Old Lyme Town Hall Says Farewell to its “Greeter,” who “Performed Admirably … Added New Dimensions” to the Position (Griswold)

Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold stands with Town Hall Greeter Chris Kirk, whom Griswold described as having, “Served admirably.” Kirk left his position Friday to pursue new ventures.

OLD LYME — Chris Kirk, a recent graduate of Lyme-Old Lyme High School, has been serving as the Old Lyme Town Hall “Greeter” since December, 2020. The newly-created position was required due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Kirk left the job last Friday to take up a job at a summer camp in New Hampshire and a celebration in his honor was held in the town hall.

The fact that the celebration was held reflects not only Kirk’s efficiency in his work as the “Greeter,” but also his universal popularity among town hall employees and members of the public with whom he interacted.

Asked to comment on Kirk’s service to the town, Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold said, “He has performed admirably. His polite and friendly manner motivated numerous visitors to Town Hall to tell me how refreshing their experiences were when dealing with him.  He uniformly went beyond what was expected to make sure they received excellent service.”

Griswold continued, “During slow times, Chris was a voracious reader of second-hand books from the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library Book Cellar. The books covered a wide variety of subjects and he enjoyed talking eloquently about them.”

Noting that Kirk often exceeded his official job expectations, Griswold mentioned, “During a February snow storm, Chris took it upon himself to grab a snow shovel and cleared the sidewalk leading to Town Hall,” adding with a chuckle,  “That was certainly not part of the job description!”

Speaking on behalf of all the staff at town hall, Griswold wished Kirk, “All success as he moves on to his next endeavor,” noting, “He has added new dimensions to the “Greeter” job description and we thank him for performing so well.”

May 25 COVID-19 Update: No New Cases in Either Lyme, Old Lyme; Cumulative Case Totals Hold at 107, 342 Respectively

LYME/OLD LYME —The Daily Data Report for Connecticut issued Tuesday, May 25, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health  (CT-DPH) for data as at 8:30 p.m. Monday, May 24, shows that neither Lyme nor Old Lyme reported any new cases compared with the previous day.

Both towns held at their previous day’s cumulative case totals with Lyme at 107 and Old Lyme at 342.

This is the 12th reporting day in succession that there has been no change in the number of cumulative cases in Lyme and the fifth reporting day in succession for Old Lyme.

These Daily Reports are not issued by CT DPH on Saturdays or Sundays and therefore Monday’s data includes new cases from both weekend days.

The next new report will be issued in the afternoon of Wednesday, May 26.

Old Lyme –  No New Cases 

The May 25 Daily Data Report for Connecticut for data as at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25, shows that Old Lyme has a cumulative total (since the outbreak began) of 331 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 11 probable casesmaking a TOTAL of 342 cases.

This represents NO CHANGE in the cumulative number of confirmed or probable cases compared with those reported May 24.

The total number of Old Lyme residents tested is 5,311, an increase of three over the May 24 number of 5,308.

Lyme – No Change in Cumulative Cases

Lyme has a cumulative total (since the outbreak began) of 99 confirmed cases and 8 probable cases, making a TOTAL of 107 cases.

This represents NO CHANGE in the cumulative number of confirmed or probable cases compared with those reported the previous day.

The total number of Lyme residents tested is 1,426, which represents an increase of five over the May 24 number of 1,421.

Duck River Garden Club Hosts ‘Heirloom Gardens’ Zoom Presentation Tonight; All Welcome

Photo by Tim Cooper on Unsplash.

OLD LYME — This evening, Tuesday, May 25, at 7 p.m., Duck River Garden Club (DRGC) presents a virtual program titled, Heirloom Gardens.

The program will be presented by Linda Turner.

This DRGC presentation is open to the public and requires advance registration.

Virtual socials take place at 6:30 p.m., presentations at 7 p.m., followed by a business meeting for members.

To register for this free program, call or email Karen Geisler, DRGC president, at 860-434-5321 or karengr007@gmail.com. You must have the free Zoom app to see this virtual program; phone call-in also available.

Check DRGC’s website and the club’s public Duck River Garden Club of Old Lyme Facebook page for any changes to planned programs.

DRGC welcomes new members, who can join via the membership form on the website. For further information on membership, contact Karen Geisler. Attendance at DRGC virtual programs counts toward the required two meetings for prospective club members.

Old Lyme’s Historical Society Wins Award from Print Industry of New England for 2021 ‘Then & Now’ Calendar

Shown accepting the PINE Award of Merit award are Essex Printing’s President, William McMinn and calendar designer, James Meehan of James Meehan Art & Design.

OLD LYME — The Print Industry of New England (PINE) announced May 5, that Essex Printing and the Old Lyme Historical Society (OLHSI) have received an award in PINE’s New England Regional Awards of Excellence competition.
Judged anonymously on its own merit in a category with similar printed pieces, the 2021 PINE Award of Merit was presented to Essex Printing and OLHSI for the society’s 2021 Then & Now Calendar.
 
PINE’s Awards of Excellence Competition attracted hundreds of entries from printing and imaging companies across New England competing in a variety of printing and graphic communications categories.

Tonight SECWAC Hosts Zoom Presentation on ‘Crisis in the Uyghur Region’

Joshua Freeman

LYME/OLD LYME/AREAWIDE — On Tuesday, May 25, at 6 p.m., the Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council (SECWAC) presents Joshua Freeman of Princeton University speaking on Crisis in the Uyghur Region: Xinjiang, 2017 to the Present.

The presentation will be online via Zoom.

Registration required.

The event is free for members, the fee for guests is $20.

The link to join us will be emailed with your registration confirmation. Zoom meetings will be used:
https://scwac.wildapricot.org/event-4232340

Freeman is a historian of 20th-century China and Inner Asia. His research centers around official culture and nation formation in China’s northwestern borderlands, and in particular the cultural history of the transborder Uyghur nation.

He received his Ph.D. in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies at Harvard University in 2019, where his research received support from the Social Science Research Council, Fulbright-IIE, and multiple centers at Harvard.

On the basis of his dissertation, he is currently at work on a book manuscript titled “Print Communism: Uyghur National Culture in Twentieth-Century China.”

Drawing on cultural, literary, and political history, this study demonstrates that socialist policies, implemented in northwest China’s Xinjiang region from the 1930s through the late 20th century, enabled the small Sino-Soviet frontier community of Ili to transform its local culture into the new Uyghur national culture.

Examining this process offers insight into the nexus between socialism and nation formation at the intersection of the Chinese, Soviet, and Islamic worlds.

Freeman’s work as a cultural historian is informed and inspired by the seven years he spent living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In addition to working extensively there as a translator, he completed a master’s degree in Uyghur literature at Xinjiang Normal University with a thesis on Uyghur modernist poetry, which he composed and defended in Uyghur.

He has translated (link is external) the work of a number of Uyghur poets into English and has published widely in American literary journals.

At Princeton, Freeman lectures on Chinese and Inner Asian history in the Department of East Asian Studies.

If you are new to Zoom virtual meetings and would like to learn more about how to join the event, visit zoom.us for more information. Also, feel free to call 860-912-5718 for technical advice prior to the event. It will not be possible to resolve issues during the meeting.

A link to the recording will be shared via email following the meeting.