MEMORIAL DAY: The Grand Marshals of the Kennett Memorial Day Parade

The Grand Marshals for this year's Kennett Square Memorial Day parade have been named, and they are World War II veterans Michael B. Pratola, Jr., Fred Patrola, Sr., and Robert Hopkins, Sr.

The parade will be held on Monday, May 25, starting at 10 a.m. It kicks off at Kennett High School, travels up South Union Street, turns right at Cypress Street, then left on Broad Street, right on East State Street, turns right onto North Union Street, and ends at Union Cemetery with a special memorial ceremony. (It's a truly great parade.)

Bill Taylor, the parade's organizer, was kind enough to send me the following biographies and photos of the grand marshals:

Michael Pratola, Jr. was drafted in July 1944 and sent to Alabama for basic training. As part of the Fifth Army Infantry, he was shipped to Italy. Patrola, Jr. moved to the Special MP to guard Naples Harbor. At Naples Harbor he operated a 75-ton floating crane at the Harbor Craft Company, where he supervised the work of 12 Army veterans and 14 Italian civilians. He was discharged in August 1946.

 

 

In 1947, Fred Patrola, Sr. served with the Central HQ group in Tokyo, Japan. He served as a custodian during the War Crime Trials in a building referred to as the “West Point of Japan.” At that time, General MacArthur was in Tokyo, as well as lawyers from around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Hopkins, Sr. joined the US Marine Corps in 1944, completing his basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was stationed in Guam, then sent to Chichi-jima to guard Japanese war crime criminals. Hopkins escorted the war criminals by ship to Guam and continued to guard them as they faced trial for their crimes. He was honorably discharged in 1946.

 

 

 



ON THE ROAD: As always, consider the source

On this gorgeous Saturday morning I checked my Facebook page before getting started with my editing work and saw that a friend just posted: "It's time to ride!" I had to think which of my categories of friends she is in: Did she mean riding a bike? a horse? an indoor bike at the gym? Ah, no, none of the above: she's one of my motorcycle-enthusiast pals. She and her husband are probably miles away on their Harleys by now.

IN THE CHAIR: Not your everyday oral surgery story

Perhaps you read the sad story of the Berwyn dentist who was arrested and charged with lots of narcotics violations last week. One woman commented online that her son had been at the office to get his wisdom teeth removed when the DEA raided the place. My thought was: What a great story that wisdom-tooth youth is going to have! All his peers will have the same old routine stories about ice packs and stitches, blah blah blah, and he has the DEA bursting in.

SPRING: Warming to the benefits of a yoga practice

Spring means different things to people. I had lunch at the Country Butcher today with a friend who relies largely on a woodstove to heat her large house; she and her husband keep the thermostat on the central heating dialed down to a Spartan 59 degrees. She said all winter her prime motivation for attending her yoga class was the fact that the instructor jacked up the studio temperature to 85 degrees and she got to thaw out for a blissful hour. Now that it's warmer outside, she still goes to class, but now just because she enjoys the yoga.

FIRE SALE: Get 'em while they're hot!

One of my well-trained spies spotted this amusing spelling error at a shop along Route 1 and immediately phoned to tell me about it. I hustled over there to get a photo of it before they had a chance to fix it. What's funny is that the spelling was correct on the other side of the sign. Go figure! A friend sagely commented, "Too bad they don't pay you for drive-by editing."

SPRING: The magic of the spring peepers

A reader named Brian wrote me a lovely paean to spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), those wonderful, life-affirming harbingers of spring. He told me how distressed he was to discover, upon visiting his favorite peeper territory off Wollaston Road, some trees marked with X's. He feared that a housing development was coming that would eliminate their habitat.
His second email was more upbeat, though: "Oh good news. Although the lumber in the area is being harvested, there is no development going in. So with hope the area will still support the peepers for our future generations. And song-filled springs."
He's right about the full-throated Wollaston Road peepers: I heard them tonight as I was driving by there at sundown, even with the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" playing at the only appropriate volume.

WEST GROVE: Talk on the traditions of the Lenape Nation

On April 15, Shelley DePaul gave an interesting talk at West Grove Friends Meeting about the traditional culture of the Lenape Indians. She opened the lecture by playing a melody on her recorder, which immediately grabbed the attention of the still-chatting audience, and then gave a blessing in the native Lenape tongue.
Most of the other speakers in this lecture series have focused on the specific facets of their religion, but Shelley said that beliefs and religious rituals were so much a part of the Indians' way of life that it was difficult to separate the two. The opening prayer reflected that unity, as it referred not only to us "two-leggeds" but also "four-leggeds," "the fish people," "the winged ones" and "the plant people," all as equals. She said that traditionally the tribal chiefs ate last, only after everyone else did, and suggested that we'd be better off if today's political leaders did the same. She also stressed how important respect for elders was in the Native American tradition.
The next talk in the series is April 22 at 7 p.m., when Jim Hammerman and Richard Beck will discuss "The Fourth Way" (G.I. Gurdjieff).
 

DOWNTOWN: Plant sale to fund Kennett container gardens

JoAnn Donlick wrote to me about the annual plant sale sponsored by the Kennett Square Beautification Committee, to be held on from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25, in the Genesis Walkway in downtown Kennett Square.
On sale will be "locally grown top-quality annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables and dahlias as well as Mothers Day arrangements, new mixed arrangements, hanging baskets, raffle, silent auction and plants donated from local gardeners."
"This will be most special since it marks 50 years of annual plant sales," she writes. " As you know proceeds go to beautifying Kennett Square with trees and container plantings. . . . The success of this endeavor has been dependent upon cooperation between the shop-keeping merchants, council and the committee.  Since no funding is received, all revenue is generated by the annual plant sale."
The volunteer Beautification Committee was formed 50 years ago under the direction of Everitt Miller, then Director of Longwood Gardens.

I for one am impressed year after year with how beautiful these container-gardens are throughout the downtown.

BUDDY'S: Burgers that are recommended by a gym teacher!

When my lithe, strong, bursting-with-health yoga and Pilates teacher gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the burgers and fries at Buddy's Burgers Breasts and Fries, I thought it wise to take her advice at the earliest opportunity (much to the astonishment and delight of the Dining Companion, who is used to seeing me eating salads). Buddy's is in the Liberty Place shops at State and Center Streets in downtown Kennett.
It was excellent advice. The burgers and fries were really good. You get to pick from a whole list of options as to the number of patties, the type of meat, cheeses, and toppings. Even though the place was doing a good dinnertime business with families, we got our meal quickly. And while we were eating we got to watch people trying to parallel-park on State Street, always a good spectator sport.
As we left I told the cheerful young guys behind the counter that it was our first visit, and they all grinned and very kindly said they hoped we'd return. We will, I assured them!
After running errands involving shoes, groceries, pansies and canine joint supplement, we returned to Kennett for dessert: ice cream from La Michoacana, which is now open for the season.