Jamie Lee Curtis, actress and activist, shares the good news of Well Healed Woman celebrating its 10th anniversary and the Resident celebrating its 19th anniversary with Alexis Ann, editor & publisher, the Resident.
by Alexis Ann
The date of this issue is Veterans Day, November 11. The Resident Team is proud to pay tribute to all those who have fought in defense of the United States. We honor those who served and are serving today, in an ongoing effort to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy in our great country. November 11th marks the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh month in 1918.
The AmericanWarrior is an organization founded by State Representative Christopher Coutu in 2007. Its mission is to fly as many WWII veterans as possible to their memorial in Washington, D.C.. Chris is a lieutenant in the National Guard and he believes that his mission helps in renewing a sense of patriotism in our region. With this spirit of patriotism comes pride for our communities and country. Read about awesome Chris and how he began his mission here.
Today, loved ones are away from family, friends and the comforts we enjoy here on our homeland. We ask you to say “thank you” with us as you read the stories of local heroes within the pages of this issue.
Also, here, is a special community tribute to Ron Aliano, friend, business champion, entrepreneur, and community leader. Ron left us on Halloween. He will be missed by ALL. We will continue to enjoy the fruits of his labor in his beloved Rose City. Now, it’s up to us to continue Ron’s legacy in Norwich and our great region!
For exclusive coverage on Jamie Lee Curtis’ visit on November 1 for the Well Healed Woman, check it out.
Thanks for reading the Resident, the Good News that Rocks! Please remember to patronize our advertisers as they’re helping to make the “good news” happen.
At 16, George Henson was a member of the Civilian Conservation Group when he enlisted in the US Navy.
story and photo
by Jerry Sinnamon
Randomly pick three World War II veterans from Southeastern CT to interview for Veteran’s Day and it is no surprise that all three have spent time in submarines. The surprise might be the variety of paths each took to first become a submariner.
The veterans were interviewed as they were preparing for their November 7th flight to Washington, DC to see the World War II Memorial, as well as, the Korean War and Vietnam War Memorials, as part the fourth CT Day of Honor. This flight of 100 World War II veterans from CT is conducted by the AmericanWarrior program, established in 2005 by State Representative Chris Coutu.
George Henson, 85, Gales Ferry, said he was a 16-year-old member of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Wyoming when he enlisted in the Navy, in 1942. He said the greatest motivation for enlisting was finding consistent work. The motivation was so strong, he said, he had no trouble convincing Navy officials he was at least a year older than his actual birth date.
However, George said he soon discovered the consistent work came with plenty of action as he became a torpedoman in the submarine service and participated in eight combat patrols aboard the submarine USS Cabrilla.
“We were beat up with depth charges on each of our patrols, but the one that sticks in my mind is being hit with depth charges while at a depth of 700 feet in the Tula Sea, near the Samoan Islands. This is the one that caused me all my nightmares,” George said.
After the war, George stayed in the submarine service, eventually ending his career as Chief of the Boat of the USS Lafayette (SSBN 616) after sailing on 16 diesel and two nuclear powered submarines. All his time stationed in Southeastern CT during his 30 years with submarines led to his choosing this area to make his home.
During the preparatory meeting for the AmericanWarrior trip to Washington, George said he anticipated the trip would “bring back a lot of fond memories,” and give him a chance to finally see the Word War II Memorial, which has yet to see.
John Manuilow joined the US Navy when he was 20 years old. He was a torpedoman on the USS Silversides, the most decorated surviving submarine from WWII.
John Manuilow, 88, Brooklyn, has a similar story to George when it comes to his reasons for joining the Navy in 1942. “I was 20-years-old and mining coal in Ohio when I decided that joining the Navy had to be better than working in the mines,” John said.
After enlisting, John found himself heading underwater, rather than under the earth, as he volunteered for the submarine service. John became a torpedoman and participated in five combat patrols of the USS Silversides, considered to be “the most decorated surviving submarine from WWII.”
One of the more publically remembered events occurring on the Silversides was the appendectomy performed by the boat’s pharmacist mate on Christmas Eve, 1942. This was one of three appendectomies performed on submarines by Pharmacist Mates during the war, according to the Silversides history. While the event occurred on a Silversides patrol John was not part of, it is still very much part of the memory of all Silversides crew members.
After the war, John said he was discharged and returned to the Ohio coal mines for six days before he re-enlisted and spent the next 20 years serving six different diesel submarines, ending his career as a Torpedoman’s Mate First Class.
After retiring form the Navy, John worked at Electric Boat, eventually retiring to his home in Brooklyn.
John, who never visited Washington, DC, is enthused about the trip. “After all these years, I’m really looking forward to seeing Washington, DC. Sure I am interested in the various war memorials and we are treated really special for the day, I’m just glad I’m getting the chance to spend time in the national capital,” John said.
Fred Stone joined when he was 17, served on aircraft carriers, discharged at 21, and found his way back into the Navy two weeks later.
Fred Stone, 81, Gales Ferry, enlisted in the Navy in 1945 as a 17-year-old resident of Lawrence, MA. After boot camp he was assigned to the commissioned aircraft carrier, USS Midway (CVB-41). After serving on another carrier, the USS Roosevelt (CVB-43) for the balance of his enlistment, Fred, whose request to become a submariner kept being turned down, he accepted discharge when he turned 21.
However, he was out of the service for only two weeks, he said, when he decided it was time to return to Navy and convinced recruiters to have him assigned to the submarine service.
With that detail out of the way, Fred spent the next 17 years serving as an electrician on nine different diesel submarines. After retiring from the Navy, Fred was first employed at Electric Boat and later served as a maintenance worker at the Submarine Base.
While Fred has spent times in Washington during his enlistment, he has never seen the new World War II Memorial and is looking forward to the day in the nation’s capital.
All the veterans were quite willing to express their joy at the opportunity to join the AmericanWarrior flight, and each recited with glee many examples of midnight shenanigans on board ship. Although, they were quite reluctant about going into the details of their wartime service, other than to demonstrate and quietly express their pride in having served during World War II.
(l-r) Wilson Beaulieau, Colchester, and Merton Green, Eastford, will be traveling to Washington, DC, on Veteran’s Day, to visit the National Mall, with AmericanWarrior.
story and photo
by Larry Greene
Christopher Coutu contemplated the many veterans of who war that would never get a chance to see their memorial, after a 2005 visit to the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.
From that, AmericanWarrior was born. The non-profit group has a primary mission to send as many WWII and Korean War veterans as possible to DC each year on Veterans Day.
“I believe these heroes saved the world and we should do all that we can do to send our veterans to their Memorial before it’s too late,” said Christopher, the organization’s founder and state representative, R-Norwich, at an assembly of this year’s trip participants.
Christopher started the organization by taking on $33,000 of personal credit card debt, supplemented by $10,000 from his personal savings. Christopher, a 2nd Lieutenant in the Connecticut National Guard, said that the organization now depends on a vast array of sponsor donations amounting to $300 per veteran.
The veterans take a chartered flight and arrive at the capital to a water cannon salute. After lunching at the WWII Memorial, they visit the Korean, Air Force, SeaBee, Vietnam, Marine and Navy Memorials. At the end of the day, they return home to a hero’s welcome at Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks.
The trip is a mixture of education, elation and emotion, according to Jody Barr, trip coordinator. “On the trip back, we give the veterans letters that children have written to them,” he said.
Jack Casey, a trip organizer, heard of Christopher’s organization and decided to get involved. Jack updates a touch screen database at the WWII Memorial that holds names of many of the veterans. “Sixteen million served and there are over two million names in the database,” said Jack.
“I’m amazed at all the information at the memorial,” said Ken Fish, Groton, pointing to computer printouts of a fellow veteran and friend since childhood from back home in Maine. The 84-year-old joined the Navy and was sent overseas at the age of seventeen.
John Rose, also ex-Navy and from Groton, described his service during one of the war’s crucial turning events. “I was only 17-years-old when I hit the beach at Normandy. Luckily, the Germans were bad shots, so here I am.” He was assigned to a hospital ship and “had to make a few trips back to the beach to pick up the wounded.” He said the opening scenes of the movie “Saving Private Ryan” starring Tom Hanks, were an accurate depiction of the carnage on that day.
Donations were sent by dozens of local organizations, such as the Norwich Vets Council, New London and Groton Elks, Norwich Women’s Club, Taftville Knights of Columbus, and a number of volunteer fire departments.
You can help by volunteering, help generate funds, and/or sponsor a veteran for $300. For more information, contact Sue Ponder at AmericanWarrior, PO Box 337, 35 Main Street, Versailles, CT 06363, 860.886.1874 or warrior@americanwarrior.us.
(l-r) Carl Sherblum hugs his daughter, Alicia Sherblum the day she came back from deployment.
by Crystal Harpstreit
Alicia Sherblum, Foster, RI, is a young soldier in the US Air Force whose life turned around because of her decision to enlist. Alicia says, “Before the military I was what most people would call misled, but I believe I have done a 180 since joining.”
Growing up in a military family, Alicia decided she wanted to join when she was in her early teens. Her parents supported her decision. “When I first told my parents I wanted to join the military I was around 13 or 14 and they said they would support me with whatever I did.”
She adds that they also took the time to tell her that she might change her mind. However, after making that decision, Alicia didn’t look back.
Witnessing the attacks on the World Trade Center during her senior year of high school in 2001, solidified her desire to enlist. She remembers sitting in her class and hearing everyone gasp as they watched the horrible events unfold on the television screen.
At that time, her father was overseas and Alicia wondered if he was safe. Luckily he was and stayed longer than expected in order to help in the first stages of communication.
Alicia enlisted on June 27, 2002. Since Alicia comes from a military family she had some prior knowledge of how her time in the military might turn out. “I am very lucky that thanks to my father being in [the military], I had a pretty good understanding of what was going to happen.”
Alicia chose to take part in security forces as her job in the Air Force. She says, “I knew that it would push me to my limit and it still does today!”
Alicia works with interesting people from all over the US and abroad. “My last deployment I was overseas and got to work with an Arabic translator.” While watching the translator work, Alicia wondered how her words would be translated. “Not knowing if he really was translating what I was saying or putting stuff into his own words,” was interesting for the young soldier.
Alicia became friends with the translator and says, “He is a great guy and I still talk to him every now and then.”
Reflecting on her time in the military, Alicia says, “I really enjoy being part of a team and doing something for the greater good.” Alicia is part of the 143rd Security Forces Squadron.
On November 1, Well Healed Woman celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a record-breaking 861 attendees at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa, Groton. Each year, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital presents the dynamic one-day conference for women. This year the keynote speaker was actress and activist, Jamie Lee Curtis who epitomizes the theme of Health, Healing, and Humor.
Well Healed Woman co-chair Pat Romano, president, The Auxiliary of L&M, opened the conference with details of the monies raised by the Auxiliary including a $250,000 pledged to the hospital. The first installation of $50,000 will be presented on November 11. Fellow co-chair, Kim Kalajainen, Chief Information Officer, L&M, thanked volunteers, including: the two men from L&M that help make it happen – Bill Stanley, Vice President, Development & Community Relations, and Graham Gavert, Director of Development – Rose Baker, the originator of the Well Healed Woman program, and the Mystic Marriott.
State Representative Betsy Ritter and Senator Andrea Stillman presented a legislative proclamation in honor of the Well Healed Woman’s 10th anniversary. The general assembly citation was introduced by the women of Southeastern CT.
This year introduced the Well Healed Woman award. The award was established to recognize an individual in Southeastern CT who embodied the theme of health, healing, and humor, someone who was an advocate for change and had personal warmth and humor. The first ever Well Healed Woman award was presented to L&M nutritionist Mary Ann Nash, MS, RD. “I’m never speechless and I’m speechless,” said Mary Ann. “It is humbling. I don’t do this alone. As they say, it takes a village.”
Mary Ann was one of the guest speakers at last year’s conference where she imparted wisdom on how to help stop the aging clock by focusing on what we eat, how we burn it, and how we deal with stress. This past year Mary Ann earned her Board Certification in Oncology Nutrition. She is one of only 77 in the country to hold this certification.
During lunch, which included recipes from Mary Ann and Sal Argento, Executive Chef, L&M, Jamie Lee stopped to speak with each table, picking up bits of wisdom that she shared with us during her program “Live Wisely, Love Well: An Afternoon with Jamie Lee Curtis.”
Jamie Lee began her presentation with her own definition of being a Well Healed Woman. She joked that she initially thought it meant going to the shoe repair shop to “get that little piece of rubber put on your shoes that keeps heels from making that awful clickity-clackity sound.” She removed one of her 4” heels and compared it to the delicious dark chocolate shoe that was served for dessert. “It looks just like mine!” she exclaimed. “Except, I decided to wear a sling-back today. I was feeling a little flirty.”
“How is it possible I am here today?” Jamie Lee asked herself, wanting to know why she was chosen to be the keynote speaker. “I am wildly unprepared for life, yet I managed an unbelievable one.” She told of how she is “genetically predisposed to be drunk, naked, and kissing your husband in a movie.” She talked about barely making it through high school, being an alcoholic, her insecurities and about going, and staying, grey – issues that plague everyday women.
During the question and answer period, an attendee asked Jamie Lee about her state of mind during “A Fish Called Wanda,” a well-loved crime comedy in which Jamie Lee plays Wanda, an alluring con-artist. “I wish I could tell you a funny story about the making of Wanda, but it was really a deep, dark truthful mirror.” At the time, her daughter, Annie, was six-months-old and the movie was “a chance of a lifetime.” They moved to house in Chelsea, England. “It was an hour’s drive to the studio and an hour’s drive home. At the first block, I started sobbing. I worked through my daughter’s entire childhood. I had a choice. I could have easily said no. I could have worked hard to change my hours. I felt like the worst mother in the human race.”
Jamie Lee urged working moms, “Try to stay home as much as you can. It’s hard, having to give up something, but your children are getting something. Nothing can replace the mother.” But she also warns that you must lead by example, “Children are paparazzi. They take your picture when you don’t want them to, and then they show it to you. I love that description, but I can’t actually take credit for it. It belongs to Dr. Susan Williams.”
“This is how I became me,” she described, telling about the day Princess Diana died. Jamie Lee came home from vacation and her nanny told her Diana was in a horrible accident and was gravely injured. She remembers the numbed shock she felt when “the woman came on with that quivering voice” and said Diana hadn’t made it. She turned off the TV and picked up a book a friend had given her that she kept at her bedside about Buddhist meditation. She laughed and said, “Can you imagine me meditating?” Then told of how she left it by her bedside so people would think she did.
In the book it said, “That at the time of death, people who live mindfully ask themselves just two questions: Did I learn to live wisely? Did I love well? ” Thinking of old stories and photos of Diana, Jamie Lee was able to say yes, Diana had learned to lived wisely - she hadn’t started there, but had learned – and yes, Diana had loved well. The though put Jamie Lee at ease.
That was Jamie Lee’s “enlightening moment.” It opened the door for her to live her life with those questions as her “frame.” She said, “I am not a Buddhist or a meditator, but if I can answer those two questions every single day satisfactorily, then I have had a good day.”
