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This time of year, gift giving is, typically, atop most people’s to-do list. Because of this, shopping and wrapping (or at least packaging) are also prominent items to accomplish. And because I love shopping (and getting a good deal), I often begin the process of collecting my holiday gifts during the summer, or maybe in springtime or, to be perfectly honest, in early January when everything goes on sale! Basically, I shop all year round for Christmas, often tucking away little piles of goodies for months before I even start to think about making my Christmas shopping list in November.
However, because I am so preemptive in my shopping list tasks, I’ve noticed that, recently, I have become a bit like Santa Claus and, must check my shopping list twice (or even three times) so that I can organize what I (may) have left to buy.
This year, when I made my holiday list and then checked my inventory, I discovered that I should have made my holiday shopping list in January, when I started shopping! I should have done this because then I would NOT have purchased several of my holiday gift items … TWICE!
I remember thinking, back in early summer, that I should take advantage of the Yankee Candle sale and purchase my holiday (and autumn) scented candles. And so, I did. And when the BIG box of candles was delivered, I realized, upon unpacking them and tucking them away in my candle spot, that I hadn’t remembered thinking this same exact thought four months earlier back in late winter. Now I had 12 candles for the 6 people I typically give candles to.  And when my favorite store offered a great deal on sweaters in April, I purchased some for my sisters, forgetting that I had already purchased their annual sweater gift last late December. Now I had six sweaters for three sisters…
In making my holiday shopping list this year and in organizing my excessive inventory, I have considered two possibilities; I can simply give each candle recipient and sister, two of each item or expand my gift giving list to include nine more people. Quite frankly, both options feel a bit excessive.
Instead, I will save the sweaters and hope that they will still be in style next Christmas, and I will enjoy holiday-scented candle burning well into the summer months. I will also consider that I should expand my baked goods recipients so that I can, in the future, eliminate some shopping.  Better yet, since my husband is not an ‘advanced’ Christmas shopper, I may just hint that, this year, I would like a small whiteboard with colorful markers! This way, when I buy gifts, I can check them OFF the list as it’s far easier to check something off a list twice rather than buy it… twice!
NICE! NICE!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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There are three seasons in high school athletics and Josh Welch is now familiar with all three.
The long-time track coach took over the boys’ cross-country program this fall.
This winter, he is in charge of both the girls’ and boys’ indoor track teams and mentors the girls’ outdoor track team in the spring.
The turnout for the boys’ indoor track program has been good with 28 currently signed on. Only four of them are seniors.
Austin Adams, Charlie Caggiano, Gavin Grant and Joel Koleszar will be the only ones departing the program due to graduation in the spring.
Caggiano, like his coach, is a three-season running athlete with outdoor track being his favorite due to the size of the team and the opportunities the outdoor season presents.
Indoor track tends to be a little more intimate.
Caggiano is more of a distance-type runner. That will be the strength of the boys this year as he is joined by the likes of juniors Christian Menounos, and Colton Sallum and Koleszar, the senior.
Menounos set the Woodstock Academy record in the 1000 (2 minutes, 36 seconds) last winter which Welch believes is about eight seconds off the state record in the event.
Sallum’s mile time has gone down to 4:36 and Welch thinks that could drop into the 4:20 area this season.
He needs to improve 10 seconds to own the school record.
Other athletes who could make a difference include Anthony Beaudreault who has put in a lot of offseason work and Welch feels could be a solid sprinter and 300-meter runner and could even be made into a hurdler before all is said and done.
In addition to having only four seniors, the Centaurs also have only three other juniors besides Menounos and Sallum, Michael and Eli Susi and Aidan Kane.
 Caggiano also pointed to freshman Ronan Curran and Bronson Eddy whom he feels have a lot of potential. Caggiano will be focused on the 1000 and 1600-meter races this season.
The boys’ team opened the season on Saturday with an ECC meet where only individual achievements counted as no team scores were kept. Sallum had a good day as he was a dual winner. The junior recorded a personal best 4 minute, 32-second time to win the 1600m and also captured the 3200m in 10:24.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

From left: Joel Koleszar, Gavin Grant and Charlie Caggiano will all be integral parts of the Woodstock Academy boys’ indoor track team. Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.

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Mr. Morse Goes Home

By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — It was a long way home for Mr. John Morse.
In November Becky Lamb discovered that a non-descript stone leaning on her front light pole was in fact a headstone for Mr. Morse. He died in 1796 at the age of 35, according to the stone. Lamb did a little research and discovered that Mr. Morse belonged in Pomfret. She called Pomfret First Selectman Maureen Nicholson who dropped by Lamb’s home on Tracy Road and picked up the headstone. Then research began to find out exactly where he belonged in the cemetery.
Enter Donna Dufresne, researcher extraordinaire. She discovered exactly where his headstone should be placed and also researched his life. She said it was a stroke of luck that the man died young because that opened up more records to flesh out his life.
A map of the Pomfret cemetery by Dorman Weaver showed Mr. Morse’s headstone was in place in 1950. Sometime after that it ended up in Killingly.
Dec. 14 was homecoming day. The town’s DPW brought the slate headstone. Dufresne, historical society members, and experts including preservationist Ruth Brown of the Connecticut Gravestone Network and expert Keegan Day were there to help. Brown said, “We need to do more on preservation here.”
The headstone has a pointed bottom; however, if the stone were “planted” using that bottom, it would either have to be sunk so low as to cover some wording or it would be top heavy and fall over.
Experts expect to fashion some sort of collar so that it is standing secure but not buried on concrete.
The headstone says:
In Memory of/ Mr. John Morse / Who died Aug. 1796 / Aged 35 / A wit’s a feather and a chief a rod: / An honest man’s the noblest work of God”
The quote on the headstone was written by Alexander Pope, an English poet, translator and satirist of the Enlightenment ear in Great Britain. One meaning ascribed to the quote is: “It is good to be smart and it is good to be a leader, but it is the best to be an honest person.”
Dufresne said: “I was able to identify exactly where the missing stone should be installed because I have the 1950 map from Dorman Weaver’s project on the cemetery. John Morse is buried with the Sharpe family. This led me to believe he had married one of the Sharpes. Indeed, he married Sarah (Sally) Sharpe on March 15, 1795. That same year, John Morse bought 8 rods of land with his business partner, John Phipps (along Rt. 97). The property was sold by John Maguire, who was a tailor.
“The deed implies that there had been some kind of clothier shop, either tailors or dressmaking during the 15 years between the Revolutionary War and the mercantile owned by John Phipps and John Morse.
“John Morse died at age 35 in 1796. He’d only been married one year and the child he had with Sarah Sharpe had died in February of 1796, John died in August. Because he died young and unexpectedly it was likely he was insolvent. I’ve run into several inventories of shop keepers who died insolvent, and the inventories are informative. Indeed, John Morse’s estate went to Probate due to “bad debt”. His inventory is 10 pages long including the inventory of the store which was filled with imported and domestic fabric as well as paint, chemicals, hats, pipes, China sets, pewter, teapots, spices, and more. Several pages of the inventory are devoted to debts he owed to creditors – merchants in Providence – who sailed to the West Indies to procure fabric from Great Britain and the East Indies Trade.”
The cause of death was not available but Dufresne said there were several epidemics around that time.
For the full research on Wed. night, check the expanded version of this story at www.putnamtowncrier.com and at the paper’s FB page: Putnam  Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. It’s fascinating.

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Resting Place - Finally
The headstone of Mr. John Morse - from 1796 - was returned to his resting place in Pomfret last week. From left: Donna Dufresne, First Selectman Maureen Nicholson and historical society member John Folsom. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.

captions, page 4:

Top left: Experts, officials and "finders" at the cemetery with Mr. Morse's stone. Bottom left: Keegan Day speaks to group. Top right: Finding where the stone goes (from left: John Folsom, Maureen Nicholson and Donna Dufresne.)


 

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Pomfret goes 'charger' in big way

By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — Hopefully by the end of the year the town will have 10 EV charging stations completed — all on state highways and all near places that draw people.
First Selectman Maureen Nicholson said the eight will be funded by a grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and from a “grant” from the VW emissions settlement.
A previous grant from the state covered the EV charging station at the Pomfret Town Hall, said Nicholson. However that station has been nonfunctioning for two, maybe three years.
Plans call for two fast-charging units at the Town Hall, two standard units at the Community Center, four units at Pomfret Community School and two at the library.
Nicholson said that the units at the Town Hall and the library will be slowed by the need for Eversource’s schedule to replace the pole that will supply the power to those units.
Currently bases are being installed for the units.
The cost of the 10 stations is $180,000 and that is “totally covered by the two grants,” according to Nicholson.
She said the town worked with Titan. A committee will set the kilowatt per hour rate.
Costs including software updates, etc. will need to be covered.
Nicholson said that there is an app that will tell anyone where the charging stations are and their rates. She expects the Pomfret units will be popular because they are alongside places that draw the public — library, town hall, school, Community Center. Air Line trail entrances are at the Community Center and at the town hall.
“It’ll be nice to have these units available on this side of the state,” she added.

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