Friends of Laurel Letter, hike leader Ron Bailey of Plainfield and Mark Goodwin of the Lebanon Planning Office display the new plaque honoring Laurel Letter’s conservation legacy.

Who knew? A forested gem just a few steps away from some of Lebanon’s busiest streets, lush in spring with vernal pools and wildflowers, lies tucked between I-89, Alice Peck Day, and Young Street. Starr Hill has been known to some for a long time, though its healing beauty is always available for appreciation by new visitors.

Starr Hill’s survival as conserved land is a story of persistence by Laurel Letter and her husband, Sid. Longtime residents of the Young Street neighborhood, they knew and appreciated both the value of the hill’s peace and charm, and the fragility of its position so close to the growing city. Though parts of the land were probably safe from development, being very cliffy, the more level spots might be in danger. Public ownership would remove all doubt. So, shortly after the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) was founded in 1985, Laurel began pointing out the value of Starr Hill, and urging the Land Trust to protect it.

UVLT always has more options of places to conserve than it has dollars, and this was especially true in those early years, before the group earned the respected place it now holds as a force for land preservation in the Upper Valley. With endless though always cheerful effort, Laurel pursued her project with the gentle but relentless dedication of a border collie. Her work went beyond just the Starr Hill land. In pre-GIS days there were no maps of what the City owned, which led her to research and map by hand a catalog of all City-owned properties of conservation interest. The “Laurel Letter map” was for years the planners’ reference about conservation land.

Laurel’s Loop

The Starr Hill parcel came up for sale and a developer made plans (which fell through) for condominiums. This narrow escape was a constant spur for Laurel, who practically moved into the UVLT office, then on Colburn Park. In 1991 her efforts finally paid off: UVLT agreed to conserve the land, and the Lebanon Conservation Commission put up some money.

But more money was needed, and it was at this point that Sid and Laurel made one of the most unusual gestures ever in support of conservation: They took out a second mortgage on their house, as much as the bank would allow, to match the Commission’s donation, closing the gap in funding.

“It was scary,” admits Sid Letter, recalling this financial commitment. “But Laurel had been a very, very careful manager of our resources for so many years, I figured if she wanted to do it, it was okay. I had immense confidence in her, based on years of experience.”

Laurel Letter

Laurel died in March, 2014. The UVLT has organized walks on Starr Hill trails on Earth Day as a memorial to Laurel and her indomitable efforts, and they hope to make the walk an annual event. Sid joined in this spring’s walk, and was pleased to notice fewer signs of “hell-raising”—bottles and other trash scattered about.

“There was nothing in evidence,” he says. “The place looked significantly better than it used to.” If he felt pride as he once again admired the rugged boulders, gentle trails, sturdy trees, and delicate wildflowers, he’s certainly earned it.

There is trail access parking for several cars at the end of Wheatley St., one block west of Young St., which runs parallel to Hanover St. Please do not block or park on private property.

The Upper Valley is truly a generous region when it comes to supporting worthy causes. The growth of The Prouty, now in its 34th year, is just one example. Another great example, taking place each year in Lebanon on Father’s Day, is Skip’s Run.

This annual fundraising effort is named after former Lebanon resident Skip Matthews, who succumbed to brain cancer in 2003. Each year, this event raises funds for brain tumor research at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at DHMC. Over the years, the popular run has raised a total of $165,000 for brain tumor research, said race director Denis Ibey.

The money raised from the run comes from various sources, primarily contributions from area businesses. “We have a sponsorship committee,” said Ibey, which works toward achieving those funds through business sponsorship. Additional contributions come from individuals, and proceeds from the participants in the run. All of the money raised goes to the brain tumor research effort.

An impressive number of runners show up on race day for the event. “It’s slowly grown to over 400 in the run,” said Ibey. In addition to the four-mile Skip’s Run, a one-mile fun run, called Brady’s Run, takes place. Brady’s Run is named in memory of young Brady Bukowski, who also suffered from a brain tumor. This one-mile fun run is very family-friendly, and draws about 100 participants.

Skip’s Run is fast becoming a known entity in the northern New England race circuit. The four-mile course is USA Track & Field certified, and is now part of the Upper Valley Race Series and the New Hampshire Grand Prix Race Series. This is the first year Skip’s Run has been a part of these two running series, and should bring in more runners from a wider area, including from southern New Hampshire. Though competitive runners take part, casual runners should not shy away from the run; Skip’s Run is for all level of running enthusiasts.

The course for Skip’s Run begins and ends at Lebanon’s Colburn Park. It follows the rail trail from the park, connects with Riverside Drive, goes over the Packard Bridge, and follows the rail trail back to the finish. At the finish, there is an awards ceremony for the winners, who always record some impressive results. “We have some pretty fast times,” Ibey said of the race winners.

A charitable event such as Skip’s Run is not possible without the efforts of many, including a large number of volunteers that help make race day run smoothly. The day of the run is a true celebration; bands entertain the runners and the spectators at Colburn Park, and the folks at Salt hill sponsor a fabulous barbeque for all at the event. Salt hill has graciously put on the barbeque for many years.

In addition to the race-day volunteers, Skip’s Run boasts a Board of active members that handle race planning and fundraising. Included on the Board are Joanne Oscadal, the founder of Skip’s Run, and John Bukowski, Brady’s father. The Board is very active in planning the event, and constantly working to improve it. “For our whole Board, we look forward to this event,” said Ibey, adding “After the race, we are thinking about what we will do the following year.”

Many of the race volunteers, and Board members, had a personal relationship with Skip Matthews, and are dedicated to his memory, and to assisting with the effort to fund research to help find a cure for brain cancer.

This year’s version of Skip’s Run takes place on Father’s Day, June 19. The fun run begins at 9am, with Skip’s Run starting at 10am. To find out more, or to register for the run or make a donation to Norris Cotton Cancer Center’s Brain Tumor Research Fund, visit the website at skipsrun.org

Laughter is indeed the best medicine

George Bernard Shaw and West Lebanon’s Margaret (Maggie) Tangway may have never crossed paths during their lifetime, but the legendary Irish playwright, critic and polemicist wrote a quotation that was tailor-made for the incomparable 93-year-old diva.

“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”

A sense of humor and making others laugh have been a mainstay for Maggie who has resided at the Quail Hollow Senior Living Community since 2010. Those traits carried the lively lady through a stint as an Ensign in the United States Navy during War World II. It also guided her through the painful loss of her husband and soul mate Jean Tangway, who had also served during World War 11 and had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Later she would suffer a parent’s worse nightmare, the tragic loss of her son Phillip, to a cancerous brain tumor. Through it all, it was her love of humor that served as a crutch over that rough terrain.

“Yes, I am 93 years old and proud of it!” Maggie exclaimed. “I am not ashamed of it in the least. I have a love of life and especially love to laugh. Laughter is the best medicine I know. I have always looked at the humorous side of life. It’s who I am.”

These days Maggie continues to practice what she preaches. She is well known for her performances where she plays the organ and dishes out one-liners that bring the house down. In addition, every Wednesday afternoon she opens her home to fellow Quail Hollow residents (and anyone in the vicinity) for a concert of favorite melodies from days gone by.

“I would not like to live next door to me, would you?” she asks with a devilish grin.

Recently she and a few of her cohorts staged a comedy routine entitled “Maddie and Paddie” playing the part of a married couple dining out for the evening and encountering a surly waiter. The skit had the audience roaring with laughter and Maggie was in her element.

“I love to entertain. I think it’s good for me and good for them. Sometimes during my concerts, I’ll have them dancing in the hallway. It’s such a great feeling to see them laugh and smile.”

Maggie simply has a fascinating background that possesses a solid connection with Lebanon, N.H. She was a graduate of Lebanon High School with the class of 1940. Originally born in Boston, MA in 1922, her parents moved to the Upper Valley and bought a farm in East Plainfield.

“After we made that move, I had to ask myself, What have my parents done to me? Here I am a city girl now living on a farm with no electricity, no running water and an outhouse! You want to talk about a culture shock. But, then again, my life has always been a bit different.”

After graduating from high school, Maggie was accepted at the Peter Brigham School of Nursing affiliated with the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston which was founded in 1913. From there she was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and served a three-year stint during World War II.

“My husband Jean had been discharged before the end of my service commitment so we had a different arrangement. While on active duty, I would come home on leave to visit him. Usually it was the other way around with couples.” she chuckled.

The Tangways’ military service made a lasting impression.

“Every year Jean and I would return to Hawaii and visit Pearl Harbor. He lost many of his shipmates during the Japanese attack and it was always a very tearful experience for us. But it was a trip we tried not to miss.”

After leaving the Navy, Maggie continued her career in nursing which had always been one of her passions.

“I worked at many different hospitals specializing in geriatrics. I have always enjoyed helping others and nursing made that possible. The nursing profession offers the most compassion.”

Maggie and Jean were married in 1946 and had three children, Nancy, Barbara, and Phillip. The two girls are now in their 60s while Philip was recently lost to a brain tumor. Jean passed away in 1995.

To get a proper perspective on Maggie’s 93 years on this earth, consider this… The year she was born (1922) the following events took place: The first edition of the Reader’s Digest was published; Mussolini became the leader of Italy; Construction began on Yankee Stadium; Joseph Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party.

To Maggie, those are only facts in a history book. Age is only a number and it has become irrelevant. If you need a good laugh, stop by her home or take in one of her concerts. The conversation will usually start by her declaring, “Stop me if you’ve heard this one.”

When we can link ourselves with our past, we more fully appreciate who we are today and how we got here. We seem to need to travel our historical path in order to continue on our present – leading to the future – path.

One way we do this is to explore what an ancestor might have been ‘made of,’ to see if we find similar traits in ourselves.

There is a small, beautiful brick building in downtown Lebanon on the Green that you have driven by hundreds of times, and may have even felt you were being watched. You were! By a silent figure – a lonely sentinel, a Union soldier – standing guard in front of this building nestled between Rogers House and Roy’s Auto Service.

In 1958-1959, when Lebanon changed its structure from a town to a city, the building had deteriorated badly and was in much need of major repairs. There was discussion of possibly needing to tear it down and putting a business on the site. This did not sit well with the veterans of Lebanon and other people who had great feelings about saving and preserving this sacred building. So, this group, along with Robert Leavitt, former city historian, approached the City Council to oppose this. Leavitt had it declared An Historic Building – thus it was saved!

Displaying the musket donated by Bill Lapan (left), are Richard Courtermanche and Bob Therrien.

Terri Dudley was Mayor of the City of Lebanon from 1999-2000, and a member of the NH Legislature 2000-2006. She understood the value of preserving the building for veterans as her husband, Roger Dudley (92 this July), had served in WWII as a medic in the Army in the South Pacific theater.

Terri told me that Bob Leavitt had written a book, Lebanon, New Hampshire, in Pictures, in two volumes, 1997, published by Whitman Publishing for the Lebanon Historical Society. She said that these books have quite a lot of information regarding the Memorial Building, including the magnificent stained glass windows.

There are also two narrated videos of about 25 minutes each produced by CATV. Go to www.lebnh.net/home/about-lebanon/lebanon-veterans and find Soldiers Memorial Building – Parts 1 and 2. These give you the stories of six of the veterans memorialized by these stained glass windows.

In May of 2014, the Lebanon City Council established the positions of guardian and deputy guardian of the building. The present guardian is Bob L. Therrien, who was interviewed for this article. Bob is a US Navy veteran, 1970-1975, and a retired Lebanon police officer. He said with much feeling, “It is an honor for me to do this.”

A plaque on the wall just inside the front door of this building gives a brief account of its history, and following is the wording taken from the plaque exactly as printed:
“The Patriotic Organizations and their Home in Lebanon, N.H.
(Prepared by Lucy J. Comings, Secretary Corps 62.)

With the exception of the town hall the first public building to be erected in Lebanon was the Soldier’s Memorial Building on North Park Street.

From time to time after the close of the war the question of a Memorial to the veterans of the civil war was discussed but it was not until August 25th, 1881, that the first steps were taken towards having a Soldiers’ Memorial Building with tablets in the second story as a monument and the first story to be used as a town library. N. H. Randlett, Ferdinand Davis, Alpheus W. Baker, Jesse E. Dewey, O. W. Baldwin, O. J. Much more, A. W. Shapleigh, W. S. Carter were the first ones to draw up and sign an agreement to pay $20.00 each towards such a building. The building committee were Frank C. Churchill, Alpheus W. Baker and Ferdinand Davis [the architect]. They met with many obstacles in connection with the work but on May 30th, 1886, the cornerstone was laid by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New Hampshire. The town appropriated $3580 toward the building and the remainder was raised in various ways by the people of the town, old and young working together for this purpose. The building was dedicated July 4th, 1890, and was one of the largest gatherings that Lebanon had ever seen.

The Lebanon Soldier’s Memorial Building was the first to be erected in New Hampshire and was deeded to the town with the following conditions: “That these premises shall be forever preserved for a Soldiers’ Memorial, for a Free Public Library, and for a place of meeting for veteran soldiers, and sons of veterans, and for only such purposes as shall preserve the memory of patriots and teach coming generations loyalty and devotion to their country.”

The library was moved to the new building in 1909 since which the whole building has been used by the patriotic organizations. In 1915 W. S. Carter placed glass cases in the lower room for the preservation of relics which may be placed there at any time. A number of the shelves have been filled and anyone will find these curious articles an interesting study and well worth a visit to this room.”

Richard Courtemanche, assistant guardian, who participated in this interview, is also a veteran who served in the European Theater in WWII as Army Infantry. He turned 90 on April 6. He owned a barbershop downtown that burned in the Lebanon fire, but continued his business nearby.

Through the efforts of many volunteers, and after much restoration, the building was preserved and re-opened to the public in 2008 and over 4,000 people have visited to date. This summer it will be open to the public on Thursday evenings during the hours of the Lebanon Farmers’ Market; also Memorial Day, Alumni Day on June 11, July 4th and Veterans Day.

The building is City-owned, and cared for under the Department of Public Works. It is available for veterans groups to hold meetings, and special tours, by contacting Bob Therrien at 603-252-5155.

Among the volunteers are Gary Ward, of the McKinley Camp 9, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, reenactors who meet in the building; Fran Hanchett, who researched and identified many Lebanon Civil War soldiers in Lebanon cemeteries for the purpose of putting markers on their (until now unmarked) graves; Ed Ashey, City Historian; Annette Scott, Dan Downes, Everett Farnsworth, Ted Guay, Mayor Georgia Tuttle, and many other dedicated people.

Soldiers Memorial Building sits snuggly at the right of Rogers House.

Displays in cases downstairs honor the memories of veterans of many wars with memorabilia beginning with the French & Indian War, through the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, World Wars I and II,

Korean War, Vietnam War, and the present War on Terrorism (Afganistan, Gulf, etc.).

Bill LaPan, retired Lebanon Fire Captain, recently donated a 1766 Charleyville 69 caliber Musket. If you have artifacts and family memorabilia pertaining to veterans that you would like to add to this collection, please contact Bob Therrien.

The upstairs room is a consecrated chapel where veterans can lie in state and have funeral services. There are marble memorial tablets on the walls of this room, engraved with the names of Lebanon soldiers who served in the Civil War.

The six stained glass windows were donated over time by various civic organizations in honor of someone who died in the Civil War. The windows had been badly damaged due to hurricanes and age, and were sent to a professional for releading and restoration in time for the reopening in 2008.

You are encouraged and welcome to visit, volunteer, or bring a group. You may find that your own grandfather might be memorialized (DeCato, Baker, Miller, Kimball). Spend some quiet time contemplating not only the items and beauty of the structure itself, but also appreciating why it is there – to educate and teach us of the sacrifices of veterans, to keep it as a living memorial, and to preserve and protect the memories of those brave veterans who contributed, and are still contributing, much and sometimes all, to keep us free and safe and able to enjoy our beautiful land.      For this, we thank you!