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

My Turn: Dozens of Lincolnites join “Hands Off!” protest in Boston

By Barbara Slayter

Among the thousands of demonstrators across the country for the “Hands-Off Protest” Saturday, April 5 were 50 Lincolnites who joined the rally at the Boston Common opposing the current administration’s abrupt and widespread dismantling of programs, services, and institutions that have long been part of Americans’ lives.  

Specifically, what were participants protesting? Numerous conversations and posters irevealed widespread alarm over attacks on Social Security and Medicaid; mass firings of federal workers, immigration raids, the chainsaw tactics of Elon Musk and DOGE, cuts in scientific research, dismantling of educational programs, national park services, and veterans’ benefits, and the arrest of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University graduate student.

The Lincoln contingent gets ready to board the bus to join the protest in Boston (click to enlarge).

Despite the raw, cold, and rainy weather, the mood both at the rally and on the Doherty’s bus (arranged by the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee) was buoyant, determined, and hopeful. Participants appreciated the fervor and commitment of the speakers from a variety of Massachusetts organizations and networks, and especially from Sen. Ed Markey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Rep. Ayanna Presley. Also welcome were the ease of the waiting, warm bus and the skillful driver who deposited us mere steps from the Boston Common and then safely back at Ballfield Road at the end of the rally.

“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 Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Parks & Rec eyeing future pickleball court

The tennis courts that may some day accommodate pickleball as well.

The Parks and Recreation Department is considering converting two of the town tennis courts so they can be used for pickleball as well as tennis, but it won’t happen for at least three years.

At the Parks and Recreation Committee’s March 24 meeting, resident Candace Pearson presented a petition with 60 signatures asking for the conversion of the courts nestled within the split in Ballfield Road. Pickleball has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, and while Parks & Rec offer indoor classes, there is no outdoor space in town suitable for the sport, so Lincolnites have to travel to a neighboring town to play outdoors in warm weather.

“There aren’t many sports where you can show up to open play in any city, in any state, and immediately feel welcome. There also aren’t many sports that allow for such a wide range of ages and skill levels while still making for fun, competitive games,” said resident Christine Campo, who co-organized the petition.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about it. I think people on the committee are very open to it,” said PRD Director Jessica Downing. However, this is just one expense among many that the committee is planning for. Its five-year capital plan currently calls for work on those courts in fiscal 2029 after the community center is finished. Theres also the issue of getting approval for work so close to the nearby stream, she added. A A feasibility study would be a first step in the process.

Voters at Town Meeting last month approved $102,700 for rebuilding the other town tennis courts behind the Smith parking lot in fiscal 2026.

Legal notice: Conservation Commission

Notice of Public Hearing

The Lincoln Conservation Commission (LCC) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 7:05pm in accordance with the MA Wetlands Protection Act and the Town of Lincoln Wetlands Protection Bylaw. This is in response to the duly filed Request for Determination of Applicability by Julia Gombos for placement of propane tanks within the 100-ft Buffer Zone and wetland resource areas at 17 Stonehedge (186-30-0). Information on how to log onto the virtual public meeting will be included in the LCC Agenda posted on the town’s website at least 48 hours prior to the hearing. More information can be reviewed here.

Lincoln Conservation Commission

Service on May 10 for David Stroh, 1940–2025

David Stroh

David once wrote, “My career has had a consistent inner theme and purpose — a calling, perhaps — that has been with me while being a university chaplain, an urban planner, and a county attorney Fairfax, Va.”

After his theological degrees at Yale Divinity School, where he was heavily involved in urban poverty issues in neighborhoods, and after becoming ordained in the UCC, he became a university chaplain at Drew and Vanderbilt universities. While fighting the racial divides in our country by organizing students and participating himself with them in marches in Selma and Montgomery, including “Bloody Sunday” in 1965, he heard Dr. King calling all Americans to look beyond the moment and solve the structural problems which perpetuate poverty and racism through urban zoning, housing, and development. He then left university chaplaincy to acquire the additional skills he needed with a master of city planning degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the next decade he worked as an urban planner, primarily in obtaining financing for affordable housing with national law firms in Washington, D.C. In 1973 he began working for the long-range Comprehensive Planning Department of Fairfax County, and later for the Environment and Policy Division of that office.

In 1982 he acquired a J.D. degree from. Georgetown University Law School to manage the legal cases surrounding affordable housing and land use and was a county attorney for the Redevelopment and Housing Authority of Fairfax County.

He was preceded in death by his parents Walter Stroh and Betty Sampson Stroh, but his parting is deeply mourned by a large family: his brother Stephen F. Stroh and Susan Hoffman Stroh, and his sister Deborah Stroh Tezich and Greg Tezich and their families. He was married to Carol Vines Moss and they had two daughters, Sarah Stroh Jeppesen and Christine Stroh Reddy. His grandchildren are Dylan and Asa Franchak, and Alexandra, Ravi and Vikram Reddy.

After divorce he was married to Susan Mockenhaupt, who died in 2009. He was married again in 2013 to Jane Chowning von Maltzahn. His stepchildren through her are Philip von Maltzahn and Stephanie Slates, Geoffrey von Maltzahn and Maxine Sharkey Giammo, and Julia von Maltzahn. His step-grandchildren are Felix and Norris von Maltzahn; Eva Orion, Leo, Wolf and Zelda von Maltzahn; and Valentina and Carlos Rangel.

David was born in Boulder, Colo., spent most of his career in Fairfax County, Va., and lived in Lincoln the last year of his life, dying in hospice in Wayland. He spent a year at Exeter University in England and enjoyed a lifetime of holidays in Devon.

The family give thanks to the communities of St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Lincoln and Christ Church Episcopal in Andover where he was treasurer, and to our neighbors and friends in Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Special thanks to our priest the Rev. Garrett Yates and Dr. Philip Saylor and his cancer team at Mass. General Brigham in Boston for their expert care for ten years during his bout with cancer. David volunteered for a year of experimental treatment to benefit others.

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember David for his memorial service on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 11:00am at St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Lincoln.

Keep us all, O Lord, so awake in our calling,
So deep in service to you in the world,
So aware of our neighbors’ sufferings
That at the last day we may sleep in thy peace
and wake into thy glory, majesty and love,
Where time has vanished,
and joy shall shine in the dawn of your new day. Amen.

Donations in his name may be made to: St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 147 Concord Rd., P.O. Box 6, Lincoln, MA 01773; Doctors Without Borders, P.O. Box 5030, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5030; or ACLU, 125 Broad St., 18th floor, New York, NY 10004; or to a civil rights or environmental cause of your choosing. Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary. Click here to write in his online guest book.

Stephen Breyer to appear at Walden Woods Project

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

The public is invited to attend a special event with the honorable Stephen Breyer, a retired associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in a conversation moderated by historian Douglas Brinkley, at the Walden Woods Project in Lincoln on Friday, May 30.

The outdoor event will be held rain or shine in an enclosed tent. We ask guests to arrive promptly between 5:15 and 5:30pm for the introduction at 5:40pm. Advance registration is required for admission. Click here to:

Preceding the conversational program will be the first public showing of a nine-minute introduction to the feature documentary, “Henry David Thoreau.” The film, by Ewers Brothers Productions and Executive Producers Ken Burns and Don Henley, is scheduled to air on PBS in 2026.

Breyer served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 to 2022. His other books include Active Liberty (2005), Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View (2010), The Court and the World (2015), and The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics (2021). Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University and a CNN Presidential Historian. Six of his books were named New York Times “Notable Books of the Year” and seven became New York Times bestsellers.

The event is co-sponsored by Lincoln250, Concord250, the Bemis Free Lecture Series, and the Lincoln Historical Society.

Survey is part of town vulnerability and resilience project

Residents are invited to take a survey to help the town team better understand the impact and vulnerabilities that community members may experience.

The survey, which is open until April 30, asks about community priorities such as food and water, housing, transportation, and ecosystems. It asks respondents to choose among several possible measures including a communications platform, an intratown shuttle service, or projects involving food insecurity or local agriculture. Survey participants can enter a drawing for drawing to win a gift card to one of Lincoln’s businesses.

The survey is part of the MVP (Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness) 2.0 pilot program. MVP is a state-funded grant program that helps Massachusetts communities adapt to the changing climate and implement projects that build community resilience. MVP 2.0 aims to build on the work done during MVP 1.0 by convening a community team to do equitable climate resilience work and get coaching on strategies for building resilience, equity, and climate justice.

In 2023, Lincoln (along with 32 other communities) was selected for MVP 1.0, which resulted in an initial community resilience study and led to a $100,000 grant that enabled the town to create its Climate Action Plan. The new $95,000 will culminate in a seed project that will advance the town’s climate resilience priorities.  

The latest work is being done by a core team of four town staff members and volunteers Karen Boyce, Tom Flint, and Mary Stechschulte.

News acorns

Lots of thing to choose from at the Trash to Treasures event.

“Trash and Treasures” sale

The First Parish in Lincoln’s May Market takes place on Saturday, April 12 from 9:00am to noon. The church will be brimming with jewelry, antiques, artwork, furniture, garden needs, housewares, and more. When the sale is over, a truck from Household Goods in Acton will pick up usable items for their clients in need. It truly is recycling at its best. Free admission and coffee.

Six students qualify for history competition

Lincoln School students competing in the state history competition are (left to right) Maya Iluri, Miles Wang, Jaida Fishbone, Josh Murphy, Graham Onigman, and Samir Stauffer.

Six Lincoln School students in grades 5–8 have qualified for the Mass. History Day state competition on Saturday, April 12 at Winchester High School. This competition brings together top finishers (roughly 350 total students) from the regional history day competitions, including six from the Lincoln School. Left to right: Maya Iluri, Miles Wang, Jaida Fishbone, Josh Murphy, Graham Onigman, and Samir Stauffer. The topics of their exhibit, paper, and documentary film were The French Protectorate over Cambodia, The Story of the Miranda Rights, and Climbing Towards Equality. Winning state entries move on to the National History Day in June.

Donate craft materials for the Great Create

The Lincoln School Foundation is seeking materials for its fourth annual Great Create. Families in grades K-5 are invited to gather on May 18 from 1:00–3:00pm to create a vibrant, rainbow-inspired sculpture that will live permanently on display inside the school. Items sought include small wood pieces or clothespins to make peg people, figurines, and blocks; 3-to-4-inch pieces of paper, cardboard, and packing materials that can be painted; yarn and wool roving; ribbon, twine, wire, and floss; beads; pipe cleaners; and small strips of fabric. Donations are being accepted in the school’s main office, the Lincoln Public Library, and at the First Parish in Lincoln until May 1. Contact carolinesmart20@gmail.com with any questions about suitable materials. Click here to register children and families.

Get ready for lots of events — and visitors — on Patriots’ Day weekend

The 250th anniversary of the first battles of the American Revolution is just around the corner. Here’s what you need to know about getting around and what’s happening in and around Lincoln.

Getting around

Road closures — Road closures in Lincoln will begin on Saturday, April 19 at 5:00am and will remain closed till 5:00pm. Click here to learn more. 

Train — Trains will run once an hour outbound beginning at 4:30am. The first train stops in Lincoln at 5:04am, just in time for the 6:00am dawn salute in Concord. See the train schedule for details (note: bikes will not be allowed on the trains. Residents and visitors planning to ride the train from Lincoln are strongly encouraged to park in the non-paved lot first (approximately 45 spots available). The paved lot should only be used once the non-paved spots are full. 

Bus — A school bus will make continuous loops from the Lincoln School K-4 (Smith) parking lot to the Concord Museum with a stop at the Walden Pond parking lot. This free service runs from 6:00am – 9:00pm. There are not set pickup times at the school; bus frequency will depend on many uncontrollable factors, so allow plenty of time.

Transfer station and library

The Transfer Station will be closed on Saturday, April 19 but will remain open until 6:00pm on Wednesday, April 16 (opening at the usual time of 7:30am) to provide additional flexibility for those who are generally unable to use the facility during the work week. The Lincoln Public Library will be closed Saturday, April 19 through Monday, April 21. It will reopen at 9:00am on Tuesday, April 22.

For more Lincoln information, click here. Questions? Email Lincoln250@lincolntown.org. 

Lincoln250 events

“Myths of the Battle of Lexington-Concord”
Thursday, April 10 from 7:00–8:00pm (Zoom)
Lincoln historian and Minute Man Rick Wiggin will talk about what truly happened in Lexington, Concord, and most importantly, Lincoln, on April 19, 1775 and how it became mythologized over time. Click here to register.

“The Forgotten Patriots of Color”
Friday, April 11 at 12:30pm (Bemis Hal)
Lincoln resident and biographer Ray Shepard will read from his work in progress, The Forgotten Patriots of Color: A Story of Local Brown and Black Patriots. Sponsored by the Lincoln Council on Aging & Human Services.

“Loyalists and Revolutionaries: Two Iconic Lincoln Properties at the Heart of a Changing World”
Monday, April 21 from 10:00am–2:00pm
Historic New England invites you walk Lincoln’s trails and visit two of its properties in Lincoln: the Codman Estate (once occupied by Loyalists Charles and Elizabeth Russell, who fled to Antigua when the war began) and the Gropius House designed by Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius and revolutionary in impact. The properties will be open to the public and docents will be on site to share information and answer questions.

“A Sense of Place: Lincoln Then and Now”
At the Lincoln Public Library through April 26
Five artists and photographers show scenes from around Lincoln that existed both in 1775 and now. At the center is Kerry Glass’s 1775 map with an overlay that traces the development of the roadways over the years. Sponsored by the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department.  

Other area events and information

 

Library offers seeds of knowledge — and now real seeds as well

The Lincoln Public Library’s seed library (click image to enlarge).

The Lincoln Public Library lands all sorts of things in addition to books and music, but now it’s giving something away: seeds.

The “seed library” on the ground floor offers packets of seeks stored in old wooden card catalogue boxes, as well as a notebook with instructions from the original seed packets on planting each type (visitors can jot them down or take a picture with their phone of the pages of interest).

The seeds were donated by Weston Nurseries of Lincoln and Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland. The selection focuses on easier-growing garden plants, “which is why there is more of a focus on fruits and vegetables rather than flowers, as they can be a bit finicky,” said librarian Alison Armstrong, who organized the project after hearing interest from some patrons and noting the idea’s success at other libraries.

Even though libraries are usually in the business of offering things to use in the building, or lending things with an expectation that they’ll be returned, the seed library squares with the institution’s mission. “Above all, the work of the library is providing access to resources and information that patrons may not otherwise have been able to utilize,” Armstrong said. “By connecting with our community partners to establish the seed library, we’re able to facilitate access to people who may have always been interested in building their own garden, but were unable to do so for whatever reason.”

The most important piece, Armstrong continued, “is being able to provide the Lincoln community with a hands-on educational resource, which is at the core of our mission to focus on life-long learning and sharing new knowledge and ideas.”