OLD LYME–On July 17,Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) announced, “There are currently no swimming advisories or closures in effect at any LLHD-monitored beaches.”
The health district website explains the agency conducts weekly sampling from Memorial Day through Labor Day in Old Lyme as well as East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, New London, Stonington, and Waterford.
Water quality is measured by the presence of enterococcal organisms, which are a group of organisms that may indicate the presence of potentially harmful bacteria.
The State of Connecticut has issued water quality guidelines to determine if a bathing area needs to be resampled or posted with an advisory. A concentration of enterococcal organisms exceeding 104 colonies per 100 ml of marine water and 235 colonies per 100 ml of freshwater is considered unsatisfactory for bathing.
An advisory is triggered when two consecutive samples exceed the state threshold, according to the health district. The advisory is removed once levels are safe.
EAST LYME—On July 10, a bat found on Boston Post Rd. in East Lyme was tested and found to be positive for rabies on July 10.
A press release issued by Ledge Light Health District the same day urges people to refrain from feeding or approaching any wild or stray animals.
Rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus that can infect all warm-blooded animals, including people. It is spread mostly by wild animals, but stray cats and dogs may also become infected and spread the virus.
The rabies virus lives in the saliva and brain tissue of infected animals. Rabies can be spread by scratches from infected animals or when infected saliva comes into contact with open wounds, breaks in the skin or mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.)
If you have any questions or concerns, contact Ledge Light Health District at 860-448-4882 or the Waterford/East Lyme Animal Control at 860-442-9451.
The hall designated for Women’s Clothing was packed with eager shoppers throughout both days. Photos courtesy of Eileen Mueller, except where indicated.
This Year’s Gross Sales Exceed 2024 Record By “At Least 10 Percent”
A cheery Eileen Mueller of Old Lyme proudly wears her signature, red volunteer apron while serving customers.
OLD LYME — The weather was great for this year’s White Elephant Sale (WES) at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme … unlike last year when the heavens opened and rain dampened everything … except the financial results.
So, here at LymeLine, we wondered how things went in this year’s sale, which, as always, drew huge crowds, and sparked that unique community spirit for which is is renowned.
We asked WES Chairman Bob Davis that question and he replied by email saying, in a nutshell, it was the, “Best sale ever — again!!!! That is two years in a row, rain or shine”
He added, “Early numbers show [financial results] at least 10% bigger than last year,” and this was despite many departments thinking they did not have sufficient goods to sell!
He remarked that they may have been literally “flooded” in 2024, “but set a record anyways.” This year he noted, “The weather was much better and the customers came out in a steady stream after the initial Friday rush.”
Sporting Goods offered a fine array of bikes for sale and, under the tent in the background, the department set out a huge array of sports equipment and more at bargain prices.
Davis said that the Sale ran very smoothly and, “All had great time with full a compliment of volunteers.”
All the proceeds from the Sale are distributed by the church’s Benevolent Society to support a great variety of charities both locally, statewide, nationally and internationally, as well as the church itself.
Bob Davis, WES Chairman, gave a debrief on the WES at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Sunday’s service. Photo courtesy of FCCOL.
Davis, who has been chairing the WES for more years than he can remember, said the organizing committee is already thinking about improvements for next year and welcomes hearing any thoughts from the community.
Finally, he noted in a brief presentation at yesterday’s FCCOL morning service that the WES sale dates for 2026 are July 10 and 11 … so Save Those Dates!
The line to pay for women’s clothing never seemed to get any shorter!
Editor’s Note: i) We offer hearty congratulations to all those involved in pulling off this amazing sale. Bob Davis obviously plays a leading role and his efforts must be especially appreciated, but he is joined by a multitude of loyal volunteers year after year— and new ones too. Many thanks to you all.
Members of VFW Post 1467 gather for a photo. Post Membership Chairman Ed Shilosky stands in second row at left, Post Trustee and former Commander David Griswold stands at right. Photo submitted.
LYME/OLD LYME–For this Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post with no bar and no building, the focus remains on helping veterans wherever they can be found.
VFW Post 1467 trustee and former commander David Griswold said the group has helped 142 veterans since an anonymous donor handed him a check for $10,000 over a cup of coffee back in 2012.
Griswold, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, whose service included a year in Vietnam as a company commander, recounted the exchange during an interview last week at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library. He said the donor had two requests—that his name remain anonymous and that the money be used to help veterans.
“You can’t go out and buy a pool table or have a beer party,” Griswold recalled the man saying.
It was an easy commitment for an organization that had long eschewed the smoky, wood-paneled VFW canteens popularized in the post-World War II era. Instead, they’ve met predominantly at the Lymes’ Senior Center.
“And not having a bar has really helped us,” Griswold said. “These bars, they sprung to life after the war in the 50s, 60s. They’re old buildings, a lot of them. They’re beat up. They’re a horrible expense to keep up. Insurance is terrible.”
Post 1467 Membership Chairman Ed Shilosky, who is credited with the “No Bar, No Building, Just Good Works” motto, said not having to worry about building upkeep has allowed them to put more resources toward helping veterans in need and helped draw more members.
Shilosky, who was in the Army for 23 years, served on active duty in Vietnam and then in the reserves.
“The main reason people join us now is they want to get away from VFWs that don’t do anything, either for the community or for veterans, because they’re weighed down by other expenses,” Shilosky said.
Griswold pointed to changing societal attitudes that have made the group’s ethos all the more relevant.
“Back after World War II, going out and drinking heavy was kind of expected, but it’s not now,” he said. “And let’s say you have a young person that gets back from Iraq or Afghanistan, maybe he has some drinking issues. Saying, ‘Let’s join the VFW, you can get drunk every day’ isn’t helping the person.”
The post’s membership roster of roughly 80 people includes veterans from Lyme, Old Lyme and beyond. The only membership requirement is honorable, verifiable service in a combat zone.
The Vets in Need program, which Shilosky said has grown out of that unexpected donation to fund about $105,000 in one-time needs, covers expenses including food, rent, utilities, home and car repairs, travel and accessibility upgrades.
The program helped pay for three funerals. Used cars, most of them provided at cost by All Pro Automotive in Old Lyme, add up to 10. Thirteen veterans received specialized equipment or furniture to accommodate their medical needs.
The group has also given more than $60,000 to statewide initiatives administered through Connecticut Veterans Affairs.
The first veteran to benefit from the Vets in Need program was an elderly man living in a converted garage with a bucket as a chamber pot, according to Shilosky. Another needed help relocating to Las Vegas to live with a daughter when his wife got sick. One struggling veteran whose paintings lined his apartment ended up with an art show at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex after Post 1467 got involved.
“Those are the kinds of things that are so gratifying,” Shilosky said.
Griswold said the group’s strength is its ability to react quickly when emergencies arise. In the case of veterans who cannot afford utility payments during the winter, Post 1467 members can get the furnace restarted and two months of heating bills paid before state and federal resources can be secured for a more long-term solution.
Each case needs sign-off from the post’s service officer, trustees and membership, he said.
He likened the group’s role to that of a military medic.
“We’re running out there and getting an immediate fix,” he said. “And then it can be turned over to other organizations.”
Former Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold, a previous commander of the VFW post and cousin of David Griswold, said the group has expanded its outreach beyond Lyme and Old Lyme.
“It was apparent that there were other individuals not within our border that had needs,” he said. “And so we’re willing to help people regardless.”
If that sometimes means stepping outside of their jurisdiction into the realm of other VFW posts, Tim Griswold wasn’t too worried about it. He said any lingering concerns were assuaged by a visit from a national VFW commander a couple years ago.
“He was very well pleased with us, saying, ‘This is how a post should be,’” he recalled. “You don’t necessarily have to have little fiefdoms. You can help veterans that are in need, and that’s a good thing.”
The three men said the communities of Lyme and Old Lyme are uniquely situated to give back to veterans.
David Griswold recognized the area at the confluence of the Connecticut River and the Long Island Sound as a place where some very accomplished people from all over the world have landed.
“And a lot of them have done well financially and are very generous,” he said. “I’ve heard people say, ‘Well, they can afford it.’ But that doesn’t mean they’re going to do it. I know some wealthy people, who wouldn’t give you a dime.”
For Shilosky, it all goes back to an overarching sense of service and gratitude that comes from veterans who look outward together – and the community who supports them.
He said the Post 1467 mantra has grown from “Small but Mighty” to the oft-repeated “No Bar, No Building, Just Good Works.”
“And I think we’ve lived up to that,” he said.
Editor’s Note: Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) VFW Post 1467 reminds all local Veterans and Veteran families in need that they can reach out to the Post to request a great variety of types of assistance. All that is required is the Veteran’s DDForm214 Record of Military Service and a call to Services Officer, Navy Rtd. Captain Larry Olsen at 607-220-7137. The Services Officer will then respond, assess the need, and assist as appropriate.
Lyme Academy of Fine Arts has received a major donation enabling it to purchase the adjoining property at 80-1 Lyme Street to the left of the administrative building shown in the photo above. LymeLine file photo.
OLD LYME — In what Michael Duffy, who serves as Lyme Academy Board of Trustees Chair, describes as, “an act of astonishing generosity,” a local couple is donating $1.8 million to the Academy to enable it to purchase the neighboring property at 80-1 Lyme Street, which is better known as the former Studio 80 + Sculpture Gardens owned by Gilbert ‘Gil’ Boro.
The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, will retain the right to live in the 3747 sq. ft. residence on the property for their respective lifetimes after which time, ownership of the house will be transferred to the Academy.
Explaining the complexities of the transaction to LymeLine in a July 7 Zoom call, Duffy noted that the Academy’s sculpture program is expanding so rapidly that it is, “running into difficulties’ in terms of the space it needs. He gave as an example the stone-carving class held last summer, which ended up having to create what he described as a, “makeshift workplace in one of the [Academy’s] parking lots.”
Chad Fisher adjusts the patina on his bronze sculpture ‘Avarice.’ File photo courtesy of Lyme Academy.
Duffy credited Sculpture Director Chad Fisher with the increasing success of the Academy’s sculpture program. He noted there are now three applications for each single place across all the Academy’s program courses.
One of the features of Boro’s 4.3 acre property is a huge, stand-alone sculpture studio with a soaring ceiling, which enables outsize works of sculpture to be designed and fabricated in the space. Duffy noted there is still a mechanical hoist in the studio remaining from when Boro used the studio to create his own contemporary sculptures there. Some of Boro’s sculptures and works by others are still dotted around the sprawling grounds, which have direct water frontage on the Lieutenant River.
Looking across Gil Boro’s Sculpture Grounds, past several of his signature works in the foreground and to the left, the huge sculpture studio can be seen to the right. LymeLine file photo.
Pointing out there is already a pathway between Academy and Boro’s property—a tangible sign of the already existing connection between them—Duffy continued, “There’s a logic to it [combining the properties.]”
Duffy recalled at his very first meeting with Boro some five years ago, one of the main topics of their conversation was, “How can we cooperate?” Duffy said that unfortunately that early desire to work more closely together failed to blossom due to the impact of the COVID pandemic and Boro’s declining health.
Adding that this development seems “natural” now, he commented that Boro’s sons—who are managing the sale on their father’s behalf—are “really excited” about the prospect of acquisition since, “It keeps the spirit of Gil [Boro] alive in perpetuity.”
Boro, who now lives in a residential home in Brooklyn, NY, close to one of his sons, is being kept fully informed of developments. Some of his sculptures and works by others are still dotted around the sprawling grounds, which have direct water frontage on the Lieutenant River.
Gil Boro relaxes in a wicker chair during one of the last events held in the sculpture studio. Photo by Christina Goldberg.
The donors are planning some changes to the immediate exterior of the house including filling in the outdoor pool and installing a fountain in its place. They also intend to turn the current pool cabanas into artist’s studios.
By coincidence the donors are both architects by profession, which is the same profession in which Boro began his own career.
In another coincidence, the college was founded in 1976 by the sculptor Elisabeth Gordon Chandler and so Duffy remarked it seems fitting that this major expansion of the college’s facilities and grounds should be primarily to serve the Academy’s sculpture program.
Duffy said that the plans for the future of the property were presented for discussion at the Old Lyme Historic District Commission’s regular meeting on July 7 and will also be discussed at the next Old Lyme Zoning Commission meeting on July 14.
Asked when the transaction might be completed, Duffy responded enthusiastically, “We hope to close by the end of July.”
Describing the process by which the transaction has come about, Duffy noted that the first conversations were some 10 months ago but at that time, the price of the Studio 80 property was beyond the Academy’s reach. He said he felt “a sense of loss” when the idea had to be shelved.
Now that these donors, who have been taking classes at the Academy for several years, have enabled the plan to come to fruition, a delighted Duffy commented, “This is a great vote of confidence in the future of Lyme Academy as we approach our 50th anniversary.”
