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

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Order daffodil bulbs to benefit SSEP

Order daffodil bulbs to support South Sudanese Enrichment for Families (SSEF) Women’s Program by Friday, Sept. 30. All funds raised will go toward continuing education such as ESL and financial literacy. Pickup at the Lincoln mall on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22 and 23, where SSEF will also sell vibrant cloth napkins made from African patterned fabric. Click here to order bulbs.

Scarecrow Classic 5K coming up

Register for the 10th annual Scarecrow Classic 5K, a road and trail race through Lincoln’s conservation land that raises funds for the LLCT, on Sunday, Oct. 16 starting at 9:30 a.m. Participants are encouraged to register by October 3 to guarantee their Scarecrow Classic T-shirt and (new this year) a Scarecrow Classic mesh running cap. A virtual participation option is also available through the registration form. Visit scarecrowclassic5k.com to learn more and register. 

Pumpkin picking in October

Matlock Farm, continually run by the Lincoln’s Flint family since the 17th century, will be hosting its annual pumpkin-picking event  in October. There will be hay rides, farm-themed photo ops, and more. The event is a great way to enjoy an autumn afternoon with your family in a safe, socially distanced setting. The events will take place on Saturdays and Sundays on all five weekends in October (weather permitting) from noon–4 p.m. in the field by 28 Lexington Rd.

Library offers virtual programs

The Lincoln Public Library will present the following virtual events hosted by the Tewksbury Public Library in collaboration with several Massachusetts libraries. Sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Library. Advance registration required.

Lincoln’s Feinberg profiled in news story

Gabriel Feinberg, a 2021 L-S graduate, was recently profiled in the sports section of the Metro West Daily News for his fencing, notably his role in the NCAA championship win for The Ohio State University Fencing Team and his spot on the Junior’s Men’s Epee USA Team. He hopes for to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Read more on this Olympia Fencing Center web page.

Property sales in August 2022

7 Todd Pond Rd. — Carolyn Birmingham Trust to Nora Iluri for $1,752,00 (July 27)

46D Indian Camp Lane — Benjamin Herzig to Sungil Jung and and Yurim Yi for $322,295 (July 20)

143 Chestnut Circle — Donald Kennedy to Gloria Dimambro for $760,000 (July 15)

338 South Great Rd. — Stephen Amelia to Wajdi and Polina Kanj for $1,950,000 (July 13)

48 Conant Rd. — Meghan K. Lytton Trust to Jonathan Sheffi and Judyta Frodyma for $2,650,000 (July 12)

54 Conant Rd. — Meghan K. Lytton to Marit van Buuren and Willem Ruben for $1,625,000 (July 8)

23D South Commons — Philip Loheed to Rudolph Huspas for $678,910 (July 7)

0 Conant Rd. — Martha Davis Trust to Jame and Camilla Ross for $1,300,000 (July 1)

News acorns

Lincoln Dems co-host election discussion

Join an informational presentation and discussion, “Sorting Out the Midterms: How to Support Key Senatorial and Congressional Candidates in the National Midterms,” via Zoom on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 7–8 p.m., hosted by the Lincoln Democrats and Force Multiplier (FM) with speakers Tom Hallock and Ed Loechler, two of FM’s founders. Click here to register. This is not a fundraiser; no fee to attend.

Session on gardening and climate change

“Making a Meadow: Easy Tips for Incorporating a Native Meadow” with Lincoln Common Ground and eco-gardener Diana Rice will take place on Sunday, Sept. 25 from 2–4 p.m. Gardening to counter climate change is actually much easier in the long run than maintaining a turf grass lawn or traditional garden as it frees homeowners from from mowing and using chemicals, gas and lots of water to maintain a landscape. Supervised children and families are welcome. Click here for location and registration. Questions? Email Emily Haslett at emhaslett@gmail.com.

Grown-ups’ night at the Tack Room

All are welcome to LincFam’s Grown-Ups’ Night Out on the Tack Room patio on Wednesday, Sept. 28 from 7:30–9:30 p.m. Please RSVP by emailing info@lincfam.org.

Upcoming Lincoln Conservation Dept. programs

Autumn conservation trail walks — Join conservation staff on Tuesday mornings starting September 20 as we visit different trails in Lincoln. Registration is required in order to keep group size under 15 people and to ensure we can contact you in case of cancellation due to weather or public health concerns. Click here for destinations and registration link.

Ranger-led trail walks — Explore Lincoln’s open space and trails on the first Saturday of each month with Will Leona, Lincoln’s conservation ranger. Walks are generally 2 miles long and are appropriate for all ages. Click here to RSVP (select the tab at the bottom with the date you wish to participate). 

    • October 1 — Harrington Woods/Beaver Pond (meet at parking area on north side of Rt. 117 at Weston/Lincoln town line)
    • November 5 — Farm Meadow/Coburn East. Meet at Lincoln MBTA parking lot (free on weekends)
    • December 3 — Mt. Misery (meet at Mt. Misery parking lot on Route 117 at 60 South Great Rd.)

Volunteer conservation crew on Fieldwork Fridays — Town land management staff will host three volunteer workdays focused on invasive plant species control on September 30 (Codman South), October 28 (Beaver Pond), and November 18 (Sudbury River canoe launch). Volunteers will get a chance to make a positive impact on our conservation land and enjoy the great outdoors. Click here to RSVP (select the bottom tab with the date you wish to participate). Meeting location, event details, and waiver will be emailed to registrants prior to the workday. Questions? Email conservation@lincolntown.org or call 781-259-2612.

Garden Club event for prospective members

All Lincoln residents are cordially invited to the Lincoln Garden Club’s wine and cheese evening for new and prospective members on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. Come hear about the club’s many horticultural events and meet some members. Please RSVP to Ann Parke at annparke@verizon.net or Lucy Sprayregen at lucypage@aol.com.

Jacques Maroni, 1923-2022

Jacques Maroni

Jacques R. Maroni died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 99. Born to Robert and Valentine Maroni in Paris, France on January 9, 1923, he graduated from Lycee Janson de Sailly in Paris, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Class of ’43) and the Harvard Business School (Class of ’48). A U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II, he worked for the Ford Motor Company for 37 years and was married to his beloved wife, Marilyn “Linette” Maroni, for 62 years.

He was raised in the 16th arrondissement of Paris and developed lifelong passions for tennis (competing as a junior in the French Open in 1938) and skiing (enjoying his last runs at Alta when he was 89). He was generally on the first and last chairs of the day, but always left the mountain to have lunch with his wife when she stopped skiing. 

After the fall of France in June 1940, his parents placed him and his brother on one of the last tugboats to leave the St. Malo harbor for safety in England, and later the U.S. He loved the energy of America and went to work at Ford after attending Harvard Business School on the GI bill. He held various executive positions over four decades, the most important of which was an assignment with an advertising executive and his assistant on marketing a new car. He married the assistant, and the marriage lasted. The car was the Edsel, and it did not.

He had prodigious curiosity. He held the patent for the automatic pilot and was the first person at Ford to use a computer in the fifties. He concluded his Ford career as Director of Energy and Environmental Planning, where he encouraged the company to support alternative sources of energy in the seventies and eighties.  

After retiring in 1988, he moved to the house his father built in Lincoln in 1952. There he focused on landscaping the fields, as his father had before him, and investing in technology. He loved the outdoors.

His singular focus, however, was always his family. He would hold hands with his wife, take pride in his daughter’s medical career and compare investment ideas with his son. However, he became most focused on his three grandchildren. Bopop (a name he warmed to gradually) loved their special days together when they were young and learning about their adventures when they became adults. He would often speak of his childhood in Paris, and took great pride in family trips with his grandchildren to explore his favorite city. 

He was born in his parents’ apartment in Paris in the 1920s and died in his parents’ home in Lincoln in the 2020s. To the end, he vividly remembered every decade. He loved new ideas, hated small talk and devoured books on future technology and world history in equal measure.

He leaves behind his wife, Linette Maroni of Lincoln; his sister, Claudine Harris of Iowa City, Iowa; a daughter and son-in-law, Jaman Maroni and Mike Terry of New York, N.Y.; a son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Polly Maroni, of Brookline; and grandchildren Polly, Kate, and Jack Maroni.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home; click here to leave a remembrance. Donations in Maroni’s name can be made to Emerson Hospital.

Solar array at landfill could be built starting next summer

The town has cleared a major hurdle in its years-long effort to create a solar photovoltaic array atop the capped landfill next to the transfer station.

The National Park Service owns the land along Route 2A and up the beginning of Mill Street, over which the town must create utility access to the site. The federal government was “vigorously protecting their rights” but recently came to an agreement with the town for an access permit, Town Administrator Tm Higgins reported at the September 12 Select Board meeting.

There will be an informational meeting via Zoom (passcode: 335408) on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. to explain the project background and impacts to abutters and others. According to an FAQ document that’s been distributed to abutters, the only noise from the installation once it’s operable will be a low hum from the inverter when the sun is shining and HVAC equipment inside the energy storage system as a volume that will be “negligible” at the nearby transfer station.

The solar array is expected to generate about 1 megawatt of electricity, which will feed into Eversource’s distribution system via the utility poles and power lines along Mill Street and be used to power town-owned buildings. The town will receive financial credits from Eversource for the energy produced, as well as annual property tax payments.

In 2017, residents approved a “land swap” arrangement whereby some of the landfill property was taken out of conservation status in exchange for putting the same amount of land elsewhere into conservation. That land is part of the Wang property on Bedford Road that the town purchased, now the site of an athletic field as well as nine acres of conservation land.

The town hopes to issue a request for proposals in October 2022 and receive competitive bids from solar companies by mid-November. Construction lasting 4-6 months could begin in summer 2023.

It may also be possible to create a trail link during the process of creating access to the site, Higgins said.

News acorns

Register for this weekend’s Hazardous Waste Collection Day

Lincolnites who want to bring materials to discard at the regional Hazardous Waste Collection Day on Sunday, Sept. 18 must preregister by the end of the day on Thursday, Sept. 15. Visit this Lexington town web page for more information and to register.

Select Board to discuss renaming Columbus Day

Last spring, Lincoln students wrote to the Select Board to request that the town change the name of the Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Select Board will discuss the proposal during its meeting on Monday, Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m. and will likely take the matter under advisement until its October 3 meeting to provide residents the opportunity to share their views before a vote is taken. The board’s meetings are held in a hybrid format, creating the opportunity for residents to attend in person or via Zoom (passcode: 378902). Those who are unable to attend but would like to provide input are welcome to e-mail the board care of Administrative Assistant Peggy Elder (elderp@lincolntown.org).

Share ideas for Complete Streets grants

Lincoln is in the process of preparing a new five-year Complete Streets Prioritization Plan. Complete Streets is a state-funded grant program to help municipalities improve their streets to accommodate users of all ages and abilities, whether driving, cycling, or walking. Each municipality is allowed up to $400,000 through a four-year rolling period.

Previous Complete Streets grants funded the pocket park with its bike repair station and informational kiosk, repairs to various bike path segments that had been damaged by tree roots, a new sidewalk segment on Lincoln Road near the Ryan Estate, and a crosswalk with flashing lights and a pedestrian island on Route 117 close to the Lincoln Road intersection.

Town officials will be using an online platform called Wikimapping to get public feedback on where in town you would like to see improvements for walking, cycling, driving, and public transit. Click here through the end of October to share your thoughts about transportation issues and opportunities. There will also be a public forum on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. via Zoom at this link (passcode: 783032).

My Turn: Are you tending to our collective garden?

By Barbara Slayter

Lincoln is a beautiful town, green and fragrant at this time of year as New England tips from summer into autumn. Lincoln’s residents take good care of their gardens beginning with the daffodils and tulips of early spring, on through the rhododendrons, day lilies, and black-eyed Susans into fall. The trails are well cared for and enjoyed.

But how well do we tend to our larger social and political garden beyond the borders of our gracious community? We are a thoughtful, well-educated group of people tending carefully to the professional and business interests for which we are trained. Are we paying attention to the political context in which we are able to pursue these interests as fully as we do?

A few pages into a different sort of “gardening” manual, How Democracies Die by Daniel Ziblatt and Steve Levitsky, will reveal just how much our national political garden needs attention. The precarious balance between Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate requires our focus.

Surely we are not so complacent that we might stand by as the House becomes populated by newly elected 2020 election deniers. Are we ready for expanding fallout from the reversal of Roe v. Wade, for increasing culture wars against the LGBTQ community, or for a rollback on climate interventions?

It is time for us to examine the political garden beyond Lincoln and even beyond Massachusetts. What elections around the country are the most important — the most strategic — for preserving our democracy? How can we deploy our personal, limited funds and time most effectively to assure that we sustain not only our democracy, but the momentum we have recently been gaining with the chips and science legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, health care for veterans, and more?

What can you do — what can I do, and what can each of us do — to put our energies where the stakes are high — maybe Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin or elsewhere? Let’s help shape these elections in order to keep the House and the Senate Blue. This election isn’t about gas prices or gun safety. It is about threats to our democracy. Our national political garden needs some work. Let’s get at it!

For ideas and strategies that can address our national political landscape, join the Lincoln Democrats and Tom Hallock and Ed Loechler, co-founders of Force Multiplier, a Boston-based volunteer Democratic fundraising organization, for an informational (not fundraising) meeting about how to support key Senatorial and Congressional candidates in the midterms. Click here to register and get the Zoom link.

“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.

Correction

The September 13 story headlined “First Parish in Lincoln gets a dynamic duo” incorrectly said that Rev. Kit Novotny’s parents founded a UCC church in Wellesley Hills (they joined one but did not found it). The article also misstated Rev. Nate Klug’s college major. He studied English, while Novotny majored in theater and anthropology. The story has been corrected.

First Parish in Lincoln gets a dynamic duo

Nate Klug and Kit Novotny, co-ministers at the First Parish in Lincoln.

The First Parish in Lincoln began enjoying a two-for-one deal when Rev. Nate Klug and Rev. Kit Novotny — high school sweethearts who grew up in Wellesley — started their dual ministry in August.

Though both have an affinity for the arts, they came to their religious careers by slightly different routes. Novotny calls herself a “cradle Congregationalist” — her parents were lapsed Catholics who later joined a United Church of Christ (UCC) in Wellesley Hills. “The church was our community with a lot of my best friends growing up,” she said. “My parents were super involved and I was a pretty spiritually interested kid.”

Klug, meanwhile,  grew up without any religious tradition. “It was quite a surprise to me,” he said. “I kind of stumbled on faith on college.” After a friend’s father was killed, “I was just asking a lot of big questions… I got this germ of faith which was quite weird for my family.”

Both Klug and Novotny went to the University of Chicago, After graduating with a degree in English, Klug was interning for a literary magazine in Chicago when his editor invited him to a church service. “I was blown away by the sermon,” he said. “Eventually I was at a moment where a spiritual commitment was something I was ready for.”

Novotny, who majored in theater and anthropology, was involved in theater and improv in Chicago and was an intern at the famous Second City comedy club in that city for a year after she graduated. She also worked at comedy club in Iowa during her first ministerial job after grad school. “There’s definitely sermon fodder in standup,” she said with a laugh.

After they graduated from Yale Divinity School and were ordained in the UCC in 2013, they applied for a few jobs as a couple but eventually wound up serving as ministers in separate churches in the San Francisco area. A couple of years ago, they began looking for jobs back east so that they and their preschool-age daughters could be closer to their families (“we have four very enthusiastic grandparents in the Boston area,” Novotny said).

Because of the pandemic, Klug could continue his other work in California even after they moved to Massachusetts about a year ago and began looking for church posts locally. A poet and essayist as well as a minister (his latest book is Hosts and Guests: Poems), Klug teaches remotely in the MFA program at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., and in the creative writing at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Novotny is also a writer and a certified yoga instructor with training in trauma-sensitive yoga.

As seminary students, both had mentors who’d worked as co-pastors, so when they learned about the FPL opening, they approached it as a team. “We kind of introduced the idea to the search committee here,” Klug said. “They were really rigorous and diligent about finding out what it would be like. It was a real process of discernment on both sides [in asking] does the church want to take a leap of faith on both of us and vice versa?” They found that FPL is “a really creative place, a community church with a big spiritual tent — it seemed like a place that might be open to this kind of creative ministry model.”

As for the division of labor, the couple will split most things 50-50 and trade off preaching. “You can come to it a little more fresh when you don’t have to do it every week,” Novotny said. “The community will get a little more diversity of voice since we have slightly different styles.”

Both will do pastoral care visits and adult education. “This congregation is very interested in learning and are voracious readers,” Klug said.

They also have a few ideas for new approaches and events to engage the community. Klug will lead a group called “Poetry for Seekers” while Novotny will lead “Coffee and Compassion,” where she and participants can reflect on what requires compassion in the world and learn about tools for connection and emotional resilience. The pair is also co-authoring a blog, and they’ll take turns hosting “Theology on Tap” discussions at the Tack Room each month, with the first one scheduled for September 23. The events are open to all, including those who aren’t church members or who don’t live in Lincoln.

“Our first priority is building relationships and connections,” Novotny said. “Religion has a lot of baggage, some of it well deserved, that might keep people from walking through the door. There was a loneliness epidemic happening even pre-Covid, and religious institutions have been declining in popularity. I think there’s a longing where people aren’t all getting those needs met, so hopefully the church can keep reinventing itself” to foster those connections.

News acorns

Apply for Cultural Council grants

The Lincoln Cultural Council is accepting proposals for programs that serve Lincoln residents. Register here for a Massachusetts Cultural Council webinar for new applicants on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. The application deadline is October 17.  Click here to learn more about local grant priorities and how to apply. Questions? Email Meg Ramsey with any questions at meg.ramsey@verizon.net.

Library hosts banned-book discussions

To recognize Banned Books Week, there will discussions about banned books at the Lincoln Public Library:

  • Readers in grades 4-6 and their families: Monday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. Email dleopold@minlib.net to register.
  • Readers in grades 7+ and their families: Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. Email sfeather@minlib.net to register.

Kids’ dance classes for LincFam members

LincFam (the Lincoln Family Association) invites new members to join the group and participate in a series of free classes for children ages 1-5 led by Lincoln resident Margie Topf, founder and artistic director of the Topf Center for Dance Education. Classes take place on four Saturday mornings: September 17 and 24, and October 8 and 15. To learn more, see this LincFam web page or email info@lincfam.org.

Cronin lecture at deCordova

The Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum will take place at the museum on Wednesday, Oct. 19 from 6:30–8 p.m. The event is a conversation among leading museum figures Candice Hopkins, executive director of the Forge Project; Julie Decker, director/CEO of the Anchorage Museum; and Jane Winchell, director of the Art & Nature Center and leader of the Museum Climate & Environment Initiative at the Peabody Essex Museum. The panel will share ideas with one another about the relationship of art and arts organization to climate change discourse. Panelists will reveal ways in which their organizations are forging connections between cultural, artistic, and natural resources. Moderated by Jessica May, artistic director at the deCordova and managing director of art and  exhibitions for The Trustees. Click here for more information and to register.