Man About Canton: The 5th Generation

Did you know …

Dave and Carol Milligan recently became grandparents to Grace Milligan-Barr, who will be the fifth generation residing in the family’s 899 Washington Street home. Dave’s grandparents, Ernest and Anne Verity, were the original owners of the home. Ernest, as some of the old-time Cantonites will remember, was the owner of Verity Shoe Store in Canton center for many years. Ernest passed on his business to his son, Ernest Verity Jr. Ernest’s sister, Ethel Verity, married Bill Milligan, and they resided in the home for many years. Their son, David Milligan, and his wife, Carol, then purchased the home. They raised their children, Justin and Katie, in the home and now Grace, Katie’s daughter, makes it the fifth generation to reside in the same house.

Tedeschi Food Shops, one of the last remaining locally owned convenience store chains, is being acquired by giant 7-Eleven, Inc. Tedeschi has 182 stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The chain will become part of 7-Eleven’s empire of 10,500 stores in North America, which is the largest convenience store chain in the United States. Canton will now have two 7-Eleven stores: Tedeschi’s (formerly Crowell’s) in the Ponkapoag section of town and one at the corner of Neponset and Washington streets in the center of Canton.

The Canton High School Alumni Association recently presented CHS with a gift of $8,000 to be used for technology upgrades and other items that will benefit the current students at CHS.

Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany, who ran for a spot on the Board of Selectmen in his hometown of Ashland, lost by 238 votes. Shastany received 453 votes and finished in third place.

In case you missed it, the annual town meeting approved the Canton school operating budget of $36,259,994, which is nearly a 5 percent increase over last year’s budget, making it one of the highest school budget increases in recent years. Town meeting voters also approved a proposal, backed by the Boston Mutual Company, to build a new hotel and an upscale restaurant on Royall Street between Reebok and Dunkin’ Brands headquarters.

Canton’s comedy hero, Bill Burr, recently set the Wilbur Theatre’s record for consecutive sold-out shows. Burr performed 19 sold-out shows in a row, besting the previous record of 10 set by Aziz Ansari. The Boston Wilbur Theatre dedicated a permanent seat to Burr for his historic 19-show run.

The Canton American Legion senior baseball team will be coached by Greg Lyons and managed by Al Jackson and  Duke Gorham. The Legion’s junior baseball team has Jim Casamento as head coach with Rocco Digirolamo Jr. as his assistant for the 2015 season. MAC has been invited to throw out the first pitch of the season on Monday, June 15, at Memorial Field in Canton.

Former Canton American Legion baseball players playing in college include Jake Fishman of Union College, the No. 3 hitter in all of Division 3 with a .477 average; Drew Blake of Fairfield University; Jimmy Fitzgerald of Salve Regina; and Sam Larson of the University of Rhode Island.

Saxon Bresnahan recently pitched a perfect, perfect game for the Quincy High School girls softball team, beating Duxbury 2-0 by striking out all 21 batters she faced. She followed that game with another regular no-hitter.

In the recent town election in Pembroke, no one ran for the five-year Housing Authority term, another case of voter apathy. Do you really think if they move their annual election date to November, more candidates will run for office? Doubt it!

Canton police officer Errol Lane recently retired after 27 years of dedicated service.

Selectmen recently appointed former Planning Board member Gary Vinciguerra as an alternate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, replacing new Selectman Kevin Feeney.

In the good news department, Eversource, formerly known as NStar Electric, will reduce its electric rates by an average of 20 percent, effective July 1, 2015. This will save the average residential customer about $25 per month. Eversource has more than 1 million customers in eastern Massachusetts, including the town of Canton.

The recent town meeting authorized the town to petition the state legislature to seek up to five additional liquor licenses and up to two additional package store licenses.

And finally, the entrance to the town of Canton from the old Ponkapoag School to Greenlodge Street needs some “sprucing up” on both sides of Route 138. Although it may be in the state’s control, the town should take the initiative by cleaning up the sidewalk on one side and along the stone wall on the other side. We would like to impress people as they enter the town of Canton.

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=29835

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Jun 11 2015. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.