HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 Vol 22 No 1 Winter
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Speedy Mettler Photo
2 Fishers Island Ga:.ette- Willler 1008
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:
Island life depends heavily on the sup-
pan of those around us, especially in times
of crisis. Last July [2007] I had my own
little crisis, and I wam {O thank all of those
who helped me through it.
My "crisis" was actually a fairly ridicu-
lous accident, in which I tripped over my
own feet, smashing my face into the road,
while walking by my house. Three stitches
later, a busted lip and a chipped {Ooth don't
seem like rhar big a deal, but at the time, a
lot of gushing blood and a hysterical mother
made it seem like a much greater issue.
John Dwire, an off-duty EMT from
the mainland, who is also a son-in-law of
Summer 2008 Gazette
Deadline: April 20, 2007
The Fishers Island Gazette is an in-
dependent not-far-profit publication
initiated with a grant from the Sanger
Fund and sustained with subscription
and advertising revenue. It is published
twice a year.
Editor
Betty Ann Rubinow
Contributors in this Issue
E.B. Bartels,John Briggs
Jane Crary,Jessica Hulslander
Leila Iladley Luce
Carol Ridgway, Allison Sargent
Thelma Hedge Sha\\-; Cyuthia Riley
Photographer Emeritus
Albert H. Gordon
Controller
Su-Ann Seidl
Newsstand Sales
Patty Cook
Circulation Support
William C. Ridgway III
SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE $15 PER
YEAR. IT'S EASY, JUST HAlLA
CHECK TO THE GAZETTE!
Gene and Marry Litch, was the first to ar-
rive. Even though he was on vacation, his
professionalism and care were phenomenal.
His calm nature brought perspective to the
scene, and he was able to organize the mess,
blood and chaos, assess the situation, and
keep everything under control.
The Island EMTs were the next great
help. Carol Giles, Tracy Brock, Jack Rari-
don, Debbie Doucette, Joe Hirschfeld and
others (although in my woozy, bloody state
I couldn't recall exactly who they were) ar-
rived promptly. They knew exactly what to
do at all times and did it before I even real-
ized what they were doing. They toO treated
my situation with the utmost professional-
ism and care, and took me to the doctor's
office, never once without respect or con-
cern.
Dr. Maria Frank is the final person I
would like to thank. It was she who put the
three stitches in my lip, wiped the blood
from my face, and assured my mother that
I did not have a concussion. I am so glad
that the on-Island doctor is an ER physician
who knows how to act in times of crisis. Dr.
Frank's soothing, it's-okay-you're-gonna-live
approach calmed both my mother and me
considerably.
This was my first big medical issue on
Fishers Island. I am so grateful that every-
one involved was as kind, professional and
compassionate as they possibly could be.
Thank you for never once making me feel
like the idiot I was for tripping over my own
two feet.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth "E.B." Andersen Bartels
Co..,er Pi<:lures
Speedy Menler captured these osprey
images at 2:30 p.m. July 1, 2007 at the east
end of the driving range.
The osprey was an endangered species
in the 1970s due to DOT cOlHamination,
which caused eggshells to be so thin that
they would break under the weight of the
nesting female.
The osprey is now a frequent sight on
Fishers Island. It is [he only bird of prey
that plunges into the water to feed. With a
wingspan of 4.5-6 feet, it hovers, then slices
through the water feet first to capture fish.
Ospreys can live 20 years but cannot swim.
They have been known to drown, if their
talons get stuck in a fish too large to lift out
of the water.
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. The massive Royal Caribbean cruise ship E.xplorer of the Seas heads into New London Harbor
at sunrise Sept. I, 2007.The ship, which docked at the State Pier, carries approx. 3000 passengers
(1800 of whom were estimated to have gone ashore) and 1200 crew. Onlookers noted that the
top of the ship was nearly eye level with drivers on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge. New London
is becoming a regular port of call among cruise lines largely due to the efforts of the Connecticut
Cruise Ship Task Force.
rJJ)i Call or email the editor for
IJ~ I r-, information about advertis-
~fS' ing or editorial content: win-
. ter 860-633-8200; summer
631-788-7893; figazette@cox.net.
The Gazette appreciates and relies upon
editorial contributions from the com-
munity. We reserve the right to edit copy
and regret that we cannot run every story
and occasionally must hold copy for future
issues.
lH"ter lOOS-Fishen Is/and Gazette 3
East End Re<<:reational PatL Ali....e &. Well
With overwhelming commu-
nity support and the bulk of
its funding in place, the East
End recreational path is projected to open
in 2009.
"h's incredible how broad the support
has been within the community," said Larry
Creel, co-chair with John McGillian of the
Fishers Island Recreational Path Founda-
granted FIRPF tax-exempt status May 9,
2002, with full recognition that the path
would be open only to residents of Fishers
Island, their families and guests, and to resi-
dents of the Town of Southold and its sur-
rounding hamlets.
The FIRPF board was stunned, there-
fore, when a sharply critical opinion piece
appeared Sept. 24, 2003 in The Day ques-
FIRPF then turned its anemion to
fund-raising and also met widl every land-
owner along the path. The main road is 18
feet wide, but FIOCO owns a total width
of 40 feet, measured from the cemer line.
The remaining II feet on either side of the
road, while it might appear to belong to in-
dividual property owners, actually belongs
to FIDCO.
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.The East End recreational path will be four miles long and eight feet wide. It begins across the street from the gatehouse, crosses the road at the
driving range and ends at the Fishers Island Club's golf parking area. The asphalt path will be open to walkers, joggers, casual bicyclists (including
mountain bikes) and baby carriages. No golf carts, motorized vehicles or racing bikes will be allowed. land preparation should begin this fall and
construction is expected to be completed in spring 2009.
tion (flRPF). "We are dme to $2.5 million
of our $3 million goal. les very exciting that
many people who have never donated to a
project on the Island have participated in
this venture."
The Fishers Island Development Corp.
(FIDCO) in 2001 established F1RPF, a not-
for-pront emity separate and distinct from
FIDCO, for the purpose of consrructing, op-
erating and maimaining the path. The FIR-
PF board has new young members who have
energized [his project, pa([icularly because of
their concern for the safety of pedesuians and
bicyclists on the busy Eas[ End road.
Fund-raising received a major boost
in August 2007 when three Island families
wge[her made a $1 million matching chal-
lenge to the community. From the outset,
the FIRPF and FlDCO boards have said that
the path would be financed emirely through
privare donations, and would become a re-
ality only if FlRPF was granted 501(c)(3)
status, so contributions to construction and
maintenance could be tax deductible.
Receiving 501 (c)(3) status and helping
the community understand what it means
in terms of "public" use of the path have
been major challenges for FIRPF.
The Internal Revenue Service (lRS)
tioning the legaliry of the 501 (c) (3) desig-
nation. Staff writer Kenton Robinson wrote
that Fishers Island's summer residents did
not meet [he qualifications of "the poor, the
distressed, or the underprivileged," to whom
the 501 (c)(3) designation is to be granted.
In response to the article, former FI D-
ca President Peter Crisp said at the rime,
"There are hundreds and hundreds of spe-
cial purpose charities fin projects such as
village squares and nature preserves. We are
no differem from [hose organizations that
have received [hat consideration."
To make cenain that the grant of tax-
exempt status was proper, and to remove
any doubt, FlRPF Secretary David Strupp
wrme a letter to the IRS requesting confir-
mation of FIRPF's 501 (c)(3) status. In the
meantime, the New Haven office of the IRS
began a formal nine-month audit of FIRPF
in response to the column in The Day.
The IRS concluded its audit in August
2006 and confirmed its previous decision.
"In my letter and during a subsequent visit
to the Island by all IRS agent, FIRPF made
it abundantly dear that the path would not
be open (0 rhe general public but only to
Island residems and residents of South old,"
Mr. Strupp said.
The entire length of the path is on
property owned by FIDCO or the museum
Land Trust, Mr. McGillian said. About
one-nfth of the path does not follow the
main road. The planned route leaves the
main road at "Four Corners", turning nonh
around Barlow Pond and then east umil it
returns to [he main road, crossing it from
nonh to south just after the driving range.
"From Four Corners to its return to
the main road, the path will share the little
traveled road around Barlow Pond," Mr.
McGillian said. "That road will not be wid-
ened, but its surface will be hardened to re-
move the ruts.
"With regard to concerns about liabil-
ity, [he same liability exists as it always has
for FlDCO roads:.
To reduce overall costs, construction of
the path has been planned to coincide with
the resurfacing and, in some places, realign-
ment of the main road to correct poor sight
lines. FIRPF expects to have its construc-
tion plans and specincations in place by this
summer, when it will accept bids. Construc-
tion is slated to begin this fall.
Gatehouse statistics April-Sept. 2007:
90,297 vehicle trips, 2460 bicyclists and
1617 walker/joggers.
4 Fisher~' l.\'lalld Gazette. Will/er 2008
KTKI Adjusts to Shifting GloLal <:onditions
Summer resident Pat Kibbe val-
ues her husband and five children
above all else. But she has a "baby"
roo, one she has nurtured for 22 years: Kids
to Kids International (KTKI), a program
that provides an opportunity for communi-
cation among children from many nations
through student-created picture books.
The 1990s were glory days. Children
from elementary schools across the United
States, including the Fishers Island School,
drew pictllres about their lives. The lami-
nated pictures were made into books and
packaged with crayons and blank paper for
children, many in refugee camps, who then
drew their own pictures.
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. These rare drawings, now in Pat Kibbe's possession, were created by 19. and lO-year-old ex-
Sudanese soldiers in a camp for Darfur refugees in Chad. KTKI sent the art supplies used by the
young men to express their helplessness and despair.
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"We would bring boxes of student
picture books and drawing supplies to the
United Nations in New York," Mrs. Kibbe
said. "They'd zip them up the elevator, and
the boxes would be in Africa within days-
no charge.
"We were the first group to make con-
tact with the Lost Boys of Sudan in Camp
Kakuma, Kenya. They sat with the un-
opened picture books on their laps. They
didn't open them, since they'd never been
given gifts hefore."
KTKI worked closely with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHRC) in those days, when UNHCR
was the major transportation link between
KTKI and African nations. At the same
time, Mrs. Kibbe developed so many oth-
er contacts that KTKI "Friendship Boxes"
have been sent to over 50 countries on five
continents.
"Everything changed drastically after
9/11," Mrs. Kibbe said. "We now have de-
veloped other avenues and are partnering
with a number of non-profits, because UN-
HeR has no money, and some people are
less willing to help us because of the Iraq
war. Every UN person I worked with is no
longer working, except one in Rwanda. It's
the attitude of the Bush administration. We
don't support the UN as we should, either
morally or financially."
Shipping has also become a problem.
For security reasons, packages formerly
shipped by sea, must now go by air, for
triple the price, with restrictions on pack-
age content. KTKI boxes are currently de-
livered through U.S. Army contacts and by
KTKI "ambassadors," travelers who offer to
deliver boxes when their destinations match
KTKJ's plans. Last December (2007), "am-
bassadors" carried boxes to India, Thailand,
Philippines, Kenya and Guatemala. This
year, KTKI plans to focus on Africa, China
and the Middle East.
\Vhile its focus is international, KTKI
saw a desperate need in the U.S. after the
devastation from Hurricane Karrina. In
2006, KTKI sent picture books and educa-
tional supplies to over 40 schools in Loui-
siana and Mississippi and adopted the first
school to reopen in New Orleans.
In recent years, KTKI has shifted from
in-school to after school programs, since ex-
tra class rime has been given to "No Child
Continued on pilge 40
1HIller 2008.Fisher.~ Island Gazelle 5
Pat KiLLe: Multiple Careers, Multiple SUl:l:esses
Pat Kibbe, actress, author, activist,
is an elfin woman with blond hair
and oversized glasses who speaks
with breathless resolve. She barely com-
pletes one thought before another comes
rumbling forth.
Her first
view of Fishers
Island over 40
years ago was
disappointing:
a collection
of rundown,
abandoned
fort buildings.
Within days,
however, the Kibbes had a major change of
heart and bought the last available house on
Officers Row, the one with not one window
in it and a bathtub on the front lawn.
Challenges and inconveniences are not
barriers to this woman who through the
years has had a variety of careers, anyone
of which by itself would be considered an
achievement.
Patricia Hosley, as she is known pro-
fessionally, was a regular on the roster of
old-time radio shows from the late 1940s
to the early 1960s. She began her career on
Broadway, segued into radio and television,
did commercials, raised five children with
her husband, and then became a best-selling
children's author, which led to her establish-
ing Kids to Kids International (KTKI) in
1987. [See story on page 4]
These days, Mrs. Kibbe's past is catch-
ing up with her-but in a good way. Her
children's books, published in rhe early
1980s and based on her own family experi-
ences, have been reprinted, and she is now
sought out as a rich resource for old-time
radio historians.
Some may call hers a charmed life, but
it was orchestrated with hard work, talent
and perse-
verance. As
a child, Mrs.
Kibbe lived
in Wilming-
ton, Del. but
moved with
her family to
Southwick,
Mass. when
Old Time Radio
Convention 1999.
On the Honeymooners,
1956.
Continued on page 4/
Island Hard~are, XM Beac::on
"...Rerurn with us now to those thrill-
ing days of yesteryear. From out of the past
come the thundering hoofbeats of the grcat
horse Silvcr! The Lone Ranger rides again!"
Readers of a certain age-or recent pa-
trons of Island Hardware-will recognize
these words, each one a gentle jolt of nos-
talgia.
Store manager Alan Thibodeau and as-
sistant manager Maynard Banks are radio
fans, although they are too young to have
listened to the original broadca.<;ts of (heir
favorite shows. They set up an XM Radio
franchise at (he store just so they could have
24/7 access to XM.
If (hcre is ever a delay in the checkout
line, customers arc mollified by the sounds
of Guns1noke, jack Benny or johnny Do/wr.
"We enjoy old~timc radio stories and
also listen to 1940s music. They run old
commercials that teach us history of the era:
sales of war bonds, the cost of meat and lack
ofburrer," Mr. Thibodeau said.
"Sometimes when we ask if we can
help customers standing in the aisles, (hey
Continued 011 page 40
. XM Radio is a constant companion to patrons of Island Hardware. (I-r) Assistant manager
Maynard Banks, and his eight~yea....old chocolate cocker spaniel Charlie, and manager Alan
Thibodeau.
6 Fishen Islalld Gazette-Winter 2(}(}8
RatJerly/Ri<:e OLser'Valory a Ba<:L:yard Ge......
by John Briggs
The Rice Observatory was built and
equipped like a well-outlitted col-
lege facility of its era. The telescope
is housed under a large dome and stands
abour 16 feet tall when pointed at zenith.
A chart room, adjacent to the dome, served
as a reference library, study and storage for
larger accessories like the Fecker spectro-
graph. It also doubled for photographic
development and timekeeping via a special
observatory dock.
The telescope itselfis a grand mechani-
cal sculpture centered in the dome room.
Visitors enter by passing through the chan
room, up several stairs to the telescope level,
and through a lovely banister and gate.
The first curiosity is a large hand-
wheel, reminiscent of a helm, on the facing
side of the telescope's imposing cast-iron
pillar. Another is where the dome rests on
large iron wheels at the top of the cylindrical
wall-the circular rail is like a train track.
Less imposing but equally curious is an odd
furnishing, a large rolling ladder with fold-
ing stairs. This "observing ladder" was care-
fully designed for an astronomer's comfort
when working behind the telescope.
The massive telescope is perfectly bal-
anced on two axles, and when undamped,
it generally moves at a finger's touch. The
axles are called by their celestial coordinates,
"hour angle" and "declination." Through
them the telescope can be pointed anywhere
in the sky. (The helm-like wheel helps for
pointing near the north celestial pole,
where a user has no leverage.) The essential
mounting style is called "German equato-
rial" and dates to Joseph Fraunhofer in the
early 1800s.
The hoUt axle is aligned patalld in
space to the Earth's axis of rotation. The
reason for this is that electric slow-motion
can be engaged through the axle to keep any
celestial object cemered-even though the
Earth is turning underneath. Without this
"clock drive," targets can drift our of sight
in a matter of seconds, and long-exposure
photography is impossihle.
After uncovering the main lens and
activating the clock-drive motion, an as-
tronomer opens the dome shutter manually
via a loop of rope hanging from the shutter
mechanism. A large aperture opens side-
ways, exposing the sky from the base of the
dome to up past zenith, allowing a view at
any altitude.A pair of push-button switches
rotate the dome with a rumble to the left
or right. Thus the whole sky is available
to the telescope. But unlike some cartoon
drawings, the telescope never actually proj-
ects our from the dome opening. That's a
popular misconception. Instead, starlight
rains through the open dome and into the
telescope.
. (below) Bernard Rafferty, who died in 1997,
outside the observatory built by his late wife's
grandfather, Edwin W. Rice Jr., circa 1930.The
observatory is part of the lore of amateur
astronomers in the United States for the
unparalleled quality of the facility and its
equipment.
EDWIN W. RICE, JR
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. John Briggs's son Nicholas stands witness to the arrival, from Columbia University, of Lewis M.
Rutherfurd's (1816.1892) I)-inch refractor telescope that was completed in 1868. Mr. Rutherfurd,
whose family has summered on Fishers Island for over SO years, was known for a time as the
greatest lunar photographer in the world. Mr. Briggs has owned the refractor for five years and
hopes someday to see it in a permanent setting where it will be preserved and appreciated.
Willler 2008- Fisher.~ Island Gazette 7
...W'itL Antique T eles~ope Se~ond-to-None
Among Fishers Island's unexpected
treasures is the Rice Observatory,
built circa 1930 by the late Cher-
ry Rafferty's grandfathet Edwin W. Rice Jr.
Untouched since Mr. Rice's death in 1935,
it remains today one of the loveliest
private observatories in the United
States.
Mrs. Rafferty was very protective
of the facility, known on fishers Is-
land as the Rafferty Observatory, and
it saw little use through the years. The
Raffertys opened it in 1981, however,
for John Briggs, a nationally recog-
nized amateur astronomer and past
president of the Antique Telescope
Society.
Mr. Briggs, who is currently fac-
ulty astronomer at Clay Science Cen-
ter of Dexter & Southfield Schools in
Brookline, Mass., speaks of the obser-
vatory with a mix of exuberance and
reverence:
"Visiting the Rice Observatory
is like entering an astronomical time
machine. One might compare the
telescope to a grand old schooner.
While modern research instruments
operate like industrial robots, the
Rice telcscope requires someone at
,he helm,
"Using it is like sailing a tall ship
in an era of supertankers. A mod-
ern astrophysicist, in fact, typically
would not know how to point iL Bur
the aesthetic experience of using the
old telescope-which still features
such clear views-remains priceless
and absolutely grand."
The Rice Observatory is the stuff of
legend within the amateur astronomy com-
munity. and Mr. Briggs is a self-proclaimed
zealot. He tracked down the Raffertys in
1981 after sending a letter of interest to
"Rice Observatory, Fishers Island NY."
By the mid-1980s, through a fortunate
chain of cvems unrelated to the Raffertys.
Mr. Briggs took possession of the observa-
tory's original 8.7S-inch refractor. which he
refurbished and housed in his own backyard
facility, Bogsucker Observatory in Westport
Point, Mass.
("Refractor" means that the instrument
uses a lens system, rather than a mirror, as
the main light-gathering device.)
Edwin W RiceJr., then honorary chair-
man of the board of General Electric Co.,
was an amateur astronomer who built the
Island observatory fi)r his retirement years.
He augmented the facility with an impres-
sivc collection of finely toolcd accessories
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likely the overall building. But it was com-
paratively rickety by astronomical standards.
"Consequently, Mr. Rice had his large lens
(the front end of the telescope tube) re-
mounted by machine-tool makers Warner
& Swasey. who had built the superb
mounting for the Yerkes telescope as
well as many other famous research
instruments. The resulting Lundin/
W&S combination at the Rice Ob-
servatory is second-to-none in the
world for an instrumcnt of its size."
Mr. Briggs is endlessly fascinated
and thrilled by the mechanical dc-
tails of the observatory and its link
to the romance of astronomy before
computer-driven telescopes became
the norm. In the end. however, "the
telescope was designed for looking
through. The views it creates are what
impress most." he said.
"It's trivial to jump sight from
the moon, at about 200,000 miles;
to a planet. some 1 00,000,000 miles
away; to a brilliant galactic star clus-
ter, at some hundred trillion miles; or
finally to another entire galaxy. light
years away. Yet. in the case of galaxies
seen from Rice Observatory, we must
count light years by millions, right
from the start!"
After completing the construc-
tion and outfitting of his observatory,
it is not difficult to picture Mr. Rice
walking the few steps from the from
door of his East End home to the
small chart room north of the dome
and to the telescope beyond.
"There's a log book. a star atlas with
Mr. Rice's handwritten notes, still sitting on
a shelf in the chart room," Mr. Briggs said.
"I thumbed through it and easily recognized
him looking at objects. doing calculations
and charting coordinates."
A stream of visitors passed through
the chart room into the observatory in July.
2003. when the Raffertys opened the facil-
ity for Nature Days' "Starry. Starry Night"
program. Mr. Briggs greased the bearings,
cleaned the lenses and led visitors to the
Milky Way,
"The Fishers Island sky remains dark
enough to be a natural resource as impor-
tant for appreciation and conservation
[restricting ambient light] as any other on
the Island." Mr. Briggs said.
. To measur-e the distances of galaxies viewed fr-om the tele-
scope at Rice Observatory, astronomers start counting in the
millions of light years. John Briggs Photo
that included a Howard astronomical clock;
a Gaertner pholOgraphic plate camera; a
combination prism and grating spectro-
graph by Fecker; and a visual spectroscope
and eyepiece set by Rausch & Lomb.
"For backyard astronomy, the Rice Ob-
servatory is extraordinary," Mr. Briggs said.
"The original 8.75-inch refractor was built
by C. A, Robert Lundin, who. with his fa-
ther Carl. had made the world's largest and
most famous lens telescope, the 40-inch Yer-
kes refractor at the Universiry of Chicago.
"Thc S.7S-inch lens was soon up-
graded to a 10.S-inch. At first, the larger
lens was positioncd on the original cast-iron
pillar and clock-driven mounting designed
by Lundin's collaborator, Roland W. Scllew,
who also designed the observatory dome and
8 Fisher,\' Islalld Gazelle. Willter 2008
,,-,jI~
. There were so many fish in the sea last summer that brothers (I-r) Bob & James Rogers had no trouble reeling in striped bass and a bluefish at
Race Point during their lunch hour July 13,2007. They said a friend in a rowboat had caught a 45-lb. striper the previous night off South Beach after
being pulled (with two friends) by the striper for a "Nantucket Sleigh Ride"!
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Capsize T ea~Les I...porlanflesson ALouf PFDs
Tom McCance and his wife Serita
rraveled to Maine last summer, bur
all they could think about were life
jackets, which they subsequently bought in
Marion, Mass.
Understandable, since Mr. McCance,
73, and two crew members-Daniel Her-
rick, nearly 87, and Penni Sharp-capsized
jUst north of the Rocky Ledge dock dur-
ing a El. Yacht Club (FrYe) Bullseye race
July 15, 2007. Although rhere were a few
life jackets (also known as PFDs-Personal
Flotation Devices) stored on the boat, nei-
ther the captain nor the crew were wearing
them.
The rescue went smoothly, although
the Bullseye ultimately sank to the bottom
in 50 feet of water.
"The wind was blowing 18.20 knots,
and there was a 1- to 1.S-knot current," said
Mr. McCance, who was sailing Jim Thomp-
son's Bullseye, Osprey. "It was a fun race. We
were having a wonderful time and were, at
the moment of our demise, in first place."
There was a "minor port starboard
brush" when the forestay of David Burn-
ham's Bullseye Querida briefly caught the
boom of Ospreys mainsheet tackle. "It was a
puff of wind that pushed us over," Mr. Mc-
Cance said. "Once the boat was submerged,
the water just poured in. The cockpit was
full of water but still afloat. Osprey sank a bit
and then righted itself and sat like a bath-
tub.
"I wam to make special note of David
Burnham's fantastic sportsmanship. We had
rhe right-of.way. The 'brush' was not in.
tentional. It was an act of God that made
this happen. David immediately dropped
anchor, and his son Paul, an excellent sea-
man, jumped into the water and swam to
our boat to offer assistance.
"Paul's calm demeanor and expertise
were an important part of the relaxed nature
of our elegant capsize. We were in the water,
holding onto Osprey, for about 20 minutes
and were as cheerful as if it had been the
finish line. We were entirely upbeat and had
time to take it in and understand what was
happening.
"Penni said, 'I think the boat is going
to go down.' And I had the classic response:
"Bullseyes can't sink, which was temporarily
crue!"
Former rIYC cOlllmodore John Burn-
ham, race committee for the day, witnessed
the capsize and sped to the scene, while
he radioed FIYC for assistance. He arrived
within six or seven minutes and saw Osprey
drifting very close to the rocks on shore.
Mr. Burnham jumped Onto the bow of
Osprey to attach a dock line, but the bow
immediately began to sink, so he jumped
back onro the committee boat Kachina.
After multiple altempts to attach a towline,
which kept breaking free, he pulled the
Bullseye into deepcr water alongside Kachi-
na and dropped Kachinas anchor.
Meanwhile George Cook had come
out in his small motorboat and delivered life
jackets from Kachina to Mr. McCance and
Mr. Herrick. (Mrs. Sharp had stowed her
grandson's PFD onboard, and as it floated
off the boat, she hooked her arm through
it.) After Mrs. Sharp boarded Kachina, the
towline came free again, but she tossed the
line to Paul who secured it to Osprey.
Additional help came from a kayaker
named Jack, a Clay Poim residem, who
paddled out and was able to ferry rhe two
remaining crew members to Kachina. Paul
Burnham stayed with Osprey, but just as
Mr. McCance was boarding Kachina, the
towline caughr on a lobster pot Roat, which
caused the Bullseye to go bow down, righr
to the bottom.
It wasn't long, however, before Paul
Burnham was aboard Kachina, the capsized
sailors were in the FIYC launch headed to
the yacht club with FIYC Marine Manager
John Evans, and John Burnham had blown
up his last inflatable racing buoy to mark
Ospreys location.
Back at the yacht club, the crew was
soaking wet, their sunglasses still on their
noses and their loose moccasins still on their
feet. "John Evans quickly had TowBoat/US
on the phone," Mr. McCance said. "My
next call was an epic message left on Jim
Thompson's answering machine.
"The salvage skipper arrived outfitted
like the pilot of a 747, in a crisp white shirt
and hat, with apparatus ar the stern of his
boat. He determined that he needed a diver,
who met our minor flotilla off Clay Point.
"The diver disappeared into the watcr
at the buoy and reappeared 20 minutes lat-
Com/mud on page 50
. Tom McCance and crew were racing Jim Thompson's Bullseye, Osprey (foreground, after sal.
vage) July 15,2007, when it capsized and sank off Clay Point. For his birthday last November, Mr.
McCance's wife Serita bought him Stewart Cutler's Bullseye, Arrow (dark hull behind Osprey),
previously owned by Marty Gibbs. Mr. McCance has renamed the boat Pippa, which is what he
calls his wife, who said, "The first thing we do is get life jackets!"
1 0 Fisher,~ /.~land Gazette. Winter 2008
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GPS Hils HOlDe for Professional HoLLyisl
One summer morning, GeofT
Chester waited patiently at the
edge of the Hay Harbor Club
golf course's first fairway as two golfers
played the hole and approached the small
rise above the first green. He then walked to
the middle of the fairway, and hunched over
a large rock.
Since there were no Imminent eagles
or birdies at risk, the golfers interrupted
their game and approached Mr. Chester,
who identified himself and his object of
interest. It was a bronze marker embedded
in the rock, placed there in 1932 as part of
a massive U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
project.
Mr. Chester, 53, of AJexandria, Va.
grew up summering on Fishers Island. He
was using coordinates from his handheld
GPS (Global Positioning System) to mark
the location of the bronze benchmark (a po-
sition marker for surveying).
"G PS receivers became available to us
mere mortals May 1, 2000, when Pres idem
Clinton directed that the U.S no longer
imeIHionally degrade the G PS signal for
civilian use," Mr. Chester said. "One can
now determine, under favorable conditions,
one's position on the earth to a precision of
less than 30 feet.
"Many of us use this technolob'Y to play
a sort ofinrernational game known as 'Geo-
caching' [see www.geocaching.com]. Usual-
ly we follow coordinates to small containers
hidden in or near interesting places, swap
small trinkets, and sign a logbook.
"Anmher aspect or this 'sport', how-
ever, is to locate National Geodetic Survey
(NGS) benchmarks, which were used hy
surveyors to determine heights, property
lines, ete. berore the GPS era.
"Although many or them don't exist
anymore (like the Camp Tabor barn cupola,
the chimney on the old F.1. Club clubhouse
and the gas storage tank on the jetty at Sil-
ver Eel Cove), there are still loads of these
benchmarks on Fishers Island, and the po-
sitions of the extant markers aren't known
with 3D-root accuracy, sinct: tht:y have been
converted from old data reference systems
and measured from topographic maps.
"So I'm trying to obtain GPS-based
positions ror these reatures, or report the
destroyed ones to the NGS, so NGS can
update its rccords. For instance, the one on
the golr course isn't evcn in the 'modern' da-
. (top) GeoffChester,who grew up summering on Fishers Island, is happily obsessed with his GPS
(Global Positioning System) receiver. He used GPS to mark the coordinates of the U.S. Coast
and Geodetic Survey marker embedded, since 1932, in a rock in the middle of the first fairway of
the Hay Harbor Club golf course. . (below) GPS receiver next to benchmark in rock.
tabase because its position was poorly mea-
sured whcn it was put in place.
"There's another bcnchmark at the
southwest corner or the village green whose
published position puts it in the veterans'
monument on the other side! That is a
big error. I reported its 'new' position, so it
could be corrected.
"Benchmarking was part or Frank-
lin Roosevelt's public works program. The
government seIH oU( armies of people with
surveying rools to determine positions for
reference markers to be used as benchmarks
for surveying.
"Thc last complete survey of bench-
marks on Fishers Island was in 1954. There
was a serics of new benchmarks installed
in 1972, when the Navy was working with
submarine tracking on Mt. Prospect. Wil-
derness Point, Isabella and ChOCOIllOUIH
still have old lookout spots.
"Markers have historic significance.
They can also be used to measure shoreline
erosion, and, theoretically, to check the drift
of contincntal plates (Hawaii moving away
from Alaska, for example). Everything is ref-
erenced. It is a col1triburion to the general
body of knowledge rhat is available to the
public. I have the rime, tht.: t.:quipmel1t and
the interest."
Mr. Chester is not the usual GPS hob-
byist, however. In fact, there are few like him,
because he works as public affairs officer for
tht.: U.S. Naval Obscrvarory in Washington,
D.C., which is responsible for determining
the exact time through observation or celes~
tial objects. (His gn:at-grandfather was su-
perintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory
from 1902-06, and in the 1870s-80s, was
COlITilllled 011 page 39
12 Fishers Island Gazette. Winter 2008
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"'illter ]OOS-Fishers I.~lalld Ga:.eue 13
Feral Cats Flourislted at Hedge Fislt Mar~et
Thelma Hedge Shaw, who wrote the ''3
Gulls" story in the Summer 2006 issue of the
Gazette, returns with a slice of mid-2(}h cen-
tury life on Fishers Is/and.
by Thelma Hedge Shaw
When my grandfather Ed-
mund opened Hedge's Fish
Matker in the 1940.1, little
did he expect that within 20 years he would
be hosting a deluxe soup kitchen for aban-
doned cats.
By the 1960.1 and 1970.1, the fish mar-
ket was in its heyday, and there was plemy
of extra work for a seven-year.old girl dur-
ing the summer.
Although 1 loved "working" at rhe fish
market, one of my least favorite chores at
the end of each day was hauling leftover fish
pans that hadn't been thrown off the dock
or hand fed to the residem sea gulls. I'd lug
an old metal bucket of fish tails, heads and
other unidentifiable pans up the hill to my
grandparems' house, where my parems and
I lived at the time.
Once I had deposited the bucket in-
side, my grandmother Bertha would dump
its contents into an old cast iron pot that she
kept under the kitchen sink. She mixed rhe
fish remains with condensed canned milk
and butter and simmered it for an hour on
the gas stove.
The result was a gourmet brew for at
least 20 feral cars who lived ar rhe fish mar-
ker. Thc population usually peaked afrcr
labor Day weekend, when sadly, many cats
were dropped off ar the market or aban-
doned as summer families left the Island.
Once the fish stew was sufficienrly
. Grey Boy strikes a dignified pose in spite of
a broken leg in a tongue depressor cast.
simmered, my leasr favorite chore bccame
my favorite. Grandmother Bertha would
remove the pot from rhe stove and pour its
chunky contents into two old black glass
Thermos botrles. I remember well the daily
warning not to drop them!
Carcfully cradling thc bottles, I walkcd
back down the hill to the fish market, al-
ways receiving thc grandest welcome from
the "fish market cats" when I arrived. As I
began to fiB the old tin pie plates that my
grandfather kepr under the marker sink, the
cats rubbed up against my legs and purred
as if I were their queen. They always ate ev-
ery bite.
What a sight ro see: 15-20 contented
cats lounging among the lobster pots and
bait barrels. It was this sight, plus the arrival
of kittens in the spring, that led to a number
of adoptions by summer residents who took
the cars ofT-Island.
My grandmother often received Christ-
mas cards from the Whimeys, duPonts and
Firestones, who enclosed pictures of their
adopted "market cats."
. . .
Was there ever a doubt that I would
bccome deeply attached [0 these cats? Each
one had a name. Some were Island names
like Isabella, Sandy and Fishy, whilc others
had names like Blackie, Snowball and Grey
Boy.
Grey Boy was a beautiful and most
affectionate male grey and white cat. He
became king of both the market and the
house. (Ar any given time, six to eight cats
would discover that life was bettcr at Bertha
and Edmund's house up on the hill.)
Every day, Grey Boy would travel be-
tween rhe house and the market. He slept
on my bed at night, so we became the best
of friends. He was also my mother Marga-
ret's favorite cat.
When I was about eight or nine, Grey
Boy broke his leg. He usually spcnt most
of his time at the house and was notorious
for climbing trees and sitting at the end
of branches, where he could swat at pass-
ing birds. One summer day, through either
carelessness or a misstep, he came crashing
to the ground in a howling heap.
fortunately, I was nearby and ran to
him. I picked up the whimpering cat, whose
front leg was not in its normal position. By
Cotltinued 011 page 33
. Grandmother Bertha and grandfather Ed.
mund Hedge had plenty of affection to spare for
the more than 20 feral cats that lived at the fish
market on Hedge Street. Bertha made fish stew
daily for the cats from leftover fish parts.
14 FM/ers Is/a"d GaZl'lte. \Hiller ]008
Walter F. Torrance Jr.
Walter France Torrance Jr. of South-
bury, Conn. died May 3, 2007 while on a
cycling tour in Croatia. He was 79.
Mr. Torrance's family has had a house
on West Harbor sincr the 1880s, making it
one of the oldest houses. continuously oc-
cupied by one family. on Fishers Island.
o
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WALTER F, TORRANCE JR.
The house was built by Mr. Torrance's
great-grandfather David Torrance, Chief
Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Justice Torrance bought the land from
George W. Roberts, who worked at the
Connecticut State House and had heatd of
Fishers Island through the Hedge family in
Middletown, Conn.
Born July 12, 1927 in Waterbury,
Conn., Mr. Totrance was the son ofWalrer
F. Torrance and Harriet Gager Torrance. He
graduated from Phillips Academy Andover
in 1944; Yale University in 1948, during
which years he also served in rhe U.S. Army
Air Force; and Yale Law School in 1951.
He joined the Waterbury law firm of Car-
mody and Torrance, LLP after law school,
and in 1953 moved to Woodbury. Conn"
where he lived until 1985, when he moved
to South bury.
Mr. Torrance joined Northeast Utilities
in 1978 and retired in 1992 as senior vice-
pn:sideIH. secretary and general counsel. and
director of its subsidiaries. He then returned
to Carmody and Torrance and served, most
recently, in an of-counsel capacity.
As a child. Mr. Torrance spent many
summers on Fishers Island with his grand-
parents. parents and younger brother Ted.
His grear-uncles James France Torrance and
James Lindsay France also had houses on
the Island on Hedge Street.
Mr. Torrance remembered having
lunch with his grandfather, Dr. Walter Scott
Torrance, who always wore a coat and tie,
before they went to the parade grounds to
watch the troops. At the time, Mr. Torrance
played with Kiki (Robens) Hale Arnold,
and his cousins Jimmy Walters and Jacque-
line Stevens.
The names of Mr. Torrance's father,
Walter E Torrance Sr. and uncle, David
Newell Torrance, are on (he plaque, com-
memorating W\VI service. on the rock at
the north end of the village green.
Mr. Torrance lived life to the fullest. He
was an avid hiker. skier. biker and traveler.
He especially enjoyed biking the length of
Fishers Island. He and his wife Ellen trav-
eled all over the world, and each year spent
several months skiing in Colorado. His
family misses his enthusiasm, wit, kindness,
keen legal mind. and love for his wife and
children.
Mr. Torrance is survived by his wife El-
len (Ingraham) Torrance; three daughters,
Lucie Todd Turrentine, of New Canaan,
Conn., l\1artha E. Torrance. of Seekonk.
Mass. and Sarah G. Torrance of Boston
Mass.; a son, Stephen H. Torrance, of
Lancaster, Pa.; their mother. Lucie N. Tor-
rance of South bury, Conn.; his hrother, Ted
Torrance, of Barrington, R.l.; nine grand-
children; seven stepchildren. and 20 step-
grandchildren.
Anne Washington Kinsolving Talbott, 64
Anne Washington Kinsolving Talbott
of Old Lyme, Conn. died peacefully at
home Sept. 24, 2007 after a courageous 11-
month battle with cancer. She was 64.
Born Nov. 30,1942 in Princeton, N.J"
Mrs. Talbott was the daughter of Rev. Ar-
thur Lee Kinsolving and Mary Kemp Blag-
den Kinsolving. The Kinsolving family has
a long history on Fishers Island. Both Mrs.
Talbott's father and grandfather were sum-
mer rectors at St. John's Episcopal Church
for a total of more than 50 years. Mrs.
Talbott's father retired from that position in
1963.
Mrs. Talbott grew up in New York City.
where she attended the Chapin School. and
graduated from Foxcroft School in Virgin.
ia. where she was a proud "Hound" in the
school's intramural program and captain of
the drill team.
She Jttendr.:d Smith College and
worked in London before marrying John
Talbott, with whom she spent 42 wonderful
and adventurous years living in Texas, Cali-
fornia, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. and
Connecticut as well as Fishers Island.
In 1985, Mrs. Talbott earned a llA in
Russian Studies from Eckerd College in
St. Petersburg. Fla. and traveled numerous
times to Russia. She held varied positions
during her professional career, includ-
ing college advisor at The Wehh School. a
private boarding school in Tennessee; and
recruitment specialist for IRG. Ltd.. a con-
sulting firm that recruits specialists for over-
seas missions.
Mrs. Talbott served on many boards
and participated in a variety of groups and
organizations, including the Foxcroft Board
of Trustees and the Library Board of Rob-
Conrillued 011 page 15
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ANNE TALHOTT
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mm:mm!!!
Caroline Cleveland
Caroline "Lynn" Cleveland of Green-
wich, Conn. died Sept. 15, 2007 at
Greenwich Hospital. She was 94 and had
summered on Fishers Island since the mid-
1940s.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Cleve-
land owned numerous properties in the
Silver Eel Pond and fon area, including the
brick building berween the new community
center and the Fishers Island Ferry freight
building.
Mrs. Cleveland was an artist with a
unique aesthetic vision, according (0 num-
erous admirers. She looked at the world in
her own inexplicable fashion. packing her
basement with detritus that she redefined
as folk an and award-winning Aoral ar-
rangements that were more sculpture than
flower.
With a Japanese influence. she es-
chewed mass arrangements filled with flow-
ers and often used only one flower Of leaf
in Concert with items as varied as slate roof
tiles, metal tree guards, cobblestones and
coal. Mrs. Cleveland was a single-minded
competitor, who worked alone, refining and
practicing her arrangements for monrhs be-
fore a competition, all the while finding rhe
exact duplicate flowers for each attempt.
One person who had an idea of how she
saw things was her husband Don, who died
in 2000. She would see a knot in J tree, and
he would take his chain saw, with shaking
hands in later years, cut our the knot and
carve it to her specifications. They were a
team. He adored her and for the more than
61 years that they were married, he carried
the same picture of her in his waller.
Born in Stanronsberg, N.C., Mrs.
Cleveland was the daughter of Hady and
Minnie Evans Coley. Mr. Coley was a
farmer who died when his daughter was 18
months old. As a teenager, Mrs. Cleveland
particularly enjoyed painting and enrolled
in an arts correspondence course.
Mrs. Cleveland gtaduated from the
University of North Carolina with a teach-
ing degree in home economics and science.
She won a hat design contest in college,
which caught the eye of the dean, who ar-
ranged for her to work at B. Altman & Co.
[deparrment srote] in New York City. While
running a gift shop in the store, she began
modeling hats. Eventually, she left that joh
Utltter ZOOS-Fishers /.~lalld (ia:.ette 15
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CAROLINE & DONALD CLEVELAND
to model for Lucky Strike [tobacco] adver-
tisements,
The Clevelands met at a party in
Greenwich and in 1939 married in New
York City, where they lived for a rime. After
Mr. Cleveland's military service in \Xf\VII,
they moved to Greenwich and began think-
ing about summering on Fishers Island.
The Clevelands' first residence on Fish-
ers was a rental house above the Duck Pond,
but later they bought one of the mansion
houses. In 1964, they purchased the brick
pump house on the east side of Silver Eel
Pond and transformed it into their summer
home, the Pump House, with its three-story
wood rower and familiar exterior wooden
sculpture. The Clevelands were members of
both rhe Hay Harbor Club and the Fishers
Island Club.
Mrs. Cleveland twice won the cov-
eted Fenwick Medal, the top Roral arrang-
ing prize awarded by the Garden Club of
America (GCA). She was a GCA member, a
national accredited flower arranging judge,
and a member and past presidenr of [he
Green Fingers Garden Club of Greenwich.
She also lectured nationally and inrerna.
tionally on Rower arranging.
Friends and family agree that Mrs.
Cleveland was one-of-a-kind. Although
her creative spirit was elusive to others, she
never wavered in her ability (0 coax beauty
our of everything she saw.
Mrs. Cleveland is survived by three
sons, Don, Clem and Tom, and two grand-
children, Beth and Patrick.
Memorial contributions may be sent to
the Henry L. Ferguson Museum, PO Box
554, Fishers Island, New York 06390.
Anne Talbott
COl/tinufd from ptlg~ /4
crtson County, Tenn. In recent years, one of
her great joys was participating in the choir
at Sr. Ann's Episcopal Church in Old Lyme,
where she and her husband worshipped.
In addition (0 spending time wirh
family and friends, Mrs. Talbott's favorite
pastimes were wandering in the woods and
along heaches with her corgi Lincoln and
working in her numerous gardens.
Mrs. Talbott is survived by her husband,
Rev. John Talbou; rhree daughters, Thayer
Talbon, Kemp Hoversten and Polly Talbott;
a granddaughter, Wren Talbon Hoversten; a
brother, Augustus B. Kinsolving, and many
cousins, friends and loved ones.
Memorial contributions may be sent
to Foxcroft School, PO Box 5555, Middle-
burg VA 20118 Ot Middlesex Hospice and
Palliative Care, 28 Crescent St, Middletown
CT 06457.
~
16 Fi.~"er.\'l.da"d Gazette- Wi"ter 2008
mm!!!!I!
Lawrence F. Calahan
Lawrence Fox Calahan of Darien,
Conn. died July 20, 2007 of a brain tumor.
He was 47.
Mr. Calahan had summered on Fish-
ers Island with his family for more than 20
years. He was an ardent admirer of Fishers,
in part because it afforded him the oppor-
tlmity to spend relaxed, unstructured time
with Lauren, his wife of 22 years, and their
four children, Cameron, Christopher, Zach-
ary and we.
Mr. Calahan was born in Grand Rap-
ids. Mich. and was raised there and abroad.
He graduated from Yale University in 1982
and Columbia Business School in 1988. He
lived in a big house full of kids, animals, arts
and crafts projects, singing, drums, guitars,
science experiments and lots of laughter.
The Calahans' open door policy guaranteed
a constantly shifting and ever-expanding
circle of friends, young and old, at all times
of day. whether in Connecticut or during
their stint in Dedham, Mass.
When Mr. Calahan became ill, the
welcome mat was kept our for visitors un-
rilthe very end. Mr. Calahan deeply valued
his friendships, and with Lauren's support,
he was able to stay connected to those who
cared about him most.
Mr. Calahan's attachment to Fishers
Island grew over the years as he became
acquainted with all of its possibilities. He
could be found on the tennis courts almost
daily with at least one of his children, out 011
the water in their motor boat, madly cycling
the length of the Island. downing a cone at
Topper's, or plunging into the chilly early
July waters at Isabella.
Mr. Calahan's wife, whom he met in
Paris during a junior year abroad program,
described a perfect day for her husband: "It
would start with a run, then a quick stop
for muffins and coffee to be devoured on
South Beach, and end with a big bonfire at
Race Rock, with marshmallows and a mil-
lion stars."
In real life, Mr. Calahan worked in
New York City and Boston as an investment
banker and in 2003 co-founded America's
Growth Capital, an investment bank in
Boston. Friends say they knew him best,
however, reflected through his children.
"L1wrence's clear passion for living and
loving and his drive to succeed was well evi-
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LAUREN & LAWRENCE CALAHAN
denced in his boys when they would come
fishing with me," said friend, Rich Bartels.
"They were always ready for another, bigger
fish and were never deterred when we were
'skunked'.
"Lawrence fished with us once during
his batrle. The chemo treatments made him
queasy on the boat. He stuck it our, though,
and we caught a 'keeper' and shared it on
the grill. It was a dinner and a summer to re-
member. Lawrence, the consummate father,
has left a great legacy and example for his
Polly Potter Balding, 99
Polly Potter Balding died peacefully at
home in Camden. S.C. Dec. 6, 2006, just
three days after her 99'h birthday. A former
summer resident, Mrs. Balding was the de-
voted mother of three daughters, Oklahoma
State Sen. Penny Williams of Tulsa, Helen
Bonsai ofGlyndon, Md. and Cassie Kernan
of Bedford, N.Y.
Mrs. Balding was a pioneer sports-
woman, competitive golfer and bridge
player, and a crack shot well into her 90s.
She helped set a standard for women in the
1920s, wearing trousers and riding horses
astride while her contemporaries were still
in skirts riding sidesaddle.
An avid fox hunter and steeplechase
rider, Mrs. Balding rode in the first Ladies'
Race at Meadowbrook Hunt Club on Long
Island, "She loved to go fast and jump big
fences, once even riding a race despite a
broken collar bone," recalled a retired rac-
Comillltl'd 011 pagt 20
children. We will miss him."
In addition to his wife and children,
Mr. Calahan is survived by his mother, Jane
of Stresa, Italy; his father, David of Sarasota,
Fla.; a brother, Peter of Sarasota; and his
mother-in-law, Joby Gray of Darien. Conn.
Memorial contributions may be sent to
Brain Tumor Research Fund, c/o Dr. Wen,
Center for Neuro-Oncology, 44 Binney St,
Bosron MA 02115.
This obituary was contributed by Allison
Sargent.
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POLLY BALDING
Natalie Rafferty
Natalie "Cherry" Rice Rafferty of
Farmingron, Conn. died May 3. 2007 at
home. She was 85.
Born Oct. 14, Inl in Schenectady,
N.Y., Mrs. Rafferty was rhe daughter of
Edward and Harriet (Church) Rice and the
granddaughter of Edwin W. Rice Jr.. the
second president of General Electric Co.
(GE), who held more than 100 patents,
from arc lamps and incandescenr lamps [()
transformers and train control systems.
Mr. R.ice built the current Rafferty
home all the East End c. 1927 and at the
same rime built a private observatory next
to the house to pursue his inreresr in astron-
omy [see story on page 7].
Mrs. Rafferty graduated from Ethel
Walker School in 1939 and received a SA in
history from Sarah Lawrence College in 1943.
the same year that she married Bernard Raf-
ferry. The couple lived in Greenwich, Conn.
and Schenccrady and moved to Farmington
in 1962. Mt. Rafferty died in 1997.
Mrs. Rafferty worked at GE from 1943
to 1945 drafting instruction hooks for war
equipment and supplies manufactured by
the company. and was a Red Cross First Aid
Instructor from 1952-1962.
She had an abiding interest in nature
and environmental preservation and in
1985, founded the El. Conservancy, along
with John Thatcher Jr., Louise Doyen and
Mary Wood. She was also a member of the
Fishers Island Development Corp. Archi-
tecture Committee.
Mrs. Rafferty was a lifelong member
and past presidem of the Connecticut Val~
ley Garden Club and past vice presidem and
director of the Garden Club of America.
She was also past president of the HillsteaJ
Museum in Farmington and founder and
past president of the Friends of Hillstead
Museum.
Mrs. Rafferty loved spending time with
family and friends, and enjoyed sharing
outdoor activities. In addition to gardening
and golf, she enjoyed fishing and hiking,
primarily in the Adirondacks, where her
grandparents were founding members of
the Adirondack League Club. She loved her
big dogs and had owned. at various times, a
Bloodhound, several Ottcrhounds and Irish
Wolfhounds, and a Great Dane.
Cont;llued on p(Jgl' /8
miller lOfJS-Fisher,\' Isla"d Gazette /7
Helen "Sally" Waters Ellsworth, 92
Helen "Sally" Waters Ellsworth of Salis-
bury, Conn., died peacefully at home Aug.
9, 2007 after a long illness. She was 92.
In the early 1950s, Mrs. Ellsworth and
her husband Duncan "Biff" Ellsworth were
visiting friends on Fishers Island. Swim-
ming off Chocomount Beach, Mr. Ells~
worth looked up and saw what he thought
would be a perfect building site. They called
Lee Ferguson, chopped their way into the
property [0 take a look, and built a house
there in 1954.
Just 10 years earlier, Mrs. Ellsworth
had been on a difTerem beach: Normandy,
France. During WWIl, a few days after the
June 6, 1944 Normandy invasion, Mrs.
Ellsworth landed on the beach with a Red
Cross team [0 provide coffee and doughnuts
to exhausted U.S. troops.
Before the invasion, when American
troops were flooding into England, Mrs.
Ellsworth helped run Rainbow Corner, a
Red Cross social club near Piccadilly for
enlisted men. After the Normandy land-
ing, she followed the troops into Paris and
helped set up a Rainbow Corner in Paris at
the Cafe de la Paix. She was there the night
Glenn Miller's hand played after waiting in
vain fot him to arrive by plane over the Eng-
lish Channel.
Mrs. Ellsworth was born in Brookline.
Mass.. Nov. 16, 1914, the daughter of Ber-
tram G. Waters and Helen Kent Shaw. She
attended Miss Windsor's School in Brook-
line. Her first marriage to William Richard-
son, a stage manager and designer, ended in
divorce. In 1941, she was in Bombay, India
with her second husband, John Elting, who
was employed by General Motors, when he
was killed in an elevator shaft accident.
On one leg of her voyage home from
India, she caught the last plane out of Sin-
gapore before the British colony fell to the
Japanese. After an anxious wait in Australia,
she took a perilous journey on a U.S. Navy
transport across the Pacific, in seas largely
controlled by Japanese submarines.
Back in the U.S., Mrs. Ellsworth joined
the Office of Strategic Services in Washing-
ton, D.C. but left when she was able to join
the American Red Cross in London, a move
that led to her service at Normandy.
In 1950, Mrs. Ellsworth was working
in New York City as secretaty general of
the English-Speaking Union. when she met
and married Duncan Ellsworth. Five years
later, the Ellsworths and their two children
moved to Salisbury. Mrs. Ellsworth became
very active in Salisbury community affairs
and also served as a justice of the peace there
for a number years.
"My mother was outgoing and gen-
erous," said her daughter, Helen Scoville.
"We've heard from so many people in Salis-
bury who have told us what a huge differ-
enCe she made in their lives.
"In a lighter vein. she loved taking mid-
day walks on Chocomount Beach with her
friend, Dougie Boocock. My mother also
got up early every morning to go skinny
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HELEN ELLSWORTH
dipping. I [hink she surprised sOllle fisher-
men from time to time!"
Mrs. Ellsworth continued to slim-
mer on Fishers Island in her Chocomount
Beach home, still owned hy her family, until
2000.
Mrs. Ellsworth is survived by two
daughters, Helen Scoville and Anne Ells-
worth, and three grandchildren; three step-
children, Duncan Ellsworth, Jane Ellsworth
Hotchkiss and A. Whitney Ellsworth; nine
step grandchildren, and 18 step great-grand-
children.
Memorial donations may be sent to
Salisbury Housing Committee, PO Box 10,
Salisbury CT 06068.
J 8 f'ishers Island Gazettee Wi"ter 2008
Thomas A. Parrott
Thomas A. Parrott of Washington
D.C" died peacefully June 14. 2007. He
was 92.
Mr. Parrott worked with the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) for 24 years and
had served as Asst. Deputy Director for Na-
tional Intelligence Programs. Earlier in his
career with the CIA, he had been Deputy
THOMAS A. PARROTT
Chief of the Soviet Division of Clandestine
Services; a Base Chief in Germany; and as-
sistant to Allen W Dulles, the first civilian
Director ofCenrral Intelligence. Mr. Parrott
also held an unprecedented assignment to
the White House that included the period
of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
During WWII. Mr. Parrott served with
the u.s. Army in Norrh Africa and Italy. He
was awarded hoth the Soldiers Medal (the
Army's highest decoration for heroism not
in actual combat) and the Legion of Merit,
and was honored by haly with the Order of
Sts. Maurizio and Lazarus (at the time the
oldest order of nobility in Europe). He re-
tired from the Army Reserve as a Colonel.
After he retired from the CIA in 1973.
Mr. Parrott was active in many charitable
and community organizations. He was vice
chairman of the board of the Washington
Raymond Bedros Gary
Raymond Bedros Gary of New York
City died April 28. 2007 after a shorr ill-
ness. He was 78.
Mr. Gary first came to Fishers Island
with his wife, Prue in 1972 to visit friends
from New York and colleagues from Mor-
gan Stanley. They immediately fell in love
with the Island and subsequently rented
various houses on Fishers, with their daugh-
ter Mimi, from 1973 to 1981, when they
bought their home on the Chocomollnt
Hill road.
Mr. Gary received a B.A. from Yale
University in 1950 and an M.A. from Har-
vard University Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences in 1951. He served in the U.S.
Navy from 1951 ro 1954. after which he
began his career in the Corporate Finance
Departmem at Morgan Stanley in 1955.
Mr. Gary became a parmer at Morgan
Stanley in 1964. a managing director in
1970, when the firm was incorporated, and
an advisory director when he retired in 1983.
Throughout his career, Mr. Gary specialized
in the financing of companies involved in
natural resources, including oil, gas. miner-
als, and hydroelectric and atomic energy.
In particular, Mr. Gary was responsible
for designing and implementing financing
plans for a number of the participants in
the Trans-Alaska pipeline system, as well as
for new minerals projects in Australia and
Canada. the Churchill Falls Hydro-Electric
plant in Labrador, and numerous other en-
Hospital Center and was one of five found-
ing directors of the National Rehabilita-
tion Hospital in Washington. He was also
an officer of the Citizens Association of
Georgetown and served on (he boards of {he
Foundation for the Preservation of Historic
Georgetown, and Hospice Care of D.C. He
was on the original board of the City Tavern
Club.
Mr. Parrott graduated from Princeton
University in 1936 and had lived in Wash-
ington since 1949. He was married for 67
years to Barbara Parrott, whose parents be-
gan summering on Fishers Island in the late
I 920s.
Mr. Parrott was involved with the
boards of the Fishers Island Cluh and the
Hay Harbor Club and was a strong sup-
porter of the Fishers Island Conservancy.
His sharp mind. wit. loyalty and love will be
deeply missed.
ergy related projects throughom the world.
As a result of his expertise in the en-
ergy field. Mr. Gary served on the Board of
Directors of Stone Energy Corporation in
Louisiana. After he retired. Mr. Gary, who
was an accomplished pianist. served on the
RAYMOND B. GARY
Board of Directors of Third Street Music
School Settlement in New York, the nation's
oldest community music school.
As best said by a former colleague. "We
deeply mourn the passing of our neighbor,
friend, brother, husband and father. Ray
will he missed by his family and friends for
his thoughtful and steady guidance, his in-
tellect and commitment to excellence, his
sense of humor. and his smile."
Mr. Parrott is survived by his wife, Bar-
bara Parrott of Washington; tWO daughters,
Cynthia MacNair and Susan Crary. both of
New York City; and three grandchildren,
Gardner. Nicholas and Ian Crary. Mr. Par-
rott was predeceased by his son, Tommy.
Services were held at Arlington Nation-
al Cemetery.
Contributions in Mr. Parrott's memory
may be sent to the National Rehabilitation
Hospital, ATT: Communication & Devel-
opment, 102 Irving St NW, Washington
DC 20010.
Natalie Rafferty
Contifllll'd from p,lgr 17
Mrs. Rafferty is survived by a son,
Christopher Rafferty of Fishers Island.
and a daughter. Kathleen Lamborn of
New York City. and five grandchildren.
William Bruce May
William Bruce May. 85, of Chcster-
town, Md.. a longtime summer resident,
died June 30, 2007. The cause was multiple
myeloma.
Mr. May first came to Fishers Island in
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1932 as a mascot/barboy for the Jordan Vil-
lage baseball ream, champions that year of
the Waterford. Conn. bJ.seball league. His
father, Bill May, was the leading hitter on
the team at the time, when it was challenged
by Fishers Island.
Eagerly responding to the challenge,
the team boarded the steamship Baxter in
New London. When they docked at the pier
in West Harbor, the players and their rnas-
cor/harboy were met by members of the El.
Fire Dept.. who rook them on a memorable
tour of the Island with bells and sirens in
full voice. Mr. J\1ay often said, "This was
quite an imroducrion for an II-year-old.
Nobody remembers who won the game.
Does ir matter?"
Mr. May served as a Lr. CoI. in rhe
U.S. Army Engineers in rhe Smuh Pacific
Juring \XfWII. Released from active dury
after the war, he nexr came to Fishers Is-
land in August 1946 to spend the momh
with his father, who was reming Mansion
House Cottage #1. That month marked 3.n
easy transirion from military ro civilian life,
which, according ro Mr. May, was so ditTer-
em from the trauma eXPl'rienced by return-
ing servicemen in rhe Viet Nam era.
Fr. H.G. Wright was still in operation
at the rime, primarily as a hospital. Since he
was on terminal leave, Mr. May was tech-
nically still :1 parr of the active military es-
tablishment. Whenever he felt confused or
at odds with the difference in values and
Com/Hurd on p,lgr 21
Clarence Geist Ely
Clarence Geist Ely, 76, of Miami, Fla.
and Lakeville, Conn., died June 22, 2007 at
Noble Horizons retirement community in
Salisbury, Conn. after a shorr illness.
Mr. Ely, known as "Geist," was born
May 29, 1931 in Pbiladelpbia, Pa., tbe son
nf Elizabeth Geist Ely and Van Hnrn Ely
Jr. He was the grandson of Clarence Henry
Geist, considered, in the early 1900s, to be
the Iargesr private owner of utility compa-
nies in the Unired Srates.
Mr. Geist had developed the Boca
Rawn Hotel and Club in Florida in 1928
and rook his grandson with him on rail
trips from Philadelphia ro Boca Raton. The
young Mr. Ely would awaken in his grand-
father's private railroad car to music from
the 25.piece band that always greeted his
grandfather's arrival.
Mr. Ely's parents brought him to Fish-
ers Island when he was just five days old, and
he lived on Fishers for the next six months
at the home of his paternal grandparents. In
the late 1940s, his parents built an East End
home, currently owned by Tom Kean, on
Durobely Road, a made-up name for Du-
Pam (Du), Robinson (rob) and Ely (e1y).
During his lifetime, Mr. Ely spent pan
of every summer on Fishers Island. "Dad
loved the Island," said daughter, Melinda
Dubow. "He was a member of the Fishers
Island Club for over 50 years and particu-
larly enjoyed playing golf tbere. He was a
perennial winner of club golf tournaments,
chairman of the golf committee and a mem-
ber of the club's Board of Governors.
Mr. Ely attended the Haverford School
in Philadelphia and graduated from Sr. Paul's
School, Concord, N.H. in 1949. He spent
a post~gradllate year at The L3.wrenceviIIe
School in Lawrenccville, N.J. and graduated
from Princeton University '54, alrhough his
acmal graduation was delayed by a tour of
active combat duty with the U.S. Army dur-
ing the Korean Conflict.
[\1r. Elywas a talented athlete. He played
first suing varsity ice hockey at Princeton,
where he was a member of the Tiger Inn,
and after graduating was selected to play for
the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team, but Ko-
rea intervened. !\1r. Ely played on the finest
golf courses with his uncle, Dick Chapman,
a national and internation;11 anuteur golf
champion of the 1940s and 1950s.
As a young bachelor in [he 1950s and
I 960s, Mr. Ely enjoyed bis cbarm and gnod
looks among the society gambling set in
H'illler 2008.Fi.~"ers 1.~lalld Ga:.ette /9
England and in the company of beautiful
women with whom he parried at legendary
villas on the French Riviera. He invited the
comely guests that led to memorable nights
aboard a yacht charrered by a young John
F. Kennedy, with whom he shared a mutual
friendship after they had met on the terrace
of a hotel.
Mr. Ely began a multifaceted career at
the brokerage firm Janney, Monrgomery,
SCOtt in [he mid-1950s. In 1964, he was a
founder of On dine's, the first discotheque in
New York City, and by 1966, be had moved
to Sr. Croix, V.l. with his three sons. He
remained on Sr. Croix for three years and
while there, started an inter-island airline
with a dear friend and classmate from Sr.
Paul's. Me. Ely retired in the early 1980s as a
vice president with the securities brokerage
firm Dean Witter Reynolds.
i
CLARENCE GEIST ELY
Although Mr. Ely's duee marriages
ended in divorce, he cared deeply about his
family and those he loved. He is warmly re-
membered as an oft-times single parent and
sometimes stepparent, who devoted himself
to raising his children, both his own and
those who came into his extended family.
Mr. Ely is survived by his companion
of 21 years, Margaret H. Douglas-Hamil-
ron; three sons, Van Horn Ely III, of Gird-
wood, Aka., Clarence Geist Ely Jr., of Aurn-
ra, Ohio, and Center Marshall Ely of Aiken,
N.C; a daugbter, Melinda Ely Dubow of
Manhattan, and five grandchildren.
Mr. Ely was predeceased by his younger
sister, Elizabeth Hope Ely Muzzarelli, who
died in 1971, leaving a five-year-old daugh-
ter. Mr. Ely raised her, now Elizabeth Gay
Pollock, of Salem, Va., with his children.
Ms. Pollock's four children, one of whom is
named "Geist" also survive him.
20 Fishers Is/a"d Gazelle- Willter 10fJN
Peter S. Sinclair Sr.
Peter Stewan Sinclair Sr. of Boynton
Beach, Fla., died Mar. 15, 2007. He was
82.
Mr. Sinclair spem a lifetime on or near
the sea. Born and raised on Fishers Island,
he served in rhe U.S. Navy during WWlI
and worked on a chaner
fishing boat in Florida
after the war. For over
30 years, he was captain
of the mowr yacht God-
dess, owned by Kathy
& Reynolds duPom,
spending wimers 111
Palm Beach, Fla. and
summers, once agam,
on Fishers Island.
Above all, Mr.
Sinclair treasured his
family. When his wife
Emily was stricken with
Alzheimer's Disease at
the age of 62, he cared for her every need
for the next decade, first at home and then
at a nursing home, where he visited her ev-
ery day, umil her death in 1997.
It was likely love at first sight when Mr.
Sinclair saw Emily Bardey step off the ferry
onto Fishers Island. Just after the war, Miss
Barrley came {O Fishers Island {O teach high
school English. It was the habit of young
Island men {O meet the ferry when new
teachers, panicularly the females, arrived.
Mr. Sinclair was at the ferry when he saw
his future wife. They met and were wgether
from then on.
"Dad was a kind and gemle man with
a wonderful sense of humor," said daughter
Heather Sinclair Murphy. "He was also a
patiem father. Once, when he was teaching
me to drive, I accidemally drove his new car
into the woods. His only comment after we
bounced in, missing trees and hitting bush-
es, while listening to the paint being scraped
off the side of the car was, "Okay, now push
in the clutch and pur it inw reverse."
Mr. Sinclair's family has a long hisrory
on Fishers Island. His grandfather, James
Sinclair Sr. was a "sub~gamekeeper" for
Fishers Island Farms, and his father, James
Sinclair Jr. managed the Island water com-
pany. James Jr. couned and married Lillian
Corkill, a governess on thc Island, and they
had four children, Geraldine, Lindsay, Wil-
fred and Pcter.
Growing up on the Island, Mr. Sinclair
built gun emplacements at Ft. Wright and
also worked at the Fishers Island Club golf
course. He graduated from fishers Island
High School, and from Brown University
as pan of the Navy's V-12 College Training
Program.
Me. Sinclair was commissioned as an
Ensign in the U.S. Navy and served in the
Pacific at the end ofWWII bringing rroops
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PETER S. SINCLAIR SR.
Sinclair Family Photo
home after the war. Later, during his early
years in Florida, he received a medal for
bravery from the U.S. Coast Guard for
jumping into an inlet and saving two people
from a sinking boat.
Mr. Sinclair had been a resident of
Boymon Beach for over 50 years. He loved
fishing off the rocks on Fishers Island and
sport fishing in the Bahamas. He was a first
generation American, bur a true Scotsman:
dogs were an imegral parr of his life from
childhood throughout his adult years. His
daughter's Labrador Retriever, Sandy, regu-
larly visited the nursing home and the hos-
pital during Mr. Sinclair's last days.
"Dad was universally liked and ad-
mired. He was a consummate gentleman,
a kind and helpful neighbor, and a loving
husband and father-the salt of the earth,"
Ms. Murphy said. "On April 12, 2007, we
rook both Mom's and Dad's ashes OUt to sea.
They were joined again as they emered the
Gulf Stream for a final trip to Fishers. n
Mr. Sinclair is survived by a son, Peter S.
Sinclair Jr. and a daughter, Heather Sinclair
Murphy, both of Florida; and three grand-
children, Adam Jason Sinclair, Ryan Patrick
Murphy and Thomas Srewart Murphy.
Memorial contributions may be sent
to the Alzheimer's Community Care Asso-
ciarion, 100 Norrhpoinr Pkwy # I 0 1 B, Wesr
Palm Beach FL 33407.
Polly Balding
Continued ftom page 16
ing steward at Delaware Park Race Track in
Delaware. Skilled and competitive, she was
often in demand to ride for various horse
owners.
Born in New York City in 1907 to
Marry Barron Atterbury and J. W. Fuller
Potter, Mrs. Balding attended the Chapin
School in New York City and the Fermata
School ill Aiken, s.e In Aiken, she hOlled
the riding skills that would lead her to be-
come an inspiration to succeeding genera-
tions of horsewomen.
Mrs. Balding lived rhrough rwo world
wars, the first landing on the moon and
three marriages. Her first husband was Peter
Baldwin of Bedford. She married Joe Shef-
field of New Haven, Conn. in 1942 and
moved with him to Camden.
The Sheffields firsr came ro Fishers Is-
land in 1945 and spent the next 25 years
summering on the Island in what is now
the Cameron house and later in the current
Helfer home. Mr. Sheffield died ill 1971. In
1981, Mrs. Balding married Ivor G. Bald-
ing, a professional polo player and later a
thoroughbred trainer for the famed stables
ofeV. Whirney. He died ill 2005.
Mrs. Balding loved her summers of golf
and bridge on Fishers Island. She especially
enjoyed spending time with some of her best
friends, Genie Legendre, Alice Rurherfurd,
Jock and Betsey Whitney, Dougie Boocock
and Matty Mauhiessen.
Mrs. Balding held fiercely ro rhe old-
fashioned values of good manners, com-
passion and loyalty, yet maintained a thor-
oughly modern openness to fresh ideas,
books and movies, as well as to people of
all ages, values and backgrounds. Her zest
for the outdoors and the sporring life was
unusual for a woman of her generation. Her
lifelong love of quail hunting was driven
primarily by the joy of watching her hunt-
ing dogs work.
When asked the secret of her longevity,
Mrs. Balding would rely, "Fairh, good genes
[her mother lived to be 96] and drinking
lots of water!" Her sense of humor, many
suspect, played a roll as well.
In addition to her daughters, Mrs.
Balding is survived by nine grandchildren;
11 great-grandchildren, and three dogs.
Donations in her memory may be sent
[0 the Walter Crowe Animal Shelter, 460 S
Fairs Sr, Camden SC 29020.
Thomas O. Pyle
Thomas O. Pyle of Boston, Mass. died
at home July 18, 2007 of complications
from pancreatic cancer. He was 67 and had
grown up on Fishers Island.
Mr. Pyle is recognized as an early leader
in the field of health maintenance organi-
zations. He joined Harvard Community
Health Plan (HCHp) in 1972. Member-
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ship was 18,000 that year, 80,000 when
he became CEO in 1978, and 525.000 in
1991 when he was forced to resign after a
showdown with physicians over contractual
Issues.
By applying business strategies to the
practice of medicine, he expanded HCHP
from two centers to nearly four dozen loca-
tions, gave nurse practitioners a greater role,
embraced computerized medical records in
their nascent days, and. to the chagrin of
many donors, found ways to measure the
qualicy of care. During his tenure, he helped
transform the health care field by introduc-
ing concepts that are commonplace today.
"That was the visionary thing-he fos-
tered innovation," said Dr. Donald Berwick,
whom Mr. Pyle recmited to help HMOs
use techniques from mher industries to
measure quality at a time when economics
called for cost cuning. "He had confidence
that you could measure the quality of care.
He regarded it as a maner of stewardship to
make sure healthcare was greaL"
The son of a house paimer and a
schoolteacher, Mr. Pyle grew up on Fish-
ers Island and owned a house on Fishers
umil the mid-1990s. He always maimained
an interest in lIlc Island in spite of a rough
heginning. "He didn't fit in with summer
residents or year-round residems," said his
wife Regina.
He graduated from Fishers Island High
School at 16 and received a scholarship to Mas-
sachusens Institute of Technology. He dropped
au( of school after one year, however.
Mr. Pyle went to New York City in
1957, where Jock Whitney, a Fishers Island
summer residem, helped him land a joh as a
page for NBC, which eventually led to "Ted
Mack and the Original Amateur Hour." In
1961, Mr. Pyle became an accoum execu-
tive with Young & Rubicam, an advertising
agency, and met Regina Schlank, the sister
of a colleague. They married in 1962.
In 1965, Mr. Pyle moved (0 Boston as
one of the few students admined to Harvard
Business School without an undergraduate
degree. He graduated in 1967 with Distinc-
tion and as a Baker Scholar and worked in
other industries before entering the health-
care field.
"Tom was a phenomenon at Harvard
Business School," said Dr. Gordon Moore, a
Harvard Medical School professor who was
HCHP medical director under Mr. Pyle.
"He could have done anything. He could
have been a captain of industry and made
millions and millions of dollars, so it's imer-
esting that he picked heahhcare. He had a
real need (0 do good."
Afrer resigning as CEO, Mr. Pyle be-
came an executive with MetLife Insurance
Co., and was among those tapped by the
Climon administration in 1993 to work on
its proposal for a national heahhcare system.
For nearly 20 years, he also served on
the boards of private and not-for-profit
corporations, including PolyMedica Corp.
and Medical EducHion for South African
Blacks.
Diagnosed with cancer in May 2006,
Mr. Pyle and his wife Hew to Greece and
sailed a boat from Santorini through the
Greek islands to Athens. In June 2007, by
then quite ill, he rallied for a trip to his hOllse
in the south of France, inviting friends for a
final celebration.
Mr. Pyle is survived hy his wife Regina
Schlank Pyle ofBoslOn; a son, Scott Laugh-
lin ofNatick, Mass.; two grandchildren, and
a niece, Ann Banks, of Fishers Island.
m"ter 2()(}H.Fi.~"ers Island Gazette 21
William Bruce May
Cominlled from page 19
the relative importance of life around the
summer colony, compared to what he had
known for the past four years, he would
don his uniform, go to the Officer's Club,
order a beer and once again talk the Army's
language. BrieRy, as before, he was a part of
the military. But in the morning, it was on
to the golf course or to duties of a civic or
charitable nature.
Mr. May grew up in Irvington, N.Y.
He graduated from Admiral Farragut Acad-
emy in Pine 13each, N.J. and from Union
College in Schenectady. After the war, he
worked for American Can Co. before join-
ing the William B. May Co., a real estate
company started in the mid-1800s hy his
grandfather, a "house salesman" from Eng-
land who sold to the Fricks, Morgans and
Astors. The company was active on Fishers
Island in the mid-1900s appraising property
owned by the Fishers Island Development
Corp. prior to sale.
Mr. May met his future wife Jeanne at a
church function. He took one look and ap-
proached her. "He asked what my hushand
did. When I said I was a widow, he immedi.
ately asked ifhe could take me home," Mrs.
May said. "1 said, 'No thank YOll,' and start-
ed to walk away but turned back to look at
him. He had started to walk away too, but
turned his head for another look at me and
walked into a wall. I couldn't resist a man
with sllch savoir faire!
"Fishers Island was always close to
Bruce's heart. He bought a large piece of
Fe Wright property on Silver Eel Pond
and eventually huilr fWO houses there and
sold lots to the Conams, Hickeys and Kent
Rhodes." The Mays lived in Irvington and
in 1993 retired to Chestertown, Md., where
Mrs. May's ancestors had lived.
Mr. May was commodore of the Fish-
ers Island Yacht Club, 1983-84. His vi-
sion of the memhership and dues systems
resulted in a considerable increase in club
activity. Among his innovations was the
Commodore's Reception, now a popular
annual event.
Mr. May is survived by his wife of
nearly 54 years, Jeanne Atkinson May of
Chcstcnownj two daughters, Carolyn May
Windham of Providence, R.t. and Leslie
May Marra of Chappaqua, N.Y.; a son.
William Talcorr May of New York City;
and a sister, Penelope May Thompson of
Mathews, Va.
22 Fisher.~ Island Gazette- Willter 2()08
ELEGANT COUNTRY CAPE
Litchfield County, Connecticut
Surrounded by private estates, this beautiful home, with established peren-
nial gardens, has .:3 bedrooms, .3 baths, a heated pool \\lith cabanas and a
Hanru@ tennis court. It is close to Tangleviood, Summer Stock Theatre
and other amenities, ;md is JUSt two hours from New York City. Price: upon
request. Call or email Listing Agent Susan Rand for an appointment: cdl:
860.307.0393; office: 8G0.4.:3).2400; email: susansranJ@gmail.com.
Licensed in Connecticut. New York & Massachusetts
Go.. ~I! to ~I!,
~ 001/J//!tJb0lt to
()€ro'i3ea~ QIondo~~
.9peCiafizi.g i.
John's Island
Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club
Windsor
and other luxury Barrier Island Communities
81lRie 4Io.n
7;19-SgQ-1968
[DALE SQRENSE~
IHL\I, LST\TE Ii\C
l
MAY r A I II.
5065 NORTH A 1A . VERO BEACH, FL 32963
772.234.3801 . 800.845.7230
KINLlN RUTHERFURD ARCHITECTS
NEW YORK, NY
212.695.2988
WESTON, CT
203.341.9930
www.kinlinrutherfurd.com
Sally
Pratt
Multi-Million Dollar Producer
&
Chairman's Circle Member
Sally is among the top .08% of real estate sales agents
nationwide. She specializes in the sales and marketing
of exceptional, exclusive properties from Port Royal
to Pelican Bay, in Naples, Fla., including golfing com-
munities. waterfront. beachfront and estate homes.
Now located at:
616 5th Avenue S, Naples, FL 34102
Office: 800-633-7161 or 239-434-0101; fax 239-434-0141
Home: 239-261-5085. Email: SallyPratt@SallyPraftcom
ll.illter 2008.Fi~'''ers Island Gazette 23
QOHERTV
BEALS &
BANKS, P.C.
CERTIFIED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTANTS
FISHER & FISHER ASSOC.,INC.
- Full Service Illsurallce Brokers -
Accounting & Auditing
Tax Return Preparation
Probate and Estate Accounting
Tax & Financial Planning
Accounting Systems Set-up
!!1' Commercial
Business Owner's
Coverage
Marine
~
!!1' Personal
Homeowners
Automobile
Liability
Marine
CHUBB
For information, please contact:
1-860-443-2033
187 Williams Street
New London, Conn.
John C. Fisher
Fisher & Fisher Assoc., Inc.
455 Post Rd Ste 202
Darien, CT 06820
(203) 656.3644
p,,, (203) 656-3970
~
~
Bertram B. Fisher
DeWitt Stem Group, Inc.
420 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10170
(212) 867-3550
Fax: (212) 983-6483
Weekly Island Service-Island Appointments Available
New York & Connecticut Licenses Held
Serving the Island for over 40 years
Laurie Finan
Broker
860.803.2963 cell
fi nan@fishersisland.net
Tim Patterson
Sales Associate
..///
j . ~ ,
I.: 'h '~ " ....
/''/ . 5 utter::~ ~:~
I ~~a'ls, LI'., .~ I
. ':.~-"- ~.
1,% .~,,:,
6317887562 home
ti m my@fishersisland.net
Fishers Island Sales and Rentals
V /" ....,..~'
. - "Hel-e IS perfect Quiet" .'........J
Licensed Real Estate Broker in CT & NY
Specializing in Full Service Rental Management. House Checks. Emergency Calls
24 Fishers Island Gazette- Winter 200fl
ll'illfer 200S. Fisher.\' Islal1d Gazette 25
Judi & Celeste Caracausa
Judi Caracausa, Broker/Owner
Cell 860-912-9903 · Office 860-572-1155
at Mystic River Park
28 Cottrell St., Mystic, CT 06355
~
MARKET
REALTY, LLC
E-mail: BuyMystic@aol.com
Wtvw. marketrealt)'lk
.~
$1,200,0002007 RENOVATION. 4.) BRS, 1 & 1/2 haths.
Cir,mite, glistening \v()od, marble & tile throughnllt. Ahuts 30
(leres of Masl1n's bland Nature Preserve. Quiet & serence setting.
I
~,,~ l'
$519,000 Quality new constrllcrlon. 2,300 Sq Ft 3RR 2.5BA Stately
Culonial nestled on 2.5 acn;s n!1 \X/olf Neck Rd. 2 Glr garage Centr,ll
<lir. Just minutes to Downtown Mystic & Stoningtol1 Village.
$545,000 & $750,000 ONLY 2 Units left, Direct watelfl'nnt cnn~
dos w/shared dock. 2BR/2BA. Stately setting \v/circle drive. High~
end kitchen <lprliances & craftsm,ll1ship. Deck patio w/vicws!
$795,000 2,900 Sq Ft Cummercial Building ;It blls}' Exit 90.
Near Steakloft & !\1yslic Aquarium. TC>HO ZONE. Ret;lil/office.
Many Uses. .44 acre Illt. Excellent visibility & investment.
. .
$485,000 Beautifully
rennv;-lted tri-level water-
front condo w/ shared
dock for small craft. 2
BR, 2.) BA. Arrox.
1,700 Sq Ft, Central ,-lir,
new tile, paint, fixtures,
arrliances, Ctlllnter\(lpS 1
car garage. FP, deck l)Ver-
looking river.
$750,000 Sandy
Beach, hike & h();~t
just steps from your
front duor~ 3 SR, 2
fulll"llh 'r.'ear~rolll1d
Ill-HIle. P,moramic
views from ynur
31 x I J deck. Fr.
Excellent invest-
ment. Possible
eXr,U1ShHl.
26 Fi.\'her.\' Island Gazette- Willter 2008
rn~st:tc IsLe J<eaLt:~ fDC,
.J=isner<s Islaod, 0,(1. 06390 631"788"7882
Mid-Island
New Construction
This striking 3 bedroom, 3 bath house
is located on approximately 1.7 very
private acres on the East End and en-
joys wonderful distam views of Block
Island Sound from a very high van-
tage poim. The main living space, lo-
cated on the second leveL consists of a
magnificent high ceiling living room/
dining room/kitchen area with a large
beach stone fireplace, and a barh/pow-
der room. The house includes Mon-
drian-like oversized Marvin windows
and woodwork throughout.
The bedroom level consists of a master bedroom with an oversized walk-in closet, master bath, and two additional bedrooms and a
bath. An extensive exterior decking system (approx. 3,000-4,000 square feer) is built entirely of mahogany, including the decking
boards and railings. The kitchen is equipped with a Vulcan stove, a lovely soapstone sink, and beautiful cherry wood cabinets and prep
island. The house is completed and certain items could be adjusted to a prospective buyer's personal wishes. Offered at $1,775,000.
~'
,,~. I
': 1" V .
,~\'"
--J-~
1"-' \,...,
,
. '.
This charming and well-maintained two bedroom shingled cot-One of the last potential building sites in a highly desirable
rage locared on The Cloaming enjoys a delightful view of West area of the Island, this lot consists of 2.52 acres of land on the
Harbor. The first floor contains a nice living room/dining area, a inland side of Clay Poim Rd. It is unspoiled, quite privare and
small but efficiem kitchen with ne.v appliances, bedroom, bath, has rhe poremial oflimited water views from the elevated interior
and an office/sunroom. The second floor includes a nice-sized of the site. There is a long road frontage and easy access to exist-
master bedroom with a small outside deck and a dressing room ing utilities for future building. The land abuts museum Land
that is plumbed for a second barh. This fully wimerized and ar- Trust property. Offered at $480,000 with Suffolk County taxes
tractively furnished dwelling sirs on .11 of an acre. The property is of $1 ,300, and a FIDCO assessment of $600.
listed for $625,000 with taxes of $4,000.
BAGLEY REID Broker. SUE HORN Salesperson. JIM REID Salesperson. www.mysticislerealty.com
Winter 2()()8.Fisher.~ 1.~lalld Gazette 27
rTld'St:fC IsLe r<ealt:d' fDC,
.J=lsner<s Island, n,(J. 06390 631--788-7882
.
West Harbor Bungalow
Enjoy beautiful views across West Harbor from
the wonderful sun porch of this ] 900.'1 bungalO\v-
style home. The property has a private dock and
sits on a half-acre of rolling land directly on the
harbor. Its desirable Hedge Street location com-
bines a quiet neighborhood feeling on a dead-end
street with the West End proximity to town. The
house has three to four bedrooms and three bath-
rooms. There is also a large two-car garage and a
private driveway. The house is in need of some
updating and is being sold "as is" for $1,990,000,
with very reasonable taxes of $4,700. The house
was appraised in 2005 for $1,950,000.
~
East End
Waterfront
This well-designed, beauti-
fully comrrucred new home
is located on approx. 3 wa-
terfront acres overlooking
Fishers Island Sound. There
are grand interior entertain-
ing spaces complete with a
massive beach rock double
fireplace, architectural an-
tiques, custom moldings
and cabinetry, and panel-
ing throughout. There arc
4 bedroom~ and 5 full baths
and the potential for easy fu-
ture development.
The first Aoor includes a panded mahogany library and a multi-season porch. Decks of Brazilian teak open off the first and second
Aoors. Numerous amenities include a 5-'lone hydro heating/air conditioning system and 400-amp electrical service, wiring for com-
puter/phone/stereo system and weather station. High quality appliances and hxwres were used rhroughOLIl the home. There is also
a generous attached heated garage and fenced yard. Considering the location, property and high quality of construction, this very
comfortable 4(jOO+ square foot chvelling is being offered at $3,000,000. 'Eues Approximately $] 4,000,
28 Fishers Island Gazette- Winter 2008
...
"
.
..
. Dick Tracy, always nattily dressed in dark suit and cap, mans the old East End gatehouse, circa 1938. Harris Parsons, who took the photo as a
young teenager, said that vehicles sported numbered three-inch-diameter brass plates affixed to license plates, a fal" cry from today's stickers that
are applied annually.
,
({J) n crll IFJ @ DIl~
'0 ~C!;f1Cilnn~l1
.
OLD. WORLD CRAFTSMANSHIP
NEW AGE TECHNOLOGY
ENER
32 Taugwonk Spur, Unit Al2
Stonington, CT 06378
Office: 860.599.4393
Fax: 860.535.1628
e-mail: ENERl@aol.com
www.expertmillwork.com
www.WeRestoreOldHomes.com
NY #38796.H' HI #/71593046
CT #532017, #4033' M,j #/48848
U'jllter 2(}(}H-Fi,~her.\' Island Ga:,.ette 29
I
. Dave Denison retired in June 2007 after 30 years as Fishers Island School's only math teacher, grades 7-12. He now winters in Jupiter, Fla., Dec.-
Feb., but will continue to spend the rest of the year on Fishers Island as superintendent of the Hay Harbor Club golf course, a job he has held for 29
years. Mr. Denison also plans to continue a number of his many volunteer activities, including Sea Stretcher operator for the F.!. Fire Dept.
ESCHENES
Deschenes & Cooper Architectural Millwork
uses time-honored tradition with the
latest technology to produce
the finest quality, custom millwork.
-Large inventory of historic molding profiles
-High-quality kitchen cabinets. wainscot, windows.
fireplace mantels. raised panel walls. doors. antique flooring
and libraries
'State-of-the-art finishing
-CAD services and shop dmwings
-Quality installation
-Mortise and tenon construction in all woodworking
ARCHITECTURAL
-M-I-b-b W-g-R-~
i 25 White Rock Road
Pawcatuck, CT 06379
(860) 599-2481
30 Fishers Islalld Gazette-lllnter 2008
\
I
\,
. The F.1. Harbor Committee launched its new pump-out boat, the 19-ft. Harbor Honey, in June 2007. "We pumped over 600 gallons of waste this
summer and delivered it to Noank Shipyard, which is connected to Groton sewage treatment faciilities," said Harbor Committee President Elbert
Burr, who has spearheaded the effort to designate Fishers Island waters a No Discharge Zone (NDZ). "Next summer, we should have a much busier
season, now that word is out that Fishers Island has pump-out facilities." Mr. Burr is applying to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a No
Discharge Zone certificate for Fishers Island. Mike Conroy operates the pump-out boat.
tay in Mystic...
Mystic Shipyard has the perfect Mystic River 'home' for your boat - whether requirin~
safe storage for your boat this winter, or planning to visit ^-iystic this summer. Great
transient packages for our friends from fishers Island planning 10 visit Mystic for the day.
Selen. slip space - south of ALL bridges and well protectt'd - with no commercial traffic.
270 deepwater slips for boats from 18' to 70', and a riverside pool for our guests.
Best full service marina - fiberglass repair and refinishing, full rigging shop, marine
mechanics, diesel, gas. refrigeration and electronics specialists. Custom shipwright and
woodworking. Custom canvas &. stainless work available 011 site. 50-tOll travel lift, inside
mast storage &. a full marine machine shop. Winter storage - inside and oul. Reserve today!
o N
THE
SCENIC
MYSTIC
R I V E R
STA'FFORD STREET
MYSTIC, CT
860.536.6588
"
lrilller 200S. Fishers Island Gazette 31
. Captain Charlie Van Voorhis and his crew wait for the breeze to fill in on the third day (Sept. 13,2007) of the 2007 100 World Championship in
Nantucket, Mass. Just one point in the lead at the time, the team went on to win the championship. It was the second 100 World Championship
win for Mr.Van Voorhis. (I-r) Arthur Kuijpers, Charlie Van Voorhis, Carolyn Grant,Jim Thompson and Kevin Farrar.
Along with our parent company, M. Brett Painting Company, we have performed services
for Mohegan Sun Resort, Foxwoods Resort, and Pfizer to mention a few.
We have an extensive list of references and will provide them upon request.
GJI~/ ~fJJJ~ Cff-,~
,
./ Interior Painting ./ Exterior Painting
./ Wallcoverings ./ Decorative Finishes
./ Custom Applications ./ Wood Staining
./ Professional Finishes
Specialists in Quality Residential Work with over 30 years experience.
Fully insured and bonded to Five Million Dollars.
Callus toll free for a no cost quotation
800-378- 2468
458 Shore Road, Old Lyme, CT 06371, fax 860-434-3336
32 Fishers Island Gazette- Willter 2008
<W rP 23
~al1.h (/Jmk !Bwwolwt {!o'[
WILLS, TRUSTS & ESTATES
Probate in Suffolk County and Nassau County
REAL ESTATE
Planning & Zoning
51020 Main Road,Southold NY 11971
1:
Former town attorney and surrogate's court attorney
Patricia C. Moore
ATTORNEY AT LAW
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD, SUFFOLK COUNTY
631-765-4330. Fax: 631-765-4643
Hay Harbor Club
Centennial Book
HHC has commissioned Pierce
Rafferty to produce a book
commemorating the club's 100th an-
niversary (1909-2009). Mr. Rafferty is
looking for historical and contempo-
rary photos of the club, including both
special events and "every day" images.
The book covers a 100-year period,
so images from all decades, from the
1910s to the present, are wanted.
Pierce Rafferty
PO Box 25
Fishers Island NY 06390
prafferty@fishersisland.net*
Cell: 917.626.7482*
Home: 631.788.7405
Work (museum): 631.788.7239
*Best to use
I may be the last insurance
agent you'll ever need.
Home, life, auto, business,
disability. It's a good idea to
talk to your Farm Family agent
about all your insurance needs.
I can help you find gaps in
your coverage that may put
you at risk. And eliminate
overlapping coverages you
shouldn't have to pay for.
For the custom-tailored cov-
erage you deserve, count on
Farm Family for personalized,
professional service. Call me
today.
Farm
Family
Life Insurance Company
Casualty Insurance Company
Glenmonl. New York
A company founded to serve Farm BureaLj members
..
Kevin J. Cantwell
AGENT
356 Middle Country Rd
5te 206
Coram NY 11727
631-696-7353
631-696-7390, fax
Will/er 21J1J8.Pisher.~ l.~lalld Ga;:elle 33
.1
Grey Boy
COlltinued from page 13
the time I had raced into the house, I was
screaming hysterically.
Fishers Island had no veterinarian,
nor easy access to one, so we had w solve
our own problems. My grandmother knew
more about animals than most vets, and she
kept a brown bottle of chloroform in the
medicine cabinet, in case she had w put an
animal ro sleep.
My grandmother took Grey Boy from
me and saw right away that his leg was bro-
ken. She handed him to my mother and
went to the medicine cabinet for the chlo-
roform. When she returned with the brown
bottle, I knew what it was for. I grabbed
Grey Boy from my startled mother's arms
and ran out of the house crying.
My grandmother came outside and
told me that Grey Boy would die a horrible
death, and I should let her do the humane
thing. I looked up from my hiding Spot un-
der the big cedar tree and begged my grand-
mother to let Dr. Hoch look at Grey Boy.
For my entire childhood, the Island
had ooe doctor: Ralph K. Hoch, M.D. He
retired from the U.S. Navy in 1960 and
moved ro Fishers Island to begin a family
practice. I fondly remember him 3rnVll1g
at our house day or night, if called, always
carrying his beat-up black doctor's bag; and
when he had finished his examination, he
would never forget to offer me a "sucker"
(aka lollipop).
Dr. Hoch nursed me though numerous
childhood illnesses and the many stitches
that, as a tomboy, I required.
At the mention of his name, my grand-
mother insisted that it was foolish to think
that a busy docwr, especially during the
summer months, would take the time ro
look at a cat. My mother, who had followed
us outside, looked at my grandmother and
said, "Let's call him, what have we got to
lose?"
To my grandmother's astonishmem,
Dr. Hoch wid us w bring Grey Boy to the
office immediately. Imagine the other pa-
tients' surprise as we walked into the wait-
ing room carrying a howling cat. Dr. Hoch
gently rook Grey Boy out of my arms and
carried him to the examining table in the
next room.
Dr. Hoch confirmed my grandmoth-
er's diagnosis. He told us, however, that he
would set the leg if I agreed ro give Grey
Boy lots of special care and keep the cat il1-
side until its leg healed. I eagerly accepted
my responsibilities.
Dr. Hoch walked over to his glass med-
icine cabinet and rook out the same brown
bottle that my grandmother had reached for
less than an hour ago.
Thinking I had been tricked, I st.,rted
screaming, "No, don't kill him!!!" (That
must have given the patients in the waiting
room something to think about!)
Dr. Hoch calmed me down. He prom-
ised not to hurr my best pal and eXplained
that he was just going to give Grey Boy a
little ether to relax him.
Two tongue depressors, some casting
material and a roll of gauze later, Grey Boy
was ready to go home. Dr. Hoch called our
house for the next few days to check on Grey
130y-the perfect patient, in my opinion.
About four weeks later, after Dr. Hoch
removed the cast, Grey Boy was as good as
new.
Grey Boy resumed his activities and for
many years continued to make the (fip from
the house to the fish market for his favorite
fish stew. His joy, and mine, were both gifts
of the kindly Dr. Hoch, who knew thete
was more than one way to heal a broken leg
and a nearly-broken hean.
I
,
,
.
~I
II
.
~I
~.
n
o
~
~-
.
. Lobsterman
Edmund Hedge,
who lost an arm
I when he was 17,
I sits among lob.
ster traps and
barrels at his
fish market on
Hedge Street.
34 Fishers Island Gazette- Winter 200S
ISLAND HARDWARE
More than just locks and hinges
788-7233
f'
SERVI..,TJIR.
'M Benjamin -+- ~
oore.iL.&
,-PAINTS --1
FISHERS
ISLAND
M@bir
FULL SERVICE STATION
Official New York State
Auto Inspection Station
CARCO' INSPECTION
Fuel Oil
Gasoline
Propane
Party Ice
Diesel
Service
When you're in trouble, who are you going to call?
E. Riley, station manager
631-788-7311 · 631-788-5543, fax. Emergency only: 788-7178
Wi"ter 2008.Fi.~"ers Islaud Gtlutte 3S
Ne_ O_ners Open
DrinL. 'n Vessel
The Finan and Spinola families, anxious
for a greater stake in Fishers Island, became
landlords and business owners July 27,2007
when they purchased, from Liz Furse, Hair
of the Dog liquors and the entire building
in which the store is housed.
Renamed rhe Drink 'n Vessel, their
store, across from the village green, shares
the first level with Topper's Ice Cream,
owned and operated by Liz Furse, and The
Pickett Fence, owned and operated by Jane
Pickett. There are two residential remal
units on the second Aoor.
The dual owners have put a lot of work
into their new venture with new gutters and
fresh paint. They've also extended the liquor
store's hours and created a new look with
couches, art, plants and wine tasring tables.
Laurie Partch Finan grew up on Fishers
Island. She and her husband Chris moved
to Niantic, Conn. so they could enroll their
children in Fishers Island School. Evcntu-
ally, they moved (0 Fishers Island and built
a house here.
Mrs. Finan is a realtor, licensed in New
York and Conn.; assistant secretary of EI.
Yacht Club; treasurer of Union Chapel; and
a member of the Community Center Man-
agement Committee. Her husband Chris
is a field engineer for Motorola. He travels
extensively but is on the Island most week-
ends, They have three children, Abbie, 15,
at Kenr; and Sammie, 16, and C.J., 11, both
at F.I. School.
The Finans met Eliana and Janio Spi-
nola on the Island five years ago and im-
mediately became friends. They traveled to
Disneyworld and rook a cruise together.
Mr. Spinola arrived in the United States
from Brazil in 1983 with nothing bur a
suitcase and a visa. Through hard work and
determination, he made a life for himself
and his family in the United States. Early
in 2004, Mr. and Mrs. Spinola became U.S.
citizens, not long after rhey had bought a
house near the village centcr.
In 1986, rhc Spinolas began working
o
'0
<
~
.
.
.,
.
Q
~
.
t
m
. Nina Schmid entitled this picture, "The Lost Soles of Summer." She asked her sister to take a
picture of the flip flops gathered on a rock at Chocomount Beach in late August.
o
'0
<
~
~
.
u
.
o
.
~
. The Sailing Masters of 18'1 are an integral part of Fishers Island's "July 4th" celebration. Spon-
sored annually by Island Concerts, the fife and drum corps was founded in 1963 to commemorate
the role of Essex, Conn. in the War of 1812. Music is played on historical wooden fifes (no keys)
and on handmade rope-tensioned snare and bass drums, some of which date to the 1800s.
for Lee and Allie Hanley in Greenwich,
Conn., and moved to Fishers Island in 1997
when Mr. Spinola bccame property man-
ager for White Caps (the "Castle") and Mrs.
Spinola was hired as chef.
Mr. Spinola is a trustee of Union Cha-
pel, and Mrs. Spinola is a deacon at Union
Chapel. Both are acrive in cub scouts. The
Spinolas have three children. Camilla is a
sophomorc at Brown University; Andrew is
a junior ar EI. School, and Erick is in first
grade at F.l. School.
Do." S<<:out Update
Cynthia Riley's article on boy scouts
published in rhe Summer 2007 issue of the
Gazeue sparked a response from a man who
said that he had been a boy scout on the
Island years ago, and that it was time for
payback. Hc made an anonymous $1000
donation to Fishers Island boy scouts in ap.
preciation of his experiences on Fishers and
also for the exemplary job scout leaders are
doing with the current troop.
36 Fishers Island Gazette- Winter 2008
NY #33766
C1#603181
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Willter 200S-Pi.\'hers Island Gazette 39
GPS Technology
Continued from page 11
anached to the naval hydrographic office re-
sponsible for surveying the U.S, coastline.)
"All navigational systems depend on
time, and the more precisely you can de-
termine time, the more precisely you can
determine position, n said Mr. Chester, who
has a BA in physics. "We check the four
clocks in each of NAVSTAR's 24 satellites
twice a day and report our findings to the
Air Force, which is responsible for GPS op-
eration. My interest in GPS technology is a
natural extension of my job."
Mr. Chester is nearly giddy, in a sub-
dued sense, about using his GPS. Fascinated
by the technology, it hts perfectly with his
avocation: astronomy, which he honed dur-
ing his summers on fishers Island.
"My grandparents used to rent one of
the Three Sisters in the 1930s and 1940s,"
he said. "We had family on Fishers tracing
back to the era of John Winthrop Jr. and
Robert Fox, so I feel a strong connection to
this place.
"In 1964, my parents built a house on
the eastern end of Chocomounr (now the
Sednaoui house), and I bad various tele-
scopes that I kept there. I was hooked the
first time I looked through my dad's binocu-
lars and saw that the moon had craters,
"Fishers Island is a terrific place for am-
ateur astronomy. The bane of the amateur
astronomer's existence is artificial lighting,
but the sky is very dark looking south from
the East End of Fishers Island. There are no
artificial lights. There is just Montauk at the
tip of Long Island, and then i( is open sea."
[Mr. Chester is one of the few people
who have had the opportunity to use (he
amique telescope at the Rafferty Observa-
tory. See story on pages 6 & 7]
Waymarking Race Rock Lighthouse
In addition to geocaching and locating benchmarks, Geoff Chester also uses his GPS
receiver for waymarking, a way to mark unique locations, cultures, animals. etc. on
the planet and share them with others. [See www.waymarking.com] Mr. Chester
posted coordinates and information about Race Rock Lighthouse in 2006.
Race Rock Lighthouse
Category: Coastal Lighthouses
Posted by: StarryEyeGuy (Geoff Chester)
N410 14.608W07r02.828
18T E 747439 N 4S69990
Quick Description: Victorian house style lighthouse built in 1879 off the west
end of Fishers Island, N.Y.
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 8/21/2006 12:16:14 PM
Waymark Code: WMMZC
Reviewed By: Bernd das BrotTeam
Long Description:
I have known this lighthouse all my life.When I was a kid, it used to have a foghorn
that can best be described as sounding like the death rattle of a cow. The "modern"
one was installed in the '60s. The original Fresnel lens is located in the Henry L.
Ferguson Museum on Fishers Island. The station was manned up until at ieast 1978.
It now runs automatically.
When this station was still manned by the Coast Guard, I used to go out to visit
with one of the rotating crews, bringing them beer and goodies in exchange for
a chance to fish for snapper blues off the rip rap and a place to stay for the night.
It is an amazing structure, built on a huge granite boulder into which the cisterns
for storing fresh water and lamp oil in the old days were blasted, then lined with
concrete.
It was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the late 19th Century,
and it still stands guard over one of the most treacherous stretches of water in
the eastern U.S.
It was built on the summit of the boulder by first erecting a cofferdam, from which
the seawater was pumped out. The cisterns were blasted, the foundations were
laid, and the structure completed by 1879. It is surrounded by protective granite
riprap, with a small cove set in the northeast for sheltering the keepers' boats.
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40 Fishers l~'la"d Gazette- Wit/fer 2008
KTKI Adjusts
Continued frmn page 4
Left Behind" test preparation. "We adjust to
changing times," Mrs. Kibbe said. "We've
had the wonderful support of the Freeman
Foundation in recent years, but we desper-
ately need new sources of revenue."
In spire of rhe challenges, KTKI re-
mains vibrant, and its reputation is gain-
ing momentum. High school students arc
raising money and preparing promotional
CDs, KTKI ambassadors are growing in
number, and a college professor recently
started discussions about adding KTKI to
her curriculum.
Since 1987, Mrs. Kibbe has traveled to
Cambodia, Russia, Kenya, Ethiopia, China,
India and Nicaragua on hehalf of KTKI and
maintains an active network. "We arc also
very fortunate to have developed connec-
tions in AFghanistan, Thailand, the Philip-
pines and the Dominican Republic through
resources on Fishets Island. n
Mrs. Kibbe's journey for children began
while waiting to address students during a
1986 book tour in Vermont. She had been
reading the newspaper and saw the picture of
a boy in a Cambodian refugee camp. Moved
by the boy's circumstances, she told the chi!.
dren about it and later received hand-drawn
pictures in the mail from the students who
wanted to communicate with the boy.
In 1987, Refugees International sent
Mrs. Kibbe to the refugee camp, where she
found the boy. KTKI was born when she
saw the effect the pictures had on children
in the camp, and it was there that she im-
mediately began developing a future KTKI
network.
For 20 years, KTKI has opened the eyes
of children around the world, but recently it
has touched some of the deepest wounds of
this decade.
"About two and half years ago, Ameri-
Cares had a big drive to send supplies to
Chad and included KTKI picture hooks,"
Mrs. Kibbe said. "Nicole Walden, with rhe
International Rescue Committee (lRC)
ill Chad, was so excited by the books and
supplies thar she gave them (0 19- and 20-
year-old ex-Sudanese soldiers in a camp for
Darfur refugees.
"The young soldiers, who had been re-
cruired to fight as children, drew beautiful
pictures and wrote poems about grandmoth-
ers, houses and animals. But they also drew
pictures of the world being blown up, and
'p~~~"'~
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. Children at the Island People's Project's 2007 summer program created books for Kids to Kids
International.They became so involved that they kept asking to extend the time allotted for the
project and began interacting with one another in more thoughtful ways after hearing about
children in refugee camps.
of sword-wielding men Uanjaweedj charg-
ing in on horses chasing villagers, shooting
and killing them.
"Nicole had most of the poems trans-
lated into English, and sent the books to
me suggesting that I forward them to the
International Criminal Court to prove what
is going on in Darfur. But then I received an
urgent message from Nicole a few months
ago that we had to stop. Her IRC office in
New Yotk said that the lives of UN. IRC
and other peacekeeping personnel currently
in Chad would be at risk if the books came
to light in court.
"We still have the books, abour 15-20,
and we hope to find, as soon as possible, a
way to safely exhihit them in the United
States," Mrs. Kibbe said.
Kids to Kids International, 1961 Com-
metce Sr, Yotkrown Heights NY 10598.
Phone: (914) 243-0305, fax: (914) 243-
0306, email.info@ktki.otg.
Island Hardware Beacon for XM Radio
Lominllt'd from page 5
say, 'No thanks. We're just listening to the
radio.'"
One day, Pat Kibbe came in and heard
XM in the background. She said that she
used to be on the radio and started bring-
ing in newsletters and trinkets from annual
old-time radio conventions. Mr. Thibodeau
checked her out-she was Patricia Hosley
then-in his 800-page Emyclopedia of Old-
Time Radio and had an idea.
"I asked Pat when her birthday was,
and then I started emailing back and forth
with Greg Bell, host of XM Radio Classics.
.
,
He found one of her shows from the 1950s
and aired it on her birthday last September.
We set up XM at the library for the broad-
cast," Mr. Thibodeau said.
Mrs. Kibbe is thrilled. She has brought
her old radio scripts to Fishers Island and
hopes to organize a couple of radio shows at
the library next summer, perhaps with some
of her fellow old-time radio actors.
Island Hardware may even gain some
old-time radio notoriety: At least one radio
historian has expressed an interest in inter-
viewing Mr. Thibodeau and Mr. Banks.
Pat Kibbe's Careers
Continued from page 5
:
E. Paul duPont hired her father to head In-
dian Mmorcycle in Springfield, Mass.
She loved riding motorcycles on back
roads with her brothers when she was 11 and
12. She met her future husband, John, at
high school in Wesdleld, Mass. and turned
down a scholarship to Wellesley to attend
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in
New York Ciry.
"1 had a crazy old agent in an office
above Sardi's who kept saying, 'You little fat
girl, go back to rhe farm. One day she add-
ed, 'unless you want to read for Antoinette
Perry [for whom Broadway's Tony@ Awards
are named].'
"So shortly after graduation from dra-
ma school, I landed a role in Perry's Janie
on Broadway and in the road production,"
Mrs. Kibbe was also in Leonard Bernstein's.
On the Town. Between Broadway shows,
however, she was sdlllooking for work.
"A friend set up an interview for me
with a famous writer of radio serials. We
met in her Park Avenue penthouse, but
she had nothing for me. She called later,
though, and said she had written a part for
me-a giggly girl named Bird Brain!"
Mrs. Kibbe specialized in high lirtle girl
voices and played on scores of radio com-
edies, dramas and soap operas, including
Suspense; Henry Aldric/r, It's Higgins, Sir, and
The Brighter Day.
The programs were always live or re-
corded live for later broadcast. "It was crazy.
There were no rehearsals and no retakes.
Not only would we get scripts just before
the show, but while we were on the air, the
director would change our lines and literally
rip pages out of our scripts!"
As she transitioned to television, the
list of Mrs. Kibbe's friends and associates
reads like a who's who of 20,h century en-
tertainers: Bob Hope C'A wonderful man;
so sweer."), Jackie Gleason ("1 liked him,
bur he wa< tough."), Jack Lemmon ("A dear
friend. He gave us our first dog.").
"Bob Hope and I were in a cab one day
talking about how television necessitated
certain facial 'improvements' that could be
overlooked on radio. I had a plastic cap [0
cover a space between my two front teeth.
Once, on a live television production, my
line was, 'Come, Edward!' and as I quickly
whisked my head from one side to the oth-
er, my 'teeth' came flying out and hit the
camera!"
Multiple television appearances ranged
from The Phil Silvers Show and Car 54,
Where are You?to Lux Video Theaterand The
Honeymooners, where Mrs. Kibbe played the
recurring role of Agnes, Alice Kramden's sis-
rer.
Mrs. Kibbe went on semi-hiatus, while
she and her husband raised their children in
Westchester County. She would commute
[0 New York City for a day of work, which
was like a vacation to her, and directors still
called, even when she was pregnant. One
role called for a pregnam woman, but for
another, on City Hospital, she stayed in bed
on the set with a magazine over her stom-
ach.
Mrs. Kibbe ralks eodlessly and joyfully
about all of her passions and, when asked,
can even give a hearty rendition of her
voice-over, with sound effects, for a Cocoa
Puffs commercial.
When Mrs. Kibbe's son Jonathan left
for college, he gave her a tape recorder and
said she should talk into it and become a
writer. So she went to the New School for
Social Research in New York City [0 study
writing.
"One day a literary agem visited class,
just as the teacher was reading one of my
chapters aloud. After class, the agent asked
if she could try ro sell my book. I didn't
even know it was a book! Two weeks later,
she called to say thar she had just sold it to
Wit/ter 200S.Fishers Island Gazette 4/
Koopf!"
It was on a 1986 book tour in Vermont
that Mrs. Kibbe saw the picture of a Cam.
bodian refugee boy that led to the birth of
KTKl.
Mrs. Kibbe is known on Fishers Island
as an author who has made hundreds of
milkshakes for Island children through the
years. "My father bought that milkshake
machine when I was a child. I keep it on
Fishers now, but I always took it on book
tours, because the milkshake machine is
featured in my book, Mrs. Kiddy and the
Moonbooms.
"Since I've finally relinquished some of
my KTKI duties, I plan to gct back to writ-
ing. In spitc of evcrything that I've done or
plan to do, though, the best part of my life
has always been on Fishers Island."
~
. Pat Kibbe performs with Bob Hastings at an
OldTime Radio Convention in 1999.
~
~
~
.
~
..
~
.
~
,
o
"
.
o
..
~
~
. Art Carney and Pat Hosley (Kibbe) in a Lux Video Theater production (c. 1950-53) starring
Veronica Lake.
42 Fishers Island Gazette- Winter 20011
The
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44 Fi.\'herx btla"d Gazette. Winter 2008
ISLAND COMMUNITY BOARD
PO Box 464, Fhhers Island NY 06390
Tel & Fax'631-788-7990
email: mharr@fishersisland.net
web site: www.fishersisland.net
~
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YEAR-ROUND DIRECTORS
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Rosemary Baue
Patty Faulkner
SEASONAL DIRECTORS
William Ridgway (VP & Treas.)
Peter Gaillard
Tom O'Neil
e~S Island lit:-
- ~ '6-
~ F.!. Electric ~
F.I. Telephone
F.!. Water Works
ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTORS
Frank Burr, Chip duPont, Karla Heath
Michael Imbriglio, Kathy Parsons
Susie Parsons,John Spofford (Chair), Robert Wall
Interesting Facts from FIDCO......
The East End was platted in the mid-1920s by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr of the
Olmsted Brothers firm in Brookline, Mass. Mr. Olmstead was the son of the legendary designer of Cen-
tral and Prospect Parks. FlDCO currently owns 379.09 acres of the 1800-plus acres that were part of the
original Olmsted Plan.
The Race Point Corp. was formed in the late 1950s to bid against developers who were poised to purchase
the large track of land that was Ft. HG.Wright. Later the Race Point Corp. was folded into FIDCO.
F IDCO was formed in 1960 to buy back the clubhouse and beach club that Remington Rand had held
since 1949. 1n 1962. FIDCO bought out Fishers Island Estates, which held unsold East End land, the
roads, water systems and golf course. These two FIDCO purchases unified the East End properties that had
been split apart in the 1940s in the wake of the Depression.
FIDCO purchases management services from the Fishers Island Utility Company. FIDCO has had three
general managers. Dick Baker was manager from 1976 to ] 989, Tom Doherty from] 990 to 200] and
Bob Wall from December 2001 to the present
)
Winter lOOX-FisJu:rs Island (;azelte 45
$0 many memories...sun and rain, a generosiryof green and growing things, and now the withered grass.
I:reen ThoUA h tl the cold, aod the wait for things to go new again. The thaw that will bring out the golden daffodils
y ~ and the clumps of Siberian iris of purest white and asrilbe's feathery panicles of flowers, cream.colored ~.
by Leila Hadley Luce d h II . k
an s e pill . .
Images of the past spring and summer unscroll from memory. Hummingbirds in vertical, quivering,
sipping flight turn and fly horizontally past my eyes. A red-tailed hawk seizes an unwary mourning dove
and later a herring gull whose neck it easily crushes with its beak.
The blue intensity of sea and sky, hydrangeas and ceanothus, Tom Armstrong's amazing glass house in :
the making. Masses of white clematis along the road. on either side. Dark purple buddleia flittered about :.
by orange monarchs, yellow and black swallowtails, and small sulphur butterflies.
The sweet scent of Madonna lilies drifting across the lawn. The moon a warm orange-gold ball in the
dark sky. The lulling rhythms of the sea, the chime of Latimer's Light. Lycoris squ~migera blooming in;
August, blanketing the bluffs above our beach with lavendery pink flowers. .~.
I, '
An osprey with a fish in its talons Ayin~ ~owards its nest by Money Ponch9~ Money Pond, tre s~aps:
a pen, a cob, and seven cygnets smoothly glidIng towards us for hom~~~e ct<}&ked-corn bread we ~;9U.ght ~
them daily from rhe rime the cygnets were a few weeks old until their beige fedtli'ers tl,.Une~ white. A catbird's ~
nest hidden in the spiky leaves of a py~acan.rha bush. ' ~.€\ ~ 'F #:"
" /
i
46 Fi.~her,~ Island Gazelle- Wimer 1008
Hay Harbor Club
GOLF
Men's Club Champion: Mark Andrews IV
ladies Club Champion: Wendy Bingham
Men's Senior Club Champion: Art Walsh
Dolly Howard: Jane Crary
August ladies Handicap: Susie Ferguson
Colvin Cup: Tad Sperry, Ellen Harvey
Ringers: (Julyl Susan Catlin: (Aug.) Peg Campbell
Captain's Choice: (July) Sandy Davidson, Bert Stiff,
George Esser, Sandy Esser. (Aug.) Karl Fransson,
Martha Fransson, Alex Walker, Sandy Riegel
Holes-in-One, 3rd hole: lJuly) Sandy Esser; Jake Har-
rington; (Aug.) Susie Ferguson
CLUB AWARDS
Patricia King Cantlay Award: Aug.: Kitty Cook
Maxwell S. Porter Award: July: Bea Kuijpers. Aug.:
Oidie Kuijpers
JUNIOR GOLF
Pip Sinclair (July): Stuyvie Coleman
Endeavor Cup (August): Garnett Reid
Junior Club Cbampion (boy, girl): July: 9-hole, George
Brown, Julia Leuchtenburg/Hope Cutler; 4.hole,
Jack Foyle/Garnett Reid, Natalie Harrington; 2-hole,
Henry McCall, Elsie Harrington. Aug.: 9-hole, Conner
Henderson,Julia Leuchtenburg;4-hole, Garnett Reid;
2-hole, Charlie Parsons
Junior RingerBoard: July: 9-hole, Emmet McElwreath;
4-hole, Garnett Reid; 2-hole, Avery Coleman. August:
9-hole, George Frank; 4-hole, Garnett Reid: 1-hole,
Will Stark.
Parent-ChildTournament: July: 9-hole, George & Lyons
Brown 1421: 4-hole, Jack & Rich Foyle/Lilah & Toby
Noyes (191: 2-hole, Avery & Kevin Coleman (91. Aug.:
9-hole.Clark& Brooks Hood 143):4-hole, Rich &Jack
Foyle 1201: 1-hole, Kevin & Avery Coleman (13)
Mostlmproved (boy, girl):July: Parter Goss,lilah Noyes.
Aug.: Teddy Hood, Kate Frank
9-hole boys: July: I"Teddy Henderson 145). 2"" George
Brown (45). Aug.: 1" Conner Henderson, 2"0 George
Frank
9-hole girls: July: 1st Julia Leuchtenburg (49), 20a Hope
Cutler (561. Aug.: 1st Julia Leuchtenburg, 20d Frances
Bingham
4-hole boys: July: 1" Garnett Reid 122). 2"" Jack Foyle
(221. Aug.: l' Garnett Reid, 2"" Teddy Hood
4-hole girls: July: pt Natalie Harrington (33), 20a Lily
von Stade (341. Aug.: l' Lily von Stade, 2"" Natalie
Harrington
2-hole boys:July: l' Charlie O'Neil1l21. 2"" Keeks George
1151. Aug.: l' Will Stack, 2"" Charlie O'Neil
2-hole girls: July: 1st Elsie Harrington (20), 20d Serena
Pollard (30). Aug.: pt Elsie Harrington, 20d Delaney
Eichorn
Putting Champion (Young Juniors):July: 1" Jack Trevor
(151. 2"" Emmet McElwreath 1171. Aug.: 1" George
Frank, 20d Emmet McElwreath
Putting Champion (Mighty Mitesl: July: I'Jack Foyle
(17), 2nd Garnett Reid (20). Aug.: 1st Patrick Rose, 2nd
Oliver Parsons
Putting Champion (Mini Mighty Mites): July: 1" Avery
Coleman 1171. 2"" Keeks George 1211. Aug.: l'Avery
Coleman, 2nd Charlie Parsons
Su......er ~007
Optimist Series fint./adv.): July: 1't Matt Burnham, 2"d
Caroline McCance, 3r~ Bea Kuijpers. Aug.: 1" Bea
Kuijpers, 2nd Quinton Parsons, 3rd Patrick Rose
Racing Optimists: July: 1st Henry Keenan, 2nd Liam
Cashel, 3rd Carter Rose. Aug.: 1" Carter Rase, 2nd
Liam Cashel, 3'd William Strothe
Race 4205 (Skipper, Crew): July: 1st Sarah Fiske, Kate
Gaumond; 2nd Olivia Ball, Hannah Fiske; 3rd Beirne
Hutcheson, John Callendar. Aug.: 1$1 Emily Cashel,
Sarah Fiske;2"d Alex Strothe, Kate Gaumond,3rdWin
Hotchkiss, Abbie Finan
Most Improved Novice lboy, girl): July: Buford Reid,
Courtney Clayson. Aug.: Philip Weymouth, Shelby
Lusker
Most Improved Intermediate (boy, girl): July: Garnett
Continued on pilge 47
SAiliNG
Nano Award (enthusiasm, spirit, sportsmanship): July:
Harry Congdon. Aug.: Harrison Hall
Ferguson Cup (July): Matt Burnham
Lady Salvage Cup (August): Bea Kuijpers
Shipshape Award (attentiveness to boat): July: liam
Cashel. Aug.: Will Strothe
Mimi & Margaret Award (most impressive capsize):
July: Ainsley & Chris Ball
Parent/Child Sailing: July: Matt& Brad Burnham. Aug.:
William & Henry Keenan
Instructor's Award: July: Olivia Ball. Aug.: Sarah
Fiske.
. Hay Harbor Club
.
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. Hay Harbor Club (HHC) Golf Pro Tom Mackey and Assistant Pro Matt Locascio set up a min-
iature golf course for junior golfers on the HHC putting green in July 2007. Nicholas Crary tries
to figure out his putt with a putter in one hand and a lollipop in the other.
Winter 2008- Fishers Island Gazette 47
Hay Harbor Club
Contil/IINI from pilg!' 46
Reid, Meghan Grant. Aug.: Gardner Crary, Isabel
Stack
Most Improved Advanced (boy, girl!: July: Quinton
Parsons, Bea Kuijpers. Aug.: William Keenan,
Caroline Yerkes
Most Improved Racing Optimist (boy, girl): July: Liam
Cashel, Caroline McCance. Aug.: Carter Rose
Most Improved 420 Skipper, Crew: July: Beirne
Hutcheson, Gus Ireland. Aug.: Liete Eichorn, Dun-
can Harvey
SWIMMING
Albert H. Gordon Award: July: Ainsley Ball. Aug.:
Avery Coleman
Coach's Award, Swim Team: July: Abby Noyes. Aug.:
Isabelle Reid
Most Improved 10 & Under (boy, girl): July: William
Ughetta, Isabel Draper. Aug.: Oliver Parsons, Kate
Frank
Most Improved 8 & Under (boy, girl): July: Jack Soper,
Amelia Cleary. Aug.: Will Stack, Nancy Curtis
Most Improved 4 & Under (boy, girl): July: Robert
Geniesse, Addie George
Most Improved 6 & Under (boy, girl): July: Barron
Jones, Serena Pollard. Aug.: David Shillo, Frederica
Hamilton
Most Improved, Swim Team: July: Charlie Ughetta
Lap Chart Winner: July: Berkeley Soper (5961. Aug.:
Edie Parsons
Lap Chart Runner-up: July: Daphne BaIl1372}. Aug.:
Hollin Hanau
Swim ladder FreeStyle Winner, Runner-up: July: Page
Soper, Ainsley Ball.
Swim ladder Breaststroke Winner, Runner-up: July:
Liam Cashel, Page Soper
Diving,1'lPlace, Blue Division:July: Natalie Harrington.
Aug.: Natalie Harrington
Diving, 1'1 Place, White Division: July: Virginia Cook.
Aug.: Isabel Stack
Diving, Most Improved: July: Grace Bingham. Aug.:
Amelia Riegel
WINDSURFING
Instructor's Award: July: Lion Creel. Aug.: Natalie
Harrington
Most Improved: July: Henry McCall. Aug.: Mecky
Kuijpers
Most Advanced (boy, girl!: July: Oidie Kuijpers, Bea
Kuijpers. Aug.: Oidie Kuijpers, Bea Kuijpers
KAYAKING
Instructor's Award: July: Paige Coolidge. Aug.: Kate
Frank
Most Improved: July: Dylan Moody. Aug.: Elsie Har-
rington
Fastest Kayaker (boy, girl): July: William Keenan,
Page Soper
TENNIS
William P. Becker Award: July: Kitty Cook. Aug.:
George Frank
Coach's Award: July: Kelly laughlin. Aug.: Isabel
Stack
Parent/Child Award: July: Jack & John Trevor. Aug.:
Bart & Bart Harvey
Most Improved Junior Team (boy, girl): July: Gerrit
Gailla rd, J ea nie Dwinell. Aug.: George Frank, Natalie
Harrington
Most Improved Junior Clinic 8-11 (boy, girl): July:
Sam Dwinell, Ainsley Ball. Aug.: Stuyvie Coleman,
Mecky Kuijpers
Most Improved Little Gripper 6.8 (boy, girll: July:
Charlie O'Neil, Paige Coolidge. Aug.: Avery Cole-
man, Isabelle Reid
Most Improved Little Gripper4-6(boy, girl): July: David
Shillo, Talbot von Stade. Aug.: Nathanial Miller,
Louisa Saint
Match of the Month: July: liza Noyes & Kitty Cook.
Aug.: Isabel Stack & Betsy Sednaoui
Boys Club Champion, 13 & Up IChampion, Finalist):
July: Ben Noyes, Will Gwathmey. Aug.: Will
Gwathmey, Penn Sednaoui
Girls Club Champion, 13 & Up (Champion, Finalist):
July: Kitty Cook, Eliza Noyes. Aug.: Kitty Cook,
Hope Cutler
Boys Club Champion, 12& Under(Champion, Finalist):
July: Jack Trevor, Charlie Ughetta. Aug.: Conner
Henderson, Blake Patterson
Girls Club Champion, 12& Under(Champion, Finalist!:
July: Emily Rand, Julia leuchtenburg. Aug.: Eleanor
Sednaoui, Isabel Stack
Boys Club Champion, 10& Under(Champion, Finalist):
July: George Congdon, Gerrit Gaillard. Aug.: George
Frank, Sam Epstein
Girls Club Champion, 10& Under (Champion, Finalist):
July: Bea Kuijpers, Natalie Harrington. Aug.: Natalie
Harrington, Mecky Kuijpers
Boys Junior ladder 13& Up: July: 1 'I Oidie Kuijpers, 2nd
Teddy Henderson, 3'd Ryan Nelson
Girls Junior ladder 13 & Up: July: P Kitty Cook, 2nd
Kelly Laughlin, 3'" Alexis Gaillard
Boys Junior ladder 12 & Under: July: 1'1 Jack Trevor,
2nd Elliot Borden, 3'd Emmet McElwreath, 4th Henry
Keenan, 51h Brooks Hood. Aug.: l'\Jack Munroe, 2"d
Will Strothe,3rd ElliotBorden,41h Blake Patterson, 51h
Emmet McElwreath
GirlsJunior ladder 12& Under: July: 1 SI Jeanie Dwinell,
2nd Caroline Congdon, 3'd Virginia Cook, 41h Charlotte
Clayson, 51h Julia Leuchtenburg. Aug.: 1'\ Bea Kui-
jpers, 2nd Isabel Stack, 3rd Virginia Cook
Boys Junior ladder 10 & Under: July: 1'1 George
Congdon, 2nd George Brown, 3'd Gerrit Gaillard.
Aug.: 1't Connor Henderson, 2nd George Frank, 3rd
Sam Epstein
Girls Junior ladder 10 & Under: July: 1'1 Bea Kuijpers, 2nd
loe Calahan,3'd Olivia Cleary
Green Tennis Shoe Award: July: George Congdon.
Aug.: George Frank
Fishers Island Club Golf
Men's Club Championship: Winner: Phil Musser;
Runner-up & Medalist: Peter Baccile
ladies' Club Championship: Winner: Susie Parsons;
Runner-up: Sheldon Withers
Junior Club Champions: Alex Lynch Jr., Julia leuc hten-
berg
Men's Invitational: Championship Flight: Winner: Peter
Baccile, Rick Pagnani; Runner-up: Ed Anderson,
Scott Cardozo; Beaten Four: Peter Gaillard, John
Castleman; Beaten Two: Peter Upson, Chris Edwards.
FirstFlightWinner: Tim Brown,Jay Rice; Runner-up:
John Harris, John Harris Jr.; Beaten Four: Christie
Flanagan, Rayburn Tucker; Beaten Two: Bill Hall,Art
Ensley. Second Flight: Winner: Malcolm McAllister,
George Hubbard; Runner-up: Alex Walker, Whit
Wagner; Beaten Four: Phil Musser, Alex Beard;
Beaten Two: Michael Flinn, Gordon Kratt.Third Flight:
Winner: AI Stickney, Harold Herrick; Runner-up:
Bobby Parsons, David Barrett; Beaten Four:Andrew
Burr, Ethan Brown; Beaten Two:Ted Henderson, Guy
Wisinski. Fourth Flight:Winner: Bob King, Bob Lieber;
Runner-up: MaxSoper, Will Vogt; Beaten Four: Davis
Clayson, George Nichols; Beaten Two: John Blondel,
Henry Williams: Fifth Flight: Winner: RannyWyckoff,
Ashton Wyckoff; Runner-up: Mac Dunwoody, Jim
Crownover; Beaten Four: Ed Trippe, Harry Howell;
Beaten Two: Chauncy Goss, Tim Lufkin. Sixth Flight:
Winner: Bill Sachs, Rick Benners; Runner-up: Peter
lawrence, Ray Empson; Beaten Four: Richie Jones,
David Foulk; Beaten Two: Reginald Thors, James
Cabot. Seventh FlightWinner:Ted McGraw, William
Campbell; Runner-up: Jerry Guthrie, Jim lorlas;
Beaten Four: Reed Kean, Tony Cicatiello; Beaten
Two: Malcolm Miller, Curtis Brockelman. Eighth
Flight Winner: laurence Rubinow, John Finguerra;
Runner-up: Bill McCance, Andrew Nelson; Beaten
Four: KentSednaoui, Chris Morley; Beaten Two:Tom
Sargent, Joel Sirkin
ladies Invitational: Day 1: Gross: Liz Furse, Linda
Holbrook, Charlotte McKim, Margot Grodsky. Net:
Susie Sinclair, Shirley Babington, Bobsie MacLeod,
Patty Jenkins. Day2: Gross: Sheldon Withers, Jodie
Wilmerding, Helen Bonsai, Georgie Hutton. Net:
Agnes Boswell, Mardie Off, Sharon Frisbie, Emmy
Hobson. Overall Winners: Gross: Susie Parsons,
Patsy Warner, MissyCrisp, Kate Trotman. Net: Ellen
Schiefer, Paula Comisar, Jane Crary, Kate Ginnel.
Overall Runners-up: Gross: Christy McG raw, Jeniffer
Vogt, Kate lawrence, Kim Whetzel. Net: Margot
Bogert, Gay lehman, Missy Renwick, Carolluders
Mixed MemberGuest: Gross 1st: Dick& Wendy Bingham,
Bob &Sandra Barrett;2od: Henry&Allison McCance,
Keith & Bev Jennings. Net1$1: Laurence & Betty Ann
Rubinow, William & Diann Weinke; 2nd: Willard &
Ka ren Soper, Ted & Susan Galo. Saturday low Gross:
Jerry & Margot Bogert, Jim & Missy Renwick; low
Net: Christie Flanagan, Alice Hanley, Remy Trafalet,
Merrill Hanley. Sunday low Gross: Paul & Sheldon
Withers, Ed & Penny Goodman; low Net Peter &
Susan Chapman, Rick & Kim Fisher
Men's Senior Club Championship: Gross: 1'1 Christie
Flanagan, 2nd Bill Hall. Net 1'1 AI Stickney, 2nd Lau-
rence Rubinow
ladies Senior Club Championship: Gross: Sheldon
Withers. Net: Helen Bonsai
Men's Gold Tee Champion: Dick Bingham
Susan G. Komen ladies' Tournament Gross: 1st:
Sheldon Withers, Liz Furse, Ashley Harrington, Susie
Sinclair; 2nd: Cindy Dwyer, Mary Carpenter, Katie
Lawrence, Marge Helfit
Kirkland Cup: Lizora & Sam Yonce, logan Yonce, Jim
Hamilton
Wyckoff Jr. Championship: Ben Gray, Stuart Gray
L&M Pro Am: Team Event 1st: Glenn Solomon, Sandy
Davidson, lizora Yonce, Pro: Tom Henderson; 2nd:
Harry Yerkes, Carter Sednaoui, Allison McCance,
Pro: Jimmy Noris; 3"': Russ Planitzer, Chris Milliken,
Lisa Ireland, Pro: Rob Barbeau
Columbus DayTournament: George Ireland, Lisa Ireland,
Gail Cypherd, Greg Cypherd
48 Fishers Islalld Gazette- Winter 1008
SiLerian Journey
10 laL.e BaiL.al
Elizabeth "E.B" Bartels traveled to Lake
Baikal in Siberia last summer as part of a
Wellesley College Russian Arca Studies/En-
vironmcntal Science course.
Considered the "Russian Galapagos
Islands," Baikal, which has 22 islands, is the
single richest location in Russia for endemism,
with more than 1500 species of unique Aora
and fauna. The lake is the oldest (ovet 25
million years) and the deepest (about one
mile) in the world. It contains one.fifth of
the earth's fresh water.
E.B.,20, a Russian majorand5rudioArt
minor at Wellesley, traveled and studied with
11 othcr students. It took five days by plane,
train and boat to reach the village of Bol'shie
Koty, on the shore of Lake Baikal.
"In some ways, Baikal is more like an
ocean than a lake, with its freshwater seals
and sponges," E.B. said. "We spent three-and.
a~half weeks at the biological station in the
village designing and testing an experiment
on the lake, and studying benthic organisms
on the lake bottom. To capture the organisms,
we fashioned traps out of recycled bottles and
stones that we found on the beach.
"Our trip ended with a five-day excur-
sion on the lake. We visited Olkhon Island
(legendary burial site ofGenghis Khan), the
sulfur-stinking hot springs at Snake Cove, and
the nerpas (Baikal's freshwatcr seals) at their
breeding grounds on the Ushkany Islands."
A second part of the trip was interact-
ing with villagers and interviewing them
ahout folklore. "Apparently, residents had
been friendly and welcoming in the past but
now have become abrupt because of a recent
influx of obnoxious tourists who litter and
are a general nuisance," E.B. said.
"Fortunately, Ada Ivanova, the house-
keeper at the biological station and dorm,
was one of several residents willing to talk
to us. She invited us to her home for tea and
cake and jam.
"Ada Ivanova is in her 70s and has lived
in Bol'shie Koty all her life. She leaves the
village twice a year, and only in wimer, in
a vehicle driven over the ice, because she is
afraid of long boar trips. She makes one trip
a year to Irkutsk, the major Siberian city, to
buy supplies. Her other trip is several weeks
at a spa in a neighboring town.
Lake Baikal is known as the "Blue Eye
of Siberia." More than 330 rivers flow into
Baikal, but only one, the Angara, flows out.
. Overlooking the village of Bol'shie Koty, which has about 50 year--round residents.
L
.cT-
.
.These two boats were used for excursions and for a five-day trip on the lake. Most boats on Lake
Baikal are old military boats that were purchased by civilians when the Soviet Union collapsed.
Docks are not necessal"Y, because Lake Baikal was (ormed by plate tectonic shifts that caused
deep craters, which drop off sharply, like the edges of a bathtub.
,~
.
,.
KAZAKHSTAN '.
.
~
.
m
<Ii
w
~
~
.-
o
a
~
~
. Shaman Rock on Olkhon Island is iconic landmark of lake Baikal.
~.." -".- "~.- ...~'.-.
~
-= ~~"""
P 0 G (} II R
II
,!
...!:O . -"--~~.._. ..- _....,.~_-~,L~. .._~L'
, , I , ] rt~~~'ll
~ ',2i11 ~ . ~j
~
.~~LDlJ
MOCKBA-SflA,CjUBOCT?K
. One part of the journey included a 50-hour train ride on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
. lake Baikal, is one mile deep and contains one-fifth of the earth's fresh water.
miller 20(JR-Pishers 1~'1alld Gazeltf! 49
. E.B. Bartels in Lake Baikal.
./
,~
I
. Dormitory at the biology station in the vil-
lage of Bol'shie Koty in Siberia.
. Ada Ivanova's family makes up a large per-
centage of Bol'shie Koty. She runs her farm,
milking cows every morning; sells some ofthe
jams and pickled vegetables that she grows and
processes herself; and washes linens daily by
hand as housekeeper for the dormitory.
50 Pishers Island Gazette- Will/er 2008
A.nnoun<<:ernenl~
Engagements
Mimi Gary and John Simpson, June 2008,
Fishers Island.
Camilla Spinola and Cale Turner, Fishers
Island.
Weddings
Elizabeth Porter and Matthew Walker,
May 20,2007, Cape Cod, Mass.
Mary Firestone and James NapperTandy
II, June 9, 2007, Harbour Island, the
Bahamas.
Kate Malinowski and Graham Bunce,June
23,2007, Fishers Island.
Wi pad a Praew Metheewuthikorn and
Kyle Edward Heath,Aug. 5, 2007, Fish-
ers Island.
Billie Jo Maley and Rick Jenssen, Sept. 8,
2007, Scranton, Pa.
Corrente Schankler and Nathaniel Hunt,
Sept. 8, 2007, Fishers Island.
Victoria Hodges and Nishan Vartanian,
Sept. 29, 2007, Highlands, N.C.
Amanda Claire Todd and Barclay Lynch,
Sept. 29, 2007, Pinehurst, N.C.
Meri Lee Wall and M. Brooke Tyler IV,
Sept. 29, 2007, Mystic, Conn.
Joy deMenil and Laird Reed, Oct. 6, 2007,
Fishers Island.
Shaudy Moayery and Stuart Ridgway,
Nov. 3, 2007, Gettysburg, Pa.
Births
Suzanne EleanorThatcher,Aug. 23, 2006,
to Elina and James Thatcher, Aug. 23,
2006, Lyons, France.
Campbell Taylor Strong, Nov. 9, 2006 to
Alex (Kean) and Ben Strong, Scituate,
Mass.
Kloe Scroxton, May 31,2007 ,to Darcy and
Derek Scroxton, Fishers Island.
Gretchen"Greta" Neuhoff Solomon, Oct.
27,2007 to Margaret (Flanagan) and
Glenn Solomon, Dallas, Tex.
Wilson Lawrence Schaffer,Sept.27,2007,
to Molly duPont and Trevor Schaffer,
Belleair, Fla.
William duPont Hendriksen, Nov. 20,
2007, to Sarah duPont Hendriksen and
Edwin Hendriksen, Winter Park, Fla.
Theo Goodman Firth Bank, Dec. 10,
2007, to Katie (Firth) and Jonathan
Bank, New York City.
Eloise Warden, Dec. 19, 2007, to Ma,...
garet (Smith) and Bob Warden, New
York City.
Benjamin Phillip Garrison, Jan. 4, to
Caroline (Rugg) and Stephen Garrison,
Aiken, S.C.
Paige Carson Eaves, Jan. 28, to Nancy
(Dwyer) and Blue Eaves, New York
City.
McCance Capsize
Corltinued ftom page 9
which is supposed to keep the Bullseye
afloat, but it was cracked prior to this in-
cident. "
Mr. McCance learned to sail in a Ski-
doo in Hay Harbor in 1938 and had his
own Bullseye from 1948-52. His grear.
grandfather was Henry Ferguson. Mr. Mc-
Cance's wife, Serita, is a direct descent of
John Winrhop Jr.
"For my 74'h birrhday (Nov. 16,2007),
my wife bought me a Bullseye. She said,
'Now if you sink another one, it will be your
I'"~
own.
cr. About a minute after that, to the cheers
of the assembled, Osprey broke the surface
like a breaching whale. The diver had placed
a deflared rubber bladder in rhe bow of rhe
Bullseye and had inflared ir with a can of
compressed air.
"They rowed Osprey ro rhe yachr club,
and in time we discovered thar rhere was no
damage and no loss of equipment, even the
paddle. There was a crack in the air tank,
-
. Elizabeth Airport, Fishers Island.
I
CLASSIFIED
HOUSE FOR RENT: Up to 14
days. Large, nicely furnished
home with water view. Great
location. Call: 860A34-5096.
LAND FOR SALE: Buildable
lots on East End. Possible water
views. Call 860-434-5096.
rs--.9
rs--.9
BACK ISSUES of the Gazefte
are not filled with old news-they
are packed with Island history.
Issues are available from 1992 to
the present and cost $6. Call or
email the editor, 860-633-8200 or
figazette@cox.net
CLASSIFIED ADS: Mail name,
address, telephone number, and
message of up to 35 words, with
a check for $25, to: Fishers Island
Gazette, Classified, PO Box 573,
Fishers Island, NY 06390.
mqe Jequot c31ltlt
MDn, thru Fri., 5 p.m. to close
Sat. & Sun., 12:30 p.m. to close
631-788-7246
Aimee Colvin Interiors, LLC
)02 hamburg road
I.LJme, c.cmnedicut
S l~O.+J4.11_98
post office bOA 51 D
fishers Island, new .york Ol~) ~10
l~71188179S
~
water &waymarine
CAPTAIN ANDREW HEUBLEIN
> ocean taxi "'~"~_.,'''''" ...".
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> courier service -.
> crew & equipment transport ". ,,~-
> U.S.C.G. certified for 18 passe~ers..;;==
...~ ---
dl'/HlrtingJimn JVoal1k, servicini7;;,'";,isl!J[{Jjfd:S~:
.. ._-:-.-'---_.~~
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Winter 2008.Fishers Island Gazette 51
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Spods Massaee
'Re~exoloey
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ME..NA MO'RCiAN L.M.T.
t-1ol.\secQlIs by Appointmel-\t
Lie. #4680
celt ph: (860) 861,,0208
Fisher-s Island
(631) 788-7387
G.B. Erb Appraisal Co.
Serving Fishers Island: Real estate appraisals for
estates, trusts and financing
NY STATE CERTIFIED
Gregory B. Erb. 860.536.0721
gregory.erb@sbcglobal.net
Topper's Ice Cream...
...reopens Friday May 9th
for its 15th season!
Sweet Treats & Fun Times Since 1994
,....,..-
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. Osprey at east end of driving range [see page 2].
Speedy Mettler Photos
lZIHfRSGAZr:j. 1.. E..
ISLI1i\'f) < ,
Box 573
Fishers Island NY 06390
FIRST CLASS
FIRST-CLASS MAil
US POSTAGE
PAID
HARTFORD CT
PERMIT NO 945
No Exp
c
Ms Betty Neville
Southold Town Clerk
PO Box 1179
Southold, NY 11971