Editor’s Note: After a short-lived reprieve, with just enough time to regroup in the wake of the effects of the Covid-19 virus, many individuals and organizations shifted the way they used to do things in order to meet the needs of the people they serve. Here at the Lebanon Times, we reached out to the Lebanon Senior Center and the main Arts organizations in Lebanon to hear what they are doing differently.

Senior Power to the Rescue!

While Covid-19 continues to rear its ugly head, Lebanon citizens and organizations are rising up and pivoting in its face!

It has been the case that the virus has taken a toll on seniors more than other age groups. However, don’t underestimate Senior Power, especially in Lebanon.

The following quote from an article in the Naples Daily News describes the plight of our seniors: “They’ve lived in the time of World War II, polio, the sixties, inflation, 9/11, and the Great Depression.” Now they stand up and stare down the pandemic.

Fortunately for our seniors in the Grafton County region, there is a safe haven extending a helping hand and comfort. The Lebanon Senior Center became the first Grafton County location to establish a senior center following the incorporation of the Grafton County Senior Citizens Council in 1973. That senior center offers the following: Congregate Meals, Home Delivered Meals, Transportation, Book Club, Birthday Celebrations, Crafts, Health Clinics, Support Groups, Tax Assistance, Craft Shop, Computer Café, and Telephone Reassurance.

In the short span of a few weeks after the pandemic announcement, all those comforting benefits would be altered drastically. Jill Vahey has been with the Lebanon Senior Center since 2002 when she was named Activities/Volunteer Coordinator and took over as the Director in 2003. It went from being at the helm of a sailboat on a calm, peaceful lake to a raging storm in a tornado literally overnight.

“My personal reaction was that of great sadness and concern for the population we provide services for,” Jill explained. “Operations at the Center changed dramatically. We had to close the Center in late March. We were only able to provide frozen meals to individuals who once frequented the Senior Center for congregate meals. We were doing this by offering daily drive-by service. The kitchen was shut down and we were forced to outsource our frozen meals from a company out of state. Our buses were taken off the road and we were no longer able to transport individuals to medical appointments, shopping, or for various other needs. Many of our staff were furloughed and those remaining took over many other roles of the day-to-day operations. Volunteers could no longer volunteer. Our funding stream was impacted severely. Fundraising events came to a halt. All other in-house programs also came to a halt.”

As devastating as that turn of events appeared, Jill reports that with the help of the community and the dedicated effort by the Grafton County Senior Citizens Council management, slowly the negatives of the situation displayed a positive movement. Rays of sunshine poked through the dark clouds.

“People have been extremely grateful and supportive of all we were trying to do. Many offered to help in any way they could. I see more neighbor-helping-neighbor. I hear words of kindness and encouragement and feel a real sense of community. The staff at the Center try to reach out via a phone call to as many individuals as possible each week. If we miss a call, people call us to see how we are doing. We recently had a drive-by volunteer luncheon. The faces of the volunteers who’ve not seen each other in months was so heartwarming and emotional.”

One of the most utilized services of the Center was the Meals on Wheels program and that critical offering saw a huge increase due to demand.

“Meals on Wheels has more than doubled since the pandemic,” Jill noted. “Before Covid we had an estimate of 60-70 individuals receiving meals. Once Covid hit, the numbers grew to 140-150 individuals needing meals. What was once a daily hot meal delivery for Meals on Wheels is now once-a-week delivery of four frozen meals and one hot meal. An average of 650 meals are now going out on Thursdays. Our buses and bus drivers are the new means for getting meals to people.”

Now, as we enter the winter season in the Lebanon region, the demand for services from the Center will become even more critical. Jill eyes the future with optimism that the Center’s mission will not only continue, but flourish.

“The kitchen staff are back and home cooking has begun once again. We are offering Grab-and-Go hot meals every Monday and Wednesday from 12-12:30pm in our parking lot. We will offer a Holiday Bazaar, Veterans Day celebration, bake sales, and our annual holiday dinners, all by drive-by. Art, music, and writing classes have all started via Zoom. We are working on ways to make it safe for our buses to transport once again and to open our doors at the Senior Center again.”

If history holds true, nothing can stop the extraordinary volunteer spirit of the Lebanon community and its dedication to its senior citizens who have given so much to make it a premier place to live.

Maintaining the Arts Through the Pandemic

AVA Gallery and the Lebanon Opera House Prevail

Over the years, Lebanon residents have witnessed their community become one of the premier centers for the arts in the entire state of New Hampshire. Two of the iconic contributors to that success have been the Lebanon Opera House (LOH) and the AVA Art Gallery (Alliance for the Visual Arts).

Founded in 1973, AVA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Today it occupies the Carter-Kelsey Building at 11 Bank Street in Lebanon. Prior to that, a handful of Upper Valley artists decided to look for a place to show their work. Its first location was a rustic barn adjacent to the Congregational Church.

The LOH is a historic 800-seat performing arts center and is the largest proscenium theater in the Upper Valley. It was built in 1924 and began life as a vaudeville theater, community gathering place and city hall.

That is the background of the two art centers, but the critical question that prevails today is: How will they survive the Covid pandemic? Heading up that task are Executive Directors Heidi Reynolds (AVA) and Joseph Clifford (LOH). Both report that there have been major adjustments, but the crusade to continue promoting the cultural arts is alive and well.

Joseph Clifford: “As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, the LOH was forced to suspend all programming by national touring artists, resident community arts partners, and the Lebanon School District on March 13, 2020. To date, we’ve canceled dozens of performances and LOH will be dark through at least mid-March 2021.”

While that statement certainly strikes right to the heart for entertainment lovers, Joe reports that there are viable alternatives. Operating funds remain the most critical factor, however. “Like many in the nonprofit arts community, we rely heavily on rental fees and ticket revenues to make ends meet. With programming suspended, there is no earned income at this time. I’ve doubled down on fundraising and have been fortunate to receive relief funds via New Hampshire’s CARES Act allocation. Through this one-time emergency funding, we’ve been given the financial bandwidth to restore several jobs and replace a portion of our lost revenue.”

Although the doors are closed and that beautiful theater remains darkened, Joe reports that there has been a concentrated move to feature digital entertainment at its best. “For now, we’ve pivoted to online events with the launch of our digital LOH On Location series featuring house concerts and discussions. It’s certainly not a replacement for the live theater-going experience, but it does allow us to support artists during a time of need and bring together members of our community who embrace the joy of live performance – even if it is on a screen. We’re setting our sights on LOH’s centennial season in 2024 with an eye toward playing an even greater role in the Upper Valley arts ecosystem. My goal is to keep LOH strong during this extended intermission so we can emerge on the other side to welcome back artists and performers.”

Heidi Reynolds: “Having to close AVA Gallery and Art Center felt surreal and confusing. At that time, no one knew how serious this was going to be. As we considered all the contingencies, we began planning as if we would be up and running within a few weeks. Then the shutdown dragged on and plans were continually made and canceled. Every bit of information we received and every decision seemed fraught with pitfalls. Are we being too careful or are we being reckless?”

As with LOH, funding quickly became a major issue. “AVA immediately lost a significant amount of money when issuing refunds, and losses continued to snowball as time passed and we weren’t selling artwork or running classes. While we were closed, we continued working behind the scenes to fund-raise, write grants, move to online classes, and generate a new revenue stream while planning for the eventual reopening of the galleries and building.”

Heidi now turns her attention to the future with a positive attitude. “I view the future very positively. The pandemic has been difficult, but it has propelled us into a regional and national arena that is opening doors for AVA. Venturing into online classes, events, and gallery tours is something AVA knew we needed to tackle. The pandemic forced us to do it now rather than later. The upside is that we have participants throughout New England and across the country who are regularly attending our classes, or a gallery talk, or buying art online. Also we have seen those who normally wouldn’t think of themselves as artistic taking a chance on art because they need the relief. The pain people are going through has deepened their understanding of how important the arts are.”

Fresh out of Plymouth State University with a bachelor’s degree in acting, Sam Clifton was, well, reveling in the chance to play a lead role in his debut at the Christmas Revels.

And, between his own moments in the spotlight at the Lebanon Opera House last December, the 2015 graduate of Lebanon High School was paying close attention to the Mummer’s Dance – the number that every year interrupts the main storyline of Revels North’s long-running celebration of the solstice.

“While I was standing by as a spectator, I got an idea of the basic plot, and the importance of Saint George,” Clifton recalls. “You get to slay the giant and the dragon. You’re the hero. What more could you ask?”

What he learned by watching – and by listening – Clifton wove into his vocal performance as George in All Shall Be Well Again – the 17-minute animated film that Revels North is sharing on small screens in lieu of the live performances that the coronavirus pandemic is making impossible. “I haven’t been able to do a lot of voice-acting work so far,” he says. “I thought this would be a way to get a solid role onto my résumé.”

For the leadership of Revels North, the film emerged last spring and summer as a way to bridge the seasonal gap, and to keep Revels – which had to cancel its schedule of live music in the name of singer and listener safety – on the Upper Valley’s radar screen. “It wasn’t long before we began to realize that there was no way we could plan on live performances,” Executive Director Brian Cook says. “There was so much that we couldn’t anticipate.”

Instead, Cook, Artistic Director Nils Fredland, and members of the Revels North board of directors started brainstorming, and quickly eliminated the idea of trying to do a hybrid live through online technology. “Singing with people in Zoom is miserable, because of the delay,” says Revels Board President Kim Rheinlander, a Lebanon resident.

With input from Revels creatives, they found consensus around the idea of a short film – mixing animation and footage from previous years’ Revels – that area audiences could stream on their computers, and watch on Community Access Television (CATV).

“It got us excited like nothing else was going to,” Cook recalls. “It was going to be the costliest option, in a year where maybe fundraising would be harder than usual because of the pandemic. But it really energized everybody, and seemed the most likely to get the audience excited.”

The Revels board bought into the plan from the outset. “Suddenly there was a spark,” Rheinlander says. “People really embraced it. It was something so different, and something positive.”

With money from a variety of sources – including an anonymous donation of $10,000, plus $7,500 from a Vital Communities crowdsourcing campaign, a Covid-relief grant of $7,500 from the New Hampshire Council on the Art, $5,000 from regular underwriter Mascoma Bank, on top of earlier contributions from regular individual benefactors – Revels North enlisted a Keene, NH-based nonprofit, The SALT Project, to weave animation around a storyline invoking Revels traditions.

“A big part of our thinking was to seek out local artists, who need the work right now,” Cook says. “When the pandemic hit and lingered on, their livelihoods went up in smoke. We really wanted to support them as much as possible.” Toward that end, Revels hired the No Strings Marionette Company in Randolph, VT, which had crafted puppets for the 2015 show at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center for the Arts. The troupe crafted and brought to life a puppet host for the film, in the persona of Jack Langstaff, the founder of the original Christmas Revels pageant in New York City, and who had established a comparable program in Cambridge, MA in 1971.

Langstaff, who would have turned 100 this year, was the father of Carol Langstaff, the Sharon resident who founded Revels North in 1974. “When I first saw the puppet, I thought that that was just the best,” Rheinlander recalls. “I’d crossed paths with Jack over the years, when he would come up to see the shows during the time Carol was putting them on, and he was a very, very powerful and strong personality. This is very much in his spirit.”

Rheinlander first found herself caught up in the Revels spirit as a child in Cambridge in the early 1970s.  “I was, like, ‘What is this thing? This is so cool,’” she says. “It was very engaging, and I really wanted to be a part of it.”

Upon moving to the Upper Valley in the mid-1980s, Rheinlander became a part in a variety of capacities, from backstage technical support to singing and acting with the ensemble.

Even after joining the board of directors, Rheinlander stayed active with the productions until 2019, when Revels moved the solstice pageant from the Hopkins Center’s Spaulding Auditorium to the Opera House. While the latter seats 800 people, to Spaulding’s 900, the 2019 show, drew a combined 3,000 people to five performances. Many of them, Rheinlander found while conducting exit interviews, had never seen the show at Dartmouth. “I was so excited that Revels finally came to Lebanon,” Rheinlander says. “It’s a much more traditional theater.”

“The people I talked with were so enthusiastic, and we were very excited about having a second show there this year. The arts community has been growing so much in Lebanon, and we were excited about being a part of that. We’d talked with the AVA Gallery about doing a pre-show event there this year. There seemed like a lot of opportunities.”

With All Shall Be Well Again, Rheinlander added, the Revels leadership and rank-and-file “hope to keep things going, keep people enthused, knowing we’re still around.”

Revels’ Executive Director isn’t worried. “The film is just lovely to behold,” says Cook, who performed in Revels while growing up in Norwich and took the reins in 2017. “The animation feels very, very true to the Revels spirit, a respect for traditional style.”

And while Revels North will miss its main revenue source – ticket sales – the organization wants to make the movie available for free for members of the Upper Valley community who might be struggling financially and otherwise during the pandemic, Cook adds. “It is a message of hope that dovetails with our message, our mission, of bringing light to the darkest time of the year,” he says. “People right now are experiencing the darkness in a very real way.”

Sam Clifton hopes that even when live performances of Revels resume at the Opera House – preferably a year from now – devotees will revisit All Shall Be Well Again the way they do traditional holiday programs such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. “We can now add this to the others on the list,” Clifton said. “Anything we can do to spread our message to a larger audience is a good thing.”

Revels North was scheduled to start streaming All Shall Be Well Again on November 20. The local cable station CATV was scheduled to start showing the film on Thanksgiving Day (November 26 at 2pm) with subsequent screenings on Giving Tuesday (December 1), and on December 21 (the winter solstice), Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. To learn more, visit http://www.revelsnorth.org.

Community engagement can mean many things, from taking an active role in governance to connecting with neighbors. For one group of Lebanon residents, it means that and a whole lot more. For more than a year, the Welcoming Lebanon Ordinance has been a substantial focus of their time and energy. Following up on the city’s 2019 Resolution for Inclusiveness denouncing “all ideologies based on hatred and intolerance,” and affirming a “commitment to protecting its citizens, residents, and visitors against discrimination,” the ordinance clearly and explicitly rejects discrimination and protects those in the city who may be vulnerable to harassment by unjust federal immigration policies.

Kathy Beckett (below), a resident of Lebanon, has been the driving force behind the ordinance from its inception. Early in 2019, she explains, “Migrant Justice led a meeting with Upper Valley community members who were interested in prohibiting local police from aiding or participating in enforcement of federal immigration law.” From there, the petitioners’ committee began to take shape. On October 15 of that year, the committee filed a petition for a Citizens’ Binding Initiative to the City Clerk; this would allow them to collect signatures in order to place the ordinance on the ballot for the March 2020 election. “Only Lebanon voters could be on the Petitioners’ Committee,” Kathy recalls. “We started as a group of five Committee members, including some individuals who were present at the Migrant Justice meeting, and through personal contacts, our numbers gradually grew to include a total of 24 registered Lebanon voters who were certified to collect signatures. Sixteen of the 24 petitioners were seniors.”

The committee drafted the Welcoming Lebanon Ordinance and collected more than the 611 signatures needed to secure the ballot item. Along the way, the committee met with their neighbors and colleagues to garner support, address concerns, and work together with the community to secure popular support for the ordinance. “It was made clear that each person’s contribution to the effort would be appreciated, regardless of the amount of time the individual could dedicate to the work,” notes Kathy. The results of this effort were apparent when the ballot item passed, ensuring the ordinance would go into effect in the city in 2021. “When we received the official word on election night,” Kathy remembers, “I was thrilled, and grateful to the people of Lebanon for showing support for our immigrant neighbors and others who would be affected by the Ordinance. A very moving moment that evening occurred when a young woman who receives DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) stated that for the first time, she felt safe in the Upper Valley.”

Following the vote, Mayor Tim McNamara established a task force; citing the need to “turn our policy into an ordinance that reflects the wishes of the voters,” he appointed members of the City Council, the petitioners’ committee, and the general public to serve on the task force. On May 28, the seven members began the months-long process of ensuring the ordinance was enforceable and clear, while ensuring the voter-passed ordinance’s intent remained. Karen Liot Hill, a City Councilor who served as the chair of the task force, has been invested throughout the process in ensuring these conditions are met. “I believe when it comes down to it that most people share the same values, they want the same things for our community,” she says. “Disagreement comes from how to achieve things like safety, security, health, and happiness.”

“My belief is that the reason so many people signed the petition is because they want everyone who lives in the city, who works here, and who travels through Lebanon to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality while they are here,” Karen says. “We’ve had a really collaborative process that resulted in something that, while it may not have met all the participants’ goals, does reflect our shared values, and does reflect progress for advancing justice and equality in the City of Lebanon.”

Along the way, the task force worked with legal counsel from the city and from the petitioners’ committee to find and address issues within the ordinance and elsewhere in the city’s codes in order to best protect the entire community.

Kathy, who also served on the task force, is optimistic about the future of the ordinance. “My hope is that this Ordinance will prove to be one piece of an effort to ensure fair and just treatment of all persons in Lebanon, and that its adoption encourages immigrants, members of the BIPOC community, and other individuals protected by the Ordinance to live in Lebanon and to fully participate in the life of the City without fear.” We’re heading in the right direction.

Those who have heard Ali Grace Rapetti sing and play her guitar will tell you she has the voice of an angel. Many will also point out that she very well may be heaven sent with her soothing and comforting offerings. As we all seek connection and solace during these socially-distanced times, Ms. Rapetti’s music therapy mission has earned her wings, as well.

Ali Grace Rapetti is a registered music t herapist who offers her services free of charge to those often overwhelmed by depression, sadness, loneliness or living in fear of contracting Covid-19 as the pandemic continues. You will see her often at senior living communities, hospitals, private homes and hospice settings around the Upper Valley.

“The Sunapee Visiting Nurses Association allows me, as part of my job, to complete community outreach. When used clinically, music has the ability to provide emotional comfort, spiritual support, family connection and acceptance and can even ameliorate physical symptoms. The direction we take is up to the patient and his or her needs and the songs we utilize are based on a patient’s personal preferences. Being able to provide therapeutic presence and a patient’s preferred music at the end of his or her life is an honor I don’t take lightly.”

Having Grace appear in a local venue can also amount to just a ‘plain old fashion’ outdoor or indoor concert for senior citizens such as her recent appearance at the Quail Hollow Senior Living Community in West Lebanon. A light hearted performance where she seeks song requests from days gone by to invoke pleasant memories is the goal in those settings. “Music therapy isn’t about performance – it isn’t music for music’s sake – it is using music to achieve a non-musical goal like coping with a terminal diagnosis, providing a safe space for emotional expression or reviewing significant memories, to name a few. I have been able to perform on national tours and in hallowed music concert halls, but there is nothing as rewarding and meaningful to me as being able to provide music therapy to a hospice patient.”

When you review this singing angel’s background, you may be more than impressed. It may take a while to list her qualifications so bear with it.

Grace Rapetti is the founder and director of Starling Creative Arts. She actively practices music therapy, teaches music lessons and performs music weekly around Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She holds graduate degrees in music from the Berklee College of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder and has written and performed with legendary artists. She has sung and shared stages with Willie Nelson, Carole King, Bobby McFerrin, The Eagles, Annie Lennox and Western African sensation Angelique Kidjo. Grace was featured as the U.S. representative of the International Ensemble Women of The World. She has sung on the legendary stages of Carnegie Hall and the Blue Note in New York City. She has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine and on National Public Radio for her version of the Beck’s “Old Shanghai.” In June of 2016, she performed the National Anthem at the Democratic National Convention. Grace was also a five-year member of the remarkable Boston-based ensemble Women of The World. She is also co-founder of the non-profit organization Arts Education International. That organization offers community-based arts programs for orphaned, abandoned, and traumatized children.

That should give you a sense of a fraction of her accomplishments to date, but just how did this all come about? She has followed an amazing path along life’s journey. Grace explains: “I was born in Houston, Texas and bounced around between Colorado, Florida and Massachusetts and now New Hampshire. I currently live in a cottage on Lake Sunapee, NH and hope to remain there for the long haul. My interest in music dates as far back as my first memory listening to “Puff The Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary. I was never classically trained and no one ever told me I couldn’t sing or play, so I found solace, identity and fun in music. It wasn’t until I was sixteen that I picked up the guitar and started writing songs.”

So with all that musical background over the years selecting songs to comfort and entertain others, what does Grace consider her favorite song? What song would she like to hear when the end nears? The answer is a bit ironic! “I would like to hear “Angel” by Jimi Hendricks. It’s a journeying song and so comforting and beautiful to me. Another song I would select for comfort and beauty and joy is the Eva Cassidy version of “Fields of Gold.” Cassidy’s voice is a sonic catharsis – it calls forth deep emotion. My favorite current band is Wilco. Jeff Tweedy’s songwriting never fails to amaze me and the band has become so solid after decades of transition.”

So don’t forget, Upper Valley residents, as this pandemic continues to alter life styles and impacts all aspects of our lives, never forget the soothing benefits of music. Rest assured Grace is prepared to pick up her guitar and show you the way. Angels do exist.

One dominant common theme that links the people who make the Lebanon community so vital and prosperous is a shared love for the history of this beautiful city, combined with looking ahead to building a bright future. Perhaps no other quote covers it better than this: “If we don’t care about our past, we cannot hope for the future.” – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Chet Clem serves as President of Lyme Properties which acquired the old West Lebanon library and blended its complete restoration with the development of the River Park Project. By completing that task, they honored Lebanon’s past while ensuring controlled future growth. A delicate balancing act in these times of tight regulations. Chet explains how this came about. “Lyme Properties has been committed to the future of downtown West Lebanon since we purchased the former Bailey Brothers property in 2007 and began what would become River Park West Lebanon. When the former West Lebanon Library was advertised for public auction, we saw an opportunity to solve our office needs and further our commitment to West Lebanon, but most importantly to save and re-purpose an important building that had fallen into disrepair.”

The River Park Project will include over 850,000 SF of life science office and research space, service retail, restaurants, single family homes and multi-family housing in a pedestrian friendly environment. Currently the riverside trails are open to the public as a preview of the much anticipated development along the Connecticut River. That represents a promising future, but Chet felt honoring the past had equal importance. “Adaptive re-use of historic buildings has been part of our DNA since my father, David Clem, Chairman of The River Park Project, headed up restoring One Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. in the 1980s. We have always strived to save, protect and re-purpose the historic structures that make neighborhoods special. Same reason we saved the Westboro Rail Station and moved it to River Park in 2017. We actually tried to save and re-use the former Bailey Brothers building on the site that is now River Park, but couldn’t get permission from the ZBA and had to tear it down. The former Library was an important part of downtown West Lebanon’s history and community, just as the new Kilton Library continues to be a key fixture on Main Street. It needs a new chapter and we felt we were equipped to write it.”

As with all restoration projects, much care and regulations will govern the final outcome to respect all historic values. The old Library was designated a Lebanon Historic Landmark by the Lebanon Historic District Commission. Chet indicated that strict regulations mandated what path they would follow in restoring the beloved building. “We worked with local architects Jay Barrett of White River Junction and Dan Winny of Lebanon who are experienced in historic buildings with adaptive re-use. The resulting plan preserved the exterior and endeavored to save as much of the interior detail and woodwork as possible while bringing systems up to modern standards.”

Chet was careful to point out that not only was the old West Lebanon Library transformation allowing Lyme Properties spacious and elegant office facilities, they were incorporating multi-purpose uses to aid other businesses nearby to enhance that downtown section. “The building has been a great home for us, but we renovated it in a way that would allow for plenty of uses including a retail use on the ground floor. With everything that the West Lebanon Feed & Supply and others have done for downtown, we thought that this location was a key corner for downtown. We had actually tried to convert the Westboro Rail Station into a craft beer bistro, but the local operators ran into permitting problems and moved their operation to Norwich. Maybe someday the ground floor of the old library can become an ice cream shop or another retail business to further revitalize Main Street.”

What kind of impact on the community has Lyme Properties’ efforts at revitalization, combined with extensive plans to establish River Park, delivered? “We’ve been touched by the amount of positive comments this project has received along the way. Whether its residents who grew up reading books at the library, or other downtown businesses who have been working to revitalize downtown, I believe people recognize and appreciate the effort. We’ve given a lot of impromptu tours of the building to interested neighbors, although sadly we don’t get to do that now during the Covid pandemic.”

Moving beyond the restoration projects, Chet and Lyme Properties turn their attention to the River Park development. “We remain cautiously optimistic, if not bureaucratically perplexed! All the studies that have been done over the past 15-20 years have the same findings: a walkable downtown, access to the river and a mix of uses. We like to think the former Library building represents a positive example of what can be done to reinvest in downtown West Lebanon. We’ve added preliminary trails at River Park and are working to connect MRG (Mascoma River Greenway) and other trail networks.”

The current Covid pandemic has slowed and stalled future plans for all communities over the entire United States, but rest assured Lyme properties will continue their mission to revitalize downtown West Lebanon.

The Connecticut River sparkles in the Sunday morning sunshine as members of Cancer Recovery Through Rowing (CReW) lift their sculls from the water at the Kendall Riverfront Park in Hanover after the final outing of the August session. CReW is part of the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation’s slate of programs, including the Lebanon Middle & High School Crew, a Masters team, and a variety of learn-to-row community rowing programs. Throughout the month of August, CReW coaches and participants ventured onto the river to learn to row, and to discover renewed strength and energy amidst their challenges with cancer.

The CReW program was founded in 2019. It is a free program and open to anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer. Carin Reynolds, a world champion rower, Maureen Stannard, an oncology nurse, and Susan Brighton, a nurse practitioner came together to create the program. The inaugural event was a four-woman shell rowing in the 2019 Prouty with just three weeks of practice. During the winter and spring, rowers used the basement of Burnham Boat Slings in Lebanon for indoor rowing sessions in advance of the on-water practices.

Volunteer coaches, including some who have earned National, Olympic, and World Championship honors, provide expert instruction. Head Coach Carin Reynolds began her rowing career at Dartmouth, and earned a spot on the US Lightweight Women’s National Rowing Team, winning a gold medal at the World Championships in 1984. She has competed and medaled nationally and internationally in both sweep and sculling boats at Nationals, Worlds, the Goodwill Games, the World University Games and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Carin told the group gathered by the water, “My daughter had cancer. She couldn’t row, but she was a coxswain. It helped her get through the process, and it was crew that helped her have confidence.”

As a coach, Carin inspires confidence in the CReW program rowers. As one participant noted, “When Covid happened, everything shut down, but not Carin. I lost my other communities, but she got us on the ergs. (‘Erg’ is short for rowing ergometer or rowing machine). She was our cheerleader and got us out on the water when most of us thought it was crazy.” Carin agrees that the rowing community is a special one. “The rowing community will become your permanent community. Rowing brings lifelong bonds.”

Coach Linda Muri is a three-time world champion rower, former collegiate rowing coach, and six year breast cancer survivor. “Rowing helped me get through the whole process.’’ In addition to founding a rowing consulting company and coaching for the foundation, Linda is still an active competitor, posting a first place win at the 2018 World Indoor Rowing Championships in the Master’s Division.

For some participants, the CReW experience was their first time rowing a single scull boat. When survivor Catrina Nuite heard about the program from Susan Brighton, her response was “Why not? Life can be stagnant when you’re dealing with cancer, and this was something new I could try.” Coming from Brattleboro each week was not a problem for Catrina. “I came 5 days a week for radiation, so I later decided I could come up 3 times a week for rowing. It was a good feeling to drive right past the hospital exit.”

The Byrne Foundation awarded a grant that allowed the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation to purchase 15 ergometer rowing machines from Concept 2 in Morrisville, VT, Carin notes, “We’re really grateful that we got the Byrne grant and were able to purchase ergs before the pandemic. I managed to buy 15 in early February, and now there’s an eight-week waiting list.” The ergs were distributed to members of CReW to use at home, and indoor rowing sessions were conducted virtually by Zoom during the pandemic.

In order to transition to the on-the-water rowing sessions, CReW participant Ellen Gitomer taught herself to tread water watching YouTube videos in preparation for the swim test. She had not ventured into a body of water in 25 years. “It was totally outside anything I could ever imagine doing in my life, and it was such a thrill to have gold medalists coaching us. To be in a boat on the water was extraordinary after all these years.”

According to coach Susan Brighton, a breast cancer survivor, rowing is one of the most physically demanding sports, and can help cancer survivors live longer. Rowing requires endurance, strength, and extreme mental focus, and the benefits include increased heart and lung capacity and improved muscle strength throughout the body. Indeed, CReW rowers report feeling more energized, emotionally and physically stronger, and having more confidence as a result of being in the program. “My hope is that the program can be used as a model for a clinical research trial in the future.”

In closing out the post-row gathering, Carin celebrated the experience, the coaches, and the rowers.”Thanks to all of you for stepping up and trying something different, especially when you might not be feeling so well. One thing that’s awesome about this group is how you have supported each other when you’re experiencing things that are challenging.”

To learn more about CReW, join the program, or make a financial (tax deductible) contribution, email Head Coach Carin Reynolds – carin.reynolds@gmail.com. For more information about the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation, visit http://www.uppervalleyrowing.org.

Long before Mink became famous, naturalist Mary Holland had the privilege of accidentally encountering and spending time with this enchanting bear. Named after the nearby Mink Brook tributary to the Connecticut River, Mink was beautiful and courageous, having spent most of her 30 years at the mercy of humans whose ultimate decisions guided her destiny until her untimely death in August 2020. During the time we came to know her, she not only exhibited her charisma as an individual but, also her goodness as a mother, leaving behind many offspring, several of whom continue to live in the Hanover/Lebanon area.

Seen often about town or its outskirts, this black bear became a local symbol of confidence and strength, agility and authority. She modeled the kind of perseverance and courage we long for in this dystopian age. Her fearless year-long return journey from the edge of Canada to Hanover as a result of relocation in 2018 became her trademark, the vehicle by which she stood her ground. Through woods, across highways and rivers, in the rain and snow, Mink never gave up her drive to return home. And so, her arrival in the spring of 2019 brought more press, fame and fortune. After all, it not only gave her the comfort of a familiar place but also three new cubs.

She thrived for awhile, photographed and videotaped by local residents who shared their delight in having her home again. But it was not to last. In a busy, bustling area filled with garbage dumpsters, she was bound to face danger – similar, ironically, to the one she unwittingly tackled as a youngster, nibbling on human food handed to her on a daily basis, assuring a lifelong pattern of need that she would pass to at least one set of cubs.

In essence, this magnificent creature was a hostage of human culture, her ability to survive bombarded by the people who ultimately were the conduit of her fate. She became a zoo-like curiosity, even though she was simply a bear whose life sadly had morphed to adhere to the mores of her human neighbors.

She is at peace now and euphemistically back where she belongs, where Holland first met her, isolated from human interruption amidst the coniferous and deciduous forests where she can forage on acorns, tree nuts, and berries to her heart’s content.

Proceeds from writing these articles will be donated to the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, NH.

First Encounter: The Magic of Mink

by Mary Holland

It was early April, and, although it was melting fast, snow was still on the ground. Friends had alerted me to the fact that the bears that regularly were seen in their back yard had appeared after a winter of being absent. Hibernation had come to an end for Mink, their frequent visitor, and her family. The year was 2017, and I had caught an occasional glimpse of Mink in years past and photographed her at a distance. I knew more than to count on seeing her family when I was spending just a few hours in the middle of the day, where she had been recently spotted. My hope that morning was simply to find some good tracks and photograph them.

I arrived and headed into the woods where I soon encountered multiple black bear tracks, some large, most a bit smaller. With camera and tripod in hand, I decided to follow the tracks to see if I could find the perfect print as well as where they led me and what they told me about the bears’ activity. After I had followed them a relatively short distance, I came to a very large white pine tree that was surrounded by bear scat. Lots of bear scat.

The saplings in the vicinity of this tree had all been chewed on, scratched, broken and bent. Bear hair was evident on many of them. At the base of the white pine there were several shallow indentations roughly four to five feet wide. I was thrilled to have found what I knew must be the location where this family of bears spent a considerable amount of time. The tree had to be a “babysitter” tree – a place of refuge and rest for the bears. When a mother bear goes foraging, or when danger threatens, she sends her offspring up this tree and they remain there until she signals them that they may come down. Much of a bear family’s time is spent in the vicinity of such a tree.

Although my day had already been made by this discovery, I continued to follow the tracks, more in hopes of learning about bear behavior than actually seeing the bears, although that was always in the back of my mind. After an hour or so I decided to turn around and retrace my steps as I headed home. As I neared the babysitter tree, I looked and there, at its base, was a large pile of furry black bodies all huddled together, fast asleep. During my absence, Mink and her three yearlings had returned to the site and decided to take a nap. It probably hadn’t been many days since they emerged from their den, and they were resting.

I immediately set up my tripod and camera, not quite believing I had been presented with this amazing opportunity. Within a short amount of time, they all woke up, and, while they were very aware of my presence, they seemed unperturbed. As they watched, I slowly moved as close to them as I felt was in my best interest. Mink let me know exactly how close that was. Soon the cubs became active and engaged in all kinds of fun and games with each other and with their surroundings. Mink passively observed their behavior as they “boxed” with each other while standing on their hind feet, wrestled on the ground, chewed on all matter of things, from branches to acorns, climbed on their mother, and last but not least, investigated the human who had invited herself into their territory.

Although every encounter I had had with black bears until then had confirmed that they are far more afraid of humans than humans are of them, these bears had been raised near houses, and were somewhat acclimated to the two-legged creatures – so much so that I repeatedly had to discourage one of the cubs from getting too close to me for fear that I was pressing my luck with Mink’s parental tolerance. I knew that I had succeeded in proving my good will toward them when Mink lay down, rested her head and back against the pine tree, and invited all three cubs to nurse.

Never have I felt so privileged to witness wildlife behavior. Of all the experiences I’ve had with wild animals, this is by far the most memorable. Little did I know when I headed out to photograph bear tracks that morning that I would have the most intimate wildlife experience of my life. The magic of that day will never fade.

Naturally Curious blog: www.naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com.

We are sad to write that our friend and Lebanon Times columnist Donnie Perkins died on May 1 at the age of 64, leaving behind a daughter, five brothers, and countless friends and acquaintances from all over the Upper Valley and no doubt well beyond.

Donnie graduated from Lebanon High School, where his interest in writing for local papers began. I worked with him and got to know him years ago at the Connecticut Valley Spectator, where he sometimes covered local sports, and it was a pleasure to bring his unique voice to the Lebanon Times when we launched the paper seven years ago. He had a way of connecting with people and telling stories that represented truths many of us have felt.

For about 15 years starting in the mid-1980s, Donnie was the bar manager at 5 Olde Nugget Alley, where he was known as the ‘Mayor of Hanover.’

“He knew everybody in town – Dartmouth students, townspeople,” said longtime 5 Olde owner John Dodds. “He could carry a conversation with anybody. He loved to talk and definitely had his opinions.”

He had a great mind and an “unbelievable” memory, John said, and he knew tons of baseball trivia. “He was the biggest baseball nut I’ve ever known. And, he was one of the most die-hard Yankees fans I’ve ever known. His allegiance to the Yankees posed some interesting nights.”

Dan Murray said he and Donnie connected professionally as local bartenders, but “more importantly, he and I shared the unique life experience of growing up in the Upper Valley as Yankees fans. There are not many, and it was a treat to talk Yankees baseball with him and not have to explain why I was a Yankees fan if I grew up here.”

Donnie was also an avid softball player, helping to organize the league and serving as captain for the 5 Olde team, John said.

After John and his wife sold 5 Olde, Donnie stayed on working with longtime friend and colleague David ‘Spike’ McDerment, and moved to South Royalton when Spike opened 5 Olde Tavern & Grille there.

Musician Will Michaels met Donnie at Salt hill Pub in Lebanon after moving to the Upper Valley in 2003. Donnie often played at open mics there or went to socialize at the bar, and the two got to know each other. Donnie played in the Upper Valley-famous Boomer Sellers band in the mid-’80s and he wrote “some pretty good songs,” Will said. Donnie continued to actively play and record music until the end of his life, he said.

“He was part of this legendary base of musicians in the Upper Valley, and he was one of the first that welcomed me into the community,” Will said. “He was connected. He just knew everybody in the Upper Valley. I would run into people and they all knew Donnie. Anybody that’s played music here in the last 40 years or so, all the veteran players, they all knew him.”

Will described Donnie as “very gregarious” and “perennially curious,” a person you could run into anywhere and talk with about just about anything. “And there was always the opportunity for him to brag about his daughter. That always figured in at some point,” Will said. “I’m going to miss the conversations.”

We will, too. We’re grateful Donnie shared his humor and wisdom and heart with us over these years. Donnie’s friend Todd Goodman wrote a beautiful tribute to him for the Valley News – you can find it online to learn more about Donnie, and it’s really worth a read. Stay safe, and take care of each other.

Residents at Wheelock Terrace in Hanover, NH, were in for a special treat in early May when the sounds of brass and woodwinds wafted through the outside air, bringing a fleeting pause to the accompanying distress of the 2020 pandemic.

The music was generated by seven out of over 60 members of the Upper Valley Community Band (UVCB) in the parking lot of the assisted living facility. The musicians, playing instruments including clarinets, trumpet, trombone, and tuba, entertained the residents with polka, waltzes, and ragtime favorites.

“We’re glad we could work with the UVCB to give residents a safe opportunity to spend time outside their homes and enjoy a swing of music therapy in this refreshing outdoor scenery.”

The UVCB usually performs formal concerts at the Lebanon Opera House along with summer parades and seasonal bandstand gigs, but this is one of the few times in a parking lot. UVCB’s executive director, Mark Nelson, related his excitement about the project.

This opportunity “enabled some of us to play together for the first time since quarantine restrictions were imposed,” he noted. “We hadn’t rehearsed since early March.”

In the past, the UVCB has performed on several occasions for the residents of Wheelock Terrace and has offered both summer outdoor concerts there and an indoor concert for the December holidays. Several weeks ago, a small subset of the band gathered at a parking lot in downtown Lebanon to play briefly at an impromptu birthday celebration for one of its senior members.

“The UVCB has also met in a few Zoom conferences during the last month or so,” said Nelson. “These were simply opportunities to stay connected with one another. I’ve initiated a members-introducing-members project whereby members pair up, interview one another, and then introduce their partner to the rest of the band. The weekly two-hour rehearsals of our large group (some 60 players) are intensely focused on music-making; we don’t ordinarily have the luxury of having leisurely conversations with one another. During the pandemic quarantine, we now have time for these; the resulting introductions have been colorful and illuminating.”

Today’s pandemic has generally cut off the livelihood of musicians and composers around the world and has relegated global residents behind locked doors, closed windows, and without social contact except through 21st-century technology.

In response, performances have moved online and from home or even – in parking lots. Determined to offset the virus, people have launched a collective act of social and musical defiance. Windows have been opened, doors unlocked, and thousands rushing to their balconies – to sing. People across the globe have started making music that is deeply rooted in their neurobiology and allows them to attain a kind of interpersonal synchrony that drives them together.

As the conductor of the Upper Valley Chamber Orchestra (UVCO) that has had four Zoom conferences of late, Nelson is intrinsically involved in opening those musical doors and windows in a myriad of ways.

“These seminars have afforded us the opportunity to consider elements of history, aesthetics, structure and narrative – all of which I mention in rehearsal, though in less depth than has been possible during these recent meetings,” said Nelson. “I think it’s fair to say that these presentations have given orchestra members a chance to deepen their understanding in ways that complement our rehearsal process.”

Zoom conferences are also an effective way of “seeing” one another, Nelson noted. In his directing of his a cappella chorus, for instance, he has been leading sectional and full-ensemble rehearsals via Zoom conference. Group members have been concentrating on learning the individual parts of their songs because the technology doesn’t enable them to hear their ensemble sound at all.

“I mute everyone but myself,” said Nelson. “I play audio files of the songs which are mixed to highlight a single part (soprano-alto-tenor-bass). I highlight and review potential trouble spots. Although we miss hearing our ensemble sound, this has been a relatively efficient method for learning the parts.”

But Nelson isn’t satisfied with just online access to bring people together via his music. Inspired by one of his Upper Valley Music Center colleagues who works with young children, Nelson is currently talking to the orchestra about the possibility of driving to the homes of each player, setting up a music stand and orchestral score at the end of the driveway, having them set up with their instrument outside, popping a CD of one of their pieces in his car stereo, and asking his colleagues to play while he conducts in a kind of Music Minus One scenario.

“For me, the recent phenomenon of Zoom-facilitated recordings is getting tiresome and frustrating,” said Nelson. “These performances may technically be impressive but they lack the dynamism, the synergy, of real-time performances, and their audio fidelity is generally poor. I yearn to hear some people actually playing their instruments!”

Perhaps ironically, it is the spring of 2020 but it is also the summer of 1576 when the plague of Saint Charles devastated the Italian north, killing tens of thousands who sang their way through the disease. The same resulted in a rhyme that arose from the medieval Bubonic Plague: Ring Around the Rosie. A symptom of the plague was a rosy rash and posies of herbs were carried as protection and to ward off the smell of the disease and potential death – ashes, ashes we all fall down….

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his Cantata No.25 after the great plague in Marseilles, France in 1723; The Influenza Blues was written during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic; and John Corigliano composed his Symphony No.1 referred to as the AIDS Symphony after the modern plague of the 1980s.

Nelson and his band members, as it turns out, are following the footsteps of many musicians over the centuries. Their response to the anguish of the pandemic is to bring people together to improve their emotional state and to enhance their sense of social cohesion.

In this time of adversity, he and the UVCB members hope to create art that will reach people in order to have some kind of cathartic healing – whether the music refers to ancient plagues or modern pandemics.

“But we are strong, each in our own purpose, and we are all stronger together.”

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, there hasn’t been an individual in the entire world who has not been affected. Fear has enveloped us all regardless of age or status, but no other group stands directly in the path of this invisible monster than senior citizens. When the pandemic was announced, it was made crystal clear that the elderly were among the greatest at risk for suffering the worst of the virus’ negative health effects.

How did the elder community react? The residents at the picturesque Quail Hollow Senior Living Community in West Lebanon, consisting of 50 condominiums and three apartment complexes that are nestled in a wooded area teaming with wildlife, had their world turned upside down.

However, never underestimate the power of the human spirit especially in people who have lived through countless tribulations. Shake off the fears and the loneliness and help each other overcome the threat by standing together. Quail Hollow Community Manager, Kristi White, shares her observation as the residents responded to a whole new lifestyle.

“The residents of Quail Hollow have shown compassion for their fellow community members and patience with the State and Federal guidelines that Summit Properties is encouraging. Even though we are a very social community, social distancing guidelines are contrary to human nature but our community members are doing their very best to not only ensure the safety and well-being of themselves, but also their neighbors. Residents are communicating with each other to ensure that one another’s basic needs are met and that those who might be struggling with feeling isolated also feel supported emotionally.”

Everywhere you go in the complex, you will see notices posted on bulletin boards and entrances offering people rides to appointments, volunteers who will take a list and do the individual grocery shopping or just visiting to break the isolation. All this is being done by following the strict guidelines set forth by State and Federal regulations. Summit Properties recently hosted an outdoor concert by local entertainer Jim Hollis to brighten everyone’s spirits on a beautiful May afternoon.

There could be no more shining example of the kindred spirit of the seniors than that of a group of ladies who banded together to make sure that all residents had access to the recommended face-masks that are being worn by all. River House resident, Candis Darcey, spearheaded the all-out effort, but credited the number of volunteers that answered the call.

“I came up with the concept after seeing the need and got an immediate response from fellow residents that included Cathryn Reed and Jean Kenison. Also Dot Plume (known as The Quilt Lady) helped us in designing the procedure used to make the masks. We also had other volunteers do the sewing and ironing needed on the masks. It was a true team effort and it turned out we got the services of just the right people for this project. As far as wearing of the masks, the only way to stay safe is to continue to be worried about the safety of others. I picked up the initial cost of the materials and supplies needed and we requested donations and there was a great response to pay me back.”

Candis estimates that so far these volunteers have produced somewhere between 300-350 face-masks and that number continues to grow.

“We continue to make these masks,” explained Jean Kenison. “For example, I donated some 35-50 masks to the Sharon VT Fire Department. We will be making them as long as there is a need.”

Seniors who have accepted the new lifestyle with renewed vigor and vision include condominium owners Peter and Suzanne Talbot. Their reaction to the pandemic was inspiring, to say the least. Peter is often affectionately referred to as The Mayor of Quail Hollow due to his outgoing, positive outlook. He often holds court on his front porch cheerfully greeting all who pass by. At age 83, Peter has lived life to the fullest.

“We are at a level of life where we can appreciate what we have and just be where we are.” Peter noted with his famous wide smile. “It is an amazing perch to view the situation, but we continue to worry about the younger generation. We simply live in an amazing area. I love the Upper Valley especially. Simply stated, we have been blessed.”

“Even with all the stay-at-home restrictions, we are enduring.” Suzanne reports that they remain very active. She credits Zoom, an audio and conferencing web platform.

“We use Zoom and Facebook. It has become big in our lives now. We do so many things like connect with our family, church services, a garden club meeting. taking an OSHER class and even a virtual cocktail party!” she exclaimed. “Peter connects with his old tennis buddies.”

Having conversations with many of the Quail Hollow residents will give you faith that the pandemic nightmare will not only end, but rest assured the senior citizens will help lead the way!