Remembering 12-24-12

23 Dec

This Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022, marks ten years since the tragic events on Christmas Eve 2012 when a crazed gunman took the lives of two West Webster firefighters, Tomasz Kaczowka and Lt. Mike Chiapperini, and injured three others as they were responding to a house fire on Lake Rd.

Despite the passage of many years, the details are still fresh in our minds. The story has been told and retold countless times, especially as we’ve commemorated the anniversaries of that terrible morning. This Christmas Eve, on the tenth anniversary, everywhere we look, we’ll all be reminded once again of what happened.

But another, equally important story hasn’t been told as often: how, following the shootings, the Webster community immediately stepped up and came together as one, offering emotional and monetary support to the firefighters’ families and to the West Webster Fire Department as a whole.

For five straight days, I wrote about nothing but the tragedy in my blog. I passed along information about memorial events, took photos, made videos. It was my way of contributing and helping the community work through its grief.

As it turned out, the blogs also helped chronicle exactly HOW our community stepped up, and how the people of Webster became more than just a community; we became a family.

I’ve pulled together a handful of those blogs, and with some other supporting materials (and lots of design help from my husband Jack), have created the publication pictured above, which you may enjoy reading as we commemorate this solemn anniversary.

Click here to see the online .pdf, and feel free to print the entire publication if you’d rather.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

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(posted 12/23/2022)

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1000 days, many new friends

21 Dec

For the last few years, Covid has done a really good job of keeping families and friends apart. But here’s a nice story about how the pandemic actually brought a group of neighbors TOGETHER, and helped forge new friendships.

The story begins more than two and a half years ago, in March 2020, at the height of the pandemic. The country had just entered shut-down mode. The kids weren’t going to school, many of us couldn’t go to work, we couldn’t eat out with friends or even go grocery shopping without fear of getting sick.

Basically, we were all forced into our own personal, anti-social bubbles, and it was awful.

Jack Turan decided to do something about it. He heard on the news one morning how, in small towns all across Italy, residents were opening their shutters, sitting in their windows with their glasses of wine, and singing. The story gave him an idea. When he got home after work, he saw his neighbor Jamie, and told him to grab a beverage and meet him at the end of his driveway later that night. Then he went over to tell another neighbor, and a third.

That was the evening of March 22, 2020, and the beginning of a nightly tradition in one north Webster neighborhood that has continued every day since.

Last Saturday, Dec. 17, the gathering, fondly known as “Yack With Jack,” marked a very special achievement: 1000 straight days on which at least two neighbors have met at the end of Jack Turan’s driveway every night at 5 p.m. to share a beverage, and just hang around and chat.

Donna Fonda, who first told me about this happy group, said that the daily meetings have been a way to “check in” with the neighbors and get some actual real-person-not-Zoom time with other human beings, something we all craved especially during the height of the pandemic.

“During this 1000 days we’ve really gotten to know each other,” Donna wrote, “and enjoyed each family’s joys like births, engagements, anniversaries and retirements.” The friends have also been able to “hold each other up through health issues, deaths of loved ones and of course the isolation that Covid brought,” she added.

The meetings might be as short as 25 or 30 minutes, or as long as an hour and a half, depending on what’s going in peoples’ lives that night. There might be two people, there might be four, there might be 14. Most of the participants are Turan’s immediate neighbors, but a few come from farther down the street, and even a street over.

The neighbors marked both the first and second anniversaries with parties. The 1000-day celebration, however, was something else. More than 20 people were there, including their young children and dogs. There were snacks and crock pots filled with soup. There was a fire pit. There was a trivia contest complete with musical clues. And Deb Ford even made up some custom-designed drink cups, reading “Yack Anniversary, 1000 Days — 12/17/22.”

1000-day commemorative cups
Alex Scialdone hosted trivia

For this group of Webster neighbors, the “Yack With Jack” gatherings have taken the idea of “neighborhood” to an entirely new level.

Sure, we all wave to the neighbors before and after work, or when we’re out mowing the lawn. More often than not, though, we don’t have the time to do much more. Drive down this street any night of the week, however, and you’ll see a bunch of folks standing at the end of a driveway, beverages in hand, who’ve discovered the awesome result of making that time.

According to Jack Turan, that is: “We got to know each other, and we got to be friends, actually friends.” 

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

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(posted 12/21/2022)

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Webster community mailbag

19 Dec

End-of-year events and notices are winding down, but I do have a few things for your consideration this morning.

This first note is from Cherie Wood, my friend and ultra-amazing organizer of the recent Wreaths Across America event at Webster Union Cemetery. The day of the ceremony, she was being pulled in a hundred different directions, so never really had a chance to get out into the grounds herself to place a wreath or see others do so.

On Sunday, she went back to take a look. She wrote,

After church this morning, I drove into the cemetery to see the wreaths. I had to get in line. Everyone was slowly driving by, on all the cemetery roads. It was like driving around, looking at Christmas lights. I suspect most of them were with us yesterday.

That little story is a touching illustration of how much this event meant to our community. And while I agree with Cherie that a lot of those people had probably participated in Wreath Day on Saturday, I also think that many of them were people who couldn’t make the event, but wanted to be a part of it anyway, and to pay their respects.

The Webster Museum reminds everyone that if you want a chance to vote for your favorite decorated mini-Christmas tree, time is running out.

A lot of people have already cast their votes, and the race is tight, so head on down and share some holiday cheer! The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. The last date to vote for your favorite tree is December 29.

The museum will be closed December 24 and 25 and open for visiting and voting 2 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 22, 27 and 29. You can also see all the trees and vote for them on the museum website.

Here are a few examples of what you’ll find:

If you like to dance, you might want to check out the weekly contra dance events at the Harmony House, sponsored by the Country Dancers of Rochester.

Contra dancing is a kind of folk dance characterized by long lines of dancers. It’s a lot of fun, great exercise and it’s a great group of people. Dances are held on Thursdays beginning at 7:30 p.m. They even offer introductory lessons beginning at 7 p.m. For more information, check out the flyer below.

The Harmony House is on 58 East Main St. in the Village of Webster.

Now THIS is a good idea.

The Webster Police Department has set up a Safe Zone just outside their front door at 1000 Ridge Rd., where you can meet customers with whom you’re doing online business.

If you need to meet someone to receive payment or a product, you can arrange to meet them in the Safe Zone, a part of the parking lot which is under video surveillance. Check the flyer above for more information about this great opportunity.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 12/19/2022)

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The Webster community came together for Wreaths Across America Day

17 Dec

Earlier this year, when it was first suggested that Webster participate in Wreaths Across America, organizers knew it would be asking a lot from the community.

After all, Webster Union Cemetery, chosen for the first-ever ceremony, is one of the larger cemeteries in town. It’s the resting place for about 650 veterans, so decorating each of their graves would require that many wreaths, costing $15 each. Still, organizers knew that Webster is a generous town, and they had high hopes the community would support the effort.

No one, however, expected the overwhelming outpouring of community support they received.

Not only did businesses and local residents sponsor more than 650 wreaths, on Wreath Day — Saturday Dec. 17 — more than 300 adults and children gathered at the official Wreaths Across America ceremony at Webster Union Cemetery to help lay the wreaths. Many first responders, veterans and active service members also participated.

The ceremony was the culmination of months of organizing, fundraising and publicity efforts led by Cherie Wood, Wreaths Across America Location Coordinator for Webster Union Cemetery, and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Canandaigua Chapter. She was delighted and touched by the incredible community response.

“Our first responders, VFW, American Legion, Blue and Gold Star families, and active duty service members have been amazing,” she said. “There’s no end to who made this a reality.”

“I’m awed how the community of Webster came together and embraced this project. Most of our wreaths were sponsored one at a time. People who simply wanted to honor our fallen heroes. It’s rare that a cemetery is 100% sponsored their first year. Our community hit this one out of the park.”

Wood especially credited L3Harris, Jersey Mike’s Subs and Mission BBQ for their incredible business support.

The ceremony began promptly at noon. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem and a moment of prayer, Wood explained how Wreath Day is not just a local occurrence, saying,

Today, December 17, is National Wreaths Across America Day. In over 3,700 cemeteries across the country, and in foreign American battlefields, about 2.7 million people are meeting at noon, just as we are. This year over 3 million wreaths will be placed on veteran graves. 

Because of the generosity of the Webster community … we have a wreath  for every veteran in Webster Union Cemetery. Webster pulled together and embraced this project  in a way that has received national attention. This should give us amazing pride in our community.     

Wood encouraged each participant to say the veteran’s name out loud before placing the wreath, and take a moment to thank him or her for their service.

“It’s a small act that goes a long way toward keeping the memory of our veterans alive,” she explained. “Wreaths Across America has a saying: A person dies twice. Once when they take their last breath, then again when their name is said for the very last time. Many of our veterans no longer have family to remember them. Today, we the Webster community will become their family.”

Following Wood’s remarks, representatives from each of our nation’s armed services placed ceremonial wreaths in memory of those who served, and those who are still listed as Prisoners of War or MIA. Lt. Nguyen of the U.S. Navy, Purple Heart Recipient Chief Max Elia and Gold Star Mother Dorothy Reid also spoke.

Family members of veterans who are resting at Webster Union Cemetery were invited to enter the grounds first to place wreaths on their loved one’s graves, followed a few minutes later by the rest of the volunteers.

Webster Union Cemetery is one of 600 first-time cemeteries to participate in the Wreaths Across America ceremony this year. Based in large part on the tremendous support Wood saw from the Webster community this year, she’s already hoping to expand the effort next year.

“It’ll grow in this area,” she said. “Next year, we hope to add more cemeteries, and keep adding in coming years, until all five cemeteries are covered. That’s about 3,000 fallen veterans.”

Click here to see a whole gallery of photos.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

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(posted 12/17/2022)

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Webster welcomes the Wreaths Across America truck

16 Dec

If you happened to see an 18-wheeler making its way along 250 this morning, escorted by two Webster police cars with lights flashing, you saw the Wreaths Across America truck! It was delivering our 650 wreaths, which will be placed on veterans’ graves at Webster Union Cemetery tomorrow afternoon.

My regular blog readers know the story about how Webster is participating in Wreaths Across America for the first time this year, but in case you need some background, click here.

WPD officers met the truck at the North East Joint Fire District Station #2 at Plank and Salt roads and escorted it up 250, through the village, and all the way to Webster Union Cemetery, where our 75 boxes of fresh wreaths were unloaded in preparation for tomorrow’s ceremony. I don’t know if anyone was able to get outside and cheer the truck on as it went through the village, but we had several people welcoming it at the cemetery.

Pat, the truck driver, was pleasantly surprised — and a bit taken aback — by the fanfare. As plans for the escort were coming together, he even asked Location Coordinator Cherie Wood why the police were coming. He said that the welcome was the best he’s experienced in the two years he’s been driving for Wreaths Across America. He did add, however, that the Location Coordinator in Speculator gave him a gift bag “that was so heavy the handles broke.”

Pat did have a little trouble with the weather as he headed south and west from Maine on his deliveries. “I barely made it up the driveway in Utica.” he said. “It’s like this, and they didn’t have it scraped out.” He added that it would be great if Webster could sponsor so many wreaths next year that he could just “fill the entire truck and I would just have to stop here.”

Arriving at the cemetery
Unloading our 75 cartons
Cherie (R) and me with Pat the driver

After leaving Webster, Pat had three more stops, in Chili, Walworth and Pembroke.

About 300 people have already signed up to help lay the wreaths tomorrow at the Wreath Ceremony, which begins at noon at Webster Union Cemetery at the corner of Rt. 250 and Woodhull. We’re going to need a lot more help (especially if the weather is yucky and people decide to stay home.) There’s still time to sign up. Click here to do so. Parking may be an issue, so stay tuned to my Facebook page for updates on plans for that and other important details.

Many photos and videos were taken this morning. Click here for a full gallery, which I will also be adding to later. (Many thanks to Rogina Davis for most of these photos.)

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I leave you with this touching story:

A Wreaths Across America Location Coordinator in Texas said a tornado went through their little town on Tuesday. It toppled headstones, took down trees and bent the flagpole in half.

But Wreath Day will go on. The town turned out to clean everything up in time for Saturday’s ceremony. They said they needed Wreath Day more than ever this year, and weren’t going to let a tornado stop them.

That really kind of sums up the significance of this event. Please consider signing up to become a part of it.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 12/16/2022)

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WWFD releases details of remembrance ceremonies

15 Dec

The West Webster Fire Department, together with the entire Town of Webster, is recognizing a very sad anniversary this December.

December 24, 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic Christmas Eve shootings on Lake Rd. which took the lives of West Webster firefighters Tomasz Kaczowka and Lt. Mike Chiapperini, and seriously injured firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino.

The WWFD has announced plans for remembrance ceremonies, which they hope will not only commemorate the line of duty deaths and honor the fallen firefighters, but also educate the department’s members and the public about the events of the day, and the assistance the department received that week.

According to 12/24 Remembrance Coordinator Jack Gligora, the ceremonies will consist of a remembrance room, located behind Station #1 at 1051 Gravel Road where photos, videos and items of the department’s four line of duty deaths will be on display. The room will be open to first responders, the public and the media on Friday Dec. 23 from noon to 8 p.m., and Saturday Dec. 24 from 7 to 10 a.m.

Also on Saturday, at 6:45 a.m., a memorial prayer will be said at the West Webster Firehouse Memorial, located behind the station.

For anyone attending the events at Station #1 please park in the rear of the station to keep the front apron open for the department’s members should an emergency arise.

Note that construction on Lake Rd. has limited travel and parking in the area surrounding the memorial, so no formal public events will be held on Lake Rd.

(The photo above was taken at a candlelight vigil held at Barry’s Old School Irish on the evening of Dec. 29, 2012.)

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 12/15/2022)

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Wreath Day is almost here

14 Dec

We’re just a few days away from Wreaths Across America Day on Saturday Dec. 17, when the Webster community will come together to place a wreath on the grave of every veteran resting in Webster Union Cemetery.

We’re talking 650 wreaths, so we really need a lot of help from the community. This is a great opportunity for entire families to come out to honor our veterans, and perhaps begin a brand new holiday tradition. The ceremony will begin at noon at the cemetery, 345 Webster Rd., at the corner of Rt. 250 and Woodhull. Click here to sign up, and plan to arrive a little early so you don’t miss any of this solemn observance.

In the meantime, stay tuned for news about when the Wreaths Across America truck will be driving through town to deliver our wreaths to Webster Union Cemetery. The latest update indicated the truck might be arriving as soon as Thursday afternoon, or perhaps Friday morning. We’d like to get as many Webster residents out on the streets as possible as the truck passes, to cheer it on. The Webster PD will be providing an escort, and the fire departments are hoping to hang a huge flag between two ladder trucks, depending on how much lead time they have to set it up.

I’ll post more details as soon as I get them on my Webster on the Web Facebook page.

Here’s a fun side note: the truck drivers, who transport about 3 million wreaths from Maine to more than 3,700 cemeteries all across the country, all volunteer their time, their trucks, and the cost of gas. So when they arrive at each town, it’s customary to present them with a gift bag as our thanks.

Webster Union Cemetery and the Blue Star Mothers have put a thank-you bag together for our driver, filled with snacks, Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards, nuts and everything in between. Location Coordinator Cherie Wood said that it’s kind of got “the entire junk food aisle of Wegmans” in it and weighs about 20 pounds.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 12/14/2022)

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Behind the scenes with Santa Claus

12 Dec

I’m pleased to bring you another of my East Extra Afterthoughts installments today.

Afterthoughts is a completely separate blog, where I’m reposting some of my favorite columns from when I was the Our Towns East Extra columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle.

This particular column was published two days before Christmas. Earlier that month I was struggling to come up with an appropriate holiday-themed piece. Then I remembered that I had met Santa himself, and immediately knew I’d hit on the perfect idea.

It was originally published on Dec. 23, 2014.

A Q&A with Santa Claus

I have pretty much the best job in the world. I mean, how many people actually get to interview Santa?

Fittingly, it was a cold, wintry day when I met Santa at his home. No, not his workshop at the North Pole, but on Lake Road in North Webster.

Outside, the home is trimmed with colorful lights and decorations, and four Santas adorn the front yard. Inside, the atmosphere is equally jolly, positively glowing with Christmas cheer. It’s the perfect setting from which a 71-year old Kodak retiree spreads holiday joy.

Click here to go to Afterthoughts and read the rest of the post.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 12/12/2022)

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Burkardt Family Creche a holiday highlight at the museum

10 Dec

In this month’s Webster History Bit, I introduce you to the shining star of the Webster Museum’s holiday decorations, the Burkardt Family Creche.

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We can always count on the Webster Museum to be especially beautiful and sparkly this time of year, with holiday decorations and miniature Christmas trees sprinkled throughout the displays.  But for more than 40 years, the real star of the show has been the Burkardt Family Creche.  

This beautiful, hand-carved creche, on display near the museum’s entrance, has a beautiful history all its own. This creche was made in Germany by C. Jess, a church architect. He made one piece a year between 1918 and 1944, each year giving the newly carved piece to his sister Freda in Frankfurt, Germany. 

Freda and her husband Henrick kept the creche hidden during World War II so that it wouldn’t be destroyed in the frequent bombings. It would have been passed on to their only son, but he was killed during the war, so they sent it to Freda’s brother, Rudolph Burkardt Sr., who lived with his family on Salt Rd. in Webster. 

The Burkardts displayed the creche in their home for decades before donating it to the museum in the late 1970s, where it’s been a treasured centerpiece of the museum’s holiday decorations ever since. 

The scene has roughly two dozen pieces, all hand carved out of linden wood. In addition to Baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary and the Three Kings, it also includes a shepherd boy, angels, sheep, camels, oxen, and even an elephant.

The Burkardt Family Creche will be on display at the Webster Museum until January, when museum volunteers will painstakingly wipe each piece with oil and pack them away until next year. So come see it while you can, and while you’re there, make sure to vote for your favorite community-decorated Christmas tree during the museum’s Festival of Trees. Votes will be accepted through Dec. 31.     

The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Visit the website at webstermuseum.org to learn more. 

Here are few closer-up shots from the creche:

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(posted 12/10/2022)

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Senior Singers make beautiful music at the Rec Center

8 Dec

Singing just for the fun of it.

That’s the philosophy behind the Senior Singers, an enthusiastic group of older adults who meet every Tuesday at the Webster Recreation Center to sing, socialize and — two or three times a year — share their love for music with the greater Webster community.

For almost 40 years, the Senior Singers have offered older adults a no-cost, no-stress opportunity to rehearse and perform music. Comprised of both men and women 55 and over, the group rehearses every Tuesday at 11 a.m. in a small room at the Recreation Center from September through June, taking two months off during the summer. And two or three times a year, especially before their summer break and at holiday time, they move into the Center’s large multipurpose room to present community concerts, performing Broadway show tunes, old standards and holiday favorites.

The group is expertly led by Sylvia Vazzana. A long-time member of the chorus, Sylvia only stepped into the directorial role recently, a consequence of the pandemic.

Before the pandemic hit, the group was going strong, with about 20 regularly-attending members. But like everything else, during the shutdown, they had to stop meeting for a while. When they were finally able to reconvene, the group had dwindled to only 9 members. And they had lost their director.

“We used to have a director from Hochstein,” Sylvia remembered. When she didn’t return, “I went in to (Senior Coordinator Daphne Geoca) and said, ‘I’m a musical director. I’d be very happy to volunteer my time.'” Since then, the group has become stronger than ever, boasting about 25 members.

Sylvia is assisted by her husband Tom, who usually acts as emcee for the concerts. She, Tom, the singers and the musicians who accompany them, are all volunteers.

The concerts are true crowd-pleasers. At their end-of-season concert last June, the group performed a selection of classics and old-time favorites, including “No Business Like Show Business,” “Second-hand Rose,” “Good ‘Ol Summertime,” “Memories,” and a ragtime piece on the piano. Their holiday concert is coming up next Sunday, Dec. 20, and will be packed with vocal and instrumental holiday favorites.

And don’t be fooled. Even though the chorus members have put a lot of years behind them, their voices are still strong and beautiful. “They’ve all been singing for many, many years,” Sylvia noted.

But that doesn’t mean you need to have a lot of experience to join the group. No auditions are necessary; the only things you really need are the desire to make beautiful music and make a lot of new friends.

At the June concert, Tom captured the Senior Singers philosophy best when he told the audience, “Music has the power to make you smile and bring us to all types of tears. It can carry us back in time and inspire us to dance in the moment. For all our happiest days and our saddest, there is music. We love to entertain you. We love show business.”

The Senior Singers will present their Holiday Performance on Tuesday Dec. 20 at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Dr., beginning at 11 a.m. There’s no charge and registration is not necessary. So take a moment out of your day, stop by to hear some beautiful music, and perhaps consider joining this fun group.

Rehearsing for the holiday concert
Tom and Sylvia Vazzana
Rehearsing for the holiday concert

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram.

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(posted 12/8/2022)

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