U.S. Army Sergeant Harold Mazur with orphans from Tae Gu, South Korea. Harold and his army buddies often visited a local orphanage to play ball and interact with the children during off-time.
Harold Mazur, the son of Polish immigrants and one of six sons, attended Hartford High School and graduated in 1950. After working with his older brother in a family business, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to six months of basic training at Fort Dix, NJ. He was assigned to the Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) in Tae Gu, South Korea, from 1953-54.
The KMAG was one of the first military advisory groups formed and was responsible for providing support and training to South Korean soldiers. It helped develop a more efficient Korean military by helping train Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers in tactics, use of weapons, equipment and communications. As a sergeant for the KMAG, Harold provided office support and maintained records for officers.
He recalls General Maxwell Taylor visiting his base. Gen. Taylor was the first Allied general to land in France on D-Day and commanded the 101st Airborne Division for the rest WWII. He was Army Chief of Staff during the Korean War.
While he was on leave he visited Japan and visited the Tosho-gu Shrine and Gardens in Nikko, Japan, the city of Yokohama, and the Ginza district of Tokyo. He fondly remembers visiting a local orphanage on weekends with his buddies, playing ball with the children and bringing them treats.
Harold Mazur, Koren War Veteran, visits the Korean War Memorial in Hyannis, MA.
After his discharge in 1954, he chose to attend college, taking advantage of the GI Bill. He graduated from Providence College in 1960, married his wife Janice in 1963, and lived in Hartford for many years. They raised three daughters, Anne Pappalardo, Mary Ziomek, and Kathy Carlman, and worked for the Connecticut State Labor Department Federal Credit Union in Wethersfield for many years. He and Janice eventually moved to Maine, where they met and where Janice was raised. Janice passed in 2003 and Harold currently resides in Glastonbury. He keeps busy and has seven grandchildren.
Harold says, “If you love your country and they need you, you serve if they call on you. I knew that I was going to do what everyone else did from our neighborhood that had served in WWII. You served your country when it needed you.”
While many consumers are enjoying the increased popularity of farmers’ markets and a heightened appreciation for locally-grown or produced goods, the Willimantic Food Co-op in Willimantic is a mainstay for Eastern CT consumers for almost 30 years.
The Willimantic Food Co-op began as the Willimantic Buyers Club in the early 1970’s. Members met in the basement of a local church to order food in bulk and divide it amongst themselves at a significant savings. The Willimantic Buyers Club merged with the buying club from Storrs in 1980 and opened a retail store on Main Street in Willimantic. When the Co-op outgrew the Main Street location in 1991, members and friends formed a human chain, and transferred the store’s stock to yet another location. The store finally settled at their current location on Valley Street in 2005.
The store features fresh vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and conventional foods. Popular products include fresh organic and local produce, free roaming, free range, and organic eggs, local honey and maple syrup, regional artisan cheeses, ethnic foods, and many other items.
The Co-op’s members are passionate about running a store that supports local farmers, producers, and craftspeople. Examples include baked goods from popular local bakeries, soda from local bottling favorite Hosmer Mountain Soda, milk and other dairy products from Mountain Dairy, Mansfield, and cheese from Beltane Farm, Lebanon. The store also sells fair trade products, spices and grains in bulk, environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies, and herbal supplements. The Co-op also features pottery, clothing, soaps, beeswax candles, cards, books, and much more.
Since its inception, the Co-op is guided by the Rochedale Principles, a set of eight standards that launched the modern cooperative movement. They include: dedication to honest business principles, open, voluntary membership, cooperation between cooperatives, education, and democratic control. The store is managed and run by a crew of paid staff with the help of volunteer workers.
Bruce Oscar, Assistant Manager, said, “The store is owned by local people. In fact, we have 5,000 people invested in the Co-op both financially and emotionally. Every dollar invested locally rolls over many times, creating a strong, vibrant community and tends to generate more local economic growth.”
The Co-op also features a laid-back dining area and sponsors numerous events during the year including the Downtown Country Fair, Third Thursday and Boom Box Parade on the Fourth of July.
The store is open to members and non-members alike. Every adult over 18 years pays a one-time processing fee of $1 to join the Co-op and then invests $120 worth of equity. Members pay the posted shelf price and have the option of working at the store to receive an additional discount. Non-members pay 10 percent above shelf price.
Hours for the Co-op are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can contact the store at 860.456.3611 or visit their website at www.willimanticfood.coop.
As president of Eastern CT State University since 2006, Dr. Elsa M. Nuñez has embraced the position and immersed herself in the momentum of a very successful era for Eastern. Since becoming Eastern’s sixth president, Elsa oversaw the rededication of a remodeled and expanded student center, a new child development complex, and the opening of the $56-million Science Building that is the state-of-the-art home to the math and science departments. These projects are just a sampling of the continuing, decade-long campus facelift that also featured a new library and residence halls. A new police station is currently in the works and Eastern is committed to establishing a new fine arts instructional/performance facility.
Elsa was born in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico. Her family immigrated to New Jersey when she was young and although her family was of modest means, her parents urged her to pursue a college education. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Montclair State College in 1970 and a Master’s Degree in English from Farleigh Dickinson University in 1973. She went on to receive a doctorate in linguistics from Rutgers University in 1979.
Prior to being named president of Eastern, Elsa was Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for the University of Maine system and prior to that was Chief Academic Officer at Lesley University and The City University of New York. Her administrative career began at The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York where she was dean of the faculty from 1986 to 1992. She was also a tenured faculty member at Ramapo College of New Jersey and held tenured faculty positions at the College of Staten Island and Lehman College.
Elsa stresses diversity and unity both on campus and off since coming to Eastern. She specifically focuses on the University’s relationship with the surrounding town of Willimantic. The University recently held the second annual Day of Giving – a town-wide event that featured a full-course Thanksgiving dinner for patrons of local soup kitchens and food pantries, as well as families subsidized by the Willimantic Housing Authority. A campus-wide food drive supplemented the event with 10,000 donated canned goods. Willimantic also benefits from another initiative, “Eastern Hits the Streets,” where large numbers of student volunteers clean streets, pick up trash, and paint buildings. Eastern students also routinely volunteer over 25,000 hours annually at more than 40 social service agencies and non-profit organizations.
According to Elsa, “Our students come from all walks of life, but all share the same opportunity to be transformed by the power of a liberal arts education. The result is students receiving statewide and national awards, alumni achieving success in Connecticut and beyond, and faculty members who are being recognized locally and internationally for their expertise and scholarship.”
Eastern’s commitment to being Connecticut’s public liberal arts university has served it well. Enrollment increases as Eastern is becoming the institution of first choice for an increasing number of Connecticut students, as well as students from around the nation. Since Elsa’s inauguration, Eastern always benefited from several large philanthropic gifts.
Elsa is the first Latina president of a Connecticut State University. She is married to Richard Freeland, former president of Northeastern University. They have two children, Maria and Antony. Elsa is also a very proud grandmother.
When Linda Adelman, Bozrah, and her husband sold a former business that kept both of them extremely busy, she admits to feeling somewhat lost. One day, a friend asked her to help her move some animals from a farm. Linda, who grew up on a farm, immediately agreed, though she did not think to ask the type of animals.
“When I got to the farm, the farmer placed a ten-day-old alpaca in my arms; it was love at first sight,” says Linda. Prior to that day, she did not know what an alpaca was. After researching alpacas for two years, she decided to buy six as pets, and the rest is history. She now owns 42 alpacas – 12 males and 30 females. “They are so easy to fall in love with. It is hard not to – it’s like eating potato chips,” she says.
Alpacas are a domesticated species of the camel family and although people may think they resemble a small llama, they differ in a number of ways. Alpacas are typically herded in the Andes Mountains in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador, but have become very popular in the US where they are bred domestically. Unlike llamas, they are not used as beasts of burden, but are valued for their coats which consist of fiber, not wool as many think. Alpacas are also smaller than llamas and have various physical differences. They are social herd animals that live in family groups and are gentle, inquisitive, and intelligent.
Once Linda had a small herd of alpacas, she started Six Paca Farm in Bozrah and opened a boutique. She recently expanded her boutique into a larger business named Six Paca Boutique and Brew, located at 44 Bozrah Street in Bozrah. She added a coffee shop with an outdoor patio. The coffee shop features coffee, tea, lattes, and numerous pastries, including lemon poppy seed cake, babkas, and streusels.
The boutique is open year round and features both hand and machine-knit alpaca fiber items including hats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, slippers, baby layette items, and rugs. She also sells bundles of raw alpaca fiber, roving fiber (which is fiber that was carded and cleaned) and yarn (which is spun and dyed using only natural vegetable dyes). Alpaca fiber is great for clothing because it is naturally hypoallergenic and contains no lanolin, which is an irritant to many people.
Her alpacas live on two of her farms, though mostly breeding females reside on the farm on Bozrah Street. Many of her alpacas are named after breweries, thus the name “Six Paca Farm.” Some of the names include Bud Wiser, Wicked Pete, and Stella Artios.
Her employees, Steve D’Aloisio, Bozrah, and Shirley Krause, Lebanon, fell in love with their charges immediately. Shirley explains that once she started working at Six Paca, “Linda couldn’t get rid of me!”
“They look at you and the expressions on their faces make it seem like they understand every word you are saying to them,” Steve adds. Linda, Shirley, and Steve all admit to having favorites – Latisha, Granger, and Abby all hold special places in their respective hearts.
Linda takes her alpacas to shows and previously won numerous ribbons. At shows, alpacas are judged on their teeth, conformation, and quality of coat, among other things. Linda also breeds and sells select alpacas from her herd.
Due to their gentle nature, Linda brings her alpacas to schools and nursing homes. Linda marvels at their ability to detect a disabled or handicapped individual, “It’s as if they sense it. If you bring them to an event or someone visits the farm and has a handicap, they make a beeline for that person and are especially sweet to them.”
Stop by Six Paca Boutique and Brew, located at 44 Bozrah Street in Bozrah, visit their web site at http://www.sixpaca.com, or call at 860.887.8168. Boutique and coffee shop hours are 8 am-2 pm weekdays and 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. on weekends. They are closed on Wednesdays.
On Saturday, June 14, CT Landmarks, formerly known as the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society, celebrated Nathan Hale’s 253rd birthday at the Nathan Hale Homestead on South Street in Coventry. The gala celebration featured 18th-century music by the Nathan Hale Fife and Drum Corps, talks by a local historian, house tours, a colonial encampment, demonstrations of candle making and wool spinning, activities for children, and of course, birthday cake and lemonade.
Officially known as CT’s state hero, Nathan Hale, is famous for uttering those famous words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” moments before the British hanged him as a spy in 1776.
Nathan was born and raised on the 400-acre farm. He was a Yale-educated schoolteacher and was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Continental Army in 1775. One of eight brothers, six of whom served in the Patriot Army, he volunteered to go behind British lines on Long Island to gather military intelligence for General George Washington but was captured by the British. When he was found to be a spy, he was executed. He was only 21.
The Georgian-style homestead was rebuilt by his father and since then remained largely unchanged. The home houses a number of Hale family possessions. George Dudley Seymour saved the house in the early 20th century, and the house was deeded to CT Landmarks in the 1940s.
Beverly York, site administrator for the Homestead, said, “People who visit Nathan Hale Homestead go away with a taste of 18th-century farm life and Hale family contributions to the Patriot cause. It is a great time to visit historic sites and bring the family. Actually visiting these sites is much more powerful than just looking at them online. We invite everyone to come and walk in the footsteps of history!”
Nathan Hale Homestead is open from May to October and features several special events, including a colonial camp for children and an encampment in July. Call 860.742.6917 for more information.
