Raposo started `Sesame Street` White House visits

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Thursday, December 4, 2014
CITY BUZZ
Fa la la Fall River
The city goes all out for Christmas fun this weekend with
the annual Children's Holiday
Parade and Jingle Run happening on Saturday followed by the
Christmas Celebration at the
Greater Fall River Re-Creation
and a tree lighting ceremony at
Government Center on Sunday.
The parade, now in its 30th
year, steps off from Kennedy
Park at 1 p.m. Saturday, heading down South Main Street.
There will be over 140 units and
30 floats, plus numerous giant
inflatable balloons, marching bands, Clydesdale horses,
and an appearance by Santa
himself, flying in via helicopter.
Free parking will be available at
the 3rd Street and Pearl Street
parking garages on Saturday,
courtesy of Business for Better
Parking. Also on Saturday, the
Jingle Run starts at Kennedy
Park at 12:30 p.m., ending at
Government Center. Be sure
to wear your bells and craziest Christmas outfit. Then, on
Sunday, join in the fun at the
Christmas Celebration at the
Greater Fall River Re-Creation
site, 72 Bank St. from 2-4
p.m., after which head on over
to the tree lighting at Government Center taking place at
dusk, approximately 4 p.m. For
more information on all events,
visit www.gfrrec.org.
Fall River, Massachusetts
FREE
THE SOUL OF
SESAME STREET
Sound tradition
The traditional sounds of American folk music will brighten the
lives of Fall River residents at a
free show Thursday hosted by
the Marine Museum. Award-winning folk duo Atwater-Donnelly
will be at the museum playing
their unique combination of
American and Celtic folk music,
interspersed with poetry and
dance, from 7 to 9 p.m. In addition to music, the duo delights
audiences with dance, poetry
and traditional puppetry and
tap-percussion. A local Arts
Lottery award is making the
free show possible. Families of
all sizes are welcome. While it's
free to attend, reservations are
required. Call 508-674-3533
to secure your spot. Visit www.
marinemuseumfr.org for directions and details.
First Friday
Lafrance Hospitality patriarch
Richard Lafrance, son of White's
of Westport founders Roland
'Aime' and Rita Lafrance, will
address the Fall River Area
Men’s First Friday Club on
Friday. Since that fateful Easter
Sunday in 1955 when White's
first opened, the Lafrances
have grown both the company,
adding and developing hotel
and restaurant properties, and
the family, with four generations
now helping run the business. This special First Friday
Club event is expected to be
a gathering of old friends with
many members having enjoyed
Lafrance family hospitality since
the club's founding just eight
years before White's opened.
The evening begins with a Mass
at 6 p.m. at St Joseph Church,
N. Main St., Fall River, that is
open to the public. Any gentleman interested in attending the
dinner after the Mass should
contact Daryl Gonyon at (508)
672-4822.
More Spirit
■ Page 2: Check our “Plug In”
feature for everything you need
to know about The Fall River
Spirit’s online extras — webexclusive stories, blogs, videos
and more.
■ Coming next week: The story
of Harley, a 15-year-old freshman at Diman Reg. Technical
H.S. who has equipped city
police cruisers with special
custom-made kits for kids
during emergencies.
INDEX
Plug-In/Best Bets ..................A2
Fur, Fin and Feathers..............A3
Spotlight .................................A3
Hague Textile ..........................A4
VOL. XI NO. 6
Friends Jim Henson, Walter Cronkite, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) and the U.S. Marine Band help Joe Raposo (right) perform
“Sing” at the White House Christmas concert in 1977. JOE RAPOSO MUSIC GROUP
Raposo started
‘Sesame Street’
White House visits
By Phil Devitt
[email protected]
Away from paper and pen and piano, the composer
sat perfectly still. His summer home, by the beach in
Chatham, was his getaway from a world in love with
his music and hungry for more.
Joe Raposo planted his feet in the sand and gazed
at the Atlantic Ocean. Out there, 2,400 miles east of
the Cape Cod shore, was Sao Miguel, the Portuguese
island where his parents were born.
“Can you believe this?” he asked his cousin Noreen
Avery, seated beside him. He sounded like a child
who had stolen from the cookie jar without getting
caught. “Can you believe we were born in Fall River?
And look at us now.”
This is the way Avery remembers her cousin, a man
who never forgot his hometown and never took for
granted the monumental success he achieved in the
entertainment business.
It has been 45 years since Raposo wrote the first
of more than 3,000 songs for “Sesame Street,” the
groundbreaking PBS children’s television show, and
25 years since cancer ended his life at 51, but Avery
still pictures him here, on the beach, content and
reflective and grateful.
She grew up with Raposo in a North Main Street
duplex where she watched him pound piano keys
until he was sore. Then, she watched him rocket to
success, propelled by the right combination of hard
work, genius and musical genes. Why wouldn't she
believe?
Avery had come to Chatham for rare quality
time with her lifelong pal, a man she considered
a brother. Neither she nor Raposo had siblings, so
they happily filled those roles for each other. They
were "inseparable" as children, getting into and out
of trouble together, always able to make each other
laugh, always loyal, always loving. Now their own
children were chasing each other on the beach, back
and forth, in circles, screaming and giggling under
the summer sun.
Avery tried to corral the little ones. “Away from the
water!” she shouted.
She turned to Raposo, but he was “completely
oblivious” to the chaos around him, on the beach but
somewhere else, staring at the horizon but perhaps
seeing past it, filled with a boyhood wonder that had
never dimmed, and asking his cousin again: “Can
you believe it?”
'KING OF THEM ALL'
If you’ve ever caught yourself humming the
“Sesame Street” theme on a long drive, if you’ve ever
tearfully nodded to Kermit the Frog’s “Bein’ Green,”
if you’ve ever shamelessly swayed to The Carpenters’
smooth cover of “Sing,” you know Joe Raposo.
He composed those classic songs – and many
more – for a show that, despite targeting youth, binds
generations of Americans. He signed on as musical
director at the start in 1969, working with puppeteer
By Phil Devitt
Fall River Spirit Editor
Joe Raposo sits at the piano in his Bronxville,
N.Y., home. JOE RAPOSO MUSIC GROUP
Jim Henson and writer/producer Jon Stone to craft
a children’s program unlike any other on television.
“Joe was the king of them all,” says Caroll Spinney, who has played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch
on “Sesame Street” since the beginning. “He was so
prolific.”
Raposo and Spinney, a fellow Massachusetts
native, met a few years before “Sesame Street” on
the set of a children’s television show in Boston. After
they reunited in 1969, Raposo often fondly recalled
their first encounter.
“He was always impressed we had worked
together,” says Spinney. “He wrote so many of the
fabulous songs of ‘Sesame Street’ and a lot of songs
for me. Of course, you knew it was gonna be great
if he wrote it.”
Raposo, leading a team of talented musicians,
produced songs at an astonishing pace for “Sesame
Street,” some seconds long, many minutes long.
He laid simple lyrics over deceptively complex and
sophisticated instrumentals, always striving for perfection. He put his voice on some tracks, including
the ethereal “Flying” and matter-of-fact “Everybody
Sleeps.”
“He had a funky little voice he loved to use,” Spinney says.
Raposo wrote other tunes for the show’s talented
SEE RAPOSO, A5
The most famous home on Pennsylvania Avenue
has always been good to "Sesame Street."
The White House has hosted "Sesame Street" at
its annual Christmas party since the Nixon administration, a tradition started by Joe Raposo, the
show's first musical director, veteran Big Bird puppeteer Caroll Spinney says.
Raposo, a Fall River native, also got to work with
two U.S. presidents on separate projects. Jimmy
Carter, who enjoyed watching "Sesame Street" with
his daughter, asked Raposo to write his campaign
music. Raposo met Ronald and Nancy Reagan
through mutual friend Frank Sinatra. He wrote a
number of pieces for the Reagans, including the
music for Nancy's foster grandparents campaign.
"For a poor kid from Fall River, hanging out at
the White House was absolutely electrifying," says
Nick Raposo, the composer's son.
Spinney fondly recalls visiting Washington, D.C.,
with Raposo and the cast.
“I’ve gotten to work with an awful lot of First
Ladies,” he says.
How did the distinguished women react to
working with an 8-foot puppet? Big Bird breaks
it down:
PAT NIXON: “I was standing for photos after
the performance with the children and cast. Often
with Big Bird, I’ll put my arm around the person
and bury them in feathers, but I thought with Mrs.
Nixon I better not do that since she was acting
rather formal. I just put my left arm and wing up
on her right shoulder. She reached up with her free
hand, grabbed my wing, pulled it straight down
and never let go.”
BETTY FORD: “She was a hugger. She buried
herself in my feathers.”
ROSALYNN CARTER: “She’s very quiet and shy,
very sweet.”
BARBARA BUSH: “She was fun, a very sweet,
funny person, very outgoing.”
HILLARY CLINTON: “Hillary was hilarious, a
great joker with a wonderful sense of humor. She
got down on the floor and played with extra puppets we had brought. She had fun pulling them
out of the Muppet boxes. I also worked with her
on ‘Sesame Street.’”
MICHELLE OBAMA: “She is warm and outgoing.”
Big Bird recently worked with Obama on her "Let's
Move!" campaign.
The Fall River Spirit
RAPOSO
From Page A1
cast. “C Is For Cookie,” for
instance, went to the program’s
ravenous blue monster in
residence.
Raposo had worked with
Henson and his Muppets before
"Sesame Street" on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
“I think Joe was very much
in touch with the child within
himself and could express it and
could see the world through
that child and could write songs
about it,” Henson says in “Sing!
‘Sesame Street’ Remembers Joe
Raposo and His Music,” a 1990
PBS special.
Nick Raposo, one of the composer’s four children, is licensing
manager of The Joe Raposo
Music Group, which owns the
copyrights to his father’s work.
“No one in 1969 could have
guessed that children’s music
from a television show would
last so long,” he says, but every
day, at least one request rolls in
from someone who wants to use
a Raposo tune in a show, movie
or advertisement.
“My father always said that
children are not stupid people
– they’re just little people,” Nick
says. “I believe it’s this respect
for kids, and the music certainly
reflects this, that resonated with
so many people and continues to
resonate to this day.”
The music led Raposo to what
his younger self could never have
imagined: the chance to compose
themes for other TV shows, “The
Electric Company” and “Three’s
Company” among them; visits
to the White House; admiration
and song covers from some of
the 20th century’s most iconic
performers, including Barbra
Streisand and Ray Charles; and
a sweet friendship with the most
iconic of them all.
The music, as it always had,
gave Raposo gifts he couldn’t
believe.
FROM FALL RIVER TO FAME
in 1958, he went back to the
City of Light for two more years
of study. When he returned to
Boston, he conducted for radio
and television, and performed
at jazz venues including Storyville, accompanying legends
such as Ella Fitzgerald and Duke
Ellington.
He settled in New York City
with first wife Sue Nordlund, the
mother of Nick and his brother
Joe, in 1966. (He later married
television journalist Pat Collins,
with whom he had two more children, and moved to Bronxville, a
New York suburb.)
In the Big Apple, surrounded
by showbiz glitz and glamor,
Raposo was busier than ever. It
was there he reconnected with
former Durfee classmate Morton
Dean, a respected CBS journalist.
“Everyone in the world of
entertainment knew Joe Raposo,”
Dean says. “He was a special type
of guy.”
Dean says he remembers visiting Raposo when he had an office
at Carnegie Hall, and being in
awe that a fellow Fall River native
worked there.
“We used to joke that there had
to be something in the water, in
the Watuppa (Pond),” Dean says,
noting the success stories Fall
River has produced. “I think we
all learned from Fall River the
value of hard work, that there was
a greater world out there.”
When “Sesame Street” came
calling, Raposo drew from his
childhood in Fall River to reach
a new generation of children, all
while raising children of his own.
“My father was a wonderful
person,” Nick says. “He had the
ability to make you feel you were
the only person in the world that
mattered. He was a loving and
gentle father, always protective
According to Dean, Raposo settled into a hip New York dinner
party one night and noticed the
seat next to him was empty. The
seat was for Sinatra, who walked
in fashionably late.
“Joe could be very much the
small-town boy,” Dean says. “He
could be very sophisticated but he
could easily retreat. Frank Sinatra? He couldn’t believe it.”
Raposo eventually “worked up
the courage” to ask Sinatra why
he wanted to record “Bein’ Green,”
Dean says. Sinatra, without missing a beat, looked Raposo in the
eyes and said, "Because it's me."
People all over the world identified with the song, according
to veteran “Sesame Street” performer Bob McGrath, who has
incorporated it into concerts.
“You look in the audience and
you just see everyone sort of nodding their heads like, ‘Yes, I know
where Kermit’s coming from,’”
McGrath says in the anniversary
documentary. “It’s not easy being
whatever they are.”
Spinney says Henson adopted
the song as his "personal theme"
for Kermit. In a packed New York
City cathedral, during Henson's
1990 memorial service, Spinney
donned his Big Bird costume
and sang "Bein' Green" for his
old friend.
“I was surprised I didn’t cry
during the song because I tend
to cry easily," Spinney says. "I’m
very emotional.”
The song made a lifelong fan
and friend out of Sinatra, who
once called Raposo a "genius"
and recorded four Raposo tunes
for his 1973 album "Ol' Blue Eyes
is Back."
“You Will Be My Music,” the
first track on the album, remains
one of Avery’s favorite Raposo
songs.
English was not Raposo’s first
language. Born in Fall River in
1937, the only child of Azorean
immigrants, he spoke Portuguese
in his humble North Main Street
home.
There, he also developed a love
for another language, one without words: music.
His father, Jose Soares Raposo,
was an accomplished musician
in his native Sao Miguel before
he moved to the United States
in 1917. In Fall River, he found
work in the mills but quickly
realized he could do better by
teaching guitar and violin. He
founded Raposo Music Schools
in 1928, the year before he married mill worker Maria Vascencao
Victorinho.
Raposo grew up with his Joe Raposo hangs out with Big Bird (friend Caroll Spinney) on
cousin, Avery, whose maiden the “Sesame Street” set. NEWSWEEK VIA JOE RAPOSO MUSIC GROUP
name is Paiva. Avery, who was
"I'll never find the words to tell
the oldest of the two by about and always supportive. You can
you all the things I need to say,"
a month, remembers starting hear it in his music.”
SIGNATURE SONG
the second verse goes. "And I'm
piano lessons with Raposo in
Some songs take on lives of afraid that as time goes by that
first grade.
someday soon you'll go away."
“For the first three years, I was their own.
So it was with “Bein’ Green,”
LASTING IMPRESSIONS
better,” says Avery, now a BelRaposo kept his cancer a secret.
mont resident. “I practiced; he Kermit the Frog’s meditation on
For several years, Avery was
didn’t. Then, one day, it was like his “ordinary” color. Henson performed it as Kermit for the first one of the few people who
he woke up.”
knew her cousin was battling
Avery and Raposo attended time in 1969.
“One night we needed a song lymphoma.
school at St. Vincent’s orphan“He was worried that if word
age across the street from their for the frog,” musician Danny
home. Raposo was a natural on Epstein recalls in a “Sesame got out, no one would hire him,”
the chapel organ, impressing Street” 35th anniversary docu- she says. “It was a long haul and
the strict nuns enough to secure mentary. “I remember Jon Stone it wasn’t pretty.”
Raposo worked until the end.
a regular gig at midnight Mass calling after Joe in the hallway: ‘I
starting in fourth grade, Avery need the damn song tomorrow. In 1989, the year he died, he comsays. By age 13, he was behind Remember, the thing is green.’ posed the theme for “Shining
the organ every Sunday at Santo (Joe) wrote ‘Green’ overnight. Time Station,” a PBS children’s
Christo Parish on Columbia That is a work of art if you know show starring Didi Conn and
the lyrics to that song. It’s a piece Ringo Starr. By then, his profesStreet.
By age 17, he could play and of literature. It’s profound. Jim sional legacy was clear.
“What he and Jim Henson
sight-read anything. After Henson singing songs like 'Bein'
graduating from BMC Durfee Green.' It's not Pavarotti but it and Jon Stone did back in the
High School in 1954, he studied sure is magic. It's a magic that early 1970s on ‘Sesame Street’
changed the way the entire world
at Harvard University, playing can never be duplicated.”
It turned out the song wasn’t approached children's entertainpiano at bars and clubs every
only for frogs. One of Raposo’s ment,” Nick says. “The three of
night to make money.
“While this might sound like favorites, it also is one of the most them used their uniquely childhyperbole, his fingers would actu- covered tunes in the composer’s like — not childish — abilities to
ally be bleeding at the end of a catalog. Van Morrison, Diana find the genuine and the beautinight of work,” Nick says. “He Ross and Ray Charles put their ful and the silly that is in each of
was, even in the estimation of stamps on it decades ago. Cee us.”
Raposo left another legacy
his critics, an astonishing piano Lo Green sang it with Kermit on
NBC's “The Voice” last year.
to his children, who are split
player.”
What did Raposo make of between New York and Los
Nick says his father was his
own toughest critic, but if any- other artists interpreting his Angeles, and who all work in the
entertainment business.
thing was lacking from the pieces work?
“He was ecstatic,” Nick says.
“His main lesson to us was, ‘It's
he composed, he was the only
“Some people – particularly those not getting there that matters; it's
person who noticed.
Raposo also never took him- from wealthy, upper-class back- how hard you work along the way.
self too seriously, Avery says. grounds, mistook his absolute That's the reward,’" Nick says. “I
While leading the band during a astonishment and excitement for do believe my grandparents' traHarvard alumni event in muggy boasting, but that wasn’t what it ditional Portuguese household
Bermuda, he told musicians was at all. This was a guy whose and their relative poverty during
they could cool off by playing in family had a Christmas branch the Great Depression left the
strongest imprint on his charactheir underwear as long as they for the holidays.”
Spinney was with Raposo the ter. There are echoes of that in all
remembered to wave rather than
morning after Frank Sinatra of us.”
stand and bow at the end.
Raposo was buried in Cha“He really had a great personal- debuted his cover of “Bein’ Green”
tham, not far from the beach
ity,” Avery says. “He was the type in 1971.
Joe was appreciatively excited where his cousin still pictures
that if you were angry or upset
with him, within three seconds he over that because if you write a him lost in good thoughts and
would have you laughing so hard song and Frank Sinatra records it, still hears him asking, “Can you
you know you’ve made it. And so believe it?”
you couldn’t even talk.”
She has a response: “I think I
Raposo’s professors sent him to Joe said, ‘Gosh, I guess I’ve made
Paris to study orchestration and it,’” Spinney says. "He was just an was just blessed I had him for all
that time.”
conducting. After he graduated incredible talent.”
| Thursday, December 4, 2014 A5
After 45 years, Spinney
still loves being Big Bird
By Phil Devitt
Editor
Caroll Spinney can tell you
how to get to “Sesame Street.”
He’s been commuting to it for
45 years.
From his home in northeastern Connecticut, it’s a
150-mile journey southwest
to New York City, to a nondescript building in Queens that,
from the outside, resembles a
bank or police station.
Don’t be fooled. Inside, the
days are sunny and the air is
sweet.
Here at Kaufman Astoria
Studios, “Sesame Street” –
the iconic PBS children’s show
populated by furry, friendly
puppets – comes to life.
Here, the empty body of a
giant yellow bird waits for its
soul, a gentle man who infuses
every feather with personality.
Spinney is Big Bird. He
always has been.
At 80, the Massachusetts
native is the last remaining
original puppeteer on an
iconic show he helped define,
a show that once counted Jim
Henson and Frank Oz among
its talent. He has no plans to
retire.
“ We w e r e b o r n t o b e
together,” Spinney said of Big
Bird, his voice slightly lower
than but just as warm as the
high-pitched, childlike voice
he gives his character, a lovable 6-year-old who towers
over everybody at 8 feet, 2
inches.
Spinney, also the man
behind Oscar the Grouch,
said “Sesame Street” owes its
longevity to the “cleverness in
its creation.” The program has
been teaching children how to
count and spell and interact
with others for 45 years this
fall.
“The great design of that
show was that it should be as
funny and entertaining as it is
educational,” said Spinney. “I
think that’s why it’s been such
a success. Instead of it being
just rote stuff, it’s got humor
and a point to it. It’s not just
like, ‘Hi, boys and girls. We’re
gonna have a sweet time
today. Oh, goody, goody.’ None
of that stuff. ‘Sesame Street’
made that old hat.”
While some newer shows —
including one about “a certain
dinosaur”— have thrived with
the old method, “Sesame
Stree t ” has consistently
treated its young viewers as
equals, Spinney said. Big Bird,
conceived by Henson as “a big,
goofy guy,” quickly became a
curious child under Spinney’s
care, a character to whom
children at home could relate.
“So many things have been
done right in creating and
executing ‘Sesame Street,'”
Spinney said. “I was thrilled
to be part of it.”
Spinney, a soft-spoken
Waltham native who lives “17
feet” from the Massachusetts
border, has a slight suburban Boston accent that is
harder to detect when he is
in character. He got his start
on Boston television in the
late 1960s, drawing cartoons
for children as Mr. Lion on
“Bozo’s Big Top.” The traveling
version of that show occasionally took him to Fall River and
other parts of southeastern
Massachusetts.
Spinney worked just as hard
off camera to combine his lifelong passions for puppetry
and animation into a show
that ended up impressing
one of the most famous men
in the business. As “everything
went wrong, naturally,” during
a performance at a Salt Lake
City puppet festival, a dejected
Spinney had no idea he was
about to secure his dream job.
“I’m putting things away
backstage. I hear this voice
behind me. It said: ‘I liked
what you were trying to do.’ I
turned around and it was Jim
Henson,” Spinney said. “He
asked me if I’d like to work for
him. He was gonna build two
characters: a large, silly bird,
a puppet so big you could get
inside it; and a grouch who
enjoys trash. He drew me a
picture of what they were
going to be. I thought, ‘I think
that’s what I’m looking for.’
Indeed it was. And I got the
job that day.”
Spinney initially doubted he
was talented enough to work
with Henson, but he soon
grew into his puppet personas,
Caroll Spinney has played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on
“Sesame Street” since the show started in 1969. GIL VAKNIN/
SESAME WORKSHOP
imbuing them with his own
traits. Bullied as a child for
his name, size and lack of
athleticism, he identified with
his characters’ tendencies to
“go their own way.” Big Bird,
in particular, resonated with
Spinney, becoming the show’s
most popular character and a
friend to millions of children.
“Big Bird is full of heart,”
Spinney said. “I play Big Bird
like the child I hoped I could
be when I was a kid. I was the
smallest kid in the class and
he’s the tallest character on
television.”
The wide appeal of “Sesame
Street” didn’t register with
Spinney, who goes largely
unrecognized out of costume, until he walked into a
bookstore one day and saw
Big Bird staring back at him
from the cover of a Little
Golden Book. The puppeteer
decided he was in good company as he glanced at other
recommended titles: Mickey
Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow
White.
“I thought, ‘Wow.’ That’s
when I realized we had gotten
to a really good place,” he said.
“Sesame Street” has given
Spinney many gifts: heartfelt
letters from children inviting
Big Bird to their sleepovers;
countless awards, including a Grammy and Daytime
Emmys; a close friendship
with Henson, who died in
1990; and his 41-year relationship with wife Debra.
Spinney, a father of three
whose first wife was “embarrassed” by his profession,
met the love of his life on the
“Sesame Street” set. “I took
one look at her and I knew,” he
said. “Everybody loves Deb.”
At a recent screening for
“I Am Big Bird: The Caroll
Spinney Story,” a documentary now playing the festival
circuit, Debra was asked if her
husband would be the same
man had he never “tapped
into” Big Bird.
“I really think he would
be the same person because
I think Big Bird tapped into
him,” she said. “That’s his soul,
so he just puts it out there.”
Playing Big Bird comes
at a price. Spinney said the
role has always been physically demanding, but it gets
increasingly difficult with
age. Acting in the costume
requires constant focus and
coordination. Spinney, who
at 6 feet tall comes up to the
bird’s chest, sees via a video
screen strapped to his torso.
He holds Big Bird’s 4.5-pound
head about a foot above his
own. After 10 minutes in
character, he’s usually ready
for a break.
The challenges are not
insurmountable, not enough
to make Spinney quit. Being
Big Bird is still fun.
“I’m apparently in good
enough shape to keep going,”
Spinney said.
When production resumes
early next year, Spinney will
commute to New York City
a couple of times a month to
continue telling the story he
started nearly half a century
ago.
Big Bird and Oscar, two
“wonderful, perfect” characters, are waiting for him in a
darkened studio.
“It’s kind of amazing,”
Spinney said. “It’s been a wonderful life. I’m so happy that I
got this job.”
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Fall River, Massachusetts
CITY BUZZ
Giving Hearts
A Thanksgiving dinner will
be held from 1 to 5 p.m. on
Thanksgiving Day at the VFW,
486 Bedford St. The volunteerbased event is open to the
needy in and around the city of
Fall River. The dinner’s organizers said they received an
overwhelming response from
the community at the recent
food drive held at the post. Staff
at Crystal Springs, a school
in Assonet providing special
education services to children,
adolescents and adults, has
spent the last six weeks collecting non-perishable food items
to donate to the cause. Trottjoseph Lee, a local veteran and
one of the dinner’s organizers,
said of the outpouring of support, “We knew that we would
need a lot of help if this was
going to be successful, and we
were hopeful. But the response
we’ve gotten far exceeded our
expectations. It’s really encouraging. And to have agencies like
Crystal Springs get involved, I
think it speaks to the heart of
our local community. People
care, they really do; and everyone deserves a Thanksgiving
meal on Thanksgiving Day.”
To learn more about how you
can help, contact Angie Taylor,
community outreach coordinator at 774-855-3301 or ataylor@
crystalspringsinc.org.
Crafting Turkeys
Looking for fun Thanksgiving
Day activities to do with the
children? The Fall River Public
Library has you covered. This
Thursday, the library will be
hosting the return of its most
popular turkey craft ever - the
handprint turkey. The craft,
making turkeys out of construction paper, will take place
from 4-5 p.m. at the East End
Library, 1386 Pleasant St. For
more information, contact
Conor Murray at 508-3242709 or [email protected].
More turkey crafts will be held
from 3:30-4:30 p.m., Nov. 24,
at the Main Library, 104 N.
Main St. Contact David Mello at
508-324-2700 for information.
Futuristic
Operating Room
Construction is beginning
on an “operating room of the
future” at Charlton Memorial Hospital as part of a new
heart and vascular center. The
new center, called the Harold
and Virginia Lash Heart and
Vascular Center, will house an
expanding cardiovascular services department, according to
Southcoast Health, as well as a
state-of-the-art hybrid operating room.
More Spirit
PAGE 2: Check our “Plug In”
feature for everything you need
to know about The Fall River
Spirit’s online extras — webexclusive stories, blogs, videos
and more.
COMING NEXT WEEK: Learn
how a newspaper article
written 25 years ago and one
man's persistence helped
rewrite history for a Portuguese diplomat who "refused
to succumb to the banality of
evil," but who died in obscurity.
INDEX
Arts ........................................... 2
On Stage ................................... 3
Autograph tales ....................... 4
PT Boat arrives ......................... 4
VOL. XI, NO. 4
FREE
ALBERT A. D'AMBROSIO WAY
SIGN HONORS WORKER
D’Ambrosio recognized for 30 years of service to school
By Phil Devitt
Editor
The first surprise was the
applause.
Al D’Ambrosio had not yet
crossed the threshold of Fall
River's Morton Middle School
cafeteria when his old friends
and colleagues started cheering for him.
The second surprise was
the street sign, blue with bold,
white lettering: “ALBERT A.
D’AMBROSIO WAY.”
It will hang high on the
former Brownell Street, which
wraps around the school
D’Ambrosio helped build
before his retirement several
years ago.
“It was a big surprise,” said
D’Ambrosio, 88, a Fall River
native now living in Dartmouth. “When I saw the people
I used to work with, I knew
something was up.”
D’Ambrosio was employed
for 30 years by the Fall River
School Department, overseeing construction of school after
school.
“I was happy working,” he
said, which might explain
why he didn’t retire until his
early 80s. “I worked with
good people. That made the
difference.”
D’Ambrosio sat quietly
as city officials unveiled the
sign and placed it in his lap
for closer inspection. Later,
between bites of pastry, he
chatted with former coworkers he had not seen in years.
“He used to make me look
good,” Fall River School
Committee member Robert
Maynard said. “Any time I had
a project, I just called him. He
was good to everybody. These
days, you don’t find many
people like him.”
Fall River Community Maintenance Director Ken Pacheco
said the dedication for the
man he calls “Al D.” was long
overdue.
“He is quite a human being,
a testament to public service,”
said Pacheco, who worked with
D’Ambrosio on the construction of six buildings. “Al was
the key man, making sure the
keys for everything were in the
right place. Al had a system
that we still use today. It’s true
and tested.”
During a brief ceremony,
Fall River Mayor and School
Committee Chair Will Flanagan said the Mor ton
cafeteria would be named for
D’Ambrosio, before revealing
that the street that connects
President Avenue with North
Main Street would bear his
name, too. The School Committee approved the naming
last month.
“He dedicated thousands of
hours to … making sure our
children’s interests were at the
forefront,” Flanagan said. “The
reason the city of Fall River is
such a great place to call home
is because of people like Mr.
D’Ambrosio.”
A Navy veteran of World
War II and the Korean War,
D’Ambrosio spent the ceremony thinking of the one
person he wanted by his side:
Whilamena, his wife of 63
years. The woman everyone
called “Whilly” died on Christmas morning three years ago.
“She put up all those years
with me,” he said. “She was just
number one.”
D’Ambrosio and his wife
had four children: Mary
D’Ambrosio of Westport,
Robert D’Ambrosio of Dartmouth, Albert D’Ambrosio
of Berkley and Dr. Joseph
D’Ambrosio, who lives out of
state.
“It’s fantastic,” son Robert
said of the street sign surprise.
“It brought a smile to his face.”
D’Ambrosio said his key to
Al D’Ambrosio says he was “surprised” to learn the street that wraps around Morton
Middle School would be named after him for his decades of service to the Fall River School
Department. PHIL DEVITT/CHRONICLE
Fall River School Committee member Robert Maynard (right) catches up with old friend Al
D’Ambrosio.
success in the school department – and before that, as
a third-shift general foreman with Firestone Tire and
Rubber Company – was following the golden rule.
“I always treated people the
way I wanted to be treated
and they never let me down,”
he said.
That’s the real D’Ambrosio
Way.
FOR JOBS WELL DONE
Local emergency workers were
honored for selfless actions
at White’s of Westport Nov. 14
during the Greater Fall River/
New Bedford Emergency
Medical Services Coordinating
Committee’s annual conference. Curt Scherny (left),
who rescued an 86-year-old
man from an apartment fire
in March and assisted the
Fall River Fire Department in
locating a 26-year-old woman
still trapped inside, received
the EMS Impact Award. Ryan
Bielawa of the Saint Anne’s
Hospital Emergency Department (center) was named
EMT of the Year. Lisa Porawski
(right), a nurse in the Saint
Anne’s emergency department, was named Nurse of the
Year. In addition, Ryan Cabral,
who works in Dartmouth
and Stoughton, was named
Paramedic of the Year; Fall
River and Somerset medical
director Wayne Christiansen
was named Physician of the
Year; and Christine Saurette of
Fall River, who recently saved
a young student from choking
at Watson Elementary School,
was named Citizen of the Year.
PHOTO BY PHIL DEVITT