SOUTHPORT STAFF PROFILE 

Bill & Betty Kelley

When Bill Kelley met Betty Boucher on a blind date more than 50 years ago, he had no idea he was being introduced to his future wife and lifelong partner.

Bill served in the US Air Force from 1950 to 1954 as a photo interpreter. While stationed in England he was selected to be a member of the American Honor Guard attending the funeral cortege of King George VI. On his return to civilian life, he embarked on a career in investment banking, which led to his position as vice president of sales for Bankers Trust.

Betty was director of sales service for the ABC Radio Network, but a few years after their wedding she left that job to raise a family. When their two children, Sharon and Tim, were in middle school, Betty worked as a professional fundraiser and later as a travel agent and a real estate agent. She was an active member of the Junior League and worked with disabled youth.

The Kelleys spent the first 22 years of married life close to where Betty was raised in Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, New York. While in Hastings, Bill took on many volunteer responsibilities, including serving as a volunteer fireman and captain of his company. He was also elected as a trustee of the village and appointed police commissioner.

Job opportunities took them first to Hartford, Connecticut, then to Baltimore, Maryland until 1988, when Bill joined the staff of Cape Cod Bank & Trust as vice president of business development, a position he held until he retired. However, retirement didn't last long and he went to work for Heritage At Falmouth, an assisted living facility, where he remained for eight years.

Twelve years ago, the Kelleys became two of the early residents of Southport. As number 32 on the list of purchasers, they have watched Southport grow over the years and have welcomed many new neighbors to their neighborhood on Portside Drive.
 

There's lots of satisfying work to be done in Honduras, but the best part of the experience is "listening to and playing with the children."

Their passion for volunteering continues to this day, and the main benefactors of their current dedication are missions in Honduras. The Kelleys first became aware of the great need for aid in Honduras through a missionary who spoke at Corpus Christi Parish in Sandwich. He was in New England to raise awareness and funds for Mission Honduras, which was founded by Father Emil Cook over 40 years ago. The focus of Mission Honduras is on educating the youth of the country, and the Kelleys soon became involved with the project.

Then, in 2000, the diocese of Fall River opened a mission in Guaimaca, Honduras. Because the needs are so great, Bill and Betty knew there was a real opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these struggling people. They initiated their ongoing project--the collection of cans and bottles with refundable deposits and, even more important, the collection of scrap metal that can be turned into funds for the work of the mission. Over the years, the nickels and dimes collected from these projects have amounted to more than $25,000 in donations for the Honduras mission.

Not satisfied with a secondhand role in missionary work, Bill and Betty have visited Honduras many times. Both separately and together, they have spent periods of two weeks at a time doing physical labor at the mission. Projects have included construction, digging ditches, laying water lines, painting, repairing equipment, and sorting through donated clothing and medications. But the best part of their experience is listening to and playing with the children.

Dominican nuns are in charge of the facilities in Guaimaca. One of the nuns, Sister Maria, is a nurse practitioner; she manages the clinic, among other things. Volunteers have built a boarding school for girls and a clinic for the community. Among the many projects at Guaimaca is a farm that has produced and sold over 18 tons of tomatoes to WalMart in their first year of operation. The mission has also created a coffee growers coop.
 

Southport residents help the Kelleys support the mission in Guaimaca by donating deposit-refundable bottles and scrap metals. Since 2000, those projects have generated $25,000 for the mission. But remember: No water or wine bottles!

Betty and Bill have not visited the mission in several years but hope to return together next year. As Betty observed, "No matter what you do while you're there, you're a changed person when you come back." Meanwhile, they stay involved with volunteer work in other areas. Betty helped found Birthright of Falmouth and is pro-active with A Woman's Concern. Bill is a past grand knight of Christ the King Knights of Columbus and is very active with the group. He also works at the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. And, you will find him waving you in at the security booth as you enter Southport on Fridays.

The Kelleys lead a busy and full life and have no plans to slow down. They are most grateful for the friendship and support of their fellow Southport residents and send a sincere thank you to everyone who brings them refundable bottles and cans and hope you will continue to support their efforts (but please, no water or wine bottles!). Even more important to their efforts are donations of scrap metal such as copper, brass, aluminum, lead or zinc--anything that a magnet will not stick to. These items can be left in the green box across from the Christ the King playground or brought directly to the Kelleys' home at 7 Portside Drive.

If you would like to know more about the mission in Guaimaca, give the Kelleys a call (477-8417). They are always happy to share information about the work that still needs to be done.

People from other parts of the country who drive in cities with streets laid out in a grid pattern are frequently appalled at the narrow twisting streets in Boston. They ask, "Are these really paved over cow paths?" In many instances the answer is, "Yes."

Similarly, the map below shows that some of our major contemporary New England highways follow ancient paths that Native Americans used as trade routes between villages. Since New England Indians did not have horses, all travel was on foot following the easiest routes in hilly terrain and around water obstacles. 

Many modern highways follow the routes of ancient Indian trading trails. The circles on the map represent Indian settlements.

Looking at Cape Cod we can see the forerunners of the present Route 6A running from Bourne to Provincetown and Route 28A from Bourne to Falmouth. Look at Route 95 along the Connecticut shore and Route 20, the "Mohawk Trial," along the northern border of Massachusetts. All of these and many more modern highways and rural roads are "paved over Indian paths."

Artifacts found by archeologists at various sites indicate that there was a very active exchange of trading goods such as skins, seafood, meat, corn, copper and wampum between and among Indians living near the shore and those farther inland. When the local supply of furs to trade with Europeans was exhausted, Native Americans would acquire more pelts through barter with Indians living in interior villages located along the Indian paths.

NATURE

The Southport Interpretive Nature Trail

       by Ernest Ruber

Sassafras is unique in that it carries three quite differently shaped leaves: a simple oval, a "mitten" (two lobes, one to the side and much smaller than the other) and a fleur-de lis (three lobes). When twigs are crushed they have a pleasant, pungent aroma. The "tea," formerly recommended as healthful, contains a potent carcinogen.

Some stations on the Southport Nature Trail were created as early as 2005 and the project was largely completed by 2007. Since then the plastic laminate protecting the information sheets was pretty well deteriorated by sunlight, many sheets were faded and some were damaged by water leakage.

Last year I decided that the stations needed to be completely replaced but delayed the project to see if funding could be found to support it.This spring, believing that the trail had begun to detract from the attractiveness of the Southport landscape rather than to enhance it, I chose to move ahead to revise and refurbish the stations.

As of July 11, revisions and additions to the nature trail are complete. The information at each station has been reviewed, edited and revised. Many of the illustrations and photographs have been changed and improved. For the first time, I have used some color images, which I hope will survive as well as have the black and white images. Two new stations have been added; one has been removed from the golf course.

Queen Anne's Lace (white) and Spotted Knappweed. The former, sometimes called Birdsnest for the cupping that occurs as it dries, is the original wild carrot--Daucus carota--although you wouldn't know it from the stringy white root. But go look at the leaf. Spotted Knappweed is a widespread introduced species that secretes toxins in the soil, which inhibit many other species, including the beautiful American Knappweed.

An introduction to the trail can be found on Longwood Road, near the landscape shed. Information there includes a map of the trail and also acknowledges the residents who had a part in the project. There are a total of 29 information stations on the trail, with one more proposed. Eleven are posted along the golf course, and the remainder along a loop beginning on Pine Hill Boulevard (ten), Leisure Green Drive North (one and one proposed), Portside Drive (two), Longwood Road (five).

In general, the information at each station identifies one or more nearby plants, both by common name and by Linnaean or scientific name (in italics). There is usually an image-- either drawing or photograph--and many sheets include notes about the plant's biology. Where appropriate, aspects of the plant's ecology are also discussed, and some sites consider the structure of the plant community and ecological mechanisms such as succession, mutualism and competition. Comments about a plant's practical use or special interest may also be included.

This approach should provide something for people with differing levels of interest. Do not be overwhelmed by the information at some sites, take away what you find interesting. My goal is to inform and entertain.

Clethra (sweet pepper bush) flowers here in late July and is found here both wild and as a planting. A large wild grove on Pine Hill Boulevard near the temporary mulch pile casts its scent widely into August.

During the golf season, the stations along the course are available to walkers before play begins for the day and after it ends. When the season is over, the trail is accessible to walkers all day. Be aware that the golf course trail has a couple hilly sections, which will be too steep for some people. The other loop occurs entirely along flat sidewalks. Anyone can walk this part of the trail, although doing the whole loop at one time will be too much for some.

We have had some dramatic insect events here in past years: a substantial gypsy moth caterpillar population for about three years; an eastern forest tent caterpillar outbreak for a year; two bad years of winter moth caterpillars which have abated somewhat this year; and the summer of the 17-year cicada, which was deafening, but fun. (Some call them 17-year "locusts" but this is incorrect. The locust is a grasshopper and looks nothing like the cicada, which as an adult looks like a large--about one inch--red-eyed fly.)

Our latest natural population expolsion--the Cottontail Rabbit

Our latest natural outbreak is, of course, the explosion in the local rabbit population. Why? Perhaps the disappearance of our foxes or a reduction in coyote activity. How long will this last? Maybe two to four years. This is a fairly common period before a crash for which there will be many possible reasons: predators, parasites, pressure on food resources, etc. We are often not sure why a population crashes, but sooner or later, they all do.

I am sorry that the nature trail stations cannot show these exciting, interesting and sometimes frustrating insect and animal phenomena, but while plants sit and wait to be described and appreciated (usually), creatures do their thing and then vanish. 

An Easy Summer Dinner

from The Southport Phantom

Shrimp & Mushroom Linguini with

Creamy Cheese Herb Sauce

Cooked shrimp and sliced fresh mushrooms are bathed in a sauce of sautéed garlic, rich

cream cheese, fresh parsley and a dash of basil. Toss with hot linguini and serve as an

elegant appetizer or main dish. Prep time: 15 Minutes. Ready in: 30 Minutes. Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

1 (8 oz) package linguini pasta

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 pound cooked shrimp

DIRECTIONS

1) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add linguini, and cook until

tender, about 7 minutes. Drain

2) Meantime, heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add mushrooms; cook and stir until tender. Transfer to a plate.

3) In the same pan, melt 1/2 cup butter with the minced garlic. Stir in the cream

cheese, breaking it up with a spoon as it melts. Stir in the parsley and basil.

Simmer for 5 minutes. Mix in boiling water until sauce is smooth. Stir in cooked

shrimp and mushrooms, and heat through.

4) Toss linguini with shrimp sauce, and serve.

Many people use snopes.com and/or truthorfiction.com to determine whether information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent sites. Here is some important advice from snopes.com.

Any time you receive an email that asks you to "forward this to 10 (or however many) of your friends," "sign this petition," or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever--it almost always has an email tracking program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to.

The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of active email addresses to use in spam emails or to sell to other spammers. Even when you get emails insisting that you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus--that is email tracking; they are playing on your conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses just as long as they get them. 

Emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease-- "how would you feel if that was your child" --email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate! Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to a mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to a little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. This was, and similar email is, a way to get names and cookie tracking information for telemarketers and spammers--to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.

Do yourself a favor and do not add your name(s) to those types of lists however inviting they might sound! It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more. You may think you are supporting a great cause, but you are not. Instead, you will be getting junk mail later, with very possibly a virus attached. Plus, that helps spammers get rich. Let's not make it easy for them.

If you happen to have a funny or interesting email you want to send to a group of friends, this is how to do it safely. Use the Blind Carbon Copy (bcc) function as follows:

1) Hit "forward"

2) Address the email to yourself

3) Delete any email addresses in the body of the email. Your friends will thank you for reducing their spam; this is what causes a lot of it.

4) Hit "bcc" and enter the email or group email address of the friends you want to forward it to. This way, their email addresses will not inadvertently be forwarded by someone who neglects to do this down the line

5) Hit "send"

Thoughts from Life's Adventures to Nowhere

         by Joe Marino

Do you have a place that you can go when you close your eyes at no particular time, whether it's day or night? I often wonder if I am alone with this thought. I am sure that I do not have a monopoly on this way of dealing with the negative side as opposed to the positive side, that is, the yin and yang of life. I know a little about yoga and I know a little about the equalization of life, and I believe that "What goes around comes around"--to some degree! But, are there loopholes built into the system of thought that allow for reprieves from equal justice.

We are here on this place called earth for a very short time and we are what we make of that time. That leads me to believe that, without knowing it, we want to leave a legacy that will be remembered by all, especially those that we have taught from our experiences. Oh, forget the legal ones! Just remember the common sense ones that your parents and elders taught you, for it is with those that you will weave your own legacy of truth and understanding. I placed many of these thoughts in my "bucket," for anyone to ponder or use in their lives as they wish.

This brings me to the things that I want to add to my "Bucket List." As did millions, I watched the movie of that name and began the process of dealing with the age factor and the declining physical attributes that God was so good to allow us. Let me entertain you with a compilation of a few things that I would most like to accomplish before I leave this planet and find a new body to have my soul re-energized. Who knows, maybe one of us holds the cure for all the ills of the world--in another life!

I have never been afraid of the water but I don't know how to swim. Sounds funny, but that's the truth. I have tried my spouse's patience many times, and yet I continue to sink to the bottom. I like it there, but you can't stay there without proper breathing equipment. I know, because I have tried very hard to live under the blue; the water is my peace. I love being close to it, on it, and spellbound by its power. It is the one thing that is ever changing and still remains the same. The sun, when it makes the water shimmer; the wind, when it ruffles the white from the waves, and the spectacular sunsets that fill the horizons most every night-it's all for us, mere mortals, to enjoy!

The next request in my "bucket" would be to ride a Tennessee Walker. Some of you may have been privileged to see one of these beautiful horses perform their stately gait. I saw it as a young man, but I never followed up on the thought that came from watching that magnificent animal with its graceful moves, performed so naturally that one would be proud just to sit on one. My first encounter was by the side of a dirt road in Kentucky or Tennessee. I was on my honeymoon and I have never lost the memory of the rider-a young girl--sitting on her horse, galloping in place, with the spring wind in its mane and its nostrils flaring--and yet, not lathered; in full control! It was magical. Five decades later, I dream of sitting atop one of these majestic animals, even though I might not be able to do it justice. It resembled a rocking chair, and I think that I can ride one of them!

The third wish on my list would be to be able to thank each and every person who touched my life on the way to today. I still have an extraordinary memory of my life and all that it has contained. I owe so many for so much. It's funny how many thoughts you have as you enter yet another decade of your life--the ideas that you have, the many wishes that are bestowed upon you. And at the end of the first day of your new decade, well, you can only wonder how long you can sustain this beautiful trip called life.

         As always, for now, be well and may your God bless you! Joe

Summertime at Southport

Karen Rohdin (in the fashionable bathing cap) and Elli Costa cool off in the Southport pool on a hot July morning.

A LABOR OF LOVE The beautiful flower urns that grace the entrances and the pool area of the Village Center are a project of the Southport Garden Club. Nearly a quarter of the 121 club members participate in the day-to-day maintenance of the plants, making sure that they are watered, fed, deadheaded and pruned as needed. As Garden Club President Didi Dilley commented, "It takes a village!" The work is organized by the Horticultural Committee, which is led by Joan Bullard, chair, and includes Connie Brown, Betsy Lord, Mary Beth Roddy, and Bonnie Towle. Mary Berg and Ann Jordan have the task of scheduling the volunteers.

Pictured above are (left to right): Betsy Lord, Didi Dilley, Bonnie Towle, Rita Pottle, Joan Bullard, Connie Brown, Mary Beth Roddy, Mary Berg and Anne Jordan. The other Garden Club members who participate include: Sandy George, Virginia Caruso, Alcia Escolas, Carolyn LeBlanc, Gail Monson, Anne Marie Pavlovich, Barbara Webber, Judy & Phyllis Smith, Ann Riley, Jean Monahan, Mary Baxter, Nancy Gaudin, Carol Ringer, Maureen Rounds, Mary Costello, Jackie Foley, and Karlyn Curran.

Lou Picone, First Place Cowboy Billiards, 2011

Phil DeNardo, Second Place, Cowboy Billiards 2011