Lowell Weicker on Face the State
This Sunday the former Governor, Senator and Congressman talks about the income tax, casinos, Senator Chris Dodd and who he will vote for in 2010.
A Tough Decision
Bruce Sundlun picking up his new Buick Lucerne, May 2007
Former Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun, my father-in-law, took a big step yesterday. After driving since the Great Depression, he gave up his driver’s license. For a man who turns 90 this coming winter, it wasn’t easy….for him or us. This came after a long period of pleading from his family, incidents that resulted in police action, reports in the Providence Journal detailing his lack of driving prowess, and ultimately, some self-reflection. We are extremely proud of his decision to turn over his license to the Rhode Island DMV. We also know how difficult it can be for a family with an older driver.
What wasn’t reported in the news stories about my father-in-law’s driving is that we, his family, had been trying to persuade him to give up driving for some time. Most of us refused to drive with him, but that didn’t work. He still wouldn’t give it up. Over time he relinquished the controls and became a passenger, mostly because the option was going out by himself and following behind….way behind!
Whenever we broached the subject of his driving, the Governor’s response was always the same ” I’m a good driver!” he would growl. “I’ve been trained to drive by the FBI, the CIA and the DEA.” He didn’t seem the least bit phased when we countered with the fact that this training occured when Eisenhower was president! No, his argument often fell on deaf ears, especially when he backed into my brother-in-law’s car in his driveway.
This is a man who survived being shot down by the Nazis during World War II, won the governor’s race after two defeats, faced the anger of customers whose troubled banks he shut down, and beat cancer. The man who fought hard against the naysayers to bring a first class airport to Providence wasn’t going to give up driving just because we asked him to.
In fact, two years ago he needed a new car and liked our car and wanted one exactly like it. He wanted it to look sporty, and have all the options, namely Onstar so he wouldn’t have to use a cell phone while driving. Thank goodness for that. We wisely talked him out of getting a navigation screen, since the last thing my father-in-law needed was a monitor full of colorful maps to distract him from keeping his eyes on the road.
I had to drive his car last year and Kara and I were stunned by the high mileage. He drove often and everywhere. He came to Hartford to visit us, all around the state for fundraisers and charity events, to his alma mater Williams College for a reunion, Boston to visit one of his granddaughters and New York City for an event. He was also driving to his office at URI every day.
My father-in-law kept driving for a number of reasons, including peer pressure. He has friends who still drive….friends who are older than he is! Just last summer, over lunch Kara and I were trying to persuade Bruce to give up driving when his 90 year old friend came over. Here is how the conversation went:
Bruce: “How are you, my dear?”
Friend: “I’ve had a dreadful day. I had to drive my grandson to the train station near URI, and then take another to the airport and then drive to Providence for an errand and back to Newport.”
She didn’t exactly help our cause. We should point out he also has a 92 year old friend who still drives.
I think my father-in-law should use his experience to help others. The Rhode Island DMV should put him in a PSA explaining how people can help with a loved one who should no longer drive.
The cities of Providence and Hartford should build housing for seniors downtown, within walking distance to stores, services, and hospitals. It might make giving up a driver’s license less traumatic.
This morning Kara said “I am so proud of my Dad.” We all are.
the first Senator Dodd
1967
This Sunday on Face the State we take a look at the late Senator Thomas Dodd, the father of our current senator. Using some film clips from the Channel 3 archives, the viewers will be able to see and hear from a man whose name has come up frequently this year.
Why are we doing this? In March I interviewed Senator Chris Dodd and asked him about whether he was thinks about his father more often as he faces the political fight of his career. I didn’t explain his father’s situation and as a result some of our younger viewers later asked me “hey..who was Tom Dodd and what happened to him?”
Dick Ahles, a retired vice-president of news at Channel 3 will be our guest. He covered Senator Dodd back in the day. He also look at the parallels between Tom Dodd’s political troubles of 1970, and his son’s troubles 40 years later.
Also for some more information check out Genghis Conn’s report on ctlocalpolitics.net http://ctlocalpolitics.net/2009/03/23/2010-and-1970/
See you Sunday and let me know what you think. DON”T FORGET TO WRITE YOUR NAME AND CITY OR TOWN AT THE END OF YOUR POST!
The Swine Flew Through The Park
Swines and pigs created this scene at Elizabeth Park this weekend. Shameful. Litter everywhere and graffiti on the playscape. Look at this graffiti carefully….it looks like it was done by children. Were the parents encouraging them? Who bought the Sharpies? Those were left on the ground with the other litter. If you know who did this, call Hartford Police at 860 527-6300
Deep Conversation about a Fictional Dog
Yes, Denise, Al and I had a long conversation about a fictional dog who was a household name in the summer of 1976. Who would have thought? We are news anchors and friends who have talked about everything over the past 15 years…and this was a new chapter in our pod chatter.
It started when Denise came into work literally singing the praises of the 70s on 7 channel on satellite radio. She was boasting about another 1976 hit, “Don’t give up on us, baby,” and she proudly told us it was by David Soul….the Starsky and Hutch guy.
Anyway, one thing led to another and soon we were talking about the song “Shannon,” an ode to a dead dog. ”Shannon is gone, I know…she drifted to out sea.” We really didn’t know anything about the song, so Al, as he is known to do, immediately googled it. Al went on to report that the song, by Henry Gross, was about an Irish Setter that belonged to one of the Beach Boys.
“Yes, well, it is a melancholy ballad that delves into the crushing emptiness as one pines over the passing of a cherished canine being,” Al recited to us…or something like that.
Wonder what we’ll talk about today?
The new 4 door Oxymoron: Hypocrisy is standard
I snapped a quick picture of this vehicle on West Street in Rocky Hill today. It was covered in bumper stickers, and one quickly learned this driver is a …well….let’s put it this way….didn’t vote for McCain.
There was an Obama sticker, a save the environment sticker, stop the war, etc. There was also one that said
“If conservatives are so patriotic, then why are they sending jobs overseas.”
Hello? I’d love to tell the driver that his car was made overseas in a foreign country by foreign workers. He helped fund an overseas paycheck. All I can figure is that he must be a closet conservative.
Do they really believe that?
“Phone number? ” That’s what the cashier at Sports Authority asks as does the one at Babiesru. I’m paying cash and they want my home number. Do I get the cashier’s number in return? What would she want my number for?
When I asked for an explanation I was told it is so the store can send me coupons. Huh? Does the cashier really believe that? Wouldn’t it be easier to hand over the coupons right there rather than pay for some service to determine my address, and then pay for postage to send them?
If anybody at these stores knows the story, please post it here.
Eva M. House 1916-2009
As many of you now know, my grandmother passed away last week after a long life. Kara and Scot were talking about it on Better Connecticut and I want to thank all of you who expressed your condolences, including on Facebook.
“Gram” died on Friday, hours after suffering a stroke. She was 7 weeks from turning 93. Her sons were by her side and she squeezed their hands in her final moments.
There was an official obituary for Eva M. House, but how do you cover in a few paragraphs, a life that spanned ten decades. It is remarkable all the things she witnessed in her lifetime. To put it in perspective, my grandmother was actually older than so many historic figures who died before her: President Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Pope John Paul II and others.
She would tell you her life was an ordinary one. Maybe so, but at the wake and funeral everyone had a story to tell about my grandmother, and we all had different experiences with her….many of them extraordinary.
My grandmother probably never thought she’d be mentioned in a blog…in fact she probably didn’t know what a blog was, but she saw quite a bit in her more than 92 years on earth.
Eva Mazalauski House was born on May 24, 1916 in Exeter, New Hampshire to parents who had emigrated from Lithuania, which was then part of the Russian Empire. President Woodrow Wilson was up for re-election when my grandmother was born, and the debate of the day was whether the United States would enter World War I. President Wilson declared war on Germany a month before my grandmother’s first birthday.
Not every home had electricity when my grandmother was born, and some didn’t even have indoor plumbing. Phones were somewhat rare, and the Ford Model T was the best selling car. Text meant a book, there were no airports, and people died of polio. The Red Sox were coming off winning the 1915 World Series. What a different world it was.
In the 1930s she met and married my grandfather, Arnold House. They had four sons, Michael, Dennis (my father,) Brian and William, who came along roughly every five years. How’s that for family planning? This House family was raised in Haverhill, Massachusetts where both my grandparents worked in factories. Haverhill and nearby Lawrence were known for their mills, and shoes were the big product to come out of Haverhill. My grandmother worked in a shoe factory, much to the benefit of my mother, who was given many a pair from her mother-in-law.
Many of my memories of my grandmother revolve around her home at 3 Florence Avenue in Haverhill, at the top of a very steep hill…certainly steeper than anything I’d seen in my town. Every couple of months we took the trip up from Norwood and I clearly remember my parents navigating the incline and parking behind my grandparents’ gold Buick and my Uncle Bill coming to greet us. He was a teenager at the time, and used to take us for ice cream in the coolest convertible.
We always entered the house through a breezeway, where for some reason there was often Jello cooling. Much of our visits were spent in the backyard which overlooked part of the Merrimack River and the other houses on the side of the steep hill. There was a big garden that was my grandfather’s pride and joy and a large grapevine, flanked by stone wall that also served as a makeshift grave for a family cat. “Chizza” and the year he died were painted on one of the stones.
Inside my grandmother always served a good meal that usually included canned peas. In a strange way, they were always a treat because my mother only served frozen. They had a funky whitish silver Christmas tree that sat in front a fake fireplace.
My grandparents’ basement was a creepy place where my brother and I loved to explore. There was all sorts of stuff down there and it had a smell of old wood. From the upstairs you could see a Dairy Queen in the distance. There were three small bedrooms up there where a family of 6 lived..all sharing one bathroom.
After my grandfather died in 1986, Gram was on her own…really for the first time in her life. She did some traveling, to Germany, Vegas, and in her later years there were shorter trips, like to Foxwoods. In 1991 when I had to work Christmas Day and couldn’t come back home, Gram and my mother flew to Michigan and brought the holiday to me.
I actually lived with Gram for a while when I got my first television job in New Hampshire. The pay was awful so living for free in my father’s childhood bedroom was a great deal. My grandmother cooked for me, did my laundry, and on Thursdays we watched LA Law together….it was her favorite show. She ironed my shirts and one time, she handed me a short sleeved shirt that looked just like a long sleeved one I had tossed in the hamper. Turns out Gram had spilled bleach on a sleeve….and with her sewing machine and scissors salvaged the shirt!
Eventually I saved enough money for an apartment, and then my grandmother invited a college buddy of mine to move in to my old room…and he got the Gram treatment. Later, my cousin Scott would live there.
We did see more of Gram after she became a widow. When I moved back to New England she mentioned had never been on the “T,” the MBTA, and was somewhat concerned about going on a subway. I told her it was no big deal and took for a trip on the Green Line when she was in town visiting my mother. Sure enough in a very rare occurrence, the train had some sort of problem and we had to walk a distance and grab a cab. That was also my grandmother’s last experience on the “T.”
About 10-12 years ago, I put my television skills to work and interviewed my grandmother on camera about her life. Sadly, the tape is in a box of stuff somewhere in my attic, and I hope I can find it.
My grandmother left behind 11 grandchildren ranging in age from 29 to 50, my cousins: Lisa, Diana, Scott, Brian, Jeff, Debbie, Mike, Shelly, Laurie, and my brother Chris and me. For the most part, Gram also considered my second cousins, her grandnephew Steve and grandniece Valerie , her other two grandchildren. Because of the various ages, backgrounds and locations the memories my cousins, brother and I have of Gram may all be different. She also had 13 great grandchildren, including Helena, shown here with the only great-grandmother she ever knew.
Gram slowed down in the past decade. She sold the house on Florence Ave. in the late 1990s, and moved into an apartment in a complex for seniors where she lived until her death. After a few “incidents” we’ll call them, she gave up driving, but thanks to my uncle’s taxi company, she still managed to get around, see friends, play Bingo, and go out for lunch.
Getting old is hard. My grandmother used to tell me it was very difficult to outlive all her friends, sisters and face the reality of not being able to do what she used to.
When we got the call last week around midday that Gram had suffered a stroke, Kara and I made plans to visit her in the hospital the next day. …after her scheduled CAT scan. That of course never happened…..she went quickly, and died while I was anchoring the 6PM news.
In many ways it was a blessing, and my grandmother went the way she wanted to, although I do wish we could have had the chance to say goodbye. There was no long suffering, like my grandfather who battled an aggressive cancer. There was no nursing home, no hospice, no pain.
Gram, you made your mark on our lives and we will miss you.
The Wild, Wild West End
Wild turkeys, bats, a coyote, owl and a woodpecker. Where am I? Simsbury? Essex? How about Hartford?
That’s what I’ve seen in the city’s west end. Every morning I hear an owl and a woodpecker..thankfully in a tree and not in my house! Yesterday, I saw a flock of turkeys crossing Asylum Avenue. Last summer we had a coyote in my driveway and last nght a bat in the window.
No bears yet, although one was caught in the West End a few years ago! City living.
