The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

2021: The year in review

Much like 2020, 2021 was a year where Covid-19 dominated our daily lives, including a year-end surge in cases — but we also saw the library, Town Hall and the swap shed reopen, and high vaccination rates and lower disease severity make us cautiously optimistic that the days of widespread deaths and patients on ventilators are in the past.

Other than that, it was a relatively quiet year in Lincoln. The biggest news stories were two town institutions changing hands (Donelan’s and The Commons); the completion of Phase I of the school project, and — perennial Lincoln favorites — the hopes for a new restaurant, and discussions over zoning and how to create a more vibrant South Lincoln with new development. 

Looking ahead, 2022 will almost certainly feature a complete school and concrete steps toward a community center, and maybe even some zoning changes. Stay tuned!

Here are some of the top stories from the Lincoln Squirrel in 2021, followed by an alphabetical list of obituaries. If you’re interested in articles on a certain topic (including Lincoln history, My Turn, police logs, land use, etc.), select one from the “Categories” pulldown in the left-hand column, or just type it in the Search bar at the right-hand column of every page.

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

Deaths in 2021

L-S team qualifies for High School Quiz Show

A team from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will compete as a wild-card qualifier on WGBH’s High School Quiz Show tournament early next year. The six students (including core member Gray Birchby of Lincoln) will face off against Buckingham Browne & Nichols (BBN) on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m.

High School Quiz Show is a fast-paced, bracketed academic competition for teams of Massachusetts high school students. Seventeen teams made the cut from 72 that competed in Super Sunday, a 50-question quiz in November. The wild cards were the two teams with the next-highest scores that have not been previously featured on the show, or haven’t competed in five or more years.

Among the top 17 qualifiers are returning Season 9 champion Andover High School (which will face the winner of the wild-card contest on February 19); Lexington High School, which took home the trophy in Seasons 7 and 8; and defending Season 12 champion Belmont High School. Three teams will make their High School Quiz Show debuts: Canton High School, Notre Dame Academy, and BBN. The other qualifiers are the British International School of Boston, Hopkinton High School, Mansfield High School, Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, North Quincy High School, Sharon High School,  Shrewsbury High School, the Bromfield School, Westford Academy, and Weston High School.

In addition to Birchby, the L-S team comprises fellow core members Jack Grosberg, Henry Hurtt-Rensko, and Spencer Reith, and alternates Kenneth Hawkey and Cameron Cho. The team’s coach is Spanish and French teacher Desiree Butter, who began coaching the same year she started teaching at L-S a decade ago.

“When we first competed, the number of schools were less than half what they have today,” Butter said. “It’s been quite an experience to be able to compete with so many schools in the area.”

Aside from “Jeopardy!”, High School Quiz Show is the most popular academic quiz show on American television. In the 12 previous seasons, more than 700 students from over 70 schools across the Commonwealth have competed on the program.

During the tournament, teams of four will play remotely as Billy Costa moderates from WGBH studios in Brighton. The 2022 state championship will take place on May 21. Questions on the show are aligned with the Massachusetts high school curriculum standards in subjects that include literature, history, civics, science and math, as well as current events and general knowledge.

Police log for December 13–19, 2021

December 13

Paul Revere lot, North Great Road (5:48 p.m.) — Caller reported striking a deer with their car. Officers responded and there were no injuries. The vehicle was towed from the scene.

December 14

South Great Road (12:38 p.m.) — Documents delivered to the resident from the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Wells Road (3:33 p.m.) — Caller reported being involved in a minor motor vehicle crash in the lot of Wells Road. Officer responded and took a report. No injuries.

Harvest Circle (8:08 p.m.) — Caller reported an odor of natural gas coming from the maintenance building. Fire Department responded but got no readings of gas.

Tower Road (8:16 p.m.) — Officers checked the address for a missing juvenile with no results.

December 15

Wells Road (11:40 a.m.) — Caller requested a well-being check on a resident. Everything was fine.

Hanscom Vandenberg Gate (4:38 p.m.) — Hanscom Security Forces reported a party with no license at the gate. Arrangements were made for the party to get a ride.

I-95 northbound (8:02 p.m.) — Ambulance responded for a motor vehicle crash and transported one patient to the Lahey Clinic.

Wells Road (8:02 p.m.) — Caller reported being threatened earlier in the day. An officer responded and took a report of the incident.

December 16

North Great Road (9:12 a.m.) — Report of a two-car crash on Route 2A at Brooks Road. Officers and Fire Department responded. No injuries; one vehicle towed from the scene.

South Great Road (5:57 p.m.) — Resident called with questions regarding their car’s technology. An officer assisted the resident.

December 17

Wells Road (6:12 a.m.) — Caller report their car was damaged overnight and was broken into and a camera was stolen. Officer responded and took a report.

Minuteman Technical High School (7:32 a.m.) — Officers were at the school due to a national school threat of violence that was made over TikTok.

Lincoln School (7:53 a.m. and 2:29 p.m.) — Officers were at the school due to a national school threat of violence that was made over TikTok.

Lincoln Road (1:23 p.m.) — Caller reported that the catalytic converter was stolen from their vehicle. Report taken, investigation ongoing.

Sandy Pond Road (4:45 p.m.) — Officer responded to a very minor motor vehicle crash. and assisted the parties with exchanging papers.

Cambridge Turnpike westbound (7:16 p.m.) — Two-car crash at Bedford Road. Two parties were transported to the Emerson Hospital. Officer assisted with traffic; the crash is being investigated by the state police in Concord. 

December 18

Hanscom Drive (8:55 a.m.) — Hanscom Security Forces reported someone trying to get onto the base with marijuana. Officer responded and spoke to Security Forces, who will handle the matter.

December 19

Hiddenwood Path (6:55 a.m.) — Caller was having a problem with a medical alert device in the residence. An officer responded and assisted the party.

Hanscom Drive (10:50 a.m.) — Fire Department responded to Hanscom Field for an incoming plane with an emergency. The call was cancelled while responding and the plane landed safely

Huntley Lane (10:55 a.m.) — Caller reported being bitten by a dog in the house. An officer responded and took a report and notified the Animal Control Officer.

Tower Road (2:36 p.m.) — Report of goats running in the area. An officer responded and Animal Control was notified. The owner rounded up the goats.

Tower Road (3:20 p.m.) — Property owner reported noticing damage to the residence. Report taken.

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (6:24 p.m.) — State Police in Concord reported a vehicle was involved in a pedestrian hit-and-run in Concord and asked Lincoln police to keep an eye out for a white SUV with a partial registration plate. Officers checked the area but were unable to locate.

South Great Road (7:49 p.m.) — Caller reported that a party came into their driveway looking for directions to Mt. Misery and they thought it was odd. Officers checked the area; no contact made with the party.

Correction

In second paragraph of the December 21 article headlined “Stanley won’t be Lincoln’s representative after January 2023,” one of Lincoln’s new districts was listed incorrectly. It should have said that eastern Lincoln will be in the 14th Norfolk, not the 9th Norfolk.  Also, the 2023 representatives for Lincoln’s precincts were reversed. If reelected, Carmine Gentile would represent Precinct 1 (western Lincoln) and Alice Peisch would represent Precinct 2 (eastern Lincoln). The original article has been updated.

Stanley won’t be Lincoln’s representative after January 2023

As the dust settles from redistricting after the U.S. census, one thing is clear: Lincoln will no longer be represented on Beacon Hill by Waltham resident Rep. Thomas Stanley after January 2023.

Rep. Thomas Stanley

Stanley (D-Waltham) has been the state representative for the 9th Middlesex district, which comprises Lincoln and part of Waltham, since 2001. But the new House maps split Lincoln between two districts along the town’s voting precinct line: the 13th Middlesex (Precinct 1 in the western part of town) and the 14th Norfolk (eastern Lincoln). The precinct line within Lincoln is not changing because the population in town did not shift enough to warrant an adjustment.

In the state Senate, Lincoln will still be in the 3rd Middlesex Senate district (now represented by Sen. Michael Barrett), but that district has shrunk a bit geographically — it will no longer include part of Sudbury.

“I was very disappointed that I’m going to lose Lincoln in my district. I’ve made a lot of great relationships and really enjoyed representing the town and working with the elected and appointed people there,” he said in an interview with the Lincoln Squirrel. “Unfortunately for me, combinations had to be made to address other redistricting issues around the state, and they did a great job as a body with the majority-minority districts. But whenever you change one district, there’s ripple effects.”

The portion of the new House district map showing how Lincoln will be split between the 13th Middlesex (lighter green) and the 9th Norfolk (darker green). Click here to see the full Massachusetts map.

If the change happened today, Lincoln’s Precinct 1 would be represented by Rep. Carmine Gentile (D-13th Middlesex), who lives in Sudbury, and and Precinct 2 by Rep. Alice Peisch (D-14th Norfolk), a Wellesley resident. Before the next election in November 2022, voters will know whether they and other incumbent representatives decide to run again and whether they win their party’s nomination in the primary.

As for Lincoln being split between two districts starting in 2023, “a lot of towns might look at that as a negative, but I don’t,” Stanley said. “The fear is that [being] such a small part of a district means they won’t get attention, but it’s in the representative’s interest to treat every precinct as if they lived there. And just from a purely political perspective, it only helps the incumbent if they’re responsive to small towns.”

Stanley also noted that during the run-up to the next election, “Lincoln will have three representatives looking out for their interests” as Peisch and Gentile (assuming they run for reelection) learn about and meet people in town. “I think Lincoln will be very happy with Alice and Carmine,” he added.

Carol “Cici” Caswell, 1929–2021

Carol Caswell

Carol Bradley Caswell passed away on December 13 in Lincoln at the age of 92. Born Carolyn Fontaine Bradley in Washington, D.C., she attended the Potomac School, the Madeira School and Briarcliff Jr. College. After marrying John Caswell, also of Washington, they lived in Cambridge, Mass.for a short period and then moved to southern California for five years. She and John also spent two years on Kwajalein atoll in the South Pacific while John managed the Raytheon installation there.

Carol and John moved back to the East Coast and settled into Lincoln, where they raised their five children. Carol was active in the Junior League of Boston, loved her plants, and enjoyed playing and watching tennis. Her grandchildren love seeing the picture published from time to time in the Boston Globe of Carol hiding out of sight behind Julia Child on the kitchen set of WGBH, where she volunteered collecting and cleaning her cooking utensils.

She loved staying connected to her family both near and far, and for many years she and John spent a part of their winters on Longboat Key, Fla. As a child, she treasured her time at Rockywold-Deephaven Camps on Squam Lake, N.H., a tradition that has continued with her own family and her brother’s family ever since. The house in Westport Island, Maine, where she and John loved to visit, continues to nurture and grow the bonds of family.

As a volunteer, she was the assistant tax collector for the town of Lincoln for several years and volunteered for a number of other town organizations. She was an active member of the St. Anne’s Church Altar Guild and chair of the Commission of Trust Funds. Upon becoming one of the first residents of The Commons in Lincoln, she was active on the Residents Committee, continuing her tie to the town that lasted more than 64 years. 

“Cici” cherished her children and grandchildren above all else. Her greatest desire was to spend time with them and hear about their adventures and achievements. She was so gracious that she always asked about you and how you were rather than telling you about herself. Her self-deprecating humor and wry wit could catch you by surprise until you saw the mischievous twinkle in her eye. Her lasting legacy and one of the greatest joys of her life was annually hosting her family together for a week away, building a bond of love and caring throughout the generations.

She was predeceased by her younger brother Frederick Bradley and her husband of 60 years, John Ross Caswell. She leaves her dear friend Dr. Jerome Perry and his family ,who have added years to her life and life to her years after the passing of her husband John.

Carol is survived by her brother Thomas Bradley and his wife Anna (Washington, D.C.); her children Brad and Fran (Pennington, N.J.), Chris and Patricia (Sarasota, Fla.), Fred and Pam (South Freeport, Maine), Wally and Brenda (Randolph, Vt.), Carolyn and Jonathan Dwyer (Lincoln); 14 grandchildren and two great-children; niece Christina Bradley and her husband Larry Sampas; and nephews Tom Bradley and Philip Bradley and his wife Susan Bradley.

Donations can be made in her memory to the Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging & Human Services, PO Box 143, Lincoln MA 01773. Services will be held at a later date. Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home. To share a memory or offer a condolence, click here.

Obituaries

Margaret Boyer, 85

Polaroid employee and Historical Society member. Full obituary.

Michael Maddox, 74

There will be a memorial gathering Michael Maddox, who died in Jacksonville, FL on December 8, at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square on Jan. 9 from 2-4 p.m. Full obituary.

Melvin L. Stone, 96

Longtime electrical engineering at MIT Lincoln Lab. Full obituary.

Christopher “Cricker” Williams, 58

Lincoln native who was a truck driver and peace officer in Palestine, TX. Full obituary.

Editor’s note: Whenever possible, the Lincoln Squirrel contacts the funeral home and offers to run full obituaries (with photo when available) as a paid service. In other cases we post a link to obituaries on Legacy.com. 

Eagle Scout builds birdhouses for hospice house

Nancy Zheng, Care Dimensions Hospice House clinical director, and Richard Kelleher with one of the birdhouses he built and installed on a patio post outside a patient room.

Patients, visitors and staff at the Care Dimensions Hospice House on Winter Street should soon see some new winged wildlife thanks to Lincoln Boy Scout Richard Kelleher.

For his Eagle Scout project, Richard (a sophomore at Lawrence Academy in Groton) built and installed five birdhouses on the property. With help from other Scouts, Richard developed the project in memory of his grandmother, Nancy Dickinson, who passed away at the Care Dimensions Hospice House in 2019.

“She was very into nature, and we saw a lot of birds around when we visited her” at the hospice house, said Richard, adding that she had a bird book on her bedside table. “So I thought building and donating birdhouses for the hospice house would be perfect.”

“It’s a wonderful memorial for his grandmother and an attraction for patients, their families and our employees to enjoy the birds on the property,” said Nancy Zheng, Care Dimensions Hospice House clinical director. “We’re grateful for Richard’s thoughtful donation.”

The Commons to be sold; town seeks assurance on tax payments

The Commons in Lincoln

Lincoln’s biggest taxpayer is changing hands for the second time, but the new owners have agreed in principle to negotiate an arrangement for paying property taxes or a PILOT agreement (payment in lieu of taxes).

The Commons in Lincoln is currently owned by Benchmark Senior Living and a private equity firm. The Groves in Lincoln, as it was called when it opened in 2010, was owned by the New England Deaconess Association and Masonic Health Systems of Massachusetts but had an occupancy rate of only 59% in 2013, when it filed for bankruptcy after defaulting on payment of $88.4 million in tax-exempt bonds.

After the sale goes through, the new owner and Benchmark will sign a long-term contract to retain Benchmark as the manager of The Commons, said David Levesque, Benchmark’s Senior Director of Corporate Communications, in an email to the Lincoln Squirrel. “This ensures that The Commons’ residents continue to receive the same level of care and services provided by current Benchmark employees.”

According to the terms of the project’s original approval from the town, the Select Board must sign off on any sale of the property, but that process hit a snag this week over the question of whether the new owners would continue to pay property tax. As a nonprofit entity, they would legally’ be exempt from paying any taxes on the property.

“You may well lose the tax revenues you’ve been benefiting from the last several years,” attorney Shirin Everett told the Select Board on December 13. Everett works with the KP Law, the town counsel.

Benchmark, a for-profit entity, has a fiscal 2022 property tax bill of $1.38 million on an assessed value of $9 million, or about 4% of Lincoln’s $34.57 million in total assessed property, according to the Assessor’s Office.

At Monday’s meeting, Town Administrator Tim Higgins noted that New England Deaconess was also nonprofit but voluntarily paid property taxes,” so there’s a precedent.” Select Board member James Craig made a motion to approve the sale contingent on restrictions in the current agreement (specifically, that the 30 units in the Flint building will continue to be designated as affordable, “and that the town and buyer enter into an agreement for PILOT if property is not otherwise taxable.”

But Benchmark representative Melissa Solomon objected, saying she was “very concerned” with that wording. The stipulation was not part of the original agreement language, which was silent on the tax issue but said that the town’s approval for a sale couldn’t be “unreasonably withheld.”

“We want to memorialize somehow that the new owner will be willing to enter in negotiations to make voluntary payments if they’re operating under a not-for-profit status,” Craig said, adding that it was the town’s fiduciary responsibility to try to maintain the revenue from The Commons. “Verbal assurances are great but mean nothing.”

“We are happy to sit down and discuss this property tax dilemma but the regulatory agreement can’t be not granted because of a a property tax question,” said Sarah Laffey, Managing Director for Capital, Strategy and New Initiatives at OnePoint Partners, which is advising and representing the buyers (NELP-Commons LLC).

The motion’s wording was suggested by town counsel, Craig said, although Everett had to leave the meeting before that discussion took place.

Temporarily at an impasse, the board decided to defer its vote until a special meeting on the morning of December 16. In the interim, town officials asked the buyer to declare its intentions in writing. Laffey accordingly emailed Higgins saying that “immediately following the closing, the buyer intends to enter into good-faith negotiations” for a PILOT agreement (something that most universities and other large nonprofits have with their host communities). The board then voted to approve the sale without the PILOT language in the motion.

A map showing the assisted living and skilled nursing facilities built at The Commons by Benchmark on the northeast side of the campus (click to enlarge).

“The sale of The Commons by its current owners — a private equity group and a Benchmark Senior Living affiliate — is not unexpected. The investors’ business plan was to stabilize the then-bankrupt community and help the community meet its full potential, and that was accomplished,” said Levesque, who declined to disclose the sale price.

After taking over in 2013, Benchmark built a health center with memory care and skilled nursing units, upgrading The Commons to a full continuing-care retirement community (CCRC) in addition to the independent living it already offered. After the bankruptcy and sale in 2013, the town approved a plan to build those facilities on part of the campus that was originally intended for second-phase construction of more independent living units, complementing the 168 units in two apartment-style main buildings and 38 cottages.

“Within one year of opening the full campus, The Commons was over 90% occupied and has sustained that occupancy since. The Commons is now positioned for a new ownership structure that is more consistent with its industry peers, said Levesque, adding that “the vast majority of CCRCs throughout the country and in Massachusetts are not-for-profit.”

Lincoln’s newest firefighter wins top award from academy

Thomas Pianka with Richard N. Bangs, former chair of the fire training council for whom Pianka’s award is named, and State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey. (Photo by Jake Wark, Mass. Department of Fire Services)

Thomas Pianka, Lincoln’s newest full-time firefighter, received the Richard N. Bangs Award upon his recent graduation from the Massachusetts Fire Academy. More recently, he and his family got something even better — a baby boy.

Pianka, a Hudson resident with Lincoln roots, had been working as a per diem probationary firefighter in town since July 2020. He’s the third generation in his family to serve in the profession — his father Jaime, who grew up in Lincoln, worked as firefighter here until he got a position in Sudbury, and his great-great uncle was a Boston firefighter.

Tom had some basic training and experience as an on-call firefighter in Vermont that qualified him for the Lincoln per diem position until he graduated and was hired full-time. The Lincoln Fire Department had had a vacancy since Brian Young was promoted to fire chief in August 2020.

The MFA program is a high-intensity program that teaches essentials of fire and non-fire conditions, life safety, search and rescue, ladder operations, water supply, hazmat, confined space, and pump operation. The Department of Fire Services offers this class free of charge to all Massachusetts fire departments. Every career firefighter must complete the career recruit class. The Bangs award is given to the top recruit in each class.

Most towns including Lincoln require firefighters to be certified EMTs as well. This is actually a big part of the job, since both fire and police personnel respond when there’s a call for a medical issue. Structure fires are fortunately few and far between in Lincoln since the advent in recent years of various successful fire prevention measures.

“I was always interested in firefighting growing up — it seemed like a natural course,” Pianka said in phone call with the Lincoln Squirrel. Asked what he enjoyed most about the job, he said simply, “Service to the community. I like meeting everyone and there are lots of opportunities to help out.”

It’ll be a few years yet before we know if a fourth Pianka generation will go into firefighting. The newest family member, a boy named Kai, was born on December 12, joining his six-year-old stepsister.