Member Recognition

Kits contain vital information for parents

By Katia Opatkiewicz

Tue Oct 23, 2007, 02:46 PM EDT

Marshfield - At the Marshfield Yacht Club’s Halloween party Saturday, the children were dressed up in an array of costumes, from ladybugs and Snow White to pirates and Red Sox players.

The party had activities for children of all ages, including whipped cream-eating contests, bobbing for plastic pumpkins, beanbag toss and cookies, cupcakes and other Halloween decorated treats.

Yet something serious was also going on.

The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department was hosting one of its many events where parents in the community come and have their children fingerprinted. The fingerprints are then placed in identification kits and given to the parents to take home and securely store with other important documents.

These kits, which are available for people of any age, contain information about a child, such as name, address, date of birth, sex, hair color, height, weight, eye color, medical conditions, blood type, allergies, medicines, scars, birthmarks, tattoos and broken teeth, along with their fingerprints and a up-to-date picture. This information is even produced on wallet-size laminated cards so that the parent or guardian can keep the child’s identification in his or her wallet or purse.

“In a case of emergency, these kits help the police stations nationally and internationally identify children who may or may not be able to identify themselves,” said Deputy Sheriff Dan Connolly. “School age is a good time to get them fingerprinted. About the time they are old enough to get on the bus and leave your sight.”

However, Deputy Sheriff Melissa Leeber said she believes that the children should be printed at a much younger age.

“We use foot printing for infants,” she said.

The sheriff’s department on average does about 15 events a year, and they are all free. However, the number of events fluctuates based on the demand for them in the community, and Leeber said “the demand for these events have gone up.”

The identification kits and fingerprints are not kept in police records due to Massachusetts state law that states that no one under the age of 18 can have their fingerprints on record, and therefore it is the responsibility of the parent to keep track of the kit. The sheriff’s department recommends that if anything should happen to the kit, family members should bring the child to the next event posted on its Web site, pcsdma.org, and have the kit remade.

The events are hosted all around the state — at fairs, schools and private events. The department will be hosting an event at the Holiday Parade in Brockton on Nov. 24. For information, visit the sheriff department’s Web site. Related Photos

OLD SCHOOL SKILLS: LOBSTER TRAPPERS

Lobstermen Laddie Dexter, at the helm, and Rick Topham aboard the Happy Days, a Green Harbor lobster boat. As Dexter pilots the boat, Topham, the stern man, prepares to send a trap over the side. (GREG DERR/The Patriot Ledger)

By SYDNEY SCHWARTZ
The Patriot Ledger

MARSHFIELD - Laddie Dexter glanced at his navigation gear, then at a coordinate penciled on the dashboard and steered the boat toward his orange, black and white buoy.

Then he slowed the boat and reached out with a hook to grab the marker. He pulled it aboard, attached its rope to a pulley and reeled in the first trap.

Dexter, 69, a longtime Marshfield lobsterman, has about 700 traps scattered off Duxbury Beach. Each buoy marks 10 sunken traps. On a good day, he’ll catch a half-pound of lobster per trap.

‘‘We’re starting in the hole today,’’ he said, referring to the $280 worth of fuel needed to power the boat. ‘‘We’ll see if we can overcome that deficit.’’

Dexter opened each trap and took out a mesh bag, which he stuffed full of pungent fish skins before putting it back. His stern man, Rick Topham, inspected the lobsters, throwing back ones that were too big, too small or breeders. He put the others in a tank filled with ocean water. Then he threw the trap to the back of the boat.

Dexter and Topham repeated this process for hours. When Topham lined up nine traps from a buoy, Dexter pushed one overboard. The others slid off, one by one. Dexter scribbled the coordinates on his dashboard and steered to the next buoy. He usually hits about 30 spots before heading back to Green Harbor. He’s been doing it for 46 years.

Each year, Dexter follows the lobsters, moving traps closer to shore in the summer and farther out in the fall.

‘‘You always put some traps where you’ve had some luck in the past,’’ he said. ‘‘The same traps we’re hauling right now, about a week ago, I was getting twice as many lobsters.’’

But it’s all a gamble. On days when there are fewer lobsters, he gets more money for each. On days when there are lots of lobsters, he gets less. On this particular day in July, he brought in nearly 200 pounds and got $5.50 a pound. Earlier this year, he got $7. He hopes the price won’t fall below $4.

Even though he has to contend with storms and cold weather and doesn’t get paid vacations or have a 401(k), Dexter likes the life - being out on the water and being his own boss.

‘‘You know how much better this is than having a real job?’’ he said. ‘‘It’s pretty much a healthy life.’’

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Humarock helping stamp out cancer
By Jillian Fennimore/ jfennimo@cnc.com
Thursday, April 27, 2006 - Updated: 04:33 PM EST

Buying baked goods in Humarock this weekend will not only deliver a chance to meet a former New England Patriot, it will also help fight cancer.

Postmaster Bruce Wescott will host the second annual cancer awareness event at the Humarock Post Office this Saturday, April 29.

Last year "Find a Cure" stamps were sold to benefit the Relay For Life walk in Marshfield. For every stamp sold, 7 cents went toward breast cancer research, and $600 was raised at the Post Office.

This year, Wescott hopes to raise more for a new cause and even intends to personally donate $1 for every $10 given by others.

Proceeds will sponsor cancer survivor and former Humarock resident Katie Curran, who will take part in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in May - a 2-day, 39-mile scenic walk around Boston to help battle the disease through research for new treatments and a cure.

Curran, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35, has been a constant source of support and encouragement for all others dealing with cancer throughout the years, according to Wescott.

"We are always referring people to her," he said about himself and co-worker Jim Moran who direct postal customers to Curran for advice.

"Curran devotes countless hours helping support others that are in various stages of fighting cancer," Wescott added.

Former New England Patriot cornerback Ronnie Lippett (#42) will also be a guest at the daytime event. As a close friend of Curran’s, Lippett said he was honored to greet people sharing in the festivities during last year’s event when he made a surprise appearance..

"This year I want everyone to know I’m coming," he said. "I hope my presence will encourage people to come from far and wide and give generously. I might even bake something myself."

Wescott said the fund-raiser is personally important to him since he knows a lot of people fighting one type of cancer or another.

"There are close to a dozen cancer patients and survivors in just this little town of Humarock," he said. "I want to raise a few extra bucks that they weren’t counting on."

The cancer awareness event will take place at the Humarock Post Office at 10 Central Avenue from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, April 29. All donation items are welcome. For more information, call the post office at (781) 834-1594.

This is from the Patriot Ledger showing MYC member Ken Bell rehearsing for the Senior Drama Club presentation of WRINKLES.

SENIORS IN 'WRINKLES' WORK ON THEIR LINES

Seniors at the Marshfield Council on Aging have a dress rehearsal last Friday for their upcoming play "Wrinkles, A Hair Raising Mystery." Actors Genie LaFave and Rose Parsons-Howard take a bow. (LISA BUL/The Patriot Ledger)

By SHAMUS McGILLICUDDY
The Patriot Ledger

MARSHFIELD - At 93 years old and using a walker to get around, Jim Sherwin surely doesn’t look like a rookie cop.

But he plays one on stage. The visual gag is part of all the fun with the senior center drama troupe’s performance of ‘‘Wrinkles: A Hair-Raising Mystery.’’

‘‘It keeps my blood moving,’’ Sherwin, a veteran of community theater, said of acting.

Marci Littlefield, 63, is the writer and director of this comedy-mystery. It is the third in a series of plays entitled ‘‘Wrinkles’’ that she has written for the senior center’s thespians.

‘‘A Hair-Raising Mystery’’ is a murder mystery set in a hair salon.

As for the title of the series, Littlefield sadi: ‘‘There are many meanings to ‘wrinkles.’ ...We’re aging, and our faces have wrinkles. Life has has wrinkles - ups and downs, hills and valleys. The older you get, the more experience you have in life.’’

Littlefield said the play is written for her cast, and each of the cast members’ performances takes a funny look at the issue of getting older.

‘‘It’s all comedy. It’s all for laughs. They’re expressing a lot of what happens as we age.’’

Cast members joked backstage about being old, poking fun at how many of them have trouble remembering their lines.

Rose Cobbett, 74, has her lines typed up and taped to pages of a news magazine, which she carries as a prop.

‘‘This is how I remember my lines,’’ Cobbett said. ‘‘I pretend I’m reading about the pope.’’

‘‘My only line is ‘I can’t remember,’’’ said Marion Shuckert, 67. ‘‘And if I can’t remember that, my family has got to put me away.’’

Rose Parsons-Howard, 82, shows the palm of her hand, where she writes her lines. But she had just washed her hands, erasing the writing.

Gerry Shanley, 77, who plays the retired detective who sets out to solve the murder, said she and her friends have a lot of fun performing at the senior center.

‘‘I love the people,’’ Shanley said. ‘‘The cast is absolutely fantastic. It really makes you feel like a kid again.’’

The drama troupe performed ‘‘A Hair-Raising Mystery’’ this afternoon. Additional shows are scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Saturday at the senior center. Saturday’s performance is sold out.

For tickets to the Thursday show, call the senior center at 781-834-5581. The ticket price is $5.

Shamus McGillicuddy may be reached at smcgillicuddy@ledger.com.

MFD honors quick thinking kindergartner
By Ryan Bray/ rbray@cnc.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. In the case of one Marshfield family, it came in the form of their 5-year-old son.

In October, a smoke detector went off at the Wusteney residence on Ridge Road after problems with a dryer led to a clogged exhaust pipe the family’s basement. That’s when Jonah, a kindergartner at Eames Way Elementary School, sprung into action.

Taking what he learned through his school’s Student Awareness and Fire Education (SAFE) program, he grabbed a cordless phone and led his siblings, Noah, 8, Celia, 4, and Jemma, 2 out of the house to the family’s designated meeting spot and handed his mother the phone to call 9-1-1.

"He was so calm," Jonah’s mother Jeannette Wusteney said. "Just very matter of fact about it all. I’m so proud."

Marshfield fire officials were so impressed with Jonah’s quick thinking that on Friday the department presented him with a SAFE hero award acknowledging his quick use of his fire safety knowledge. Members of the Marshfield Fire Department joined Chief Kevin Robinson and Deputy State Fire Marshal Thomas Leonard for the presentation at the Eames Way School, where Jonah received a certificate and T-shirt for his efforts.

The SAFE program was first implemented in Marshfield in 1995 after the town secured a state grant to incorporate fire education into the school system. Each school in Marshfield has its own SAFE educator who teaches the children how to react in the event of a fire emergency.

"We do some lectures, but there is also demonstrations such as stop, drop and roll," Robinson said. "It’s important that these kids know what to do in case of a fire."

Robinson said that while there have been 200 reported stories of children practicing fire safety across the state since the program’s inception, Jonah’s was the first reported case in Marshfield.

Jeannette said she’s not the least bit surprised her son stepped forward the way he did.

"He’s (Jonah) been obsessed with fire and being a firefighter forever," she said. "The first truck he ever wanted was his older brother’s fire truck."

Jeanette said what surprised her most was the way in which Jonah’s siblings took their brother’s lead.

"I think that says a lot. They did what he said without any question or argument. He’s taught them stop, drop and roll, get out and stay out and all the other drills, and they just responded."

Gary Somero, a firefighter paramedic with the Marshfield Fire Department since 2000, is now in his third year as SAFE instructor at Eames Way School. He said he’s glad to see that children are applying what they’ve learned through the program.

"I’m very pleased to see that from my education he was taught to do what he did," Somero said.

Playground planners fired up
By Jillian Fennimore/ jfennimo@cnc.com
Thursday, October 27, 2005

Humarock is gearing up its young firefighters with a brand new truck, fire house and slide.

     And it's all kid-sized.

     The new equipment is part of the plans for a new park proposed for the area adjacent to the fire house on River Street.

     Bart Curran a firefighter at the Humarock station, hopes to see children occupy the new playground by the springtime.

     For Curran, and others planning the playground project, the fire house theme was a natural.

     "All the children come into the station to see the truck," he said. "It seems to be a magnet to them."

     Recent approval from the Conservation Commission and support from the Town Administrator, has given the project plans the spark and momentum needed.

     Playground planners are working in conjunction with the Humarock Beach Improvement Association (HBIA), and Curran said the project will cost about $35,000.So far, close to $30,000 has been raised.

     Kathy Bryan, HBIA treasurer, said to help boost the park's funding, the association is raffling off a photograph by local photographer Mike Sleeper called "Autumn Afternoon."

     "It's a really big hit," she said about the popularity of the piece. Raffle tickets are being sold for $10 each or three for $25 at the Humming Rock Gift Shop on Marshfield Avenue and the nearby Humarock post office.

     The post office is also helping Curran sell bricks as part of the park's fundraiser. The bricks can be engraved and will be used for a walkway into the playground area. A small brick can be purchased for $50, and the larger ones are going for $100.

     "The bricks will be laid after park is finished," said Bryan. "This is a nice memento for the people who live here."

     Details are being pieced together now to get the project's final plans underway, including approval from the town's commission on disabilities, getting volunteers to do the site work and finding a company to construct the park's equipment.

     Scituate Fire Chief Edward Hurley said he thinks the project is a great idea, but wanted to make sure all safety precautions were being taken. A fence has been included in the plans and will be placed around the park's perimeter in order to separate it from the Humarock Fire Station.

     Hurley said there has always been an attraction those red fire trucks at the station.

      "They're big and shiny, the lights are flashing," he said. "It seems pretty exciting."

     Bryan agreed.

     "All kids love fire trucks," she said. "(The park) is really going to appeal to them."

Power to the people: DeLoach takes job in Afghanistan
By Elizabeth Malloy/ emalloy@cnc.com
Wednesday, August 3, 2005

As the superintendent of Marshfield's Department of Public Works, Jeb DeLoach spends many of his days dealing with residents complaints about everything from missed trash pick ups to people getting paint on their cars when driving through road construction zones.

He expects the complaints in Afghanistan will be much different.

Next month, DeLoach will take a leave of absence from the DPW to work for seven months at a power plant in Afghanistan, bringing energy to the area around the Capitol city of Kabul.

"It's hard work, it's a very difficult environment but it's doing an important humanitarian mission," DeLoach said. "It's making a difference for the people of Afghanistan."

DeLoach, a Marshfield resident, will be working with Advanced Engineering Associates International, a Watertown-based engineering firm contracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the government agency managing the Afghanistan Energy Assistance Program. He became involved in the project after speaking with, Jack Whippen, vice president of Advanced Engineering Associates and also a Marshfield resident.

"I knew Mr. Whippen was doing it and we discussed it and he really was looking for some urgent help because they're just overwhelmed," said DeLoach, who worked in power plants for Boston Edison and Eastern Utilities for 25 years before coming to work for Marshfield's DPW a year and a half ago.

In Afghanistan, DeLoach will work in fuel management for power generation and heating and as a project manager for refurbishment and operation of a gas turbine power plant in northwest Kabul.

DeLoach worked with Whippen at Boston Edison and when they were both commissioners on the Board of Public Works in Marshfield.

"I was more than happy to get him to come work with me again," Whippen said. "Jeb has solid capabilities as an engineer and manager, which are needed here."

While his wife and family are somewhat "apprehensive" about him leaving, DeLoach said he is not scared to go. There has been continuing violence in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001. But DeLoach said there is adequate security for workers and most of the people living there value what contract workers are trying to do. Whippen said contract workers live in a heavily guarded compound and their travel is purposefully random. Workers don't leave to go to and from work at the same time everyday and all travel is guarded as well.

"It is more dangerous to drive Route 139, assuming traffic is actually moving for a change," Whippen wrote in an e-mail from Afghanistan. "Here the danger is getting casual about what you do, which we do not allow."

The work week in Afghanistan is 6 days, with Friday off in observance of the Muslim Sabbath, and the days are long, Whippen said. But the program offers a lot of opportunities for periods of "R and R," DeLoach said, and he will be allowed to come home for a few weeks during the holidays.

Las week, DeLoach initially tendered his resignation to the Board of Public Works in order to go to Afghanistan, but the Board allowed him to take it as a leave of absence instead.

"If it was a regular job we wouldn't have done that but since it's a humanitarian issue I said let's give him a leave of absence," Board of Public Works chairman Robert Shaughnessy said.

Town engineer Rod Procaccino will fill in as interim superintendent and the town will hire another engineer temporarily, Shaughnessy said.

Infrastructure like energy power plants in Afghanistan are in severe need of repair since the Middle Eastern country has been racked by war for the past 20 years. DeLoach said he is looking forward to be a part of the solution.

"For me it will be an exciting opportunity to go over and help and make a difference," he said. "I was just thinking of the complaints we deal with [in Marshfield] each day, the job over there is certainly much different.

"By the time I finish over there I'll probably really look forward to coming back to doing missed trash pick ups."

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Environmental Police

Boat and Recreation Vehicle Safety Bureau

1019 Route 132, Hyannis, MA 02601

(617) 727-8760 (508) 790-9360 Fax: (617) 727-2617

6/1/2005

Dear Marshfield Selectmen,

On behalf of Colonel James Hanlon, Director, Massachusetts Environmental Police (MEP), I’d like to bring to your attention the work that the Marshfield Yacht Club has done recently in the cause of boating safety.

In May of this year the club hosted BOAT MASSACHUSETTS, the state and nationally approved boating safety course of the MEP’s Boating Education Program. Sixty-two students of all ages successfully completed the course with forty-eight listing Marshfield as their home. Thirty-eight of the students were under eighteen years of age and completed the requirements necessary to earn a Boating Safety Certificate as required by state law. The club hosted the course at no cost and students were offered the course free of charge.

As you know, each year families in the Commonwealth suffer the pain of loved ones being killed or seriously injured on the water. Surveys consistently show that graduates of boating safety classes are less likely to be involved in a serious accident. Marshfield Yacht Club’s willingness to be involved to help prevent these tragedies is a testament to their members’ commitment to the cause of safer and more responsible boating in and around town waters.

Sincerely,

Larry Chenier, Lt., MEP

For the Director

Cc: Marshfield Y.C.

Hello Fellow MYC Members,

As most of you know I will be walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer & the Komen 3 day walk for Breast cancer. Between the 2 walks I will be walking 100 miles by early July. Once again, I will join â€œ Men With Heart â€œ on this mission. Hopefully most of you know by now about the great efforts everyone on the Men With Heart team puts forth to raise awareness, funds, and smiles. If you want a bit more information on Men With Heart and the walks, here it is:

MWH is a 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization.
In three years, MWH has raised more than $300,000 for breast cancer awareness, prevention, and treatment.
Equally important, we have shown thousands of women that men really do care about this horrible disease.

I donâ€™t have to tell you the impact that breast cancer has on women, families, and society. Chances are pretty good that your life has been touched in some way by the disease. The American Cancer Society estimates that 40,110 women and 470 men will die from breast cancer in the United States this year. Another 275,000 will be diagnosed with the disease.

I am now going to ask all of you if you could help me in reaching my fundraising goal. I am required to raise at least $3,900- between both walks. I am setting my goal even higher with your help and support I am looking to exceed over $10,000- for 2005. A couple of notes about your donation:

        * Contributions to Men With Heart are fully tax- deductible.

        * MWH is composed entirely of volunteers. No one draws a salary. Expenses are kept to a minimum (i.e., no office, no phones, no travel expenses, etc. ). Thus we make extremely efficient use of your charitable dollars.

        * Your contribution amount is totally up to you. I have received as little as $10 and as much as $1,000 from my donors.

If you could please send a contribution along to: P.O. BOX 224 Humarock, MA. 02047 This is my mailing address. Please make all checks payable to MWH. If you haven't been to our website check us out at http://www.menwithheart.org/. If you have any questions please email me at chris.leaman@menwithheart.org. or cell # 781-249-0922.

Thanks again for all your support !

CHRIS LEAMAN

Sullivan has seen it all

By Elizabeth Malloy / emalloy@cnc.com
Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Postal worker honored for 40 years of appointed rounds

William Sullivan knows about rain, snow, heat and the gloom of night.
Rain?
How about the No Name storm of '91.
Snow?
Try the Blizzard of '78.
Heat and Gloom of night?
Sullivan went through the pressure of nearly losing his job in the postal strike of 1970, and endured the frightening days of the anthrax scares after Sept. 11.
After 40 years with the US Postal Service, 20 of them in Marshfield, Sullivan has just about seen it all, and according to co-workers, has dealt with it all smoothly. Last week, the Post Office honored Sullivan with a special achievement award, which included a check for $500.
"I'm on the 18th fairway, I'm coming up to the clubhouse, so I appreciate this," Sullivan said on receiving the award.
A native of South Boston and the son of a postman, Sullivan began his career in the Post Office in 1964 working in Kenmore Square. He had been studying to be a policeman, but the day he was to sit for the policeman's exam, he was offered a job as a mailman. The Post Office paid more -$2.50 an hour at that time - so he took that job and never looked back.
Sullivan has lived in Marshfield for 27 years with his wife Kathy, who worked for the Postal Service for 37 years before retiring last year.
"This town has grown big time since I got here," Sullivan said of Marshfield. "I've added four or five new routes and we're still adding more."
Sullivan's route was in Black Mount, not far from Marshfield Center, where he worked until about a year ago, when he took a job in town's main office as a customer service supervisor.
"I think he has a really unique way of not only getting the job done but relating well to people," Marshfield Postmaster Robert Kinan said. "He's a team player, always willing to go that extra mile."
In 1970, Sullivan said management told members of the postal workers union that if they went on strike, they would all be fired. Sullivan said he explained this to the his fellow workers in Kenmore Square, but they voted overwhelmingly to strike anyway, so he risked his job to join them in a strike.
That hasn't been the only risk Sullivan's taken during his four-decade career.
Kinan recalled just a few weeks ago, Sullivan got out of bed at 3:15 am to deal with a break-in at the Green Harbor office, and how he had the office up and running by noon time and service was not interrupted.
During a snow storm 10 years ago, the Marshfield Postmaster had to physically go out and get Sullivan from his route. Sullivan wanted to finish his appointed rounds, but the weather was getting too bad.
"My truck was still moving," Sullivan said, explaining why he stayed out in the storm. "If you bring [mail] back, you just have to deliver it the next day."
Like the town, Marshfield's post office has changed during his tenure, but Sullivan said it has been mostly for the better, with people working more efficiently together and the place having a friendlier atmosphere. He said the aftermath of Sept. 11 has made for some more unwelcome change, such as everyone wearing ID badges and increased security over packages and mail trucks. But Sullivan said he understands the need for the protective measures.
While he is contemplating retiring within the next year or two, his wife has told him he can't retire until he quits smoking and Sullivan admits he would probably have trouble settling down and doing nothing. In his leisure time, Sullivan is involved with the Marshfield Yacht Club and looks forward to traveling and spending more time with his two sons and his grandchildren who live in Georgia.
"I'm always busy," he said.

Year-round Humarock residents enjoy the solitude before the summer din

Central Avenue shows Humarock's winter desolation, in stark contrast to how it busts at the seams during the summer. (GARY HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger)

By RICK COLLINS
The Patriot Ledger

HUMAROCK - It's just after noon, and the main square is nearly empty. A stiff wind blows sand across the street, past a police officer watching the quiet scene from his car.

The local lunch place is empty; the cook is reading a newspaper in a corner. In six months, visitors won't be able to take three steps into the store without dodging some bathing suit-clad boy or girl running towards the candy or the ice cream, their sandals flip-flopping across the floor.

But it's not July, it's the end of winter in Humarock, and the hundreds of residents who live year round on this isolated sliver of beach couldn't be more content.

‘‘It's sort of rugged,'' said Don Hourihan, a retiree who has lived on Humarock year round for 15 years. ‘‘You have to really love it.''

The only beach goers on a recent chilled day were a couple of bundled-up women from Marshfield walking their dogs. The shapeless gray sky overhead is an omen of a coming snowstorm, not a thunderstorm. Beards on some of the men don't reflect the lazy life of a beach bum; they are there to protect faces from the constant, biting winter winds.

‘‘To open a door it takes two hands,'' Hourihan explained about the wintry wind, his cap pulled low over his eyes. ‘‘One to hold it so the wind doesn't take it, and the other to push.''

Humarock is about 2½ miles in length, but is so narrow in spots that a person with a strong arm could throw a football across the sea stone-laden yards from the South River on one side to the Atlantic Ocean.

The community is little more than a barrier beach with water on three sides. An 1898 Nor'easter washed out the land bridge connecting Humarock's Fourth Cliff to the rest of Scituate. The only access to the community is a pair of bridges from Marshfield across the South River.

Humarock has long been a popular summer community, with thousands of visitors injecting an energy and pace that is absent the rest of the year. Like many beach communities, a smaller population remains after the leaves turn and the summer homes are boarded up. The year rounders are attracted by the natural beauty, the close-knit ties with neighbors and the slower pace of life.

‘‘It's a nice little community,'' said Pat McLaughlin, who braved the frigid temperatures for a pre-snowstorm walk with her husband, Ray. ‘‘I don't mind the solitude. It's worth it.''

Seemingly on a yearly basis, a storm roars across the region, pushing the ocean over the seawalls, battering homes with waves and sea stones, and flooding out roads, but the residents tough it out.

Thelma McAuliffe, who has lived in Humarock year round for six years, is one of those resilient characters. The 75-year-old spent this particular day making three trips to a friend's house in Marshfield Hills, her 2-year-old white German Shepherd, Bear, by her side, filling her car trunk with as many scraps of wood as it could hold.

She said she has gas heat, but just prefers the smell and warmth of a wood fire.

She began vacationing on Humarock with her husband in 1946 and loved it so much she eventually moved here permanently.

‘‘It's worth it to look out the window, and see the river,'' she said. ‘‘It's the friendliness; it's the community spirit.''

Russell Clark's family has lived on Humarock year round since 1906; his sons are the sixth generation to do so.

‘‘I don't know anywhere else, and I don't have a desire to go anywhere else,'' said Clark, who works as a land surveyor.

He estimates that about one-third of the community's 750 homes now are occupied year-round. That's enough people to keep most of the local businesses open through the winter, although many do cut back their hours.

‘‘We survive,'' said Tom Wilcox, a Marshfield resident who has managed and cooked for the Sand's End Cafe for a year. ‘‘The summers are totally different ... You get more kids in the summer. ''

Although most of it is part of Scituate, Humarock is in many ways a town unto itself. It has its own town square, its own post office, its own fire station, and its own police detail.

While Humarock residents pay taxes to Scituate, the southern tip of Humarock is in Marshfield, and they get their water from Marshfield and their phone numbers start with Marshfield's prefixes 834 and 837, not Scituate's 545 and 544.

It would be easy for Humarock residents to embrace the isolation and ignore the rest of Scituate, but many don't.

‘‘I feel very strongly that I'm a Scituate resident,'' said Central Avenue resident Rosemary Dobie, who makes the trek into Scituate proper for nearly every selectman's meeting. ‘‘I try to take part in what's happening.''

Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, March 01, 2005