February, 1862 was all about the severe weather - “A vicious winter had stranded local rail traffic in deep drifts and in one instance frigid temperatures actually cracked the wheels of a locomotive.” And of the dispatches about actions of the 27th  at Roanoake Island in North Carolina and the later information of  “their friends and loved ones, who were fighting and dying in one of what would become a string of “Glorious Union Victories” over the next few weeks both in North Carolina and the west.” And of important social issues in a series on emancipation written by United States Senator Charles Sumner as well as their editorializing on the side of Catholics who were protesting a Protestant-backed bill in the Legislature to force them to read the King James version of The Bible in school. The editorial argued: “These narrow-minded Protestants do not see their course justifies Catholics in the same abuse of power whenever and wherever they find themselves in the majority.”

This chronicle is well-worth a read to get the flavor of life in western Massachusetts at that time and of how their local military men were faring in their Civil War battle.

Link to the article here: http://www.masslive.com/history/index.ssf/2012/02/civil_war_february_1862_1st_battle_of_the_27th_massachusetts_a_glorious_victory.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

After the Challenger disaster – Roger Boisjoly gave a presidential commission investigating the disaster internal Morton Thiokol corporate documents – the memo he had written six months before – it was a bombshell. He became a whistle-blower both praised and reviled. He  became sought after as an expert in forensic engineering but his health suffered and suits against his former company were dismissed. Of his former space-project colleagues he remembered that only Sally Ride – the first woman in space – made any positive gesture to him.

Exerpts from his obituary:

NEPHI, UTAH — Our beloved Roger Mark Boisjoly’s time on earth has ended. He passed away January 6, 2012, in Nephi, Utah, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born April 25, 1938 in Lowell, MA to Joseph Antonio Boisjoly and Isabell St. Cyr.

He was raised and educated in Lowell, MA and graduated  from the University of Lowell with a degree in mechanical engineering. He married Roberta Malcolm on April 21, 1962…  In his college years Roger enjoyed hockey and tennis. Roger worked in the aerospace industry for 27 years. Later he started his own business in forensic engineering and enjoyed speaking to universities on ethics…He will be missed

My note: Besides his wife, the former Roberta Malcolm, he is survived by his daughters Norma Patterson and Darlene Richens; his brothers Ronald (retired Lowell High School teacher), Russell and Richard; and eight grandchildren.

Read the NYTimes article here:    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/us/roger-boisjoly-73-dies-warned-of-shuttle-danger.html?_r=1&src=twrhp

Read more about Roger Boisjoly here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Boisjoly

According to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar the Civilian Conservation Corps - established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Depression to put hundreds of thousands of the unemployed to work on projects in government parks and lands - serves as a “very good indicator” of what the administration hopes to accomplish with the Veterans Job Corps.

Read more here at the washingtonpost.com.

Read the White House press statement “President Obama’s Plan to Put Veterans Back to Work” here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room

The timing of McDonough’s leaving coincides with recently released annual financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011. The January 26 report was accompanied by this statement from the Cardinal:

 ”The Archdiocese of Boston has greatly benefitted by the financial management of recent years that has achieved and sustained a balanced budget. The stabilization of our finances has led to increased confidence among our many generous benefactors, who provide us the means to invest in our parishes, schools, evangelization and the important mission of serving the poor and those in need. We are aware that there remain challenges to be addressed, but are encouraged by the progress being made in rebuilding our local Church. Going forward, we will maintain our commitment to be a sign of the presence of the Lord to the Catholics of the Archdiocese and the wider community.”

Among the highlights of the report:

• Central ministries, a component of central operations, achieved a balanced budget maintained for second straight year;
• Parish offertory increased 3 percent;
• Enrollment grew in over half of the Archdiocese’s Catholic schools and increased by 1 percent in Boston for the first time in 20 years.

Read the full financial report by linking here to The Pilot. The Globe story can be read here at boston.com.

It is National Catholic Schools Week! The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2012 is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Academics. Service.” The annual observance officially started yesterday –  the last Sunday in January and will run all week to February 5. Schools typically celebrate Catholic Schools Week with Mass, open houses and activities for students, families, parishioners and the community at large. Locally, we’ve seen newspaper ads, special coverage in The Pilot and talk about Catholic Schools in our weekly parish bulletins. Many schools celebrate by honoring a distinguished school alum as the Immaculate Conception School did last Saturday with its recognition of ICS grad Kevin Ahern.

Catholic schools have a long and rich tradition in Lowell and in the Merrimack Valley.  Of  those schools still open and active in Lowell: St. Patrick’s School in the Acre opened in 1852, the Immaculate Conception School in 1880, St. Michael’s in 1889, St. Jeanne d’Arc School in 1910, St. Margaret’s School in 1941, Franco-American School in 1963 (opened as orphanage in 1908) and Lowell Catholic High School in 1989 as the successor to its  legacy schools – Keith Academy(1926) and Keith Hall (1926), Keith Catholic, St. Patrick’s HS,  St. Joseph’s HS and St. Louis Academy.

Catholic Schools Week – a time for students to celebrate their unique path of learning within the parish, community and nation – will celebrate its 40^th anniversary next year.

What are your memories of Catholic schools in Lowell and the Catholic school experience?

MassMoments reminds us today that when Asa Mercer of Seattle set out to recruit young women of good character to travel to the Northwest and fill the need for teachers in the Washington Territory, he came first to Lowell, Massachusetts. Why New England? Why Lowell? His reasoning was pretty straightforward: “A scarcity of women existed in those far away and newly settled regions, while a superabundance of the fairer sex abounded in New England.” Lowell must have been seen as an opportune place given the way women had flocked to it in the 1830s to work in the mills. The Civil War and the lack of access to raw cotton caused a wide-spread loss of jobs in Lowell. Economic need and a religious zeal caused a small group to answer his call. The overall results of his mission to bring woman teachers – called the “Mercer Girls” -  to the west had mixed results – in two trips over 700 were recruited – but many did stay to teach…  “about 70% of the women who left New England to be teacher-pioneers remained in the west. Many of their daughters became the teachers of the next generation.”

     January 26 …in 1864, a visitor from Seattle held a meeting in Lowell. Asa Mercer explained to his largely female audience that there was a great scarcity of teachers in the Washington Territory. Jobs — and single men — were plentiful. Both were in short supply in Massachusetts. Any woman who could raise the money for her passage would readily find a teaching position — and soon a husband. Mercer also appealed to the women’s sense of duty: “their presence and influence were so much needed” in the West, he told them. In spite of the opportunities Seattle offered, it was unimaginably far away. Only 11 women chose to accompany Mercer on his journey home. These brave teacher-pioneers were long known as the “Mercer Girls.”

Senator Eileen Donoghue shares her thoughts about her first year in office as the State Senator for the First Middlesex District in a January 2012 0n-line newsletter. Her district includes the communities of Lowell, Dunstable, Groton, Pepperell, Tyngsborough and Westford.

Read it  all here.

Don’t miss this important update from the  Small Business Assistance Center from Stacie Hargis the Director:

Something just happened to the Center! As the New Year unfolds, the Center is looking forward to a bright 2012 as we have had much success to build on from last year.2011 meant results that made a difference in the communities of the Merrimack Valley! … And we look forward to continuing that success, but with a new name. As of today, the Lowell Small Business Assistance Center will officially be known as theMerrimack Valley Small Business Center.

A reminder:

The Merrimack Valley Small Business Center is a program of Community Teamwork, Inc. in collaboration with Middlesex Community College, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and the City of Lowell – Division of Planning & Development.

The mission:

The mission of the Merrimack Valley Small Business Center is to provide entrepreneurs from ethnically and economically diverse groups with the education, tools and resources needed to create, sustain or expand viable small businesses.

Check-out the January 2012  Newsletter here.

In a move announced by mail by the Town Clerk and sanctioned by the Board of Selectmen, some Tewksbury voters will again be moving to a new location to cast their ballots. The former Town Clerk had consolidated the voting sites to two handicapped-accessible sites – the new Senior Center on Chandler Street and the fairly new Public Library also on Chandler Street but adjacent to Route 38. It was a move that proved to be controversial with some and did see a bit of a log-jam with snow piles and an outpouring of voters for the special election for the U. S. Senate back in January, 2010.

 Tewksbury Senior Center – Precincts 1 & 2 (photo from the Tewksbury Patch)

In an information sheet tucked into the 2012 Census Form envelope, voters learned that Precincts 3 and 3A will be casting ballots at the Lowell Assembly of God Church on Andover Street/Rte. 133 and Precincts 2 and 2A will vote at the Recreation Center on Livingston Street.  Added to the Clerk’s voter information notice - with redistricting at the most local level completed – was a list of fifty streets that have precinct changes.

Tewksbury residents and registered voters need to carefully check the Census mailer for this important information. Also, mail back the Census form ASAP.

 Recreation Center – Precincts 2 & 2A (photo from the Tewksbury Patch)

 Lowell Assembly of God Church – Precincts 3 & 3A (photo from church website)