Partying seaside

Rose and Dick Coffin celebrated their third wedding anniversary Sept. 2 at their lovely seaside property in Falmouth, hosting a large group of friends and family. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The wonderful clambake was held in an open tent on the front lawn, near the ocean. The view was lovely, too, with several sailboats out on the water. The tables, with cloth covers and with a pretty chrysanthemum plant on each, were soon filled with a tray for each guest, with a boiled lobster, a bag of steamed clams, a steamed potato, a dish of cole slaw, an ear of corn, melted butter and a roll. What a feast! The young girls assisting at the serving table brought around a slice of sherbet for our dessert. There were Haven’s chocolate lobsters wrapped in red foil for an extra treat. The flowers were grown and potted by Rose’s sister Claire, a nice gift.

The caterer was Bill Young’s Clambake of North Yarmouth, and the party planner was Ruth Kimball of Westbrook, Her four granddaughters helped serve and assist the guests. It was very efficiently done.

We were always able to find our host in the crowd, as Dick Coffin wore a handsome bright blue, short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt – very stylish.

We were entertained with music throughout the meal by Don Roy on fiddle, his wife Cindy on keyboard and Jay Young, playing the bass viol. A few guests danced to the music, too, including Jim Turgeon of Westbrook. We are pleased to see him at these parties, and also we enjoyed talking with John LaPointe, who used to visit us at our newspaper office in Westbrook. He sat with us at the luncheon.

Among the guests were relatives and friends of both Rose McDermott Coffin and of her husband, Richard Coffin.

McDermott relatives: Rose’s aunt, Dot Kilmartin of Poland; her cousin, Louise Powell of Gorham, and friend Peter Eastman of Cape Elizabeth; Rose’s parents, Arthur and Patricia McDermott of Windham, and her sister, Claire Langlois and husband Michael, and daughter, Maggie Parrish of Falmouth; Rose’s sisters Sarah McDermott of Falmouth and Maura McDermott and her daughter, Olivia; Rose’s brother Paul and his wife Diana of Falmouth, and their five children, son Lee, 9, and daughters Jordan, 8, Molly, 6, Ruth, 5, and Elizabeth, 3; and Rose’s aunt, Bonnie Kilmartin of Casco.

Coffin relatives: Dick’s cousins, Joan Poloncheck and her husband John of Meredith, N.H.; Arline and Richard Lay of Brunswick; Mary Ewert of Concord, N.H.; Carolyn Alley of Old Orchard Beach, and his cousin Carrol Pennell and wife Nancy of Brunswick; and cousin Christine Sanborn of Alton, N.H., and her friend, Dr. Richard Merrill; his cousin, Eve Hladky of Brunswick. Dick’s sister-in-law, June Coffin, and his niece, Alison Coffin, Brunswick, and niece Suzy Coffin of Haverhill, Mass; Dick’s nephew Geoffrey Coffin of Byfield, Mass., and his friend Rose Esile; Dick’s cousin Frank Coffin Jr. and Frank’s son Victor and his wife Linda, and Frank Coffin III and wife Darrelene, of Brunswick, and Jean Coffin of Bowdoinham, wife of Dick’s cousin Alan.

Friends present were Margaret Vose and her husband Arthur of Arundel; Brian Peura and his son Zack of Portland; Ned Arnolds of Brighton, Mass.; Howard and Lynn Nielsen of Freeport; Henry Picking of Brunswick; Joan McLeese of Harpswell; Michael and Beth Carter of Portland; Donald and Lorna Dorsey of Freeport; Julian Holmes of Wayne, a Bowdoin classmate of Dick’s; Joe St. Peter of South Portland; Professor Rick Abrams and friend Cindy of Portland; Alan Atkins and wife Gail of Cape Elizabeth; Bob Smith of Brunswick; Chip Holmes of Newcastle, son of the late Professor Holmes; Hannah Holmes, daughter of the late professor, and her finance, John Dorvee of South Portland; Peter Holmes and his friend Olga, from Hungary; Professor Donald Systma and his friend Becky Richards of Pine Point; Robert Cromwell of Poland; Professor William Phillips and wife Kaoru of Portland; Professor Bo Burke of Long Island; James Turgeon of Westbrook and Casco and his mother Pauline of Florida (James is the son of the McDermott’s family doctor); John LaPointe of Portland, who was a classmate of Rose’s at Westbrook’s St. Hyacinth School; and me, Harry, Susan and Ray.

I was excited to attend this fabulous party from the day our invitation arrived, and I was excited to be there, too.

Remembering Rudy

Mark Chag, who is writing an authorized biography of Rudy Vallee, spoke and showed slides of the once-famous Westbrook-born singer and actor, at the Sept. 5 meeting of the Westbrook Historical Society.

President Donna Conley opened the 1:30 p.m. meeting. Treasurer Nancy Curran gave her report. Donna presented a gift to Philip Curran who is retiring after 10 busy years as editor of the Society’s newsletter. He has done an excellent job. He decided that at the age of 80, it is time for him to retire.

Chag is a New Hampshire native who became intrigued with history while listening to his grandfather’s stories of navigating planes over the Pacific theater during World War II. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire he moved to Florida and embarked on a career in exotic animal care. He worked with Disney’s Animal Kingdom for six years, during which he published numerous papers in zoological journals describing how to better maintain exotic animals in captive environments. During that time, he was twice given the Excellence in Journalism Award from the American Association of Zookeepers.

Always with New England in his heart, he came home in the summer of 2004 with his wife, veterinarian Dr. Shawna Brewer. He accepted a position with the oldest newspaper in Maine, the Advertiser Democrat of Norway, where he took a keen interest in feature stories, including a series on Rudy Vallee.

He became acquainted with Rudy’s widow, Eleanor, spending a week with her when she visited Maine earlier this year to present one of Rudy’s saxophones to the University of Maine Alumni Association. He hopes to have his biography ready for publication before the end of the year.

Chag described the many slides of Rudy’s life, including a picture of him as a baby, on his father’s lap and with his mother and sister. We saw many pictures of his summer cottage at Kezar Lake, where he entertained many renowned guests. Mark told us of Rudy’s discovery as a vocalist, as he first was known as a saxophonist in his Connecticut Yankees Band. He played at Don Dickerson’s nightclub in New York. The singing group in a concert there was not appreciated, and Rudy picked up a mike and sang a solo at that time. From then on he was the renowned vocalist we all admired.

Chag had many items on display for us, including several copies of Rudy’s famous songs in sheet music. The historical society also has an excellent collection of Rudy Vallee material that can be viewed at its headquarters on the second floor of the Dunn Street Legion Hall in Westbrook.

Losing Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti, the famous Italian tenor, died last week. His marvelous voice thrilled opera lovers for many years.

He was born in Modena, Italy in 1935 and died Sept. 6, 2007, at his villa at Santa Maria del Mugnano, just south of the city, at the age of 71.

We have read that he was 19 when he finally began serious studies in voice. He could barely read music, but what a talent he had. He sang in recent years with two other well-known tenors, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. As the Three Tenors, they gave many concerts. A one-hour special about Pavorotti was entitled “King of the High C’s.” He could reach the high C effortlessly.

Once, during a Mass in the great Cathedral of Modena he was joined by his father, also a tenor, in a duet version of Cesar Franck’s “Panis Angelicus,” a song we hear often in religious ceremonies nowadays.

In the recording I have, “Pavarotti’s Greatest Hits,” are arias from many of the operas he performed in, and other songs he was noted for. I often listen to this album, and will consider it a prize recording of his remarkable voice.

Baking a salad

Today’s recipe is from a booklet called “Fabulous Feasts with Maine Seafoods.”

BAKED SEAFOOD CASSEROLE

1/2 pound fresh Maine crabmeat

1/2 pound cooked shrimp

1 cup mayonnaise

1-1/3 cups chopped celery

1-1/2 cups chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Worcestershire

1 cup crushed potato chips

Mix all ingredients except potato chips. Put into greased casserole. Cover with the crushed potato chips, sprinkle with paprika and bake 30 to 40 minutes at 340 degrees.

Another name for this is Baked Seafood Salad. It’s so good that you wonder why someone hasn’t thought of baking salads before. A large tray of sliced tomatoes, carrot sticks, cucumbers and ripe olives would be just the right accompaniment.

Ramblings

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