The Kingston Foundation for Education (KFE), a parent-run, non-profit organization committed to enhancing the educational experience for Kingston students, presented their 10th annual check in the amount of $60,000 at the Sept. 16 school committee meeting. Since 2014, the KFE has raised nearly $1 million to directly support Kingston schools.
Over the last year, KFE has funded the repaving of the Kingston Elementary School recess yard and the new KES outdoor classroom project that just broke ground in August 2024. This outdoor classroom is a space designed for educational activities that takes place outside of a traditional indoor classroom. It can be used for a variety of purposes such as nature-based learning, physical education, art and creativity, team-building, science experiments, mindfulness, and exploring local history and cultures.
At Kingston Intermediate School, KFE funded the purchase of new camera and AV technology, as well as five TouchView Interactive displays. Having these new displays on carts gives teachers flexibility on how they structure their room layout vs the fixed projector. The adjustable height stand gives even the youngest students the ability to interact with the board. The built-in PC with wireless keyboard/mouse means all a teacher will need to do is plug the unit into power and have it all hooked up and ready to go!
Traditionally, KFE will raise money by planning several fun, charitable events including the Booster Fun Run and Parents’ Night Out fundraiser event called Back-to-School Brews at Mayflower Brewery. Back-to-School Brews took place this year on Friday, Sept. 20, with the. SLHS alumni band, The Rippers, back again with their musical talent, amazing raffle prizes donated by many of our Kingston business community members, and a thrilling pong tournament. It was such a success last year, that we plan on doing it year after year!
Our mission is simple: to help members of the Kingston community channel their positive energy into improving the already phenomenal public school system. As parents, we all love our kids, and we want to set them up for success. And we also want them to have the best opportunities and latest technology available when it comes

By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to The Express
When we heard the peepers in August we knew Summer was coming to an end. September would bring Labor Day and the start of the school year which would replace our carefree days of fun and playing outside until it was so dark we couldn’t see. Then came the year things changed for a time. I always think of it as the golden, stolen days.
We were used to Hurricanes that came and went during the 1950’s but in September of 1960, along came Hurricane Donna. At the first mention of a bad storm, our dad had the Coleman stove, lanterns, kerosene and the sterno at the ready. Mom made sure there were enough baked and canned goods, candles, matches and other foods on hand that didn’t need much preparation. Laundry had been done and water frozen in the refrigerator for the cooler when needed. We were ready, now we wait.
Monday, Sept.12, no one went to work or school. Dad turned the radio on during breakfast while we still had power. The newscaster reported that Donna made landfall in Southern New England near Connecticut. and Rhode Island. The Blue Hill Observatory reported winds were 140 miles per hour and Donna was a category 4 storm. The four of us kids noticed the concerned look that passed between our parents.
A big expansive gravel and dirt driveway was between our house and the big two story, blue asphalt shingled house, where our dad’s parents lived. After a phone call from Grampa, we got ready and walked over to their house. Aunt Sam was already there with her kids.
The big old windows in Gram’s house shook and rattled as the whistling winds raised havoc. Trees fell before our eyes, landing in the side yard. Telephone wires came loose and thrashed about in the wind. At that point, Gram and Mom closed all the curtains, telling us kids to stay far away from the windows. Before darkness set in they turned their attention to lighting the lanterns. Aunt Sam took the kids into the dining room to play games. Fearing a tree might hit the house, I quietly retreated to the attic where I could look out at everything. Dad and Grampa were in the car listening to the radio. I saw them get out, hunching over to brace themselves in the wind as they made it to the kitchen door. I snuck back down before they came in.
To our surprise the news was good. The winds had been less ferocious in our area and Donna was on the way North to New Hampshire. The mood instantly lifted and there were hugs and smiles all around and a few tears of relief. Thanks to the old wood stove and Gram and Mom who made American chop suey and apple pie the day before, we had a good feast!
We woke the next morning to a beautiful day. My sister Penny and I were so happy there was no school. Dad was a bulldozer operator and was needed at his job. There was no damage to our house or yard except some debris scattered about which our younger brother and little sister helped us and mom clean up. After lunch, Penny and I went to see the trees that came down in the storm.
There were three good sized maple trees lying near one another about twenty feet from Gram’s and nearly the same distance from the house on the other side. We began climbing on the trunks and over the branches and leaves. Other kids in the neighborhood were drawn to the trees and soon there was a group of us walking and climbing all over them.
The September days after the hurricane were warm and golden. Where the trees lay became a haven for us kids in the neighborhood. Every day after breakfast we were there and we went back after lunch until it was time for supper. One of the boys was good at doing hand stands holding onto a branch that was close to the ground. Some of us liked balancing ourselves on the tree trunks while walking on them. The big leafy branches were good hiding places when we played hide and seek and they also became part of a tree house when we played the Robinson family from the book, Swiss Family Robinson. Another day we imagined we were in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood hiding from the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The day we had to go back to school, we couldn’t wait to get home to the trees. When we got there, we stood and stared. Our hearts sank. Our haven was gone. It made us sad to see our trees cut up into piles of logs. We all turned away, no one talked on the way home.The stolen days in the September sun were a magical time that we all shared and reminisced about through the years.

Aerial and truck-mounted spraying to control mosquitoes began Tuesday of this week, as communities in Plymouth County continued to register in the moderate to high risk levels for Eastern Equine Encephalitis, or EEE, according to information from the Massachusetts Dept. of Agricultural Resources.
Three towns in Plymouth County are at the critical level, according to a risk map from Mass.gov -Arbovirus. The five stages of risk are Remote, Low, Moderate, High, and Critical. Plympton, Halifax, and Kingston are all rated at Moderate risk, meaning that some mosquitoes sampled in these towns have been found to carry the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus. High risk would mean that animals have been found to be infected with the EEE virus, and a Critical designation means a human has been infected. Middleborough, Carver, and Plymouth have all been designated as High, as of Tuesday, Aug. 27. Four towns in southern Worcester County have been deemed Critical, due to a human case of EEE in Uxbridge.
The Plymouth County Mosquito Control project initiated aerial spraying in towns deemed Critical, beginning Tuesday, weather permitting. It will continue its truck-mounted spraying program, including spraying yards by request throughout Plymouth County. To see a list of the street-by-street itinerary for each town, go to https://www.plymouthmosquito.org/spray-routes-for-adult-mosquito-control.html. The spray routes will be posted at 3 p.m. for the following day. They list only the streets they expect to be on and not exact addresses. PCMCP honors all pesticide exclusion requests.
Residents can call up to eight times per season to be sprayed barring any spray restrictions in the area. The spray used will kill the mosquitoes in the area at the time that they spray and is not a preventative. Residents must make a request each time they have a mosquito problem, including name, address, phone number and email address. A confirmation email stating that PCMCP will come the requested property the next morning and a confirmation email on the day that spraying was done. Spray request phone calls are answered Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at PCMCP phone: (781) 585-5450 and Fax: (781) 582-1276.
Pesticide applications are made via an ultra-low volume sprayer that is on the back of a pickup truck. Typically spraying is done from the street and can travel up to 300 feet. Weather permitting, the sprayers are operating from 2 a.m. to ½ hour before sunrise each weekday.
There is no cure for the EEE virus and the best treatment is prevention, according to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health.

The Marshfield Fair, the premier event for Plymouth County 4-H members and young people from across New England, offers open youth participation for kids ages 5-19 exhibiting livestock shows, equine events, dog shows and numerous agricultural opportunities.
Young people play an active role participating at the fair, including offering demonstrations, interacting with fairgoers, care and maintenance of the barns, and fair planning.
Youngsters learn valuable life skills through raising and showing animals including responsibility for others, public speaking, leadership, and community service. 4-H members and others also gain experience in animal science, local agriculture and volunteer experience.
The Marshfield Agricultural and Horticultural Society presents many awards for excellence in scholarship, livestock, agriculture, and country craftsmanship.
Among these is the Cave Canem Challenge Cup, honoring longtime Plympton resident Rita LaPointe, volunteer leader, teacher, and friend of 4-H young people. It is awarded to the Junior or Senior 4-H dog exhibitor who earns the highest total combined score in both Marshfield Fair Dog Shows.
The Marshfield Fair runs through Sunday, August 25.

Tuesday, Aug. 6, Ken Vinton, president of TRIAD, was surprised with a room full of birthday well-wishers at the regularly scheduled August meeting.
Vinton noted, before realizing that the celebration was for him, that there were a record number of attendees on Tuesday, 34 in fact, there at the August meeting.Asked how long he plans to remain president of TRIAD, Vinton responded that he was having a lot of fun with the group and that it’s always easy to get speakers.’
State Rep. Kathy LaNatra presented Ken with a Citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives praising his leadership and activities promoting senior citizens’ rights with Halifax TRIAD and congratulating him on the celebration of his 90th birthday. Plymouth County Sheriff Joe MacDonald presented Ken with a ball cap from the sheriff’s department.
A beautiful birthday cake was enjoyed by all.
Vinton introduced Fred Corrigan, this month’s speaker, an active 89-year-old Halifax citizen who spoke about growing up in the White Mountains in Randolph, NH, in a three-room house with his parents, his brother, and baby sister.
Years later, the little house was moved, as was the custom, to become a garage to another home. The owner would brag that she had the only garage with wallpaper on the walls, Corrigan told the group.
He showed a photo of the one-room schoolhouse in Randolph, NH, where he had the same teacher as his father. She taught there for 33 years, grades 1 through 8 in the one-room schoolhouse, where she had to keep an authoritarian rule on the group – the youngest in the front rows, and older kids in the back. There was a blackboard in the front, and another in the back, so she could teach separate lessons to separate age groups.
There was no electricity, no running water, and an outhouse in the back. Life was simple. High school was in Lancaster, NH with about 30 kids in the senior class, Corrigan told his audience.
Fred told about Saturday nights in Lancaster, where the entertainment was movies at the Rialto Cinema. “Drive from the three-room house in Randolph to Jefferson, then to Lancaster. It was shopping night, ‘because you don’t run that trip every day to pick up a loaf of bread,’” Corrigan said. “Shopping night was Saturday night; we stocked up for the week. While Mom and Dad went shopping, we three kids got to go to the theater to see whatever was playing. Fred’s brother was an usher at that theater. The cost to go to the Rialto theater was five cents. That theater is still operating today.”
Fred told some of the history of the area that was his home so long ago, and showed a photo of a sculpture of a wolf erected “to honor the brave men and women who redeemed Lancaster from the wilderness. This memorial is erected by their local sons and daughters upon the 150th anniversary of the founding of the town of Lancaster. July 6, 1913.”
“Lake Coos and the Presidential Range. Lancaster, founded in 1763, lies on the bed of glacial Lake Coos, formed as the glaciers receded 14,000 years ago.
“Today, the Connecticut, an American Heritage River, flows along the bottom of the ancient lake. You stand at a gateway to the Great North Woods Region.
“To the east, aligned from north to south, are Mounts Madison, Adams, Jefferson and Washington, the highest peaks of the White Mountains Presidential Range. Mt. Washington, at 6,288 feet, is the highest in the Northeast.
“The strongest winds ever recorded, 231 miles per hour, were measured on its summit on April 12, 1934.”

Nate Rollins
Express correspondent
He’s headed pro.
Halifax native Stephen Quigley has signed with the Cincinnati Reds organization.
The Silver Lake alum graduated from Wheaton College in 2022.
Quigley made the transition from shortstop to the mound for Wheaton during his junior year and was named to the D3baseball.com All-Region Second Team as a utility player following the season.
In 2021, Quigley was named the Region 1 Pitcher of the Year by both the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com in addition to previously earning Pitcher of the Year honors from the New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference. He capped his breakout season by being selected a Third Team All-American by the ABCA and earning a Fourth Team All-America designation by D3baseball.com. Quigley struck out a league-high 73 batters, while posting a 2.22 earned run average for the Lyons.
He then went on to play two seasons at the University of Connecticut where he continued to flourish.
He earned First-Team All-Big East accolades in his debut season with the Huskies. His calling card was the strikeout, duplicating his effort with Wheaton by striking out a team-high 74 batters for UConn in 76 innings, which also topped the staff in 2023.
Quigley fanned a career-high 87 batters to lead all BIG EAST hurlers, en route to being named to the ABCA All-Northeast First Team.
The 24-year-old finished his collegiate career with an 18-10 win-loss record between Wheaton and UConn to go with 253 strikeouts, while issuing just 72 walks in 266 innings pitched. He recorded a 3.62 ERA, while making 52 appearances, including 44 starting assignments.

On Friday, July 12, the Boston Red Sox and Red Sox Foundation commemorated the foundation’s 22-year commitment as a co-presenting sponsor of the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) with PMC Night at Fenway Park.
The organization has raised $28 million toward its $75 million goal for this year, officially surpassing $1 billion in lifetime fundraising for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber) since 1980. During the ceremony, 40 members of the PMC Living Proof community, PMC riders and volunteers who are currently undergoing or have undergone treatment for cancer, rode around the warning track while being cheered on by Red Sox Nation, followed by the official unveiling of the PMC logo on the iconic Green Monster. Halifax local and cancer survivor, Jainey Holland, was among those honored on Friday night.
On August 3 and August 4, more than 6,500 riders will come together with a goal of raising a record $75 million to support lifesaving cancer research and treatment. The PMC donates 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar to Dana-Farber as its largest single contributor, accounting for 62 percent of its Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue. The PMC is co-presented by the Red Sox Foundation and M&T Bank.

Mike Saccone
Special to The Express
Thursday, July 18, the US Postal Service hosted a dedication ceremony honoring the first responders of the Plympton Fire and Police departments.
First introduced in 2018, the Honoring First Responders Forever stamp recognized the vital role of firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical service professionals, and other emergency personnel in safeguarding our communities. This stamp stands as a lasting testament to their bravery, commitment, and sacrifice.
The ceremony, hosted at the Plympton Fire Department, began with Denise Meurch, a US Postal Service employee, singing the national anthem. Sarah Etro, Plympton’s Postmaster, delivered remarks highlighting the importance of this national symbol in honoring our first responders. Additional remarks were given by Plympton Fire Chief Cheryl Duddy and Plympton Police Lieutenant Daniel Hoffman.
“We take great pride in dedicating this stamp to the Plympton Fire and Police departments, whose members embody the highest ideals of public service and community dedication,” said Etro. “Their courage and selflessness serve as an inspiration to us all, and it is only fitting that we commemorate their contributions with this stamp.”
Chief Duddy added, “The Honoring First Responders Forever stamp stands as a powerful tribute to the bravery and tireless efforts of our firefighters and all first responders. This stamp symbolizes the trust and gratitude our community places in us every day and we are deeply honored by this recognition.”
Plympton Police Chief Matthew Ahl expressed his appreciation, saying, “This recognition holds significant meaning for our officers, reminding us that our work is valued and respected by the community we serve. We stand together with our fellow first responders in celebrating this honor.”
Rep. Kathy LaNatra sent her remarks for the occasion through her aide Christopher Jean, saying “Our first responders are the cornerstone of our community, always prepared to act in times of crisis. This stamp beautifully acknowledges their unwavering dedication and countless sacrifices. I am proud to join the US Postal Service and our local heroes in this celebration.”
The Honoring First Responders Forever stamp is available for purchase at the Postal Store (usps.com/shop), by phone (80-STAMP24) and at Post Office locations nationwide, including Plympton. Philatelic enthusiasts can order special products such as first-day-of-issue postmarks and covers for this stamp through USA Philatelic at usps.com/collectors.

The Plympton Fire Dept. answers calls for all kinds of dire emergencies and in this case it was to rescue two Carolina Wrens that had become trapped between the walls of a horse stall in town.
Firefighters used their tools to remove the plywood wall and move the birds to the area of their nest, a little shaken up by the experience but unharmed.
Thank you to responding firefighter/EMTs William Austin and Brent Eaton, with Captain John Sjostedt for your big-hearted rescue.

Sleepy little Plympton has seen an influx of Hollywood as filming has begun for a new major motion picture, “At the Sea” starring A-lister Amy Adams and Australian actor Murray Bartlett of White Lotus fame, who plays her husband.
While this is her third movie in Massachusetts, we haven’t seen Adams in Halifax or Plympton before. Her Boston-based performances in The Fighter and American Hustle each won her Oscar nominations. Our small-town vibe must be quite an experience for the cosmopolitan entourage.
The film, written by Kata We’ber and directed by husband Kornel Mundruczo’, has many familiar faces in the cast, including Brett Goldstein, (Ted Lasso); Chloe East, (The Fabelmans); Dan Levy, (Good Grief); Jenny Slate, (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On); and Rainn Wilson, (The Office); according to IMDb.
The story line, as reported in Deadline, follows the life of Laura, played by Adams, after a long rehabilitation, as she returns to her family at their beach holiday home where she must readjust to the complicated life she left behind. Now she is forced to face the following next chapter of her life without the career that gave her fame, fortune, and her identity.
Adams has been nominated for an Academy Award six times, for her performances in American Hustle, Junebug, The Master, Doubt, The Fighter, and Vice.
Readers will likely remember her break-through performance in Enchanted, where her dance and singing abilities shone as she came to life as a real Disney-style princess; and Arrival, as a linguist tasked to translate language from creatures from another world.
Seeing the familiar location transformed to into a seaside set is quite a shock at first, but then what is film but a glimpse into what’s possible with a bit of sleight of hand? It’s really a magical experience.
Adams is busy with several projects either in the works, just finished, or coming soon.
The film has brought a nice bump to the local economy as it hires locals for police details, parking area rental, food for the cast and crew, actors and stand-ins, and more. Residents should welcome more film-making to the area.