VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST ~ Haverhill’s Frederick “Buddy” Hansen, Jr.

VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST ~ Haverhill’s Frederick “Buddy” Hansen, Jr.

A Veteran, Father, Husband, Brother, and Hero By: John Cuddy – May, 2022 On April 16th of this year, a reunion was held on the shore of Rock Pond in Georgetown, Massachusetts. Family and friends gathered to remember a Haverhill Veteran, Frederick “Buddy” Hansen, a husband, brother, and dad, who drowned in this pond while […]

Scott Hyder – US Army – Founder/President, Hidden Battles Foundation – Valley Patriot of The Month ~ HEROES IN OUR MIDST

Scott Hyder – US Army – Founder/President, Hidden Battles Foundation – Valley Patriot of The Month ~ HEROES IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy – March, 2022 Raised in Arlington, Massachusetts in veterans housing, and now living in Pelham, New Hampshire Scott Hyder, is the founder and current President of Hidden Battles. The non-profit organization strives to help preserve the healthy minds of veterans, fire fighters, police officers and other first responders. The organization’s mission is […]

Rene & Pam Parent: A Father & Daughter Quietly Serving Our Nation! – VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH ~ HERO IN OUR MIDST

Rene & Pam Parent: A Father & Daughter Quietly Serving Our Nation! – VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH ~ HERO IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy – Nov. 2021 WESTPORT, MA -I met Pam Melanson and her father Rene “Cap” Parent at the Wheelhouse Diner in Quincy, Massachusetts on a beautiful Saturday morning. Pam, who hails from Westport, MA, served our Nation in the US Navy Reserves for over fifteen years. She was called up on active duty […]

Arthur Goulet, Cold Weather Seabee! ~ VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH – HERO IN OUR MIDST

Arthur Goulet, Cold Weather Seabee! ~ VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH – HERO IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy – Oct. 2o21 Lawrence native Arthur Goulet attended St Anne’s Grammar School and graduated from Lawrence High School with the Class of 1955. Shortly after finishing high school, he joined the US Navy. He completed Military Basic Training at the U.S. Navy Training Center at Port Deposit, Maryland, more commonly known in […]

Establishment Republicans Establish Lack of Consistent Standards

Establishment Republicans Establish Lack of Consistent Standards

By: Brian Genest – Oct. 2021 Blatant hypocrisy. Shameless double standards. Profiles in cowardice. All were on display at the recent meeting of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee. Not one establishment Republican had a word to say about Tom Mountain, the former MassGOP vice chair who has stepped down from the party’s executive committee. Not […]

Married on the 4th of July – Celebrating 75 years of Marriage! ~ HEROES IN OUR MIDST, VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH

Married on the 4th of July – Celebrating 75 years of Marriage! ~ HEROES IN OUR MIDST, VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH

By: John Cuddy – Aug. 2021 Dracut’s Bob and Jeanette (Jenny) Iby, celebrated their 75th Wedding Anniversary on July 4, 2021. Married on July 4, 1946, after Bob finished his tour with the US Army Air Corp, as a Bombardier on a B-17 Flying Fortress. The couple attended high school together in Burlington, VT, and […]

Previously-Vocal Politicos Make Molehill Over Mountain

Previously-Vocal Politicos  Make Molehill Over Mountain

By: Brian Genest – Aug. 2021 The sound of silence is stunning. And very telling. From Swampscott and Shrewsbury to Beacon Hill and beyond, some previously-vocal politicos are suddenly biting their lips. Not one establishment Republican has a word to say about Tom Mountain, the former MassGOP vice chair who stepped down from the party’s […]

Arthur Moriarty ~ “Reconnaissance by Fire” ~ VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

Arthur Moriarty ~ “Reconnaissance by Fire” ~ VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy – July, 2021 Just a few weeks ago, I was talking with Bill Bateman at the Merrimack Valley Golf Course, Bill connected me with fellow Central Catholic High School alumni Arthur Moriarty, of the Class of 1958. Bill graduated from Central Catholic in 1961, as did I, graduating in 1979. Bill had […]

Navy Veteran and Arson Investigator, Lawrence Detective Tom Murphy ~ VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

Navy Veteran and Arson Investigator, Lawrence Detective Tom Murphy ~ VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy  – Feb, 2021 This is our third US Navy Seabee, who after serving in the Navy, became a police officer. Tom Murphy Jr. is a retired Lawrence Police Officer, who later retired from the Merrimack College Police Department as well. He grew up across the street from my father Jim, and my […]

John Ratomski World War II US Navy Seabee and New York City Cop ~ HEROES IN OUR MIDST, VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH

John Ratomski World War II US Navy Seabee and New York City Cop ~ HEROES IN OUR MIDST, VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH

By: John Cuddy – Dec. 2020 Retired New York City Police Officer, John Joseph Ratomski, tried to enlist in the Marine Corps the year after Pearl Harbor, in December of 1942. Joe, as he was known to his friends, was found to be color blind, and the Marines rejected him for this reason. The US […]

Technician 3rd Grade Donald Gelineau 285th Ordinance Co. U.S. Army ~ VALLEY PATRIOT of the MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

Technician 3rd Grade Donald Gelineau 285th Ordinance Co. U.S. Army ~ VALLEY PATRIOT of the MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy – November, 2020 LOWELL – A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, Donald Gelineau served in the Pacific Theater during World War II for twenty-four months. Growing up in a large French-Canadian family during the Great Depression, he hunted, fished and gathered nuts/fruits to supplement the family’s food. Don reminisces of his time as […]

Merrimack Valley Hospice Provides 100-Year-Old Patient with Tablet to Ease Isolation

Merrimack Valley Hospice Provides 100-Year-Old Patient with Tablet to Ease Isolation

Oct. 2020 LAWRENCE – While the physical effects of COVID-19 have been widely documented, 100-year-old Rita Ducheneau has struggled with isolation at Marguerite’s House Assisted Living on the Mary Immaculate Health/Care Services campus in Lawrence. To ease her patient’s loneliness, Merrimack Valley Hospice Case Manager Meredith McNeilly, RN, BSN recently presented a tablet to Ducheneau […]

Witness at Nuremberg! PFC Joseph Alfred Ducharme US Army Air Corp ~ HERO IN OUR MIDST, VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH

Witness at Nuremberg! PFC Joseph Alfred Ducharme US Army Air Corp ~ HERO IN OUR MIDST, VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH

By: John Cuddy – Sept. 2020 PELHAM, NH – An alumnus of Methuen’s Tenney Memorial High, Class of 1945, where he played football and ran track, Joseph Ducharme is a lifelong Pelham, New Hampshire resident. Back in the 1940s, Pelham, New Hampshire was too small for a high school, so the town sent the children […]

Tony Marino, US Navy Pacific Theater – World War II – VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

Tony Marino, US Navy Pacific Theater – World War II  – VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH, HERO IN OUR MIDST

By: John Cuddy – April, 2020 PELHAM, NH, New Hampshire’s Tony Marino grew up in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He was an athlete at Chelsea High, graduating with the class of 1940. His wife, Loretta, graduated from the same school with the class of 1944. Tony was attending a family wedding with his mother when the news […]