Who knew that a small artificial pond could attract so much wild life? We purchased our home on Bonwood Drive in large part for its view of a pond that Ron Bonvie, not Mother Nature, created in the course of developing Phase II.  

It's a pretty little body of water, hidden from passers-by but visible from the decks of homes on five or six different Southport streets. A border around the pond is left in its natural state, not manicured, providing habitat for birds, turtles, frogs and who knows what else. A couple of fountains aerate the water, slowing the growth of algae and weeds.

Rabbits chase one another on the lawns around the pond and every now and then a coyote or fox will cruise through. The Southport turkey flock appears to have a habitual circuit, browsing their way around the pond and making regular stops at well-stocked bird feeding stations.

The bird life, in particular, is great fun to watch - even more so in mating season. Mallards are common visitors, as are Hooded Mergansers in the winter. Small flocks of Canada Geese are a handsome nuisance; they seem to have discovered the pond in the last two years. We're hoping for more frequent visits from coyotes with an appetite for goose meat.

All sorts of common birds populate the area - sparrows, starlings, grackles, crows, redwing blackbirds, chickadees, juncos, titmice, wrens and others. A Cooper's Hawk hangs out to see if he can snag one of the smaller birds. Robins, cardinals, bluebirds, woodpeckers, gold finches and purple finches provide flashes of color. The great blue heron, kingfisher and even the ospreys make occasional fishing expeditions to the pond. And just yesterday, a pair of swans came by to lend a little glamor to scene. The variety of bird life is really quite amazing. 

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Like so many other busy professionals living in Boston, Madelyn Hackett had a weekend home on Cape Cod - a house in Bourne that she and her former husband bought in 1993. "It was a dump on the inside," she says, "but it was located on a marsh with a beautiful view." She had no intention, however, to retire and move to the Cape any time soon, perhaps ever. She liked living in Charlestown and enjoyed the daily two-and-a-half mile walk into downtown Boston, where she had a great job as nurse manager at the USDA/Tufts University Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging on Washington Street. But as they say, "Life is what happens when you're not looking."  

Madelyn Hackett & Lily

But let's back up for a minute. A native of Rhode Island, Madelyn trained as a nurse at the St. Joseph School of Nursing in Providence. After working for a year in Washington, DC, she returned to Providence for a job in Rhode Island Hospital's emergency room, where she eventually became head nurse in the holding unit. The hospital is a major trauma center; the work was physically and emotionally demanding.

In her late 20s, Madelyn moved to the emergency department at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, where again she advanced to the position of head nurse. Situated in heart of the city, the work at the medical center was again quite stressful. "We had to be prepared to deal with anyone who came through the door, from patients with a cold to people injured in car accidents or gun fights or who had suffered a heart attack or stroke," she remembers. The work took its toll on her. "I hadn't developed a tough enough skin," she says, "I became too emotionally involved with our patients. I needed to find a different profession."

Leaving Tufts, she took three part-time jobs, enrolled as a full time student at Emanuel College in 1975 and graduated four years later with her BFA degree, having written her graduate thesis on interior residential design. With her degree in hand, she and a partner launched an interior design business in 1981. "I had the credentials and my partner had great contacts," she says. "However, one of my partner's wealthy contacts became more than a client; he became her husband, and she left our business." Madelyn carried on as an interior designer for several more years, but her contacts became fewer when the economy declined - and her business along with it.  

And that point, in 1991, a friend alerted Madelyn to an available position in the 24-hour nursing unit at the USDA /Tufts University Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, the largest research institution in the world devoted to investigating the relationship between nutrition and aging. Healthy volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to 80, come to the center from all over the globe to participate in the research and they stay as briefly as overnight and as long as six months. It suited her perfectly. She applied and got the job and soon became the nurse manager. "I loved that job," she says. "I could use my nursing skills without the stress of having to deal with life-threatening emergencies, and the research was fascinating."   

Retirement has given Madelyn more time to pursue her talent for making jewelry from unusual buttons and beads. Some of her unique work will be available in the annual Pastabilities raffle in May.

But that perfect situation came to an end

when, in 1999, Madelyn was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. That totally unexpected turn of events, combined with worsening back problems, made it impossible for her to continue working full time at her job; part-time work there was not an option. She retired and moved with her husband to their vacation house in Bourne, where she embarked on a multi-year project to create a permanent home for their new life on Cape Cod.

Despite Madelyn's serious physical problems, life in Bourne was good. "The house was comfortable, the view was great and I loved my neighbors," she says, "I still keep in touch with them." But then her marriage came to an end, the house became too difficult to maintain by herself and she began to look for other options. A friend lived happily at Southport, so Madelyn decided to rent a home here to see if she would like it. She did, and she bought her own home on Rolling Green Lane two years later. "I like living in a community with an active social life and having people nearby," she says. "Although I can't commit to regularly scheduled activities, I attend events and I find yoga and strength and stretching exercises helpful. People are friendly and ready to help if I need it."

Living at Southport has given Madelyn more time to exercise her talent for creating extraordinary jewelry from buttons and beads. If you visited the art exhibit in the Ballroom on February 7, you may have seen some of her work - in her display and on herself. She is a member of the National Button Society as well as the local, state and regional chapters of the NBS and attends their annual show, where a single very special button might be sold for as much as six to eight thousand dollars. She doesn't buy those; her buttons and beads, while far from ordinary, are affordable.

Madelyn began to collect interesting buttons in the 1970s at the original Windsor Button Shop in downtown Boston (now closed); flea markets, garage sales and antique shops have also been other sources for unusual buttons. She made her first four bracelets 35 years ago, giving three of them away to friends and keeping one for herself, which she wears frequently. These days she works on her pieces as the spirit moves her, and sells them as opportunities arise. If you're interested in jewelry that is unique and dramatic, you might want to contact her at madhackett@yahoo.com.  

Lily Hackett, an abandoned Shih Tzu, was rescued just in time from the streets of a town in Arkansas.

Finally, no story about Madelyn would be complete without mentioning Lily, a Shih Tzu that came to live with her two years ago. Lily was found wandering the streets of a town in Arkansas and placed in a shelter. She looked to be about two years old; scars indicated that she had already given birth to puppies and she was diagnosed with heartworm disease. She's as loveable as a dog can be but no one would adopt her and she was just one week away from being euthanized when Madelyn found her on petfinder.com and volunteered to give her a home. Lily is four or five years old now and has no symptoms of heartworm. She has a delightful personality and has turned out to be the perfect companion. She's made Madelyn's already happy life at Southport just that much more joyful.

The Class of 1901, South Mashpee One Room School  Front: Ernest Haynes, Sylvester Degrasse, Clinton Haynes, Beatrice Degrasse Back: Consuelo Degrasse, John Newcomb, Miss Minnie Baker, Teacher, Blanche Pocknett, Cedric Degrasse Photo: Mashpee Archives

I'd like to introduce you to the Wampanoag children who were enrolled in Mashpee's One Room School when it closed in June 1901. The children (above) ranged in age from five to fourteen; the youngest child, Alston Degrasse, was absent when the picture was taken. We have no information about him. I want to focus on one of the more interesting children, but first, a few facts about some of the others:

• John Newcomb, an amateur boxer and a popular dancer at the annual Pow Wow, lived to be 88.
• Cedric Newcomb, John's younger brother, died in an auto accident at 25.
• Sylvester Degrasse became a finish carpenter and helped build the cupola on Cape Cod Hospital. He served in both World Wars, married three times and lived to be 81.
• Consuelo Degrasse, Sylvester's older sister, was married with four children and died at age 22.
• Ernest Haynes served in WW I. He died at 41, leaving behind an unnamed wife but no children.
• Clinton Haynes, Ernest's older brother, was married with three children. He served for 17 years as Chief Wild Horse of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and was a musician, painter, athlete, statesman and leader. He was, for an unknown period of time, Great Sachem of all New England tribes before he died at 72.
  
  Now for one of their more interesting classmates:

Blanche Pocknett is the student about whom we know most from the Mashpee Archives.  At 14, she was the oldest student in the class and she lived longest, dying in 1979 at age 92. This is what I found in the archives about her:  

"She lived on Red Brook Road, had a prize winning flower garden and a restaurant in her living room, where she sold chowder. Mr. Watson, a colleague of Alexander Graham Bell, and another man visited twice, had chowder, then made a third visit and brought their wives. Mr. Watson arranged to have electricity brought to Blanche's house so she could pump water for her kitchen. Blanche must have had a very engaging personality to prompt such generous action by Mr. Watson. He also arranged for Blanche to visit the 1939 Chicago World's Fair. She met her husband there and lived in Chicago for several years."  

Note: Either the location is wrong or the date is wrong. The 1939 World's Fair was in New York; there was a Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Since she married in Chicago, she probably went there in 1933. Her husband, "Mr. Dean," is one of "history's mysteries." None of the tribal elders I spoke with, who knew Blanche, ever met Mr. Dean or recall Blanche mentioning him. He apparently was not with her when she returned from Chicago. 

Blanche attended the Swain Art School in New Bedford MA. Her self portrait is in the Mashpee Archives.

Her talents are demonstrated in an inlaid and gilded table top that she created. Photo: F. Lord

Blanche in her nurse's uniform at age 32, after graduating from Tuskegee Institute. Photo: Mashpee Archives

Several elderly people in town knew Blanche as "Aunt Blanche." They told me that at an unknown date she moved to New Bedford and attended the Swain Art School. In 2012, a donor presented the archives with Blanche's undated self-portrait as she appeared later in life. She also told us that Blanche painted on china and covered a dining room table in gold leaf inlaid with mother of pearl. In addition, the donor gave us a photograph of Blanche at age 32 in her nurse's uniform after graduating from Tuskegee University. Doug Pocknett, who did a genealogy of his family, discovered that Blanche was her middle name; her first name was Georgiana.

In my May article I will introduce you to Beatrice Degrasse and her wonderfully descriptive story of a peddler's horse named "Billy."

Aunt Elverta married at sixteen and was the mother of three children by the time she was twenty-one.

Kapp family legend has it that my Uncle George first spotted Elverta Stevens - his bride to be - while she was up in an apple tree picking apples. Born in 1918 on a farm in Central Pennsylvania, she was a girl of 15 when they met; he was a young man of 23. She dropped out of school and married George when she was 16 and was the mother of three children - Jack, Nan and Winnie - by the age of 21.  

It was the era of the Great Depression; people were lucky to find any kind of work. Elverta took jobs in a series of factories until she found work assembling bicycle tires, and she kept that job for more than 30 years. She worked hard, paid attention to the details and knew how to get things done properly.

In her early fifties, having already launched her own children into the world, Elverta helped to care for two of her grandsons, and a special bond developed between one of those boys - Mark - and his "Gram." He recalls how she wrapped her hair (always a point of great pride with her) in toilet paper each night and then unwrapped it in the morning, saving the paper to be reused. She was definitely a member of the "don't throw anything away, you may need it" generation.

When Uncle George was struck down with Alzheimer's disease, Elverta cared for him at home for more than a decade. Then, for the next 19 years of her life as a widow, she finally had time to put her own needs and pleasures first - and she blossomed. She bought a nice house with a big backyard and planted a beautiful garden. She purchased a new Toyota (George would have vetoed a Japanese brand). She organized family reunions, where her baked beans were one of the chief attractions. She was a wonderful cook and always arrived with some delicious dessert in hand. Despite a number of health problems, she had a great sense of humor and an optimistic outlook on life; health issues had to be practically life threatening to keep her from her weekly appointment with Suzy, her hairdresser.  

Elverta in Paris at age 88

Elverta's grandson Mark grew up to become a successful businessman, the president and CEO of a multinational corporation. In 2007, when she was 88, he invited her on an all-expenses-paid, five-star trip to Paris. Always ready for a new adventure, she was known to say, "Don't invite me if you don't mean it, because I'll come." She went to Paris.  

Just three weeks before she turned 95, in Philadelphia, she was invited to sit in the front row of one of Mark's business seminars being beamed around the world via the Internet; she performed as well as any thirty-something businesswoman.

Elverta was a staunch Republican (although it was revealed at her funeral in March that she once had voted for President Obama). She would have resisted being labeled a feminist. But if feminism has anything to do with being a strong, capable and independent woman and demanding to be treated equally with men, then had she met Gloria Steinem I'm sure they would have had a lot to talk about.

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David Kapp, with his wife Billie, moved from Connecticut to Southport in 2009. David retired from a career as a university library administrator, after working in the libraries at Brandeis, Harvard and the University of Connecticut. He was a building consultant for the planning of a number of major university libraries and was, for many years, the editor of Connecticut Libraries. Billie enjoyed a career as an educator and social sciences consultant. The Kapps are frequent visitors to Hawaii where their son, daughter, grandson and other family members live. 

Jonathan Leavitt grew up in Scarsdale, NY. He earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree in the same field from the University of Pennsylvania. He worked at Sprague Electric, Epsco, Di/An controls, MIT Instrumentation/Draper Labs, and GTE, mostly as a development engineer. The highlight of his career was logic design contribution to an experiment that was carried to the moon on Apollo 17. Married for 42 years to the late Arlene (Samiof), he has three married children and six grandchildren. He has been associated with Southport part-time since 2003, full time since 2008.  

Frank Lord, a native of Newton, MA, earned his BA at Brown University and his MEd at BU. His experience in the US Navy counseling troubled young sailors led to a 38-year career as a school guidance counselor, primarily in Wellesley and Duxbury. Following retirement, he and his wife Betsy helped to build over 250 homes with Habitat for Humanity. Frank's interest in education and local history motivated him to spearhead the relocation of Mashpee's One Room Schoolhouse, for which he received the 2009 Mashpee Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award as "The Schoolmaster." He serves on the Mashpee Historical Commission, the Community Preservation Act Committee, the Board of Trustees, Tales of Cape Cod and is President, Mashpee One Room Schoolhouse Preservation Council.  

 SPECIAL THANKS TO

Madelyn Hackett for her interview,

Lydia Biersteker, Pam Swift, Mark Stiffler, Frank Lord and Jonathan Leavitt

for photographs 

        and to my proofreader Billie Kapp.