REMEMBERING CARMINE GUICA
It
is with great sadness that we report the passing of Carmine Guica on Nov.23,
one of the founders and former president of the Cavendish Historical Society.
During WWII Carmine was in some of
the highest attacked areas-Guam, Philippines, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He
described how they lived two to a Foxhole, taking turns staying up at night in
his autobiography, “We were on the beaches where we set up our anti-air
craft guns. Most of the fighting was back in the hills. The action we saw most
was firing at the Jap planes. They never bombed us too much as their greatest
target would be the ships. When we had an alert, all personal were
called-cooks, clerks, and KPs. [Carmine was a cook.]. .... I did get
very sick there for a few days. Just about every one was affected. They said it
was Dengue Fever or something like that..”
The war played a prominent role in Carmine’s life, and it was through an
Army buddy that he met his wife Carmela. They were married from 1948 until her
passing in 2000.
Like many of the other veterans, he was in the reserves after the war.
Carmine worked for Gay Brothers Woolen Mill, Kennwood Mills and eventually GE,
where he retired from in 1984. I retired
a little early as I figured Carmela was alone so much and we were going to
enjoy ourselves, which we did.
Self-taught, Carmine spent many hours researching Cavendish history and
genealogy, whether it was with a metal detector checking out cellar holes, or
spending countless hours with Carmela in the library studying old newspapers,
maps and records. He was adamant about the importance of history.
The list of organizations Carmine was involved with, in addition to CHS, was
lengthy- The Grange and The Crown Point Road Association to name a few. He was
chairman of the Cavendish Bicentennial, involved in reunions for his much loved
Tarbell Hill School, and he served on the town’s Ancient Roads Committee. Well
into his 80s, you could find Carmine with his friend Paul Kingsbury in the
mountains as a hiking trail steward.
One of his favorite songs, which he listened on the jukebox during WWII,
was When
My Blue Moon Turns to Gold. The lyrics seem to be
particularly poignant and one hopes that Carmine is now joined with his
beloved.
When my blue
moon turns to gold again
When the rainbow
turns the clouds away.
When my blue moon turns to gold again
You'll be back
in my arms to stay.
In spite of a significant hearing loss and limited opportunities for formal
education, Carmine’s passion for life long learning was astounding.
Consequently, his contributions to Cavendish and its history, is enormous and
many generations to come will benefit from his research and his generosity of
spirit. He will be greatly missed.
CHS has Carmine’s autobiography in stock. To order, send a check to CHS for
$15 plus $5 shipping and handling to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish VT 05142. The
book is also available at the Town Office.
CAVENDISH GHOST STORIES: CHARLIE
The Cavendish Historical
Society (CHS) has been collecting ghost stories since the summer. We’ve learned
about Homer who has haunted the Proctorsville Fire Department for years, though
he hasn’t been heard from recently. Supposedly there was a murder in this
building, which was once a carriage barn.
Robert, so named because he
looks like Robert Redford from an old western, still makes his presence known
at the Golden Stage Inn along with a “ghost cat” and a strange mist that
photographs quite well in one room. Lots of other eerie things-people who call
your name and talk to you, but when you turn around no one is there. Clearly
this Inn deserves its reputation as one of the most haunted places to stay in
Vermont.
Lena is actually written into
the deed of the house she occupies-she has full access to the front bedroom and
parlor-though she hasn’t been alive for many years. In short, we have a very
long list of ghosts and spirits who seem to like calling Cavendish home.
Of all the stories, the one
we wanted to share because CHS plays a role in it.
In June 2014, CHS was
contacted by a man looking for information about his ancestors and wanting to
know if any possible relatives still lived in town. Though a descendant of the
Dutton and Proctor union, he and his parents visited Proctorsville as a child to
see aunts, uncles and cousins. Falling on hard times, the family ultimately
moved to Florida, where both parents died in 1969.
A few questions about his
Parker line confirmed that he was in fact part of the same family as CHS board
member Gail Woods. When he tells Gail his mother's maiden name-Carmine June
Cook, she replies, "I knew Carmine. She had a son Greg Roche." To
which he excitedly pointed to himself repeating, "that's me, that’s
me!"
As Greg asked about names from his childhood, Gail’s husband Woodie pieces
together that “Aunt Adie’s” granddaughter-Janet Pipkin- lived in the old family
home on Depot Street.
An e-mail and phone call, resulted in Janet posting the following to
Facebook, What a night... Almost 50 years ago, my mom's cousin [Carmine June Cook] disappeared and cut ties with the family. So my
mom never knew what happened to her and her son.
One of my
strongest childhood memories is my mom always looking up their names in phone
books whenever we were staying at a motel in another city. "You never
know, they might be in here," she would say.
Today a man from California visited the Cavendish
Historical Society to look up some family history, and thanks to Margo [Margo Caulfield is the coordinator of CHS] he not only got the
history, he got the family! It is my mom's cousin's son. I got to meet him and
we called my mom together.
Mom was so overjoyed to hear from him. She has wondered for so long how he
was. And on Sunday, she will find out when she gets to see him again after all
this time. Just amazing.
So now for the ghostly part,
which is provided by Janet Pipkin
While driving in snow on Route 131, Charlie Cook
(1882-1923) had an accident. He was taken to his home at 145 Depot Street in
Proctorsville but, unfortunately, due to massive internal injuries, he died
several days later in the presence of his wife and young daughter.
Janet took residence in the
house in 1991, as she was the granddaughter of Adelaide Cook Brittain,
Charlie’s sister. The house has always been in the family, primarily the
residence of another sister, Grace Cook, who died in the 1980s.
Soon after moving in, Janet
noticed pennies around the house. She thought nothing of it; loose change did
not seem like a big deal, until things became weirder. Having vacuumed one of
the bedrooms, Janet left the room to put the vacuum away. Returning to the
freshly vacuumed room she discovered pennies right in the middle of the rug.
While cleaning a window, a penny fell from above, landing on the floor by her
feet. Not being a real believer of spirits, it struck her as odd and curious,
but defying any logical explanation.
While driving to Manchester,
she remembered in a panic that she had put a potato in the oven to bake over
an hour ago. Fearing fire, she turned around and went home. By now it had been
two hours since she put the potato in the oven. Rushing into the kitchen, she
found the stove turned off and a perfectly cooked potato. This was illogical.
She had only put it in 20 minutes before she left. If she had shut off the
oven, how could it possibly have been fully cooked? And if she didn’t, why was
the oven shut off and the potato not burnt?
The final incident that
pushed Janet from non-believer to believer was breaking glass. Having just gone
to bed, she heard the distinctive sound of breaking glass. Figuring it was one
of the cats breaking something, she ran downstairs and saw her roommate also
rapidly descending the stairs. Searching the house from top to bottom, neither
saw any signs of broken glass.
Janet called her mother, Ann
(Adelaide’s daughter, Charlie’s niece) and told her what happened. Ann wasn’t
surprised. Soon after Grace had died Ann had come to the Depot Street house to
do some packing and cleaning. It was the first night when she heard the sound
of breaking glass. Like Janet, she searched and found no explanation of the
noise.
In discussing the situation
with her Mom, Janet wondered it if could possible be a ghost. Ann related the
story of Charlie’s death. He died in the front bedroom of the house, and sadly,
his wife and young daughter were never the same again. The daughter ended up
living her own tragic life wrapped up in drug and alcohol abuse and had
disappeared in the 1960s.
Janet became use to the
pennies showing up everywhere. She even spoke to Charlie trying to explain that
a penny doesn’t have a lot of value and quarters would be more appreciated, but
no luck. “Off” events or incidents just were attributed to “that Charlie.”
After twenty years of living
in the house, Janet met her long lost cousin Greg, as related above. Not only
did this bring closure to the many years of searching by Janet’s Mom, but there
was another member of the family that needed “closure.” Since Greg was
Charlie’s grandson- Greg’s mother Carmine, was the daughter of Charlie- he
agreed to go to Janet’s house and have a chat.
Greg told Janet (as well as
Charlie) about his life’s successes as well as what had happened to his mother.
He talked about his wife and children and how content he was with his life in
California as a leather artist.
Since then, Janet doesn’t see
many pennies anymore. She runs across one every now and then and wonders it is
still Charlie. There seem to be no more noises or strange incidents. Janet
wants to believe that Charlie finally managed to get the news he needed to be
at peace. But she still keeps listening for that possible sound of broken
glass.
SOLZHENITSYN BOOK OFFER FOR
HOLIDAY GIVING
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The
Writer Who Changed History is the perfect gift for anyone who loves Cavendish.
A biography of the Soviet dissident and Nobel Laureate who lived here almost 18
years of his 20 years in exile, it contains many pictures thanks to the
generosity of the writer’s family.
Just
in time for the holidays, order by December 15, and the book will be gift
wrapped, autographed, and mailed with a gift card anywhere in the continental USA in time for
Christmas. To order, send a check for $17.50 ($15 for the book plus $2:50 for
shipping and handling) to Cavendish Historical Society, PO Box 472, Cavendish,
VT 05142. The book is available locally and on-line (www.createspace.com or
amazon.com). For more information, please contact CHS-802-226-7807,
margocaulfield@icloud.com. All proceeds from the book go towards the CHS
Solzhenitsyn Project.
PRESERVATION PROJECTS UPDATE
We’ve
been calling them “Mike’s doors,” since former board member Mike Pember has
been anxious that the Museum doors be replaced. No they aren’t in yet Mike, but
they are in the Museum acclimating. Thanks to the incredible generosity of wood
worker and volunteer Dave Stern, the replacement doors-dating from the
1800s-have been stripped, repaired, painted and awaiting spring installation.
After
many years of discussion, the Cavendish Civil War Memorial has been cleaned.
Many thanks to Bruce McEnaney for his dedication to making this happen. Thank
you to Al Glidden for the use of the lift, to Bill Jansak who used the town’s
low velocity pressure washer to do the cleaning and to Kem and Svetlana Philips
who also assisted.
The orange mold in the
Cavendish Village Cemetery continues to be a problem, but we are making headway
thanks to the Phelps and other volunteers. Cleaning and righting of gravestones
have taken place through out the summer in all of the Cavendish cemeteries.
After
considerable searching for someone who could do the work, the belfry repair of
the Cavendish Stone Church is now underway. The funds for this repair have been
made possible by a grant from the Jeld-Wen Foundation.
Please
note that CHS uses the National Park Service guidelines for the cleaning and
preservation of monuments, headstones and memorials. While very low pressure
washing is used on monuments, it is not recommended for headstones. We do not
use bleach, consequently stones will not appear bright white.
For a
small historical society, this is an incredible amount of preservation that was
undertaken in a year. Thank you to all who volunteered time and support to make
this possible. The one remaining item on our “to do list,” is the stone wall
extension in the Twenty Mile Stream Cemetery. Definitely on the 2017 list.
BECOME A MEMBER, RENEW YOUR
MEMBERSHIP, DONATE
If you
have not joined the Cavendish Historical Society, need to renew your
membership, and/or would like to be a volunteer, please complete the form below
and sending a check, payable to CHS, to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142.
All contributions are tax deductible.
Name: _______________________________________
Address:
_______________________________________________
Phone Number: _____________________ E-Mail:
____________________________
Membership
Level
__
Individual Member $10 ___ Senior
Member 65+ $5 ___ Sustaining Member $500
Volunteer
___ I would be interested in serving, as a volunteer .I would be
interested in serving on the following committee(s):__ Program Planning __ Fundraising __ Building (Museum)
__Archives _ Budget –– Cemetery __ Hands on History
Donations are always welcome and can be designated as
follows:
__
Archeological Activities _
Museum & Archival __
Special Events
__
Rankin Fund __
Williams Fund __ Solzhenitsyn Project
__
Other (please specify) __ Cemetery Restoration __ Preservation Projects
The weather finally
cooperated, and even though it was drizzly, the 6th graders toured
the Fitton Mill site, adding to their knowledge of water wheels, which they saw
at Sturbridge Village in October. WWII veteran Jim Hasson spoke to the students about his experiences. Of most interest to this group was
the time Jim spent in Vietnam. 
Solzhenitsyn Book: We’re now doing talks on Alkesandr Solzhenitsyn: The Writer Who
Changed History. Not only are they well received but book sales are good. If you are interested in arranging for a talk, please call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com 
