unilever, by becoming the company's first female plant manager---not only in Clinton but in North America.
While Ella could walk to her home, Georgia lives a typical lifestyle of a 21st century corporate executive, boarding a jet to fly to South Carolina to spend week-ends with her family. She's in the process of looking at houses, and hopes to have the family settled in Connecticut by December.
Georgia and her husband are the parents of four children, a 19 year old son who has enlisted in the Air Force, an 18 year old daughter who attends Southern, an 8th grader and 6th grader. She credits her husband with being able to pursue a career by accepting the role of house husband. In combination the family's management, he conducts his own career as an independent financial planner.
A native of Pittsburg, Georgia earned a BS in Industrial Engineering and MBA from Lehigh University. Her career path has covered assignments in Planning, Customer Service and Management. For a two year period, when they owned a house in Simsbury, she served as a shift operations manager in Clinton.
Roughly 30 percent of today's employees were associates from that earlier time.
Georgia said she has never set out to acheive a specific corporate goal.
"I'm a person who has always had to do the very best I can. I just work hard. And, I have been very blessed., she added.
Sounds exactly like something Ella Sabbatini would have said 60 years ago.
Pretty Committee
scullywelch@sbcglobal.net
You do not have to be pretty to join Jane Scully Welch's Pretty Committee, but you do have to want to make Clinton look pretty.
Jane's been away from Clinton for 28 years. She's back now to stay.
Both Jane and her husband Tom are natives of Clinton. They were in second grade together at Pierson School.
Jane is the daughter of the late Marge Scully who made headlines in the 1960's as the first female First Selectman, both in Clinton and in the state.
Tom grew up with his parents and siblings on Grove Street. His mother Louise Welch, in her senior years, attained the reputation as a talented artist.
After their marriage, Tom pursued his career with Monsanto, with couple moving back and fort between the headquarters in St. Louis, Mo and offices in New Orleans and South Carolina. Meanwhile, Jane pursued her career with the Post Office while they raised their two children, Katie and Tom.
Upon retirement, Tom proposed purchasing a home in Wilmington and alternating with 6 months in Florida. Jane's response was, "I spent 28 years going where you wanted to go and now I just want to go home."
Since returning to Clinton, and moving into Tom's childhood home following the death of his mother, Jane has been like a kid in a candy shop. She's a driving force in the Clinton Historical Society, the Priscilla Club, The Morgan Alumini Club and is now spearheading the Pretty Committee, since renamed at its first meeting to a more gender friendly, " Concerned Citizens of Clinton."
But Pretty Committee, it will remain in Jane's lexicon. She says "Afterall, I am my mother's daughter," referring to her mother's reputation for "telling it like it is."
While Jane has been gadding about Clinton, Tom has been busy learning to sail his newly purchased 40 foot catamaran.
Jane explains that the Committee of Concerned Citizens has no intention of getting into architectural changes or encroaching on official agencies like planning and zoning and public works. As volunteers, they plan to use their energies to "pick out, pretty up and freshen" those sites in Clinton that have taken on a neglected appearance. And they plan to do the work themselves.
There's plenty of room on the Pretty Committee for more Concerned Citizens, and all are welcome. The next meeting is scheduled for October 6 at 7 p.m. at Jane's home, but please, e-mail her or call her if you plan to attend so that if the numbers are (hopefully) too large, she can reserve a public room with more space.
The committee's first homework assignment was to prepare a list of sites in need of attention. Jane's email: scullywelch@sbcglobal.net
Not all trees coming down
Not every tree is coming down despite recent appearances.
Quietly and without fanfare, Clinton's Tree Committee has planted 75 trees in the last decade, some as replacements but most to add color and beauty of the town's thoroughfares, public buildings and changing seasons.
The impetus for a Tree Committee came from Carol Carlough Geiser following a hurricane which toppled an off balance tree in her front yard, trimmed for utility wires. A former biology teacher, that incident prompted Carol to enroll in a course at Conn College on urban landscaping, where she found her calling.
Carol still chairs the town's five person Tree Committee. She chose to go the town government route rather than a private citizen group in order to qualify for local government services, and state and federal grants.
To date the Committee has received $14,000 in grant money, which added to the town budget's stipend of $500, has allowed the planting of such species as sycamores, copper beech, London plane, cherry, dogwoods, sugar maples and redbud. Attempts to plant holly at the beach failed.
A thrifty shopper, Carol regularly checks the nursuries for sales. Her ideal planting tree is 7 feet tall, with a 2 inch caliper trunk and an 800 pound root ball, costing on average $200. She's thrilled when she hits a 50% off sale.
The town crew helps with digging holes but the committee likes to do its own planting. She prefers planting in fall, avoiding the summer maintenance of watering.
Carol's criteria for removal is the tree is dangerous, encroaching upon buildings, or just old and decrepid; otherwise, she prefers to let it remain.
The Tree Committee, Carol explains, is not a regulatory body, but simply advisory. She said its membership worked closely with the former Public Works director who served as Tree Warden, and continues to do so with current Tree Warden, Gary Bousquet, who is also an arborist.
"Gary called to say he was about to post a sugar maple tree on Cow Hill, and I was delighted to say, we have its replacement," Carol said.
Aside from exhibiting at the Chamber of Commerce's Expo, sponsoring an annual art show and applying for grants for more "creatively coloring", Carol aspires to embark upon creating a townwide inventory of historic trees, including those on private property.
She notes that the huge chestnut oak in front of the Congregational Church is, after a chestnut oak in Prospect, the largest in the state.
In 1846, Buckminister B. ELDERKIN, George L. HURD Esq. And others living on East Main street, succeeded in a arousing a spirit of enterprise in tree planting. In the early spring of that year elm trees were planted on the East Green, on East Main street. These were carefully watered during two summers followings, and now several of the trees measure nearly eight feet and a half in circumference, two feet from the ground, and the whole presents a beautiful part worthy of the originators.
Previous to 1846, tree planting has made some progress, especially the planting of hard maples, and Main street, Clinton, is celebrated for its continuous double row of trees for the distance of a mile and a half. In April 1881, Hon. B. G. NORTHROP offered a premium of $100 to the persons who should set out the greatest number of trees during that year. This stimulus produced a large number of shade trees on the cross streets of Clinton that will, in time, make the village look almost like a forest of trees.
Time to think holiday for our soldiers
Shopping list suggestions are: healthy snacks, granola bars, nuts, trail mix, drink mix, wet wipes, socks, cup of soup mix, candy; and monetary donations for shipping costs and purchasing items. Also: notes, letters, cards from kids are a big hit with the troops.
Drop off locations are: Shoreline Health and Fitness Centers in Clinton and Saybrook, the children's room in the Henry Carter Hull Library, New Alliance Bank and Snow's Block Frame Gallery. Call Cindy Stevens at 669-1109 for questions, pick up, and local service personal to be added to the gift list.
Neighbors help out a neighbor
A recent benefit spaghetti supper for Ed Sempley, raised $8,000. The Urrichio family, owners of Coffee Break, catered, served and donated the food. Numerous merchants donated items for raffles and door prizes. A highlight of the supper was a video message from Ed in the hospital, expressing his gratitude. He vowed, "I will get well." Ed's wife Donna who works in the Assessor's office thanked the community, saying, "You'll never know how much this has touched us."
Eight students with chaprones Carol Parise and Dave Rainey from the First Church of Christ, Congregational joined 350 other teens from churches in other states for a week of building steps and decks and repainting homes for 60 families in Oak Hill, West Virginia.
They were assigned to work crews in which everyone began as a stranger, learning construction and communication skills, and the personal reward of having helped to ease the poverty of those persons who experience it. They stayed in the dorm rooms at West Virginia Tech, and had an afternoon to explore the mountainous area in which coal mining is conducted.
The students were Chris Jump, Laura Linder, Nate Perdue, Kelly Roche, Evan Schiess, Jim Short, Haley Sisk and Sarah Szirbik; and chaparones, Carol Parise and Dave Rainey.
Maria Paradis, also a member of the First Church of Christ who has participated in prior mission trips, chose to join a group of Hartford church members to undertake a mission in Ecuador.
A senior at Morgan School, Maria Paradis is a member of the track team and captain of the cross country team. She has travelled to China as an exchange student, and is an accomplished musician playing the saxophone and the fife in the Westbrook Fife and Drum Corps.
She teaches Sunday School, and has participated in several mission trips prior to her recent trip to Ecuador . She loves animals and rides horses, and works parttime at the Clinton Veterinary Hospital, and is considering a major of veterinary medicine in college. She is the daughter of Phil and Angela Paradis and has two younger brothers, Chad and Ethan.
Maria Paradis' account of her mission in Ecuador:
So who's the rowdiest of the Rowdy Readers book club, formed by Jane Hesford in October 2007?
Jane won't tell. She says, "We're all guilty. None of us are shrinking violets."
After retiring from a 37 year career in gymnastics, Jane fulfilled a long time dream of forming a book club. The group's first book, in November 2007, was Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies, which focused on a 19th century women's lib theme. They all hated it.
Nonetheless, the eleven members persisted and at this coming November's meeting will discuss their 20th book, Marjorie Kenan's The Ballad of West 10th Street. In December the meeting will be a Christmas dinner, and starting off the new year in 2010, the assignment will be the current popular, The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
After discussing a book, the group assigns it a rating number, similar to a gymnastic performance grade---1 to 10.
The Pearl by John Steinbeck is the only book to receive a 10 grade from every member of the group. "It generated a wonderful discussion about the evils of money, " Jane said, "and we all agreed there is a reason this book is a classic."
Also receiving high grades from the group were: Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, 9.5, Touching story of victims of leprosy in Hawaii; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer and Barrows, 9, "about an area of England one has never heard of, during WW 11"; and Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, 8.5, "Amazing read about bullying and its effects on children. All kids should read it."
Scoring 8's were: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Jenisse Ray, The Wall by John Hersey, One for the Money by Evanovich, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, and Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons.
The Rowdy Readers are a registered book club at RJ Julia's and receive a 5% discount on the purchase of their books. Some members though borrow them from the library.
Meetings are held at the members' homes, with the hostess serving wine, coffee, tea and light finger foods like cookies.
Pat Venter last year hosted the October Halloween meeting, welcoming members with a stuffed dummy sitting on a bench with a sign outside the front door. When the member leaned forward to read the sign, the dummy (Pat's husband) leaped up. That member then joined the others inside the house to watch the next unsuspecting member get scared out of her wits.
Hey, can't say the Rowdy Readers didn't name themselves well.
Back row: Sue Leenhouts, Meg Campion, Sarah Marcinek, Gina Wohlke, Cheryl Hill, Patti Venter
Front row: Jane Hesford, Roberta Pendleton, Bernie Keyes, Jane Vece. Missing from photo: Royse Isleib.