Page 10 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 THE SOUNDS OF SAUGUS By Mark E. Vogler H ere are a few tidbits that you might want to know about this week in Saugus. Best meal of the year! Nothing beats a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner and the hospitality and fellowship where it is served up. I know some folks – if they had a choice – would prefer a nice steak, ham, fish or even lobster for their Thanksgiving Day meal instead of a plump turkey stuffed with dressing and accompanied with cranberry sauce and all of those veggies. But I will take the traditional turkey and the Thanksgiving Day trimmings anytime, no matter where I am in America. I have fond memories of my mom staying up the night before, slaving over that turkey to make sure it was the best meal of the year. She would take pains to come up with the right gravy and fuss with the dressing. I loved the way she would blend the mashed potatoes with carrots. And that cooked turnip that she prepared once a year was so good. During the fall of my senior year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1973, I drove all night from Washington, D.C., where I was interning with the U.S. Labor Department, to my hometown in Swansea, making stops in Boston and Amherst to drop off a few of my roommates who were also doing internships in the nation’s capital. It was a 500-mile, 10-hour trip in the pouring rain to get home for that glorious meal. My mom went all out on holiday meals. And it was worth the torturous drive to make it home for that meal. During the years that I worked and lived in Texas and Florida, I wasn’t able to enjoy the family Thanksgiving Day meal. But I always had an invitation or two from friends or coworkers who didn’t mind preparing an extra place setting at the dinner table. Friends and people I worked with were always pretty good about that, making sure that I wasn’t going to be eating my Thanksgiving Day meal alone. And the places where I went, although the turkey meals weren’t the same as mom’s, they were prepared with tender loving care. People had their own recipes for the dressing as well as the veggies and deserts. You always had to save room for the pumpkin or apple pie. And sometimes there wasn’t any room, like the Thanksgiving meal that an Italian friend and coworker invited me to, down on Miami Beach. His mom cooked a great meal. But she made sure that nobody’s plate stayed empty. I spent an hour and a half after a lavish, multicourse meal walking several miles until my stomachache went away. I could write a book about the great Thanksgiving Day meals I’ve enjoyed during my lifetime. And this year, I will enjoy it even more, because it’s one of life’s few pleasures that COVID-19 hasn’t denied me yet – providing the governor doesn’t issue an order within the next 24 hours that shuts down all of the restaurants in Massachusetts. If all goes well, I have a reservation at White’s of Westport for a COVID-friendly, sit-down meal with my brother Wayne. Otherwise, I might be stuck at home, by myself, ordering takeout, while Wayne has a nice meal served up at the Assisted Living facility where he lives in the historical section of Swansea. So, I think it’s great that volunteers working at the Saugus United Parish Food Pantry and the Saugus Senior Center once again made sure that several hundred homes of needy people in town will get to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. Best wishes to all of our readers for a happy Thanksgiving, filled with good food and the fellowship of family and friends. A few Thanksgiving tales As a newspaper reporter over the years, I would always set out to find an interesting human interest story, suited for the season. Thanksgiving was no different. While an editor of a weekly newspaper in Arcadia, Fla., I came up with an idea for what I thought would be a different kind of Thanksgiving story – how people locked up in prison look upon this blessed holiday. So, I made arrangements with the superintendent of the DeSoto Correctional Institution to interview four inmates and take photos to go with the story. As I recall, it was a pretty basic Thanksgiving story, with a different twist. The inmates who agreed to be interviewed and photographed talked about why they looked forward to the Thanksgiving Day meal and how they missed not sharing it with loved ones or friends. And they talked about how they still counted their blessings, while trying to make the best of things behind bars. We included the crimes for which the inmates were doing time for. And the people I spoke to seemed to be filled with remorse for what they had done rather than professing to be innocent. As things turned out, I fielded an angry phone call from an GUESS WHO GOT SKETCHED: In this week’s edition, we continue our weekly feature where a local artist sketches people, places and things in Saugus. Got an idea who’s been sketched this week? If you do, please email me at mvoge@comcast.net or leave a phone message at 978-683-7773. The first reader to respond between now and Tuesday morning and correctly identify the person sketched is the winner of a $10 gift certificate, compliments of Dunkin’ at the 1204 Broadway Saugus location at Route 1 North. But you have to enter to win! Look for the winner and identification in next week’s “The Sounds of Saugus.” Please leave your mailing address in case you are a winner. (Courtesy illustration to The Saugus Advocate by a Saugonian who goes by the name of “The Sketch Artist”) irate reader who happened to have been the victim of a violent crime perpetrated by one of the inmates I interviewed. The caller told me I had ruined her Thanksgiving and that I had no business putting the inmate’s name and story in the paper. As far as she was concerned, he didn’t deserve to have a Thanksgiving at all. And neither did I, for having the gall to tell his story. On another occasion, while working as a police reporter at The Eagle-Tribune, I developed a Thanksgiving story about some nefarious people who showed up to get free turkey take home meals at a local food pantry. One of them was a drug dealer who drove up in a luxury car to pick up his turkey. Of course, he wound up getting arrested when he was recognized by an officer who was on duty at the turkey distribution place in Lawrence. We have a winner! We have a winner in last week’s “Guess Who Got Sketched” contest. Congratulations to Lisa Barras, who contacted us first and guessed correctly. Thanks to many other readers who sent the correct answer by email or phone message. Try again this week. Here’s last week’s answer, offered by the person who goes by the name of The Sketch Artist: “The answer to the sketch is Veteran’s Memorial Park. “Or Veteran’s War Monument Park. It’s a nice, quiet park we all can go to to pay our respects to the many who serve and have served in the various wars. There are eight monuments: the American Civil War, the Spanish American War, W.W.1, W.W.2, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and Cold war and Global War on Terrorism. “Staff from Saugus Building Maintenance, Dept. Public Works and others manage and perform duties and work at the park. “Saugus businesses and folks donated the pathway the monuments rest on. Some choose to engrave messages on the bricks for their loved one. You can still have messages engraved one brick three lines $100.00. (See Veteran’s column for details about bricks.) “A time of reflection and paying Tribute to Our many heroes upon reflecting on the Veteran’s Memorial Wall Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. Some more information follows, offer by our Historian and author of “Saugus Gardens in the Pandemic” – Ms. Laura Eisener! Thanks yours truly” “The Sketch Artist” Laura Eisener: “The present Veterans Memorial Park is on the grounds of the old old Saugus High School. The original brick building constructed in 1906 was where my mother attended high school. It was destroyed by fire in 1963. The rear section on East Denver Street later known as the Evans School was the only part that was saved. (The high school that was just demolished this year was then built on Route 1.) In 1946, when the high school was still in use, the brick structure with the arched center panel was built in memory of those who served in World War II and sponsored by American Legion Post 210. In recent years the list of names has been updated to include those who served in more recent wars and conflicts. The smaller monuments lining the walkway were added, as were the many memorial bricks in the pavement itself. The Blue Star Memorial Byway marker was placed by the Saugus Garden Club and dedicated May 30, 2009.” Dunkin remodeling The Dunkin Donuts at 1204 Broadway in Saugus – sponsor of the “Guess Who Got Sketched Contest – closed temporarily this week, but has a tentative reopening planned for Dec. 14. Jeanie Bartolo offers multiple “shout-outs” Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Jeanie Bartolo offered multiple “shout-outs” this week to fellow Saugonians: – “A Thanksgiving Day Shout Out to one and all: May we all be happy and stay healthy.” – “Here’s a Shout Out for our DPW workers again this year: It’s hard work putting up the Christmas Tree lights. I know from personal experience when the Town had an Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and I was a member. For many years we put up the Christmas Tree lights in Saugus Center and Cliftondale Square. One of our members, Justin Tabb, continues to help the DPW crew put up the lights every year. I just ran over to Cliftondale Square to say ‘Hi’ to all the guys and there was Justin working with them. Believe me, I know the amount of work that goes into it. You have to test each plug and re-bulb each strand THE SOUNDS OF SAUGUS | SEE PAGE 14
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