Six organizations offered updates and a look ahead at the State of the Town meeting on December 7. There are links to each group’s presentation on the SOTT web page. Some highlights discussed on Saturday:
By Valerie Fox
The Cemetery Commission extends its deepest appreciation to all the volunteers who turned out on September 28, October 5, and October 12 to care for Lincoln’s oldest cemetery monuments. Hard-working volunteers including staff from the Lincoln Public Library, Parks and Recreation Department, and Town Hall as well as and new and long-time residents, Lincoln Minute Men, Lincoln Boy Scouts, and L-S students rolled up their sleeves to clean and reset monuments in the Bemis Cemetery, the Arborvitae Cemetery, and the Precinct Cemetery.
The workshops were given by restoration specialist Ta Mara Conde. Volunteers learned the proper techniques for headstone cleaning and resetting and got right to work. We had beautiful fall days with 25+ people attending each workshop. We even had volunteers return for multiple workshops! Everyone ended each session feeling they had made a significant difference in the restoration of Lincoln’s most fragile and historic monuments.
To all who worked to restore Lincoln’s monuments, the Cemetery Commission expresses its greatest thanks! You made such a difference, and your hard work was greatly appreciated. The photos below show some of the highlights of the three workshops.
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Fred Solman
Fred John Solman III died peacefully surrounded by family on November 27, 2024 in Sudbury at the age of 80, after an eight-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
John is survived by wife Claire, children John Solman (Gina), Monique Thompson (Matthew), Marie Xavier (Andrew) and Nicole Solman (Jason Gagnon), and his grandchildren Viviana and Benjamin. He is preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Lucille Solman, of Hammond, Indiana; his parents-in-law Madeleine and Andre Fortier of Biddeford, Maine; and a sister-in-law Pauline Briggs of Lexington.
His children remember him as a kind and loving father who encouraged them to pursue their goals. His unwavering support taught his children the values of perseverance, hard work, and self-belief, ensuring their path to success.
John was born on July 13, 1944 in Chicago to Fred and Lucille Solman. He graduated from Purdue University in 1973 with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He married Claire Fortier in 1975 in St. Andre’s Church in Biddeford, Maine. After moving to Massachusetts, John began working for MIT Lincoln Laboratories, where he worked for over 46 years. He helped deploy a solar power plant system for Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, was part of the Hubble repair mission in 1993, and worked on the NOAA GOES weather satellites, for which he received a 2017 NASA Agency Honor Award. He supported MIT Lincoln Laboratories’ community outreach programs and served as an ombudsman.
John was passionate about Boy Scouts, having earned his Eagle Scout rank as a youth and the Silver Beaver Award as an adult. He served as the assistant scoutmaster in Lincoln for Troop 127. He spent many weekends on camping trips and supporting the Scouts’ journey to Eagle Scout. He was an active ham radio operator having obtained an extra license class with the call sign K9YB, previously WA9AMZ. He was a faithful member of the Catholic Church. He enjoyed swimming, beekeeping and gardening.
The funeral Mass is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. at Saint Brigid Church in Lexington. All are welcome to attend and celebrate John’s life. Internment will be private at Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in Biddeford, Maine. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Pine Street Inn. The family would like to thank Bridges by Epoch in Sudbury and Care Dimensions of Danvers for their care in his final days.
The First Parish in Lincoln will host its annual Touch of Christmas Fair on Sunday, Dec. 8 from noon–3 p.m. in the stone church, with lunch at 11:30 a.m. The fair features homemade holiday crafts including sweater mittens, evergreen wreaths decorated with natural materials, handmade centerpieces from greens and berries, jewelry from every decade, antiques and collectibles, baked goods, a re-gifting table, and a children’s shopping room with gifts (wrapped on the spot) for the youngsters to purchase for their family members — and Santa will arrive at 1 p.m. Questions? Call Tucker Smith at 978-760-2321.
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School junior Vama Gandhi and her sister Achla (L-S ’21) will perform in a charity showcase featuring Indian classical dance and food on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 3:30pm in Bemis Hall. Proceeds will benefit Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation to benefit neuro-oncology research (50%), the Lincoln Council on Aging & Human Services (25%), and the nonprofit Triveni School of Dance in Brookline. The evening also includes an Indian dinner. Click here for tickets, which start at $25.00.
The Lincoln Library Film Society presents “The Girl with a Hatbox” (1927), a silent Soviet romantic comedy, on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 6 p.m. in the Tarbell Room. Click here to join the group’s mailing list.
Roundtable partners The Second Step, Voices Against Violence, and Domestic Violence Services Network are also collecting holiday donations. Gift cards requested by The Second Step include Visa, Target, TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, gas cards or grocery cards. Email an electronic gift card to development@thesecondstep.org or mail a physical gift card to P.O. Box 600213, Newtonville MA 02460. The Domestic Violence Services Network also invites donations to its annual Angel of Hope drive. Visit DVSN.org/donate and choose “Angel of Hope” from the dropdown menu.
John Solman, 1944–2024There will be a funeral Mass on Thursday, Dec. 5 for John Fred Solman, who died on November 27 at age 80. (Note: the funeral home declined to pay the Lincoln Squirrel to run his full obituary and photo.)
(Editor’s note: The flyer for this event has generated considerable controversy on LincolnTalk.)
The Lincoln-based GRALTA Foundation is hosting a pair of speakers to discuss “the Holy Land problem” on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The speakers are Palestinian scientist and author Mazin Qumsiyeh, founder of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability as well as a professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities; and Mark Braverman, a retired clinical psychologist and trauma consultant, Palestinian rights activist, and executive director of Kairos.
Come to Codman Community Farms on Sunday, Dec. 8 from 4:30–7 p.m. for homemade chili and freshly baked cornbread served straight from the Codman kitchen. Enjoy a satisfying dinner around the fire pits in our courtyard or take your dinner to go. There will be both beef chili made with Codman’s 100% grass-fed beef as well as vegan chili made with local sweet potatoes. Pre-order required; click here.
Each year, the Council on Aging & Human Services visits needy seniors to spread some holiday cheer. This year we are collecting $10 gift cards to locations like Market Basket, Walgreen, and CVS. Stop by the “giving tree” in the Bemis Hall lobby to take a specific gift card request to fulfill, or bring in the grocery/pharmacy gift card of your choosing. Please return gift card donations by Friday, Dec. 9.
Lincoln Boy Scout Troop 127 is holding their annual Christmas tree sale at the corner of Lincoln and Codman roads. This year’s batch of balsam firs come from northern Nova Scotia and range from three to ten feet tall. Scouts will be selling trees on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m.–6 p.m. and on Monday evenings beginning December 9 from 7–8 p.m. Cash only.
November 20South Great Road (7:32 am.) — A caller reported that the railroad gates on South Great Road were going up and down repeatedly. An officer was dispatched and monitored the gates, and the MBTA was notified.
Lincoln Road (10:59 a.m.) — A person spoke to an officer regarding a missing item.
Lexington Road (12:24 p.m.) — The Fire Department for a report of smoke in the area. The area was checked but nothing was found.
Bedford Road (4:08 p.m.) — A two vehicle crash was reported on Bedford Road by Canaan Drive when one vehicle came to a sudden stop and was rear-ended by another that failed to stop. There were no injuries and both vehicles were able to be driven from the scene.
Old Concord Road (4:26 p.m.) — A motorist reported their vehicle was disabled. An officer responded and helped the caller get to their residence.
Cedar Road (6:52 p.m.) — A caller reported seeing a large white van passing their residence several times. An officer located the van and observed the vehicle to be a delivery vehicle.
Old County Road (10:40 p.m.) — A caller reported seeing two vehicles in their driveway. Officers were able to stop the vehicles and identify the operator, one of whom was having car trouble.
South Great Road (11:09 p.m.) — A caller reported seeing someone in one of the buildings on their property. Officers checked the area but were unable to locate anyone.
Todd Pond Road (8:08 a.m.) — A person spoke with an officer about being the possible victim of bank fraud.
Minuteman Technical High School (7:20 a.m.) — An officer responded to assist with an ongoing issue.
Conant Road (3:03 p.m.) — An officer checked on a vehicle that appeared to have been parked for several hours. On a subsequent check, the vehicle had cleared from the area.
Minuteman Technical High School (3:16 p.m.) — A student at the high school was reported missing. They were ultimately found safe.
Juniper Ridge Road (9:44 a.m.) — An officer conducted a well-being check on a person. The party in question was fine.
Concord Road (4:01 p.m.) — A caller stated they could detect a faint odor of smoke in the area. An officer checked the area and determined that the smoke was from a chimney.
Lincoln Road (2:28 a.m.) — An officer assisted a motorist with directions.
Todd Pond Road (8:57 a.m.) — A person spoke to an officer regarding damage to their mailbox.
Concord Road (9:13 p.m.) — The DPW was asked to remove two dead raccoons in the roadway.
Wells Road (3:28 p.m.) — A resident spoke to an officer regarding an ongoing situation.
Wells Road (6:46 p.m.) — An officer checked the area for an unknow person reportedly knocking on doors. The area was checked but the individual was not located.
Lincoln Road (8:00 a.m.) — A caller reported seeing a student sitting by the side of the road. An officer checked the area but was unable to locate them.
North Commons (1:28 p.m.) — A caller asked to speak with an officer regarding an ongoing issue.
Lincoln Road (12:29 p.m.) — An officer conducted a well-being check on a person who was fine and required no assistance.
Ridge Road (7:30 p.m.) — An officer spoke to a person regarding an ongoing issue.
Lincoln Woods (11:44 p.m.) — Officers checked a dumpster for a report of noises coming from inside. The officers checked the area; the noise was most likely caused by wildlife.
Nothing of note.
Fridolin Hill (4:29 p.m.) — A caller reported a malfunctioning water meter. The Water Department was notified.
Lincoln Road (5:23 p.m.) — A crash occurred at the intersection of Lincoln Road and Codman Road when a vehicle failed to stop at the stop sign and hit another. The operator was cited. There were no injuries and both vehicles were towed from the scene.
Pierce House (6:07 p.m.) — A person reported a vehicle intermittently parking in the Pierce House lot. Officers will conduct checks of the area.
Old Farm Road (7:54 p.m.) — An officer checked on a report of a truck parked in the area. The area was checked but no truck could be found.
Barbara Christina Buchan
Barbara Buchan died peacefully on November 10, 2024 in her 91st year.
Buchan — who was born in Cambridge England shortly after the forced emigration of her family from Germany prior to World War II due to their Jewish heritage — moved to the United States with her husband and young family of three in the mid-1960s, spending the first year in Concord and settling in Lincoln. In 2014, at age 80, she decided to swap out snow for sun and transition into The Terraces of Los Gatos community near her two California-based children and their families.
Barbara’s nature was to advocate for causes that were meaningful to her and advocate for underserved communities, particularly children and families. To support this endeavor, she educated herself, earning a bachelor’s degree in medical/social work at the University of Edinburgh and a master’s and doctoral degree in early childhood education at Tufts University and Nova University, respectively.
She began her career as an almoner in London in the early 1960s (watch “Call the Midwife” for an idea of her work). She continued to support children and families throughout her career. In each community in which she lived, she was driven to originate educational and care resources. In Woodford, England, she started a cooperative nursery school with her good friend Dorothy Runnicles. Upon transitioning to Lincoln, she collaborated with Sally Mlavsky and other community parents to repurpose an old barn on Winter Street and establish the Barn Cooperative Nursery School (since moved to Concord).
Barbara continued to develop educational resources and curricula for elementary schools through the Educational Development Center. She then served as director of the Elm Park Early Education Center, located in Worcester, where amongst her many innovative accomplishments was the creation of a rooftop playground. She closed her career by supporting mothers recovering from addiction at The Institute for Health Recovery. While there she introduced an economical heating pad solution “Warm Socks” to ease the aches and pains of program participants. They were an imme
Barbara embraced many of the things that Lincoln and its environment offered — hosting horses, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and cats on her property, selling arts and crafts at the Old Town Hall Exchange, buying equipment at ski and skate sales, attending lectures at Bemis Hall and school productions at the Brooks School auditorium, ice skating by moonlight on Macone’s Pond and Pierce Pond, square dancing in the Smith School gym and Codman barn, swimming at the Codman pool and across Walden Pond into her 70s, and snowshoeing and tracking animals in the local woods.
Upon retirement in 2000, Barbara immersed herself in supporting environmental causes in Lincoln, including the Green Committee’s mission to lower energy consumption in homes and town, and the Lincoln Tick Task Force (read more here). She continued to support communities in need, including the Arghand Trust, for which she served as a board member supporting their founder Sarah Chayes. She also found immense satisfaction and joy participating in memoir-writing groups, first joining one in Lincoln and then, finding none in her new California community, starting one.
Barbara died peacefully on November 10, 2024 with a warm sock in her hand (see the description from one of her memoirs below). She is survived by her children Nick, Lindy and Lucy; their spouses Paola, Bob, and Steve; and five grandchildren (Cailin, Finian, Jason, Nicole and Isabella). Barbara was much loved by many, and will be greatly missed.
By Barbara Buchan
The back story: Years ago, I worked with women in recovery from substance abuse who had lots of aches and pains but little money. It occurred to me that we needed to offer an alternative to the use of Motrin or other medications prescribed by their doctors. The women in our group happened to mention that there were lots of odd socks lying around at the laundromat where they washed their clothes.
Somewhere else, I had read about making warming pads using seeds as a filler. So how about filling odd socks (must contain at least 80% cotton) with flaxseed, knotting the tops, and then putting them in the microwave for 1–2 minutes before applying them to sore spots? As an alternative to using the microwave in class, I brought in a Crock-Pot along with a sack of flaxseed and a scoop, and the residents brought in assorted cotton socks. They were a big hit with the residents at work. From that day on, the Crock-Pot filled with sock pads was available at every meeting. Subsequently, flaxseed pads have become a household necessity in my family.
Socks: Must be at least 80% cotton (to ensure fibers don’t melt in the microwave or burn).
Flaxseed or grains of rice: Quantity needed will vary with the size/number of socks to fill. Do not overfill to avoid bulkiness and/or uneven heat. You may wish to experiment. (Supposedly, the oil in flaxseed retains heat longer than non-oily grains. However, rice grains seem to work very well.)
Directions:
By Ursula Nowak
Happy Thanksgiving from St. Vincent de Paul of Lincoln and Weston! We wish to send a big thank- you to all who helped make last week so special at the food pantry. We are grateful to those of you who bought gift cards at Donelan’s or donated towards this year’s Thanksgiving drive. Your thoughtful generosity means that your neighbors in need will be able to purchase food for a special holiday meal.
We are grateful to Donelan’s for the many ways they continue to support us, and to Donelan’s shoppers who purchased Best Yet bags filled with stuffing, canned vegetables, canned fruit and cereal for the food pantry. Thank you also to Drumlin Farm and Joanne Dolan of Gold Bell Wholesale for a huge load of vegetable, to FELS and the Goddard School for beautiful pies, to Tost for sparking white tea, to the Weston United Methodist Church for a timely food drive, to Peter Stewart and the Doo-Wop Singers for another fundraising concert — and to our many volunteers for their time and great efforts! We are all neighbors helping neighbors and we are thankful for your support!
Nowak is a volunteer with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Lincoln and Weston.
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
The November 26 article headlined “Updates to outdoor lighting rules mulled” incorectly said that “color temperature refers to the color of the light— the higher the number, the more orange it appears, whereas cooler temperatures are bluer.” In fact, it’s the other way around (more info on this Wikipedia page). The article has been updated.
Lincoln’s annual State of the Town Meeting has some new features this year: a community breakfast, a town organizations fair, and an open forum.
The breakfast and fair begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 in the Lincoln School’s Dining Commons. From 9:30–11 a.m., there will be an overview of town finances and updates on the community center, Lincoln250, and Dark Skies, followed by the community forum.
Then there will be two repeating breakout sessions at 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. so residents can attend both if they wish: one on the Town Meeting Study Committee and the other on “Making the Switch Away from Fossil Fuels” with the Lincoln Green Energy Committee.
Background reading: