5/31 UPDATE: Details of the funeral service for Mrs. Lewis have now been announced. It will be held Saturday June 7, at 11 a.m. at St. Ann’s’ Church in Old Lyme. A luncheon will follow the service.
Joan Griswold Park Lewis, most recently of Merrimack County Nursing Home, Boscawen, New Hampshire passed away peacefully with family at her side on the first day of spring, March 20, 2025.
Mrs. Lewis was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on March 30, 1930, daughter of William B. Griswold and Jessie Griswold. Rosalie Griswold McCook was her dear step mother.
The family moved to Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1945. She graduated from St Margaret’s School in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1948. In 1952, she graduated from Bouve Boston School of Physical Therapy and Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts as a registered Physical Therapist. She was married in 1953 to James B Park of Concord, New Hampshire. They moved to Sugar Land, Texas where Mr. Park was a banker and Mrs. Park was a physical therapist.
In 1975, she moved back to Old Lyme where she had her own physical therapy office and worked at Chesterfield Convalescent Home as a therapist for 18 years.
She moved to Concord, New Hampshire in 1996. Over the years, she enjoyed many hobbies including gardening, knitting, hiking, photography, crafts and traveling. Her greatest passions were her grandchildren and the Boston Red Sox!
Survivors include five children: James G Park and Lane P Litchford of Lynchburg, Virginia; David B. Park and daughter-in-law, Sidney of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tracy P Barrett and son-in-law Chris of Loudon, New Hampshire; and William H. Park (Paula Hoch) of Denver, Colorado. A brother and sister-in-law David and Elaine Griswold of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Six grandchildren, Erin and Caitlin Barrett, Megan and Boyce Litchford (Jessie and Aiden), Brittany Litchford Guill (Austin Guill), and Cassandra Park; and one great grandchild, Berkley Guill. Two nephews, Jeffrey (Kim Forbes Griswold) and Eric Griswold (Maddy Farkas), and one niece, Laura Griswold Wentz (Joshua Wentz). Three great nephews, James, Daniel, and Matthew Wentz. She was pre-deceased by a brother, William B Griswold, Jr, and a half-brother, Lawrence Lee.
A private graveside service will be held later this spring at the Griswold Cemetery followed by a service at St Ann’s Episcopal Church in Old Lyme, Connecticut. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the McCurdy Salisbury Educational Foundation in Old Lyme.
Soprano Lisa Williamson moved attendees with her performance of the American spiritual “Steal Away” and gospel hymn “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” All photos by LymeLine.
OLD LYME–Ten small brass plaques installed Friday morning on the Sill Lane Green are there to fill holes left by untold stories.
Cesar was about 15-years-old when he was purchased for 80 pounds by Reynold Marvin Jr. in 1730. Zacheus Still, born enslaved to Richard Lord Jr. in 1726, served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. A 26-year-old known to history only as ‘Negro Woman’ was recorded as being healthy and “capable at housework” when she was sold in 1802 by Enoch Lord Jr.
The information was culled from scant references in land records, emancipation certificates, and other primary sources, according to the Witness Stones Old Lyme organization that for five years has been working to unearth the town’s history of enslavement.
The group on Friday held its fifth installation ceremony on the grounds of the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library. The Sill Lane Witness Stones join 50 others laid in Lyme and Old Lyme since the organization began in 2020 as an offshoot of the wider Connecticut-based Witness Stones initiative.
The local group marks sites of enslavement and engages students in telling the stories behind the stones.
Witness Stones Old Lyme over the past five years has installed 60 plaques in locations shown here.
Witness Stones Old Lyme Chairwoman Carolyn Wakeman said the ceremony would be the last of its kind as the sun sets on the five-year-project.
“Together, we have restored missing history,” she said.
Wakeman described the map of Witness Stones as a wide circle extending from Lyme Street, past the Lower Town Green to McCurdy Road, south to the Black Hall section of town, north to Lyme and the East Lyme border, and back to Lyme Street’s northern end at the Sill Lane Green.
The 12 most recent installations were located on Sill Lane and at the Florence Griswold Museum.
“Even though we could easily place another 60 plaques to commemorate additional enslaved persons, the Witness Stones website will continue to provide new information about local enslavement, and middle school students will continue in the years ahead to engage with the Witness Stones curriculum and to focus on primary documents in the history of our town,” she said.
Poet Kate Rushin reads “Fishing for Shad” at the fifth and final Old Lyme Witness Stones installation ceremony.
Kate Rushin, a poet and Connecticut College professor, read her poem “Fishing for Shad” as one of four artists selected to remember in verse people enslaved on Lyme Street.
Rushin, along with Antoinette Brim-Bell, Marilyn Nelson and Rhonda Ward, are the Witness Stones Old Lyme poets. The group received a Health Improvement Collaborative of Southeastern Connecticut (HIC) Partnership Grant for Racial Equity.
Rushin wrote the poem from the perspective of Jack Howard. He was born enslaved to Samuel Mather Jr. in 1795 and willed to Mather’s son James in 1809.
She said she used Wakeman’s research, her own understanding of others, and her experiences to imagine how she might feel if she were the enslaved child.
“I don’t know where I belong/but I know I don’t belong here,” she wrote in the poem’s opening lines.
Led by Kate Rushin, the audience repeats the name of each enslaved person honored in the final installation ceremony.
Rushin is also the author of Meditations on Generations, written for Jane. Born enslaved to Joseph Peck Jr. in 1726, Jane was sold for 25 pounds at the age of 3. No more information about her has been discovered.
“I’ll remember you, Jane,” she wrote in the poem’s final lines. “You were here./I will honor you, respect you;/hold you in my words.”
The poet, who identified herself as the great-granddaughter of an enslaved woman and the free man who released her from bondage, grew up in the first incorporated African-American town in New Jersey.
“This project is very personal to me, as it is to the other Witness Stones poets,” she said.
The Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Chamber Choir, under the direction of Laura Ventres, sing a medley of American spiritual songs.
Eight Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School students followed Rushin with their own poems honoring those whose plaques were laid Friday.
Michelle Dean, curriculum director for the Lyme-Old Lyme Schools, described the five-year collaboration between Witness Stones Old Lyme and the schools as a shared commitment to telling the stories of “those whose voices for far too long have gone unheard.”
She said historical documents allowed students to confront complex truths and explore diverse perspectives that shaped the history of Lyme and Old Lyme.
Witness Stones Project founder Dennis Culliton, with grandson Joey Tomanelli, lauded the Old Lyme group as a model for other cities and towns. He is retiring from the Witness Stones Project next month after eight years.
“If our past is indeed our greatest teacher, then let it teach us this: We each have the capacity to honor others with dignity and respect,” she said. “Let us honor the past and our future by choosing humanity every day.”
Editor’s Note: This article was updated with the most recent Witness Stones Old Lyme map and to correct Wakeman’s name in one reference.
Christina and I attended a program at Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library on Tuesday, April 29: “Oral History: Kent State, 1970,” presented by Mike Alewitz, who as a student anti-Vietnam War organizer at Kent State University and a founder and chairman of the University’s Student Mobilization Committee Against the War, witnessed the bloodshed that occurred there on May 4, 1970 — 55 years ago.
Mike is now a New London resident and Professor Emeritus of mural painting and street art at Central Connecticut State University. He was subpoenaed to testify before the Presidential Commission on Campus Unrest. (below)
Mike’s presentation was very moving and triggered fraught memories for Christina and me; and I am certain, for other members of the predominantly “Baby Boomer” audience of about 30 or so.
His remarks motivated me to take a fresh look at that other dark period in American history and expand on his observations. I examine the events and actions that may have precipitated what has often been regarded as the “Kent State massacre” in this “View;” and then consider the factors and incidents that led to America’s entry and increased involvement in Vietnam; and the War’s dire outcomes in a subsequent essay.
And so, these are my “lest we Americans forget ‘Views’.”
Predisposing Events:
The 1967 March on the Pentagon:
The National Mobilization Committee to End the War, a coalition of anti-war groups organized what was, at that point, the largest antiwar rally ever staged for Saturday, October 21,1967 in Washington, D.C. The event began with more than 100,000 protesters gathered at a rally on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.
The March was notable for its diverse coalition of participants. This was an ecumenical crowd: white and middle-class, middle-aged, young students, some clergy, and a group of political and social activists; — including Norman Mailer, Benjamin Spock, folk singer Phil Ochs; and counter-cultural figures Jerry Rubin, and Abbie Hoffman, co-founders of the Youth International Party; — i.e., the Yippies; who have been described as a theatrical, anti-authoritarian, and anarchist youth movement of “symbolic politics”.
Near 6 p.m. about 50,000 streamed across the Arlington Memorial Bridge toward the Pentagon.
There, most remained non-violent; but a smaller segment stormed ahead and scaled or toppled the fences surrounding the Pentagon; forcing their way onto the grounds past military policemen who were standing at 10-foot intervals. Six hundred and eighty-two demonstrators were arrested.
Garden Plot: The Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan (aka GARDEN PLOT) was a wide-ranging U.S. Army and National Guard plan to respond to major domestic civil disturbances within the United States. The plan was developed in the mid-1960s in response to a series of domestic civil disorders and provides Federal military and law enforcement assistance to local governments.
RMN and the Cambodian Incursion:
Richard M. Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey in 1968; campaigning on a platform of achieving “peace with honor” in Vietnam; and positioning himself as the “law and order” candidate, who would restore domestic peace and stability amid the protests, riots, and rising crime rates of the 1960s.
By 1968, there were already over 500,000 American troops on the ground in Vietnam, and more than 31,000 Americans killed. This was the first televised war and television coverage was a major factor in American society ‘s perception of the war.
He entered office against a backdrop of a well-organized anti-war movement, which he had denounced and demeaned during his campaign.
In July, 1969 he promised to withdraw 150,000 troops; but despite that pledge, announced on a televised address on April 30, 1970 that American forces had invaded Cambodia after months of intense bombing to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines
His secret expansion of the War drew immediate worldwide condemnation and intensified protests by antiwar activists at Kent State and many other college campuses across the United States; with marches, rallies, and clashes with law enforcement.
The Kent State Shootings- Chronology of Events:
On Friday, May1; — the day after Nixon’s announcement, an anti-war rally with about 500 students began late morning on the Commons, a traditional free speech area in the center of the campus. The rally started peacefully but expanded into the town and escalated into vandalism of storefronts and violence between protesters and the local police force, who eventually succeeded in using tear gas to disperse the crowd from the downtown area; compelling them to move several blocks back to the campus. Additional demonstrations were expected through the weekend.
By Saturday morning, Kent city officials and downtown businesses had received threats and abundant rumors of radical revolutionaries with caches of arms, plots to spike the local water supply with LSD, and of students building tunnels to blow up the town’s main store.
Kent Mayor, LeRoy Satrom feared that local law enforcement would not be able to handle the anticipated disturbances; and declared a state of emergency. He requested assistance from Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes, who decided to call in the National Guard to occupy the Kent State campus and restore order. The Guard did not arrive until 10 p.m., and by that time, a large demonstration was underway and the boarded-up ROTC building was set afire.
There were reports that some Kent firemen and police officers were struck by rocks and other objects while attempting to extinguish the blaze. Several fire engine companies were called in because protesters had cut the fire hose. The arsonists were never apprehended.
By Sunday morning, 1000 National Guardsmen were on campus. Governor Rhodes had flown in for a press conference at which he said, “We’re up against the strongest, best-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America; — set on destroying higher education in Ohio.”
During the day, a small group of students came downtown to help with clean-up efforts. Mayor Satrom, under pressure from residents and business owners, ordered a curfew.
Another rally began on the Commons near 8 p.m., and confrontations amongst the Guardsmen and demonstrators escalated. By 8:45 p.m., the Guardsmen had dispersed the crowd with tear gas; but the students reassembled for a sit-in at the busy Kent intersection of Lincoln and Main.
At 11 p.m., the Guard announced that a curfew had gone into effect and began forcing the students back to their dorms. There were arrests, mostly for curfew violations; at least one student was slightly wounded with a bayonet.
School administrators, with the Governor’s backing, prohibited the rally scheduled for Monday, May 4th.
Early Monday, University officials distributed 12,000 leaflets declaring that the rally event had been canceled.
Defying the ban, about 2,000 students gathered again on the Commons, with another 1,000 behind them on “Blanket Hill”. A small contingent began ringing the campus’s iron Victory Bell just before noon, marking the start of the rally. A campus security officer, accompanied by three Guardsmen, approached the crowd in a National Guard Jeep, and ordered them to disperse. They were met with stones, curses, and the pealing bell.
At about the same time, more than 100 Guardsmen in gas masks assembled at the base of Blanket Hill. The Guard attempted to disperse the crowd via bullhorn. The protesters again ignored the order, and the Guardsmen began firing tear gas. They were then ordered to march forward up Blanket Hill; — with M-1 rifles “locked and loaded” and bayonets raised; compelling the protesters to move up the slope.
The Guard crested the hill and started downward. The crowd scattered, many of them towards a nearby parking lot. The Guard following the moving crowd into the nearby practice football field and lobbed tear gas canisters at the demonstrators, who yelled and threw rocks and other debris at them.
After several minutes, the Guardsmen begin to move back up Blanket Hill, having achieved their objective of clearing the Hill.
At 12:24 p.m., after again reaching the crest, the Guardsmen turned, aimed, and fired into the crowd of unarmed students. Twenty-eight Guardsmen fired 67 rounds over 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
Some claimed hearing an order to fire; but in repeated testimony, there was no evidence of an order.
Some said they fired because they were in fear of their lives. However, the students who had been shot by the Guard were from 70 to 495 feet away and were shot in their backs or sides.
Note: there is an iconic Pulitzer Prize winning photograph taken by Kent State photojournalism student John Filo showing teenager, Mary Ann Vecchio, kneeling over the bleeding body of Kent State student, Jeffrey Miller.
The Aftermath:
Kent State Administration immediately shut down the campus, and it remained closed for the remainder of the spring semester.
The shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country and increased participation in the student strike that began on May 1. Ultimately, more than 4 million students participated in organized walk-outs at nearly a thousand universities, colleges, and high schools.
All in all, the anti-Vietnam War protests had drastically intensified due to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, coupled with the Kent State University shootings.
Nixon backed down on threats to escalate the War, but concerned that backing down might make him appear weak to the Soviets, called a secret worldwide nuclear alert as a show of force.
On June 13, 1970, President Nixon established the “President’s Commission on Campus unrest,” which became known as the Scranton Commission after its chairman, former Pennsylvania governor William Scranton. It concluded that “the shootings at Kent State were unjustified;” and said: “Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 67 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting studentdemonstrators.”
The massive demonstrations against the War and the bloodshed at Kent State turned the Nixon White House into a fortress. Two rings of city buses parked bumper to bumper encircled the mansion, and the 82nd Airborne was stationed in the adjacent Executive Office Building.
“If The Government Won’t Stop the War, We’ll Stop the Government.”—The 1971 May Day Protests: Woodstock hit the streets in 1971 for a series of wide-ranging civil disobedience actions in Washington, D.C.; and Nixon responded with force. The protests began on Monday morning, May 3rd and ended on May 5th.
12,000 anti-war demonstrators came to Washington D.C. — the culmination of several weeks of activity in the City. They were met by 5,100 city police and 1,400 National Guard soldiers, with 10,000 more Army and Marine troops held in reserve.
The goal of the protests was to disrupt the functioning of the federal government through nonviolent action; with an immediate focus on snarling traffic to prevent government employees from getting to work on Monday morning. Small groups would block major intersections and bridges; and protesters roamed downtown D.C., dodging huge tear-gas barrages. They created small barricades and left disabled cars in roadways, or temporarily blocked intersections with mobile sit-ins.”
By Monday night, more than 7,000 protesters had been arrested across the city; 5000 more were arrested on May 2, 4 and 5. Protesters filled jails beyond capacity; and were detained in makeshift open-air prisons and sporting arenas—The Washington Coliseum—the practice field for RFK Stadium.
These represent the largest mass arrests in U.S. history.
Ultimately, however, only 79 people were convicted of any offence related to the protests.
Members of the Nixon administration would come to view the events as damaging because the government’s response was perceived as violating citizens’ civil rights.
Author’s Comments: The title is derived from the lyrics of the protest song, “Ohio,” which was written by Neil Young and recorded by folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in the immediate aftermath of the Kent State shootings. It became identified as one of the anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 2010, ‘The Guardian’ described the song as the “greatest protest record and the pinnacle of a very 1960s genre.” The lyrics evoke the turbulent mood of horror, outrage, and shock in the wake of the shootings “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming; this summer, I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it; soldiers are cutting us down…” (Abridged)
Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.
About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.
Sources: “Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming”—Part 1: Amadeo, K. “Vietnam War Facts, Costs, and Timeline. The Balance.” 09/20/2024. Buhle, P. & Alewitz, M. (2002). ”Insurgent Images.” Monthly Review Press. Glass, A. “Nixon signals U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam, July 25, 1969.” Politico. 07/25/2012. Johnston, L. “May 4, 1970: A graphic timeline of the Kent State University shooting.” Cleveland. 05/02/2020. Kimball, J. & Burr, W. “The Movement and the Madman.” PBS.; — American Experience. 03/28/2023. McFadden, R. “Students Step Up Protests on War.” NYT. 05/09/1970. National Archives. “Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics.” The Defense Casualty Analysis System.04/29/2008. Jones, N. Document Friday: “‘Garden Plot:’ The Army’s Emergency Plan to Restore Law and Order” to America.” National Security Archive. 08/12/2011. Klein, C. “How Nixon’s Presidency Became Increasingly Erratic After Kent State.” History Vault; — This Day in History. 05/04/2020. Levy, D. “Behind the Anti-War Protests That Swept America in 1968.” Time. 01/19/2018 Lynskey, D. (2010-05-06). “Neil Young’s Ohio – the greatest protest record.” The Guardian. 05/06/2010. Mailer, N. (1968). “The Armies of the Night.” New American Library. Pruitt, S. “Kent State Shootings: A Timeline of the Tragedy.” History.05/01/2020. Rotondi, J. “How Nixon’s Invasion of Cambodia Triggered a Check on Presidential Power.” History This Week. 04/ 27, 2020 Rudin, J. “40 Years After Kent State: Remembering Ohio Gov. James Rhodes.” NPR. 05/03/2010. Scranton, W. (1970). “The Report of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest.” U.S. Government Printing Office. 1970. Smith, D. “How this 1967 Vietnam war protest carried the seeds of American division.” The Guardian. 10/21/2017. Thomas, C. “Bombing missions of the Vietnam War.” Environmental Systems Research Institute.09/ 25/2017. Young, N. (1970) “Ohio.” [Lyrics] On “Highway 61 Revisited” [Single 45 rpm record]. NYC: Atlantic Records.
Most towns in Connecticut, in the U.S… heck in the world, understand that a parade is a time for local citizens to come together around a common community value. On Memorial Day, corrosive politics are set aside so that opposing groups can send the collective message that, while we may disagree on some things, we are together in our support for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. In towns across the state, local Democrat and Republican Town Committees joined their Memorial Day parades, marching shoulder to shoulder as if to say, “I am a Democrat, you are a Republican, but let us not forget that we are all, first and foremost, Americans.” That is why politicians like Devin Carney, and the members of our Board of Selectmen, including Mr. Danenhower’s own wife, marched in the parade this week. Only a truly divisive partisan would accuse them of “campaigning.” They were there, like most others, to show their respect. Similarly, the Democratic Town Committee, a group with veterans among its ranks, chose to set up a table in front of their headquarters on Lyme Street to offer free water, donuts, and flags to people along the route. There were no campaign materials, no candidates, no political messages, and nothing other than a group of proud Old Lymers celebrating the sacrifices of their loved ones. That’s how parades work. And there were many, many organizations there in their official capacity for similar purposes.
But since this seems to be such a tricky subject for Mr. Danenhower to wrap his mind around, for future reference, here’s a handy list of a few organizations “flying their flag” at the parade and how to view their presence:
1) Girl Scouts: Not there selling cookies, there to commemorate the fallen;
2) Lyme Luggers Ukelele Group: Not there marketing ukulele classes, there to commemorate the fallen;
3) Town Fire Department: Not there soliciting volunteers, there to commemorate the fallen;
4) Old Lyme Senior Center Dancers: Not there offering Macarena lessons, there to commemorate the fallen;
5) Old Lyme Democratic Town Committee: Not there asking for votes, there to commemorate the fallen;
6) Old Lyme Republican Town Committee: Not there.
Call me crazy but if publicly showing support for our fallen heroes draws Mr. Danenhower’s ire, but skipping out completely does not, we clearly have a different definition of “disrespectful.”
Sincerely,
Dave Rubino, Old Lyme.
Editor’s Note: The author is a member of the Old Lyme Democratic Town Committee.
Old Lyme-based Attorney Fran Sablone served as moderator at Wednesday’s Town Budget Meeting.
OLD LYME–Record attendance Wednesday night at the rescheduled Town Budget Meeting resulted in the passage of a $45.39 million 2025-26 budget and several new or amended ordinances.
Residents and taxpayers in the Lyme-Old Lyme High School auditorium raised fluorescent green chits in the air to signify their voting status as they approved the budget in a 167 to 40 vote. It represents an increase of $3.28 million, or 7.8% , over the current year.
The vote came amid large-scale renovation projects to the Lymes’ Senior Center and the Region 18 school district drove up the budget, while the recent revaluation drove up property values – and the resulting tax bills – for a majority of homes in town. The Board of Finance was expected after the meeting to set the tax rate at 16.2 mills.
A previous motion to use a paper ballot on all seven questions failed with 87 yea votes and 110 nays.
The five ordinances and a procedural vote to set the billing schedule for property taxes each passed in decisive voice votes.
First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said no meeting in the last seven years had drawn more than 60 people.
The originally scheduled meeting on May 19 was postponed due to overcapacity at the Town Hall, where fire code allows only 124 people in the meeting room and lobby.
Fire Marshal Dave Roberge on Wednesday said he counted 222 people in the high school auditorium—its capacity is 550 people.
Editor’s Note: Watch for the full story on Thursday.
