Lee Historical Society
Newsletter
Vol. 8, No. 8
August 2011
Lee Historical Society, Inc.
Crossway Tower
P. O. Box 170
Lee, MA 01238
Visit us: www.leehistoricsociety.homestead.com
Contact us: Lee_Hist_Soc@msn.comThe August Meeting will be held on Thursday, August 11th at 6:30 p.m. in the Hyde Room at Crossway Tower. It will be a business meeting and we expect to be discussing plans for the upcoming Founders’ Day Weekend that will be held on September 23rd, 24th and 25th.
The Society had a booth in the Park on July 30th along with many other vendors. We sold many of our new picture note cards for $5.00 for a packet of five different street scenes of Lee in the early years. Our new commemorative mug of Hyde School also sold well for $8.00. We will have all of our items plus our 2011 November “Calendar Raffle” tickets for sale during the Founders’ Day Weekend at our booth near Memorial Hall. Stop by and see us!
The Society is also looking for any interested members who may wish to serve as an officer or board member for next year. Our yearly elections will be held in October. Let us know if you have an interest.
Condolences:
Condolences go out to Sandy and Steve Cozzaglio on the passing of Sandy’s brother during the month of July.
A few months back, Jane Preston contacted the Society looking for information on the records of the old Methodist Church on High Street. Several members answered with suggestions and thoughts which were much appreciated. Jane recently contacted me again saying that while attending a seminar, she found that the now defunct records of the First United Methodist Church of Lee from 1842 – 1976 can be found in the Boston University’s Theological Library. She wanted us to know this in case anyone else might be looking for these records.
Since the above note was sent, Jane sent another email stating that she had gone to the Boston University’s Theological Library and spent an afternoon going through those records. She found it disappointing to her search. The Library has a membership book of the church from 1841 through the early 1900’s with some marriages and births. There is also a second book that contains the vital records from 1890 upward for several years. There are loose records giving the history of the church during its problems of the 1960’s and 1970’s and the biography of J. N. Schaffer, a one time minister of the church.
Thanks for the information, Jane! It might save someone some time in the future. Jane is also looking for anyone with knowledge of local biographies written by Mrs. Ellen Ballard of Cortland, New York, She can be reached at genypres@Comcast.net. She would appreciate it very much.
Carol Nadeau of Saugus, Massachusetts sent us a couple of more articles that she has found and shared with us and the following is one that was found by her in the thirty second annual report of the State Board of Charity in 1911 under Part III, The City and Town Almshouses and Pauper Abstract. Thanks again to Carol for this information.
Lee, Population 4,106
Inspected September 13, 1910
Warden, Henry J. Perry; matron, Mrs. Perry; salary $600.00. Warden has served here twenty-five years; matron, seventeen years. Warden is also sexton of the cemetery, drives hearse, and has care of the bridges and sluices, without extra compensation. One assistant, a man, paid by the town. Warden has six rooms and a bath-room. One room with four beds, set apart for hospital use. Two sitting rooms. A smoking-room. Thirteen sleeping rooms, with fifteen closets. Heating by steam. Lighting by electricity. Complete separation of sexes. Whole number of inmates during year; thirteen; largest number at one time, thirteen; smallest number; ten. Number at time of visitation; eleven, viz., four men and seven women. One man takes care of the horses, one man does chores; three women help with the housework. Ages; one between 21 and thirty; two between 50 and 60; two between 60 and 70; one between 70 and 80; one between 80 and 90; four between 90 and 100. All inmates permanent. Five have relatives in town. One man and two women feeble-minded; one woman a cripple; one man blind. Thirty-three acres of land; eight acres ploughed’ sixteen acres tilled. Chief products: milk, vegetables, and pork. Ealuation of almshouse property, $15,000.00. Total annual cost, $3,032.35; net $3032.35. Cost of improvement and repairs. $96.93.
I believe the location of this property was adjacent to the Fairmount Cemetery on land that was taken by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority in the 1950’s when the turnpike was created. I remember that it was also called the Town Farm. If anyone has anymore information regarding this area, please let us know. It was an important part of the town’s history.
The Lee Ice Man, Frank Abele
Many of you will remember my grandfather, Frank Abele. He was known as the Ice Man in Lee. He lived at 16 Greylock Street. For many years, growing up next door, I remember my grandfather having an ice house between our yards, where he kept his many cakes of ice. They were brought to the ice house by my grandfather. He had to drive to Pittsfield, where they produced the 100 lb cakes of ice, Gramp would pull the ice onto his truck, load them all up, pay the man and drive to Lee to place them in the ice house. It was very cold in the ice house and on really hot days, we would run to a customer to help them, just to be able to get cooled down for a short while, sometimes Gramp would chip us pieces of ice just to help cool us down, while we sat under his shed rocking on his rocker lounger………
When anyone wanted to buy the ice, they would back their car up to the ice house, tell us which size ice they wanted and it would be chipped to the size ordered. Whatever the person wanted we would chip away the section and Gramp would place it in the car, or ice chest. If the person had cold drinks and wanted the ice chipped, Gramp would chip the ice into small pieces for the customer. I often helped him with his customers, I found it be very interesting and always met nice people. He had many regular customers that came to the ice house, if they had a cold drink in the trunk, and it was a hot day, they would offer my grandfather a cold one.
He also delivered the ice to the customers, he had regular home delivery customers, he gave them a card with the size of ice on the card. If you wanted 25lbs that day, the customer would place the side of the card that read 25 lbs and place it in the window. Gramp would chip away the size and knock on the door and deliver it to the customer’s ice chest, or ice box as it was called back then. He often carried the ice on his back, his strength always amazed me. He loved helping his customers.
Whenever I rode to Pittsfield with gramp, to pick up the ice order, he would stop at Barea’s variety store on Center Street and buy me a small bag of penny candy, sometimes my sister Diane went with us, then as we drove off, all smiles, we would sing together,” On Top of Old Smokey” all the way to Pittsfield.
I always cherished these times we spent together, and we always sang the same song and had the same small bag of penny candy.
This was a wonderful part of my life growing up next door to my grandparents. Helping them and sharing many laughs, and making a life time of wonderful memories. To this day, many people remember Frank the Ice Man and I share the stories with our grandkids. Of course, they cannot believe that ice had to be cut up and delivered, they are use to the Ice Makers in their refrigerators.
We have donated items to the Lee Library in honor of Frank Abele’s Ice business, perhaps you , too, remember him………..
Submitted by:
Susan Vranas Cinella
Thanks to Sue for an entertaining article about her grandfather. I’m sure many people in the Lee area remember the “Ice Man”.
Recollections IX
By U. S. Navy Retired Commander Vic Mottarella,
A native of Lee
(Continued from the July-2011 issue)
Ground Control Approaches and
The Bearcat Roll On Take Off
Note: This section could just as well be titled – “Confessions of a Very Young and Very Foolish Ensign”.
Lt Junior Grade Al Wright and I were scheduled for an early instrument flight one winter morning in 1947. The specific type of instrument flying was called GCA (Ground Controlled Approach). This type of instrument flying was developed by the Navy and later adopted by the Air Force. Its purpose was to enable pilots to land safely during inclement weather. Basically, two types of radar equipment were employed. One was a type of search radar that could pinpoint the exact position of an aircraft within a distance of about 50 miles. From this initial position the controller would give a heading and altitude to the pilot that would take him to a suitable position to commence his descent to the runway.
The second radar incorporated a line called the glide slope with the origin beginning about nine miles from the runway. It was the controller’s responsibility to give the pilot continuous minor verbal corrections so that he could keep the plane on the glide slope. The glide slope descended from a point in space that was approximately three thousand feet higher than the runway. From this point it sloped downward at a three-degree angle to the approach end of the runway. The controller would continuously tell the pilot how many feet he was above or below the glide slope as well as give him minor (one or two degree) corrections in heading.
With these radar devices a trained pilot could safely land a plane when the cloud ceiling was as low as 200 feet with less than a quarter of a mile visibility. Practice approaches of this type were always performed in clear weather. Since the pilot involved had to keep his eyes glued on the instrument panel a second pilot flying formation in a similar plane was always assigned to advise of potential hazards such as collision avoidance.
At this point I had accumulated over three hundred hours in the Bearcat and had gained a lot of confidence in my flying ability as well as the limits of the plane. I had performed all kinds of acrobatics at high altitudes and learned when performing a perfect slow roll the airplane normally gained a little altitude or at least remained at the same level. If you lost altitude during the maneuver it was called “scooping out” of the roll. I had thought of trying this from ground level but up to this point sufficient “guts” were lacking. I knew if I asked for permission to try one it would have been denied. Even if successful I wondered how it would go over with higher command. Attempting to do this in a Hellcat was never even considered because of its inferior performance.
It was very early on a certain morning in February 1948 at Charlestown, Rhode Island. I could not rise above the temptation. I noticed there were snow banks on both sides of runway as I prepared for takeoff. My thoughts were - this is the day if it was ever going to happen since hardly anybody was around to notice at that early morning hour. I made the final decision at the last moment as I taxied on to the runway and didn’t even bother to tell my section leader, Al Wright.
We normally made formation takeoffs for these flights but I delayed mine for a few seconds so that my section leader would be airborne and I could use his plane as a reference axis upon which to base my roll. My roll commenced before my wheels were fully retracted and I gained a little altitude (probably about 150 feet) upon completion of the roll. The roll was completed in about five seconds. I then joined up on my section leader and we commenced making our assigned GCA approaches. Since I was directly behind him he did not see the roll from his position.
After the flight I mentioned the maneuver to Al Wright and thought that was the end of it. I heard nothing from anyone until about a month later. The two fighter squadrons held a party at the officer’s club at Quonset Point one evening when a senior lieutenant from our sister squadron (VF-31) approached me and complimented me on the excellent roll I completed on that cold winter morning. It caught me completely by surprise and I was both stunned and embarrassed. At that point I had finished off a drink and was slightly inebriated. The lieutenant said he had the tower duty on that morning and observed the whole thing.
I surmise that he must have told our Commanding Officer about the incident because this lieutenant was a graduate of the Naval Academy and they usually played by the rules. Duke Windsor never brought the subject up to me. Since it was the first time anyone had heard of doing a slow roll in a Bearcat on takeoff before it became the talk of the squadron and I might say I appreciated the attention. I heard some time later that a pilot in another air group attempted the maneuver and was killed.
Ensign John Votolato Leaves the Navy
I was surprised to learn that my old buddy, John Votolato had submitted a request to leave the Navy while we were stationed at Charlestown. He had previously discussed the situation with Duke Windsor (the CO) and had submitted a formal request to the Navy Department. Duke advised him that the Navy had spent a lot of money on his training and was prepared to send him to college. Duke approved the request on condition that he would pursue a college degree by taking advantage of the G.I. bill. The request was approved by the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington D.C. and his release date was set for March 2nd, 1948.
He never admitted it to me but I always suspected that the accident on the Kearsarge might have been the dominating factor that caused him to leave the Navy. It was a little hard for me to accept because he was the guy who had talked me into applying for a regular commission and making a career out of the navy. Of course, his situation was now different than mine. He was married.
He attended Boston College and Tuffs Dental School where he graduated as a dentist in 1954. He maintained his own practice in dentistry for 37 years in his hometown of Milford Massachusetts and retired in 1991. My earlier suspicions about Votolato were recently confirmed and that was after a time span of fifty-seven years. He recently indicated that his primary reason for leaving the Navy was because long separations would not be conducive for good family life. The other reason told in his own words were:
“Another reason was that my carrier landing accident, much to my dismay, had taken the edge off my flying ability which I had always regarded as pretty damn good. My nerves seemed to be frayed to the point that I considered myself a detriment to my fellow squadron mates. I never admitted this to my wife, squadron mates or the skipper at the time that in retrospect was a big mistake. I feel now that if I had done so the skipper would have flown with me as chase pilot on several acrobatics flights until my confidence in flying was restored. Hindsight is always better”.
Immediately after resigning from the Regular Navy he joined the Naval Reserve and was assigned to a reserve fighter squadron at NAS Squantum in Massachusetts where he slowly regained confidence in his flying skills.
(Continued to the September -2011 issue)
The Society has the following items for sale. Any one of these would make a great gift for an out of town friend or relative.
(1.)Picture Packet – Six, 8” x 10” colored prints of “Old Lee” for $10.00 each or 3 packets for $25.00, plus $2.50 if they need to be shipped.
Picture Packet – Six, 8” x 10” colored prints of “Old Lee” for $10.00 each or 3 packets for $25.00, plus $2.50 if they need to be shipped.(2.)Refrigerator magnets – (approx. 2” x 3”). Three are of old street scenes from the early 1900’s and one is an “Entering Lee” replica sign. They are $3.00 each or buy all four for $10.00 with no shipping charges.
Refrigerator magnets – (approx. 2” x 3”). Three are of old street scenes from the early 1900’s and one is an “Entering Lee” replica sign. They are $3.00 each or buy all four for $10.00 with no shipping charges.(3.)Cookbook – “Boiling Water” – a 400 recipe cookbook, put together by the ladies of the society for $10.00, plus $3.50 if shipped.
Cookbook – “Boiling Water” – a 400 recipe cookbook, put together by the ladies of the society for $10.00, plus $3.50 if shipped.(4.)“Historical Lee” – a tribute to the late Betty Dennis. A seventy-three page book containing the articles that Betty wrote between April 1971 and August 1977 that appeared in the Penny Saver. Price is $10.00, plus $2.50 if shipped.
“Historical Lee” – a tribute to the late Betty Dennis. A seventy-three page book containing the articles that Betty wrote between April 1971 and August 1977 that appeared in the Penny Saver. Price is $10.00, plus $2.50 if shipped.(5.)“Third Strike”- a book, the last of three written by Ralph W. Smith that was published in 1984. It contains stories of people and tales of earlier days in Lee. The price is $15.00, plus $2.50 if shipped.
“Third Strike”- a book, the last of three written by Ralph W. Smith that was published in 1984. It contains stories of people and tales of earlier days in Lee. The price is $15.00, plus $2.50 if shipped.(6.)Commemorative Mugs;
Commemorative Mugs;(a.)A 2008, #1 in our series, mug with a replica of Memorial Hall embossed on the side.
A 2008, #1 in our series, mug with a replica of Memorial Hall embossed on the side.(b.)A 2009, #2 in our series, mug with a replica of Central Fire Station embossed on the side.
A 2009, #2 in our series, mug with a replica of Central Fire Station embossed on the side.(c.)A 2010, #3 in our series, mug with a replica of the Lee Library embossed on the side.
A 2010, #3 in our series, mug with a replica of the Lee Library embossed on the side. (d.)A 2011, #4 in our series, mug with a replica of Hyde School embossed on the side.
A 2011, #4 in our series, mug with a replica of Hyde School embossed on the side. These mugs can be purchased for $8.00 each, plus $3.00 shipping or two
mugs for $15.00 and $5.00 shipping, three mugs for $22.00 and $6.00 for
shipping or buy all four mugs for $25.00 and $7.00 for shipping.
(7.)Picture Note Cards of “Old Lee” – Five different street scenes on a folding note with envelopes,
Picture Note Cards of “Old Lee” – Five different street scenes on a folding note with envelopes, 5-1/2” x 4-1/4”, great for writing notes to friends. $5.00 per packet of five, add $1.25 shipping.
Please send me (amount) ______________of (item/items) __________________________
Enclosed is my check for (no cash please)______________________________________
Name_____________________________________________________________________
Address___________________________________________________________________
City_________________________State_______________Zip________________________
Mail to:
Lee Historical Society
P. O. Box 170
Lee, MA 01238
Officers of the Lee Historical Society for the year of 2011
President – Gary W. Allen – 413-243-2140 or garywallen@earthlink.net
Vice- President – Open Office
Treasurer – Mal Eckert – 413-243-1797 or MalEckert@msn.com
Secretary – Bambi Johndrow – 413-243-2845 or disdeer62@netzero.net
Board of Directors of the Lee Historical Society
Mary Morrissey/2011Josh Hall/2011Peg Biron/2011
Josh Hall/2011Peg Biron/2011Matt MacNayr/2011JoAnn Zarnoch/2012Maria Hopkins/2012
JoAnn Zarnoch/2012Maria Hopkins/2012Robert Kelly/2012Ethel Noonan/2013Annette Perilli/2013Dolores Eckert/2013
Immediate-Past President and Board Member – Stephen Cozzaglio
Society Historian – Charlotte Davis
Newsletter Editor – Mal Eckert
Please support our “Business Members” that support us.
Bartini Roofing CompanyBen’s ShopCharles Flint Antiques
Ben’s ShopCharles Flint Antiques290 Pleasant Street68 Main Street52 Housatonic Street
68 Main Street52 Housatonic StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lenox, MA 01240
Lee, MA 01238Lenox, MA 01240Greylock Federal UnionQuality PlusConsolati Insurance Agency
Quality PlusConsolati Insurance Agency47 Main Street260 Chestnut Street71 Main Street
260 Chestnut Street71 Main StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Sullivan Station RestaurantPaperdilly, Inc.Dresser Hull Company
Paperdilly, Inc.Dresser Hull CompanyRailroad Street74 Main Street60 Railroad Street
74 Main Street60 Railroad StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Robert M. Kelly, PaperhangingKelly Funeral HomeThe Jonathon Foote 1778 House
Kelly Funeral HomeThe Jonathon Foote 1778 HouseSouth Prospect Street3 Main Street1 East Street
3 Main Street1 East StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Morgan House Restaurant & PubLee BankDevonfield Inn
Lee BankDevonfield Inn33 Main Street75 Park Street85 Stockbridge Road
75 Park Street85 Stockbridge RoadLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238Hunter & Graziano P. C.Locker Room Sports Pub
Locker Room Sports Pub10 Park Place232 Main Street
232 Main StreetLee, MA 01238Lee, MA 01238
Lee, MA 01238Monk’s Professional Barber Shop
91 Main Street
Lee, MA 01238
