Mahon About Town Nantucket Blog

Cape Cod Life is out with its “Top 400” of the Cape and Islands. Here are the Nantucket winners in all categories. Pick up the magazine for all the details.

Community Leaders, Winners:

Kate Hamilton Pardee, for her work for Nantucket Vistor Services, the Friends of the Nantucket Film Festival, and the Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

Dr. Tim Lepore, medical director, chief surgeon, and expert on tick diseases at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

Phil Stambaugh, VP of the Nantucket Bank, treasurer of the Nantucket Arts Council, and work with the Community Foundation of Nantucket, Habitat for Humanity, St. Mary’s Church, and the NCMC chorus.

Mindy Todd, host of “The Point” on WNAN radio. Though not a Nantucketer, Mindy’s over here as often as she can be, which is not often enough.

Community Leaders, Honorable Mention: Molly Anderson (Nantucket Atheneum), Margaretta Andrews and Chuck Gifford (Nantucket Cottage Hospital). Fifi Greenberg (Nantucket Arts Council), Michael May (Nantucket Preservation Trust), and Bill Tramposch (Nantucket Historical Association).

Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders, Winner
Annye Camara, Annye’s Whole Foods.

Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders, Honorable Mention: Michael Boylan (UPS Store), Andrew and Matt Bridier (Murray’s Toggery), Christian del Rosario (www.nesurfari.com), Donna Elle (Interior Design), Angela and Seth Raynor (Boarding House and Pearl), and Tom Scott (Plum).

The Arts World, Winners:
Michael Vienneau, scrimshander
Elin Hilderbrand, author, Nantucket Boys & Girls Club, Nantucket preservation Trust, Friends of the Nantucket Public Schools.

The Arts World, Honorable Mention: Barbara Capizzo (Gallery), Amy England (singer-songwriter), Nancy Thayer (author), and Greg Hill (painter).

Scientists and Thinkers, Winner:
Jim Lentowski, executive director of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.

Unsung Hero, Winner
Vito Capizzo, coach - one of the most successful in New England

Unsung Hero, Honorable Mention: Jean Egan and Nick Norton (Senior Citizens of the Year), Bob and Suzanne Wright (Autism Speaks), and Andy Quinn (lifesaver).

Up and Coming, Honorable Mention: Andrew Chuplis (runner), Geddes Paulsen (football and art), Ben Simons (NHA curator)

Intriguing, Winner:
Edith Andrews, the Bird Lady.

Intriguing, Honorable Mention: Vanessa Noel (shoe designer), Emma Rusch (96 years old), Thatcher Spring (ties)

Congratulations to all.

The retrospective exhibit of works by Nantucket women artists from 1910 to 1960, First Ladies of Nantucket, will close on Sunday, March 25th. There will be a closing reception for the show on Friday (23rd) from 5 to 7, at the Artists Association of Nantucket Gallery, 19 Washington Street. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a closing party for an art exhibition on Nantucket before this one. It may start a new thing - twice as many parties. I’ll need an assistant.

We won’t have the Flying Cloud to kick around anymore. Get a look at a fast ferry that was built to work. The commisioning ceremony for the MV Iyanough begins at 11 am on Saturday (24th) down there at the SSA dock, followed by an open house until 2. Scheduled service begins on March 28.

Godspell opens this Friday night at the High School, the 70’s rock musical about the life of Christ. A collaboration of the Nantucket High School Music Department and the Theatre Workshop, the performance is directed by Gordon McGregor, with musical direction by Robert Behrman. Showtimes at the High School auditorium are Friday and Saturday night at 7:30, and Sunday afternoon at 2.

Over the past few years, a new rite of spring has established itself here on Nantucket, one in which grown men don women’s heels, dresses and plumage to strut through a hooting and hollering, though more appropriately dressed, crowd of imbibers at the A.C. What for? To fund a 2 week humanitarian trip to Guatamala for Nantucket students. Here’s the lineup: Paul Bixby, Chris Carnivale, Richard Diamond, Don Pronk, Patrick Moran, James Lydon, Michael DeHeart, Greg Bourbeau, Micket Beamish, Chris Morris, and Bruce Yancy. Oh yeah, and Dan Sabuda. It’s hardly a contest with Dan in it -he’s been rehearsing for this part for a decade or more. Ms. Mantucket rocks the house (Atlantic Cafe) on Monday the 26th, 6 to 10. $75 gets you in and gets someone to Central America.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Therese Murray, the state’s first female legislator, has assumed the position of President of the Massachusetts State Senate, after the resignation of Senator Robert Travaglini. The Senator is a frequent visitor to Nantucket. She is now the first woman ever to head a Massachusetts legislative body, and the third most powerful politician in the state.

The Boston Globe reports that the Senator said “she would be inspired by those who struggle to get by in a sometimes hostile world, with a focus on affordable housing, healthcare, and education.” She pledged also to help fisherman and farmers.

The Senator is pictured below, with Lynn Walsh and Senator Rob O’Leary at last year’s Dana Farber fundraiser at the home of George Cloutier.

Les Saunders passed away on March 14 at the age of 91 at Our Island Home. Les had been a bartender at the JC, and a maker of the doughnuts at the Downeyflake. I first met him in the late 70’s or early 80’s. He would bring in a roll or two of film every few days, and then order blow ups of his best photographs. I assumed he was selling them, but one day asked, and no, he was not. He was just giving them away, hundreds of them. I tried to give him a discount, and he said thanks, but no thanks. He was happy to pay the price, and didn’t have much else to spend his money on.

You’ve seen Les, shuffling along in his latter days at a paltry pace, head held proudly up over his cane and body bent forward about his middle. Tourists must have seen a curmudgeony old man insistent upon stubbornly slowing down their day when he stepped into the street to cross. I saw a man who would “just keep truckin on” ’til his dying day, and that he did. Not much could keep him from his 11:30 lunches at the A.C. on his own stool and with his own mug.

As Steve Turrentine, who supplied this photograph, said, “people like Les only come around once in a lifetime.” Pictured with Les are Bobby Short, Brian Gallagher, Steve Turrentine, Jerry Blitefield and Brian Pluff.

Les’ friend Mark Watson told me that Les wanted to be cremated, but he didn’t want his ashes spread over the ocean. Why? “Because I can’t swim.”

A service will be announced soon. See also Mary Lancaster’s piece in the Nantucket Independent.

Every Bite Is Divine: The Balanced Approach to Enjoying Eating, Feeling Healthy and Happy, and Getting to a Weight That’s Natural for You. Publisher: Life Arts Press

Annie Kay (MS, RD, RYT) is a year round resident of the island, a nutrition counselor, yoga instructor, and health communications consultant. She writes for national magazines such as Cooking Light, web sites where, for example, she reviews health books for Amazon, has appeared on CNN, and speaks nationwide on health promotion. She is a graduate of Cornell and Boston University, where she studied both nutritional biochemistry and nutrition communications.

In this book published just last month, Annie explains how to appreciate your body and adopt healthy, satisfying and balanced eating habits, why diets cause you to gain weight instead of losing it, how to avoid eating what is wrong for you, and how managing stress can help you lose weight.

LoLa had a lobster sushi a few weeks ago. A work of art it was. Here are some of this newsletters newest subscribers, and the lobster.

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