The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Trivia with a Wellesley Twist coming to town

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The Wellesley Historical Society will be hosting a night of trivia at Papa Razzi in Wellesley on Thursday, Feb. 6, from 7-9pm.

The event is billed as Trivia with a Twist, and will include some Wellesley-related questions.

Food will be provided, and there will be a cash bar.

Trivia will start promptly at 7pm and participation in the game requires that you form a team. Teams should be between 3-8 people.

Prizes will be awarded to the winning team.

Purchase Tickets and Register your Trivia Team.

RSVP by January 31, 2020.

Additionally, to register a team, you can also email: Amanda Fisher, [email protected]

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Linden Square

Wellesley viewing of PBS documentary Race: The Power of an Illusion

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Please join World of Wellesley in partnership with the Wellesley Community Center for a film showing of Race: The Power of an Illusion, followed by a community conversation. Everyone is welcome. The 2004 PBS documentary shows how US history was impacted by the creation of the idea of race, and how the concept of race affects every aspect of society today.

DATES: January 16, 23, and 30, 2020 (come to Part 1, Part 2, or all three)
TIME: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
LOCATION: Wellesley Community Center

Check out the preview or read more about the series.

January 16, Part 1: The Difference Between Us

Episode one in this three-part series follows a dozen students, including African American athletes and Asian American string players, who sequence and compare their own DNA. The results surprise them — and us — when they discover their closest genetic matches are as likely to be with people from other “races” as their own. Much of this episode is devoted to understanding why. Looking at skin color differences, disease, human evolution, even genetic traits, we learn there’s not one characteristic, one trait, or even a single gene that distinguishes all members of one “race” from another. One by one, our myths about race —including “natural” superiority and inferiority—are taken apart.

January 23, Part 2: The Story We Tell

January 30, Part 3: The House We Live In

[Read more…]

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Wellesley’s birth to star on Chronicle TV show

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WCVB’s Chronicle TV show is slated to feature a Hidden Histories segment on Monday, Jan. 6 about the founding of Wellesley, and how the Needham Poor Farm morphed into the Wellesley Country Club. Wellesley’s own Tory DeFazio will walk viewers through the history lesson.

The show starts at 7:30pm, but if you miss it on TV or by livestream, you should be able to find the Wellesley bit later on YouTube.

The segment was shot in mid-November at the obelisk near the Country Club parking lot that now marks the spot where the West and East Needham split was agreed upon in 1880 and then West Needham officially became the separate town of Wellesley in 1881.

original town hall site wellesley country club

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Wellesley’s sweet Parthenon on display at library

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wellesley parthenon
The Wellesley gingerbread-and-candy Parthenon

 

I felt fortunate to see the centuries-old Parthenon in Athens back in 2008 when the Swellesleys went abroad as a family for the first and only time to date. The Swellesley juniors were deep into the Percy Jackson books at the time, and their enthusiasm for all things Greek enveloped the family.

parthenon athens 2008
Having a swell time at the Parthenon in Athens

More recently, I plotted a run while visiting Nashville to view the full-scale Parthenon replica near Vanderbilt College. The structure was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Athena would have been proud.

nashville parthenon
The other Parthenon, in Nashville

But little did I realize that my Parthenon studies were incomplete until Wellesley Free Library made us aware that it was displaying a deliciously spectacular gingerbread-and-candy replica of the temple this season thanks to the efforts of Wellesley resident Grant Brown, family and friends, who have a history of gingerly building such elaborate structures. I rushed right over to see it, being careful not to touch or snack on it, for fear of leaving it in ruins. It’ll be there until the end of this year.

History.com describes the Parthenon as being “a symbol of the power, wealth and elevated culture of Athens,” and so this version of the architectural masterpiece could be said to be doing the same for our fair town, on a more modest scale.

The artist speaks

Brown says this year’s creation was inspired by a family trip to Greece this summer where they toured the Acropolis and the Parthenon. “We thought that amazing structure would be a fun inspiration. I had contemplated building the mountain and collection of temples at the top, but that seemed too aggressive given my day job and work-related travel,” he says.

Brown said he and his wife had many friends and family over on Sunday to help decorate the gingerbread house.

“My parents asked me last week to calculate the dollars and time spent on the preparation. I have steadfastly refused to do so. (Mainly because I’d introduce a bit of depression into the mix!),” says Brown, whose family has been hosting gingerbread parties for 18 years to help kick off the holidays.

“As for anyone tempted to disobey the Library’s signs, I speak from a position of authority when I say: Obey the Do Not Touch request! Some of the candy on every house is leftover and saved from prior years. It’s possible that the gummy bear that looks so enticing on the lawn of the Parthenon is circa 2016!”

 

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Wellesley Veterans Day ceremony honors those who served

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Wellesley recognized Veterans Day on Monday during a ceremony at Town Hall at which around 75 attendees paid their respects to those who have served in all branches of the United States military. Originally called Armistice Day, Veterans Day is celebrated on November 11 each year because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I in 1918.

In 1954, the holiday’s name was changed to “Veterans Day” to honor all vets, living or deceased, in all wars. “We must honor and remember and celebrate those who are here today and those who are not,” said Joe Olivieri, Wellesley’s Veterans’ Graves & Ceremonial Officer. Oliveiri served two tours with the Marine Corp., one in Afghanistan in 2002 and one in Iraq in 2006.

Lorelei King Wellesley Veterans Day
Army Sergeant Lorelei King spoke during a salute to the dead. King and Marine Corp. Sergeant Pete Jones then retired a ceremonial Prisoners of War/Missing in Action flag by folding it into a crisp triangle. The black flag was draped over an empty chair during the ceremony to symbolize military members living and dead who have not yet come home.  Jones, currently active in Wellesley Legion Post 72, offered up the sobering statistics: “There are 70k still unaccounted for from WWII; 8,100 from Korea; 12 from the Cold War; 1,810 from Viet Nam; and 3 from the Gulf War,” he said.

 

Roy Switzler Veterans day 2019
Army Sergeant Royall Switzler offered a benediction.
veterans day girl scouts
A group of 7 Wellesley Girl Scouts led the crowd of about 75 in the Pledge of Allegiance, then spoke some heartfelt words. “We will never fully understand what you were required to do and how you were able to do it…but what we offer you is this. We see you. Thank you for your service. You will not be forgotten.”
John Dirlam, Wellesley Veterans Day 2019
John Dirlam, MassBay history professor and Navy veteran, gave a riveting lesson on Wellesley residents’ contributions in World War I and II, and the story of Veterans Day and its place in American history. In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress — at the urging of the veterans service organizations — amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. In 1968, the Uniforms Holiday Bill ensured three-day weekends for federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. Under this bill, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October, leading to much confusion about the day the holiday should officially be observed. Then on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of Nov. 11, beginning in 1978. Since then, the Veterans Day holiday has been observed on November 11.
veterans day lorelei king
Wellesley Honor Guard.
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Wellesley Rotary Club and WOW to present speaker and witness to Rwandan genocide

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Wellesley Rotary ClubThe Wellesley Rotary Club and World of Wellesley will present speaker Claude Kaitare on Tuesday, November 5, 6:30pm – 8pm, at the Wellesley Free Library. All are welcome for light refreshments beginning at 6:30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm. Register here.

Claude Kaitare was born in the early 80s in Rwanda. He spent his childhood primarily in Kigali until the Rwandan president was assassinated on April 6th, 1994. This provided the catalyst for what is known as the genocide against Tutsi.

Claude’s began an odyssey that separated him from his immediate family in an orphanage and led him to live with other family members in Portland Maine. There he attended school went on to graduate in 2005 from Clark University in Worcester with a bachelor’s degree in History. In January, he completed a graduate-level Holocaust and Genocide Studies certificate program at Salem State University. Claude has travelled extensively through Eastern Europe and most recently visited Rwanda with Salem State University in 2015, 16 and 17.

Claude continues to testify about the tragedies that he witnessed in the genocide to different high schools and universities in collaboration with Facing History and Ourselves for whom he has been a resource speaker since the early 2000s. He aims to educate others on genocide and war crimes since unfortunately history does repeat itself. His objective is to continue raising awareness in hope of minimizing ignorance about the human catastrophe of genocide.

Register here.

 

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