Honor Society Inductees Take a Bow

Honor Society members recognized.

Cenna's Plea For Help

The middle school eighth grader is seeking humanitarian help for those who are under attack and on the run in Syria.

  Swampscott Middle School eighth grader Cenna Khatib has connections to and seeks help for Syria. "I am personally connected to Syria since my great grandmother, my grandparents, an aunt, 2 uncles, and 6 cousins under the age of 10 are still living there and Thank God they are still okay for now, but hundreds of people are dying every day and thousands more are running from their homes to safety in refugee camps near the borders," she said.  "Most of these people left homeless are women and children while the International community has not been willing to step up and help the Syrian people and they are in dire need. Cenna says she and her family and I are working with fellow humanitarians tto bring items to the refugee camps in Turkey …

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Two Days of Volunteering For Veterans

Amy Lockerbie Smith of Swampscott tells us about the Habitat P.L.U.S. Veterans Home, 516 — 520 Essex St., in Lynn, and the work that she and other volunteers did on Sept. 14 and 15. The Habitat project is led by Swampscott's Patrick Burke.

  Recently, quite by accident, I stumbled on an Internet request from Patrick Burke and Dave Reese asking for volunteers to help with some repair work of veterans' property in Lynn.  Carpentry tools aren’t my forte, but I could manage a broom and paint brush so I signed up for Friday. The day dawned bright and sunny, which was a good start; however, this work would have taken place rain or shine.  When I arrived at 8:00 o’clock, men were already busy sawing and hammering away rebuilding the deck and stairway on one of the buildings.  Soon I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Burke, who heads the GE Veterans Council and has been helping the Habitat Plus Inc. Veterans Program for about four years, ever since he found the home while jogging …

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Fans, Friends and Neighbors Say Goodbye to Johnny

Visitors to Johnny Pesky's calling hours had an anecdote or memory that reflected Mr. Red Sox's abiding common touch.

  He was a gentleman. A man's man. A lady's man. Visitors to Johnny Pesky's wake in Lynn on Sunday afternoon said goodbye to the Red Sox legend, walking away remembering the extraordinary ways in which he interacted with all people. The anecdotes they told wove a theme — as crisp as a well-chucked baseball zipping around the horn.  General contractor Frank Obey and his father worked at Johnny's homes over the years — first in Lynn and later in Swampscott — and knew the Pesky family well.  Frank remembers sitting with Johnny inside his Parsons Drive home in Swampscott talking baseball while outside his crew sawed and hammered away on a porch or some such project. One time they talked so long Frank was thinking he better get back on the job …

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Musings: A Column on Local Culture

On This Earth to Help Others

Local authors recollect Herman Liss, a man who reached out to others for each of his 94 years.

  By all accounts, Herman Liss was a great guy. Devout, kind, intelligent, a successful salesperson, he also knew how to have a good time, was a great dancer and a snappy dresser, as well as a loving and committed husband to his wife of 26 years, Betty. This warm but familiar story veers off course, though, into territory often hard to put into words, and even harder to explain. At the age of 92, within a week’s time, Betty passed away and Liss suffered a stroke that left him unable to continue to live on his own. After a series of hospital stays and rehab visits, Liss moved into the Jewish Rehabilitation Center (JRC), on Paradise Road in Swampscott. This combination of events would dampen the spirits of anyone and, optimistic and cheerful…

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First Church Pastor's Journey Adds Up

Ian Holland has moved from the world of math and computers to a more spiritual realm for his life's work.

  Ian Holland and First Church found each other last year, and seven weeks ago he was ordained as a United Church of Christ pastor. But first the pastor had to find his spiritual center after decades happily immersed in math and computers. At one point, some seven years ago, before Ian took the giant step of attending divinity school fulltime, he was taken aside by an associate minister at a Boston church. The minister said church people were noticing his spiritual growth. His immediate response to the suggestion that he was being called to religious service was this: thanks but no thanks. Holland, 46, grew up in Cork City, Ireland, the son of a university math professor. He was Catholic and had a spiritual sense of himself but was not …

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Swampscott Firefighter and Officer to Plate Runs for Veterans

The public safety officers are running in Sunday's Run-Walk to Home Base, ending at Fenway Park.

Here's how the firefighter and police officer found out they both would be crossing home plate at Fenway Park on Sunday: About two months ago officer Candace Doyle asked firefighter Richard Blake to donate to her Run-Walk to Home Base fundraiser for veterans. The firefighter told her he was also running in the fundraiser for veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan with combat stress or brain injuries. The firefighter and police officer will be among 4,000 runners and walkers in Sunday's event.   Each of the participants will raise at least $1,000 to provide clinical care for the vets, support for their families and research to prevent these kinds of injuries and improve treatments. Combat stress and brain injuries effect as …

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Abandoned Animals Need Foster Homes

Swampscott Animal Control Officer Diane Treadwell has seen a spike in abandoned animals and is looking for residents who will open their homes to these animals on a temporary basis, serving as foster homes.

  This has been a busy spring for strays and a tough time for finding them homes. Swampscott Animal Control Officer Diane Treadwell begs, borrows and does anything else she can to find temporary homes for animals hit hard by tough economic times. But with the increase in animals needing homes she is seeking volunteers willing to open their doors as foster homes, primarily for cats. She has rescued four animals — three cats and one dog — in four weeks. They are found hungry and crying for food on porches or the road side. One of those kitties was Bentley, a hungry black-and-white cat found on Salem Street three weeks ago. Bentley was lucky. There was room for one more cat at the Marblehead animal shelter, at 44 Village St. Lately the …

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Middle School Student Sprouts a Business

Mason Sagan has been excited about business since he was 2 or 3 years old.

Mason means business. Seated at a table at the back of Panera Bread, the 13-year-old has his products — packets of plantable note cards —  aligned neatly on a table. Before him is a notebook on which he has written talking points.   Planning, product development, sales, customer service and donating a percentage of profits to charities may not be the exact categories that he has assigned to his plan for growing his business, Cards by Mason, but he has them in mind. What is most impressive is Mason's pitch-less sales manner. No Billy Mays high heat here. But the legendary Oxy-Clean man Billy Mays would probably have been proud. It's a complete business plan, developed with help from family friend CarolAnn Price. Mason is quite coachable, …

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