Benefits of A Seth Moulton Vote

I don't always vote for Democrats.
But when I do....

I vote for Seth Moulton for Congress.

This is how you will feel when you vote for Seth.

Opinionettes.

The little girl who killed her instructor with an Ooze Automatic weapon when it recoiled..... we lost a perfectly good village idiot in that tragedy.

Martha Coakley is taking  a page out of Elizabeth Warren's book.... campaigning against the Big Banks and the Old Boy Network.... it is phony, yet fodder for the Democratic herd which will elect this vindictive and hurtful politician.

Brad and Angelina got married.... freaking whoop di do.

If Massachusetts doesn't elect the ticket of Baker and Polito, it will get what it deserves and will lose a huge opportunity for professional management to solve its massive issues.

Why are we paying millions on the Boston Marathon Bomber's defense?

I can't wait for the medical community to admit that deep fried food is good for you.

Facebook is an incredible invention that has rekindled relationships and reunions that were never before possible and I am grateful.

Summer comes and goes quicker every year, and global warming is a crock.

Angry Orchard Hard Cider and Captain Morgans Spiced Rum is a delicious cocktail but will get you looped after two.

Enough for now.

Karyn Polito

Went to see Karyn Polito, Republican Candidate for Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor this evening at a meet and greet organized by my old friend, Louis Markakis, at Palmer's Restaurant in Downtown Marblehead.
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She is the real deal.
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Strong Emphasis on taking personal responsibility and weaning people away from depending on Government.  Lower Taxes... cut Goverment Regulation... all those things that make sense but scare the pants off of Liberal Big Government.
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I liked her, but question whether she and Charlie Baker can get elected in this Commonweath of Entitlement.

Post Secret Project

I'm starting get the hots to build this greenhouse that I designed last year, somewhere on the Sundance Property.


Maybe in the Driveway where it will double as a garage.  But nothing can happen until I finish the secret project.

Secret Project Progress

The secret project that I have been working all summer long is at a critical milestone.   I will disclose it at the proper time, but as of now, it is a secret... so don't be asking about it.

Nestor-Mestor

Anne Freeman Hill just sent me this photo of Joanne and I with Phil and Marva Freeman at Jeff and Kathy Middleton's Wedding.
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I had forgotten how good looking we all were back then!
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Hard to believe they both are gone, but I have to believe they are together in a better place.
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Anne is Phil's youngest sister and she used to be a little pip squeak who would get in my face and call me Nestor-Mestor whenever I showed up on Collins Street Terrace in East Lynn.
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She married a great athlete from West Lynn, Tony Hill, and matured into a beautiful woman..... But even though we are all forty years older,  I still picture her as this little kid trying to torment me.
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Thank you, Anne, for sending me this memory.

  

Testing the Water

Maybe it's time to trade in the WhaleEye for a new model.  Ryan and I looked at a nice MayCraft down at CoastlineMarine today.   I was impressed with the dealer, and the boat seemed to be a solid no frills fishing platform.



We have to see what accounts receivable looks like at Nanepashemet Telecom.
http://www.may-craft.com/

Seth Moulton for Congress

I'm thinking of throwing the coveted Nanepashemet Nod to Seth Moulton for the Sixth Congressional Massachusetts District.

He's a Marine veteran and I sense that there is a well of honesty and integrity.   And yes, I know, He is a Progressive Democrat.  That concerns me, but if he acts honestly, that would be exceptionally refreshing.

I offered a spot on my lawn for one of his campaign signs too.... so that should be enough to swing this gig for him.

Lives Lived Well

After Phil Freeman's services on Saturday,  we had to attend services for Omer LeBlanc, Joanne's 93 year old uncle on Tuesday.

As sad as the ritual of death and dying is, the habit of coming together with old friends and family is very comforting and helps us cope and move on among the living.  We honor their passage and our own problems fade from center stage for a
small time.

While the funeral is an ending, it is also a beginning to celebrate the time we have left with people who are important to us.

Phil and Omer were people that I knew since I was a little kid, and it is sad to see their passing,  but their services revealed that both had lives that were lived well.

Just In Case You Forgot

B-17 Flying Fortress - A Mistaken Detail

Back in 1995,  I bought this framed print at Kennedy Studios, and presented it to my cousin, the Late Attorney John Nestor, in commemoration of the fact that he had flown 125 missions in a B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II... an amazing feat.
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He stared silently at it for awhile.
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First I though he was sizing it up and identifying inaccuracies, such as a turrent or gun not being in the right place.... but then I began to think that I had made a bad mistake, and that it was conjuring up memories that were best left dormant.
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When I finally broke the ackward silence and asked, "Is there anything wrong?", he replied... "There certainly is."

"What's that?" I said with a bit of anxiety.

"Those fucking Messerschmidts would have never gotten that close.",  John said.

He never hung that print in his office.  And he never forgave the Germans or the Japanese.
John was a great man for many reasons.  God rest his Soul.

(Thanks for Frank Iacono for placing the print on Facebook.)

Philip Freeman - Lynn Daily Evening Item - Obituary

Philip G. Freeman, 62

Formerly of Lynn

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Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 3:00 am

Philip G. Freeman, 62 0 comments                                    
 

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. — Philip G. Freeman, age 62, of Englewood, N.J., formerly of Lynn, Mass., passed away on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014. Born in Henderson, N.C., to the late Albert and Dorothy (Bradley) Freeman, Philip was a graduate of Lynn English High School, Class of 1970, where he was co-captain of the track team, setting a record only recently broken for the two mile run in 10.2 minutes.

He graduated from Boston College, Class of 1974, where he studied sociology. Philip had a successful career primarily in computer technology and later in financial services working at Pan Am, Exxon, PSEG, and PNC Bank.

Philip enjoyed music, domestic and international travel, sports and art. He made friends wherever he went with his charm and engaging personality.

Philip was predeceased by his beloved wife, Marva (Braithwaite) Freeman. He is survived by his loving daughter Melissa Brown (Freeman), his son-in-law Lance Brown and granddaughter Leah; brothers, Edward J. Freeman (Cynthia), Thomas J. Freeman (Jessica), Ronald A. Freeman (Ginette), Leon H. Freeman (Michele), Richard E. Freeman (Fiona), sisters, Marcia I. Leffler (Lee) and Anne M. Hill (Tony). He is also survived by his aunt, Alice Boykin; father-in-law Jack C. Braithwaite; sister-in-law Karen Singleton; and brother-in-law Richard Emmanuel. He was predeceased by his brother Albert C. Freeman (Gretchen) and mother-in-law Germaine Braithwaite.

Philip was a beloved uncle to his many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by many cousins and a magnitude of great friends.

Service information: Visitation at BARRETT FUNERAL HOME, 148 Dean Drive, Tenafly, N.J., on Saturday, 9-11 a.m. Funeral Mass Saturday, 11:30 a.m., at St. John’s Church, 470 Broad Ave., Leonia, N.J. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org.

Phil Freeman - RIP

Jeff Middleton called Joanne today and said that Phil Freeman had died in the last day or so.   He had a brain embolism or something, slipped into a coma and passed away....and had suffered a stroke in the last ten years and endured kidney problems.  His beautiful wife, Marva, had died of cancer in 2012.  He was 62.

I first met Freeman when I was in the 2nd grade at St. Joseph's Sunday school.  He lived down by the Meadows where the East Lynn colored people lived, and I lived in the Highlands, so we didn't go to the same elementary school, but just seemed to hit it off on Sunday's at St. Joseph's.  When we both went to Eastern Junior High School, in the seventh grade, we joined the St. Joseph's CYO Basketball team and would hang out on wintry afternoons after games or practices down on Green Street and Union Street in Lynn.

Phil and I were not exceptional basketball players, we didn't have the size and basically just held our own.  When we were Sophomores at Lynn English High, Phil went out for the cross country team and became a standout.  I was thinking of going out for the swim team, but after a couple of gym calisthenic workouts, and watching the cross country team come back in the locker room, I joined the team prior to the beginning of the indoor track season.   My mental reasoning was precisely this.... "If Freeman can be this good, then I should be able to do really well, because I'm at least as good as Freeman."

I was wrong.

Freeman was a gifted long distance runner and I was a plodder at the back of the pack.  It was incredibly difficult for me to mold my pudgy developing body into the type of shape that it would take to compete, but Freeman was my inspiration.  He had a beautiful fluid stride, and a lot of guts.

How could he be this good and me be that  bad? !!!

Gradually, throughout that Indoor Track season, I improved until I was the second fastest Sophomore miler on the team... behind Phil.

Then at the beginning of the outdoor season, I pulled a muscle in my hip and was just limping through races.  Phil knew that I was not improving and I remember the day when we sat on the bus on the way home from a meet at Peabody High, and he thought he could console me by suggesting that I try to throw the discus or the javelin. I don't think he ever knew how annoyed I was with that comment, and that really motivated me to become the best runner possible.

By the time we were Juniors, Freeman and I were within the top five varsity cross country members of the team,  He was number two behind Fred Doyle and I was number four behind Rick Jankowski. We went on to be the Essex County Champions of 1968 and at the end of the year, Phil and I were named Co-Captains of the Lynn English High Track Team for our senior year.

In our senior year, we had begun to be known in local track circles as Freeman and Nestor from Lynn English and we were contenders in Essex County and the Massachusetts State Meets.  Any race that I ran with Phil, I was content to be second and at least beat the other guys.   The only Cross Country race that I ever won was the time that Phil was home sick from school.... and I took the opportunity to beat the crap out of the Peabody runners who had no idea that I was grabbing what I thought was my one chance to come in first.  I did beat him once, when  I had a great run at the Essex County Cross Country Championships our senior year, finishing third,.....and  Phil  came in sixth.   It was the only time I ever beat him cleanly.   He was genuinely happy for me, and I sensed a feeling of pure friendship from him.

 Later that winter, Phil was third in the Division I Two Mile and I came in sixth on the boards in the old Boston Garden... I was happy and proud to see him ahead of me with the leaders, and earn a State Medal.

Phil and I started to go to the CYO Dances together when we were Sophomores and he began to let his Afro develop.   He was the first Black kid at English with a full blown Afro which would have made Jimi Hendrix proud.  Around that time, he would insist that his name was not Phil Freeman... it was Marcus Garvey.   I had no idea who the hell he was taking about until years later when I actually took the trouble to research who Marcus Garvey was.  But we never went deeper than that.

Freeman was a great dancer at the CYO dances and the girls liked him.   Phil told me every sordid detail of his encounters with women and I truly got a good portion of my sex education listening to him.  But Phil was a genuinely kind person and I remember how he acted when he told me about the girl in my neighborhood who said that she loved him.   He was really moved.  We would stand around for hours,  leaning against a Mailbox on the street corner, telling each other things that we were feeling. and observing in those formative years.

We would be down at the Meadow Playground playing basketball in the summer and passing pucks back and forth with hockey sticks and no skates when the Meadow would freeze over in the Winter.

I think our friendship was obvious to others, and we never really discussed race issues which were rising in intensity at the time.  It was 1967, 68, 69  Sherwin Wheeler, a Black kid who lived across the street from Phil, once got in my face and asked if I would let my sister date Phil...  I could sense where he was going .....  "I don't care if she dates Phil... I just don't want her to date you!", was my reply... and Sherwin knew full well that I didn't have a sister.

Outside of that, I don't remember the issue ever coming up.   I was bothered and embarrassed when the Lynn English Yearbook had a picture of me at the end of our Senior Year captioned " John Leads the Way".  At best it was stupid and naive, and at worse,  it was racist.   Freeman lead the way, I was a solid second.  And  I was confused  when I came back from my Freshman year at UMASS Amherst, went over to see Phil who was home from Boston College, and asked him if he wanted to go to some nightclub in Boston.  Freeman declined, saying it was "Too White Oriented".

I just shrugged it off at the time and didn't give it much thought until I got back to school the next semester when I wrote up the incident in a College Journalism class, and the UMASS Professor told be that my short story should be published.  But I never followed up.

After College, Phil got a job in New Jersey and married a beautiful girl, Marva, from Brookline.  I remember being at his wedding in Boston, which was incredibly done, and getting really misty for a while as I contemplated how far he seemed to have come from those old days when we would push each other in the St. Joseph's Sunday School lines.  He had carved out  beautiful life for himself.

We faded away from each other.   I last saw him at this father's wake at the Solimine Funeral Home in Lynn in the late 90's.  For some reason, I got really emotional, dragged him out into the parking lot and told him that I was always bothered by that yearbook notation and that I felt it was racist.   He just shrugged and smiled.

So when I talked to Jeff this afternoon, and he told me how Phil had died with declining health in the last ten years, every detail came rushing back to me.  I couldn't speak and just blubbered into the phone with Jeff for awhile.  Pretty sad... I would try to Google him from time to time and even Google mapped his house in Englewood, NJ a couple of years ago. I should have called him, but it was enough to know that he was still walking the  Earth.

But now he isn't... and I will miss him.

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JT Hackett1:28 PM

Jay, very nice piece that brings back a lot of good memories of running track with you two at LEHS. Greatly saddened by the news. Phil was a really good guy and an awesome runner. As you said, he will be missed. John T. Hackett III