Gary Martineau funeral service

I got this email from my cousin Lucy..... I thought I should share it......



Hello family and friends,

I wanted you to know that there will be a graveside Memorial Service for my brother, your cousin/friend Gary Martineau this coming Saturday, July 25, at 11 am, at our mother's gravesite in St. Mary's Cemetery in Claremont, NH. I would greatly appreciate it if you could let your remaining parents and our elder relatives who do not have email know what's going on so that they may attend if they'd like to, especially Aunt Giselle, Aunt Claire, Aunt Rena and Uncle Roland, Uncle Normand, Aunt Irene and Uncle Leon. I'll get hold of our step-family. Also, if any of you know how to get hold of some of his high school/Claremont buddies like the Fluette and Rousseau boys I'd appreciate it if you'd pass the information along.

I would like to invite all of you and your family to an informal luncheon reception to follow the Memorial Service. I will be sending out another announcement as to where we will be holding that or have that information for you at the service, as I don't know where we will be holding the reception at the moment. I am working with Gary's daughter Anna and some of our Claremont cousins to work out those details.

If you think you will be able to attend the reception, could you please RSVP to me either by email or phone (***** email me for her phone number****) so that we can get a "head count" for the facility?

I believe the Obituary has been placed in the "Manchester Union Leader" and the "Valley News" and is probably posted today. He died at his home in Hudson, NH, last Monday of heart failure. The Obit that's in the newspapers is probably very short because of newspaper requirements--if you'd like more information as to who's where, let me know and I'll try my best to provide that to you.

If you would like to send a card or condolensces to Gary's daughter, she is:

Ms. Anna Martineau
13914 W. Mauna Loa Lane
Surprize, AZ 85379
cell: (*****email for this too)

Also, if you would like to make a donation in his memory or honor, please call The Nature Conservancy Member Care team at (800) 628-6860. Please be prepared to provide the names and addresses for anyone you'd like to be notified about your gift, as well as the name of the person being honored. Or, you can donate on-line at: http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/donate/?src=l2


Thank you.
Love,
Cousin Lucy (Martineau) Proulx

The Eagle's replacement???

If you live in my area and are like me.....you probably miss the one newspaper we had...... here is the Eagle's replacement ......... http://www.yourclaremontpress.com/

So the last 10 days flew right by......

Friday the 10th, was the beginning of it all..... I got the go-ahead from all my kids' parents to take the kiddo's strawberry picking and to the petting zoo (both are conveniently located at the same place). Jessi, Maebel and Charlie were originally going to be joining us but at the last minute Jessi got an invite to the ocean, so we got ditched..... I do not blame her one bit.... I would have ditched to go to the ocean too. Especially since her "invitor" was doing all the driving......So I packed up the 5 kids and myself and off we went for a day of animals and berries. I have never seen these kids have so much fun as they did that day at Wellwood. Oodles of fun, oodles of poop on shoes ( thank goodness I asked the parents for 2 sets of shoes) and oodles of berries in their tummies. A full day of fun for about 6 bucks for the 7 of us. You almost can't beat that.

Once 5:15 pm came around and my last "borrowed" child went home, Jeremy and I along with Ashtyn and Taylor made our 2 1/2 hour trek up to Brownington for 9 days of just us and nature. (and a little bit of tv thanks to the generator). We got there around 9-9:30 (we had to stop for gas and pee breaks etc), unpacked and went to bed. The next day was the annual pig roast (which turned out to be not a pig roast this year....we had beef instead.... I pigged out on the chili I made and the huge fruit salad someone else had brought) over at the Glodgett's. As usual the food was awesome and the fireworks were great. Ashtyn and Taylor both had a blast. Ashtyn fell in love with a little boy named Thomas and Taylor was infatuated with Joe and Rita's little girl.... I forgot her name again....sorry...... And everyone there was awesome. They are all really great at involving the kids in practically everything. The fireworks ended around 10 and at that point it was definitely time for the kiddos to be in bed so we went back to camp. Jeremy and the other guys decided it wasn't their bed times yet so they went out with the ATVs or whatever they had to ride on. I went to bed with the girls and woke up around 4am to : "just so you know when you get up, my atv's done for the summer" WTF? He is ok and all is fine, but his atv.......definitely out of commission for at least most of the remainder of 2009. Apparently he stood it up on a crazy steep hill and instead of it finishing its ascent up the hill, it decided to fall on its face and roll down the hill. Lucky for my death defying mad man of a husband he is really (sadly) good at ditching the crash and so he ditched and only has a little bruise on him (a big one on his ego) and a huge one on the atv. That day the kids and I went to the park and let Jeremy sleep off his anger about crashing. The rest of the week was less exciting. A lot of clearing "our" land (hopefully it will be ours) and burning brush. We did see tons of wild life, which is the norm up there, but it was better than usual this time. We saw 2 moose, together, just 2 fields down from our cow path (road), a ton of Mommy dears and babies, huge wild rabbits, and tons of random enormous birds that were enjoying something very near by the camp.... there was a sad animal story on the adventure home Sunday morning.... someone was driving south, like us, an apparently their hatch opened up on their car which spilled out a bunch of clothing.... and the family dog.....right onto 91. Needless to say the dog didn't survive the tuck and roll............ Thursday night Ron and Sue showed up. I swear they came up only to scare the life out of me and have a good laugh about it. Ron got this huge GIGANTIC black spider that was at his work and stuck in in the shower. Everyone had a good ha raw about it.....except for Ashtyn. I had to pet the thing to prove to her it was fake. Friday we dubbed around Newport and Derby. Saturday we went to the circus at IROC..... and we decided to not bother once we got there. Instead Ashtyn got a pony ride, cotton candy and some bouncy house action. Then we peeked around inside IROC and then went to the GoKart place down the road for a 3 generation race between Grandpa, Daddy and Ashtyn. Then some lunch and fun at the huge play area at McDonald's. After a full day of running around we went back to camp for our last night of no-extra-kids and packed our stuff. Then unfortunately today arrived and we had to depart. So we drove home, unpacked, made my phone calls, checked my 254 emails!!!!!! and now here I am.

.....oh yeah....and it rained......a lot. and hailed and rained and tsunami and blah. Mother nature doesn't like me. Its only when I have plans in July it rains.

Eagle-Times, 2 other papers close doors

Snagged from http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090710/NEWS04/907100372/1003/NEWS02

Publisher to declare bankruptcy today

By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: July 10, 2009
CLAREMONT, N.H. — As one staffer put it, the Eagle ran out of Time Thursday.The Eagle-Times, a daily newspaper that served the city of Claremont and communities on both sides of the Connecticut River, published its last edition today.Harvey Hill, publisher and owner of the paper, told employees Thursday afternoon that he would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy today. Employees were told to turn in their keys at the end of their shift Thursday."We did our best to continue the operations, but the economy and the changes in the newspaper industry have made it impossible to continue this business. Thank you for your support over the years and the dedication you showed to his newspaper," he wrote in a staffwide e-mail."It's the paradigm shift," said one staffer, referring to the changes affecting the newspaper industry in New England and beyond, from the troubles at the Boston Globe to small-town Claremont."I'm saddened; it's awful close to home," said John Mitchell, president and publisher of the Rutland Herald, which competed head-to-head with the Eagle in many Vermont towns. "I thought smaller papers were doing OK for the most part."Eric Francis of White River Junction, who wrote for The Spectator and the Eagle-Times as a freelancer for several years, said the staff worked to get the final edition completed Thursday afternoon.He said that the closing shocked everyone. "Harvey said it was just economics," Francis said, noting the past year or so had been "rocky," with the papers experiencing a high turnover rate in editors.Staffers said the closing affects not just the Eagle-Times, but Hill's other publications including The Message, a shopper based in Chester, Vt., and the Connecticut Valley Spectator of Lebanon, N.H., both weekly publications. Hill bought the popular Message a few years ago, and started the Spectator in 2002.The news shocked not just the employees, but people who got their daily dose of hometown news and sports from the 7,800-circulation paper. On Thursday, the front page included news about the rebuilding of Aumand's, a furniture store in Walpole, N.H., which burned a year ago, and a story about how Josh the camel from Lempster, N.H., had made the record books being the first camel to make it up Mount Washington in the White Mountains."Holy smokes," said former state Sen. Edgar May of Springfield, who was the subject of a Sunday magazine feature earlier in the week."I have a special affection for American journalism for obvious reasons for having worked in it for many years," said May, who won a Pulitzer Prize for journalism in the 1960s. "It's a very sad time when any newspaper dies because a newspaper has been the centerpiece of changing public policy and improving the lives of so many people," he said."The closing of a newspaper means a little piece of democracy has died," he said. "There are some very important issues that have required skilled, intensive reporting that only newspapers can do."May's comments were typical of people contacted late Thursday, as news of the papers' closure became public.Hill, in an e-mail to employees, said he and his wife Christina could no longer afford subsidizing the paper. Hill bought the Eagle-Times about 15 years ago after a successful career in the paper manufacturing business.Hill said he and his wife had paid for the employees' health insurance through the end of July, and that employees would get their final paycheck, plus vacation pay, next week.He attributed the papers' closing to the economic crisis, as well as the widespread problems in the newspaper industry."It's very sad," said Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp., who had worked with Hill on a variety of projects over the years."On a lot of levels, I appreciate what Harvey and Christina have done. But I know it's been a struggle. The closing will leave a huge void in this region," Flint said.The Eagle-Times was created in the 1960s with the merger of two newspapers: the Claremont Eagle and the Times-Reporter, which was based in Springfield. For years, the paper operated out of an office in downtown Claremont on Sullivan Street, but eventually it built a new plant on the outskirts of the city on River Street – with a wonderful view of Vermont.Matt DeRienzo, now the publisher of the Torrington (Conn.) Register, started at the Eagle in 1999 as a reporter and left in 2003 as managing editor."I think that Harvey and Christina have sunk so much of their personal money and time into the papers, they are not in it for the money. They cared about the community," DeRienzo said.DeRienzo said Hill, a native son of Charlestown, N.H., grew up on a farm just down the road from the paper's location on River Road. He returned to the area after a career in paper manufacturing, got bored with retirement and bought his hometown paper.But in a perfect indication of how news spreads in the 21st century, DeRienzo said he didn't hear about the closing of the Eagle from the Associated Press news wire, or a telephone call from Hill or fellow staffers, or even an e-mail, but from the social networking site Facebook.A friend, a former staffer of the Spectator, now a freelancer in New Hampshire, posted news of the paper's closing on her Facebook page, he said.susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com

Another wonderful visit to Shriners Hospital in Springfield

Little miss Taylor has grown out of her arm so Auntie Lisa came down to play with Ashtyn for the day while Taylor and I went to Shriners to see Dr. Wenner and then visit Rob in O&P to get fitted for her new arm. We also dropped off the donations everyone collected for our SHrINE ON SPRINGFIELD fundraiser. They took a few pics (which you can see I did not...unfortunately) but it was a good time and everyone there just loves Taylor. I think we spent an hour just sitting in the middle of the walk way in the lobby with everyone googling over her. It was awesome to see grown men crawling around on the floor with her and replying to her growls with their own rendition. I just love that place so much. Every time I go I love it more. I can't imagine Taylor not being a patient there. It would break my heart to have to go somewhere else. As you'll see below, I'm not the only one who feels this way either. The first two pics are signatures of a petition to keep Springfield's facility open..... I have no idea how many names are on each piece of paper but as you can tell it spans two full walls.

This last pic is just a small taste of the letters received. They are from all sorts of people, families of patients, patients themselves, school children, friends of patients, professionals, Thank you notes, cards of concern, everything. All people who stand behind this wonderful hospital whether they're patients or not. Its a true testament of how much we love and appreciate everything that Springfield has done. To everyone at Springfield....Thank you.

Little miss Mayhem and I will be going back in a few weeks to get her new arm and visit with everyone again..... I can't wait... her new one is "antique-ie dots" and it has a spring loaded thumb....you'll see soon.

“The underlying message is that we’ve won a victory but could lose the war,”

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=915187a8c5239d73

Springfield's Shriners Hospital To Remain Open

http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/50090227.html

Delegates vote to keep all Shriners hospitals open

Last updated July 6, 2009 8:06 p.m. PT

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_tx_shriners_hospitals.html

Shriners hospitals to remain open

This had better be real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Article #1:

Six Shriners Hospitals – including Spokane – to remain open
Filed Under (Business, Health, National, News, Washington) by Jason Ford on 06-07-2009 The Shriners Hospital in Spokane will remain open.

The Shriners national board meeting in San Antonio this week, has voted down a proposal to close six Shriners hospitals, including Spokane’s.

The six hospitals faced closure because an endowment that provides money to operate the 22-hospital system has shrunk, from $8.5 bilion to $5 billion.

Delegates will allow the six hospitals to explore partnerships with state-run or for-profit hospitals and other ways to cut costs, including billing insurers and Medicaid for the first time, and calling for budget cuts of 6 to 7 percent across the hospital system.

Other hospitals saved from closure are in Galveston, Tx., Shreveport, La., Greenville, S.C., Erie, Pa., and Springfield, Mass.

The Shriners hospitals in the United States provide free medical care to 125,000 children each year who suffer ailments ranging from clubbed feet to severe burns.

The 170 employees at the Spokane hospital handle 8,500 patient visits a year, and closing the facility would have forced children and their families to travel to Portland or Salt Lake City for care. (Shreveport Times, Spokesman Review, AP)

copied from http://www.koze950.com/2009/07/06/six-shriners-hospitals-%e2%80%93-including-spokane-%e2%80%93-to-remain-open/


Article #2

snagged from http://news.coldstreams.com/?p=4029

July 6, 2009 in City
Spokane Shriners Hospital expected to stay open
John Stucke


Tags: Shriner’s Hospital
The Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane has been given a reprieve and will likely stay open .

Delegates to the charity’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, voted Monday to withdraw an agenda item that would close six of the 22 hospitals.

There are few storylines as compelling as healing crippled children, and Shriners from around the country were not ready to bow to recessionary pressures and close hospitals that have spent decades helping children.

The issue could be revisited later this week, but local Shriners indicated last week that there was support for other scenarios, including billing insurers.

Local Shriners spokeswoman Sally Mildren said the Spokane hospital will hasten more intensive talks with Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center regarding possible collaborations.

Shriners weigh hospitals' fate

copied from http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1246864522127690.xml&coll=1&thispage=2


Monday, July 06, 2009
By JEANETTE DeFORGE
jdeforge@repub.com


Born without lower legs, Gina M. Gilday became a patient at Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield when she was just 2 weeks old.

The hospital provided her free prosthetic legs year after year as she grew; when she turned 16, the hospital staff directed her to a specialized driving school that could teach her how to oper ate a car with hand controls, therapists taught her day-to-day skills and, most important, they taught her parents she could grow up to be a strong, independent woman.

"Everything in my life comes down to that place," said Gilday, an Elms College senior from Hampden. "To think other children will not get the same opportunity is terrible."

The fate of the Springfield hospital and five others across the country is in the hands this week of the about 1,300 trustees for the Shriners corporation. The group begins meeting today in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss how to deal with a financial crisis that could lead the entire organization to bankruptcy in five to seven years. A two-thirds vote of the membership will be required to close any of the hospitals.

The organization, which never charges families or their insurance, operates through interest from an endowment fund. The stock market crisis decimated the fund, dropping it from $8 billion to $5 billion, and forced the hospitals to have to tap into the principal to help pay day-to-day expenses.

The separate Melha Shrine fraternity, which has nearly 200 groups across the country, including one in Springfield, works as the main fund-raisers for the hospitals.

One proposal to save money is to close the five orthopedic hospitals in Springfield, Greenville, S.C., Spokane, Wash., Shreveport, La., and Erie, Pa. Trustees will also decide if they should repair a burn hospital in Galveston, Texas, which has been closed for more than a year after being damaged by a hurricane.

"I think it is probably the most historic convention we will have," said Allen G. Zippin, of Longmeadow, a past chairman and current member of the Springfield hospital's board of governors and one of the voting trustees.

Since the announcement was made about the possibility of the Springfield Shriners Hospital closing, people throughout New England joined Western Massachusetts residents in efforts to save the hospital. They wrote letters, sent e-mails, signed petitions and held a massive rally across the street from the Carew Street hospital.

Zippin said he is hoping the closing of hospitals does not even come to a vote at the annual convention; if it happens, a vote is likely either Tuesday or Wednesday.

"We are feeling a little more optimistic than we were a few months ago because there are a lot of interesting proposals out there," he said.

One is to form a commission to examine the entire organization and scrutinize the financial outlook of all 22 Shriners hospitals. That commission would then submit a report with recommendations on how to turn around financial problems, Zippin said.

Even if the commission comes to the same conclusion that the hospitals must be closed, it will likely have to wait a year because the trustees only hold one annual meeting, he said.

But Ralph W. Semb, president and chief operating officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children, who lives in Erving, questioned the idea of forming a commission.

"That is forming another commission after we have had three already," he said. "They have all come back with the same thing: Close hospitals."

But closing hospitals or forming a commission are not the only two things the trustees will discuss. Officials for Springfield's hospital have submitted a creative plan to revamp the way the hospital runs, which will lower operating costs. Several other hospital have submitted ideas as well.

Semb said he believes Springfield's preliminary plan, which calls for working in a partnership with neighboring Baystate Medical Center, is worth considering and could help keep the facility open.

"I realize there has been some effort and I would like to see that continue," he said. "There are negotiations on going with Baystate."

Zippin said the nine-member Springfield delegation does hope to present the plan to revamp the hospital to trustees.

That plan, submitted to the Shriners Hospitals board in April, calls for the two hospitals to work together to provide pediatric services. One portion favors having some of the most expensive surgical procedures performed at Baystate, which does bill insurance companies, and have children transferred to Shriners to recover, he said.

"Baystate has signed a letter of intent to work with us," Zippin said. "They see advantages in collaboration and coordination of services."

Fall Mountain Class of 99 update

This was sent over the weekend to everyone listed on FMRHS class of 99 on facebook... now visible for anyone out there who might be interested......


"Mara Sullivan sent a message to the members of Holy Crap, We're Old. Fall Mountain Class Of 99 Ten Year Reunion.

--------------------
Subject: Reunion Details + Website

Hey Guys!
Happy July 4th. So I met with the people at the Best Western Sovereign Hotel yesterday. They've "done over" the ball room. Woot! Actually, it still looks the same. :)

So, here's the deal: we will have a buffet dinner, which includes choice of two entrees, a starch, two veggies, salad, bread, tea, and coffee. There will be a cash bar.

For the room, and the food, the tickets will be $35 each. I'll need your $$$ by FRIDAY AUG 14 in order to give the hotel a final count.

As for the music, I think a DJ would be too expensive, and I'd like to keep the cost of the tickets down. We were thinking of doing a playlist and getting some speakers, hooked up to a sound-dock. I did that for a party once and it worked out really well. You can email me songs to add to the playlist if you'd like.

Also, for those people you know who aren't on facebook, I've set up a website. It has all the info I've discussed here, as well as my contact info. You can direct people there. Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/l/;fallmountain99.com

The next couple of weeks I'll be hunting down our classmates, and I might need your help...I'll be contacting you individually if I need some leads. And Sam Baldasaro (now Aubin) is going to contact the high school and see if they have any addresses/phone numbers.

Ok, I'm getting excited! Looking forward to seeing everybody.

xo
Mara"

And we're home again

It is amazing how fast time is flying these days. The short story of the week is: I had 5 kids all day every day, with the exception of Friday.....Thursday night at the last possible second we decided to go to camp for the long weekend. Jeremy cleared a bunch of our "spot" and we're going back to hopefully get a lot closer to "finished" on Friday of this week. The weather was decent, beautiful Friday, on and off sun and sprinkles on Saturday and then crazy beautiful Sunday. The bulk of that evil rain garbage was only around at night....and there was a lot of it. But we're home now, safe and sound, to do it all again this week.....I'll be back for more story telling adventures once I get some food into our bellies.


To view the millions of pics I took click here