Labor Day arrived early this year — doesn’t it always seem to? — and with it the traditional end of summer, no matter what the calendar tells us. For many, a fresh school year is just beginning. For others, a new job or household routine. Some are now adjusting to the familial nest feeling emptier than a year ago. The days grow shorter, too.
While bittersweet, summer’s unofficial passing is also a time for weighing priorities and resetting goals as we look ahead, even as we continue to absorb the shock and grief of last month’s tragic crash. We might begin the process by asking, how can we make our town — and, more broadly, our country — stronger, healthier and more inclusive?
Because seldom have the stakes seemed higher, the issues more pressing and the call to civic engagement more urgent. The time to stand up and be counted is now.
Before the beach toys and sail bags get stowed away, however, and plans begin for next summer’s calendar (Festival of Arts and Race Week, Juneteenth and Pride Month celebrations, so much to anticipate!), we want to recognize a group of individuals who achieved much and contributed greatly to civic life, earning well-deserved accolades over the past few weeks and months.
Labor Day honors the blue-collar men and women who keep our economy (and so much more) running. So, let’s begin by saluting the maintenance and Transfer Station personnel who labored on our behalf, often under brutally hot and humid conditions.
You have done a tough but necessary job, and we appreciate you.
Marblehead athletes routinely punch above their weight class. Yet even by those lofty standards, we recently witnessed some memorable performances, beginning with a pair of Boston Globe All-Scholastic athletes.
A legit pitching ace, rising senior Tessa Francis already ranks among the best MHS softballers ever. This year’s number alone — a 17-3 record, 1.02 ERA, 257 strikeouts — cemented her legacy, with more excellence ahead, we’re sure.
Not to be outdone, phenom MHS runner Nate Assa finished second in the 5,000 meters at June’s New Balance Outdoor Track National Meet in Philadelphia, earning All-American honors. He will be competing for Purdue University next year, and we wish him continued success.
Earlier this month, Jack Manganis, 14, became the youngest Pan-Mass Challenge cyclist to complete the two-day, 186-mile route from Sturbridge to Provincetown. Jack, his dad, Dave, and family friend Angus McQuilken were among the 33 ‘Headers who helped raise over $64 million (and counting) for Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Well done, all.
A trio of recent MHS grads also stood out. Dante Genovesi scored a rare internship with Team Gault as it competed in Italy’s fabled 1,000-mile Mille Miglia road rally. Meanwhile, classmates Charlotte “Charlie” Roszell and Stefan Shepard scored prestigious Sterny’s Way Scholarships. And deservedly so.
Roszell, a talented photographer and writer, starred for the girls’ cross-country and track squads, indoors and outdoors. Shepard, a standout three-sport athlete (soccer, basketball, track), also boasts close family ties to the late David Stern, a beloved youth sports coach whom we lost in 2010. Both have done Sterny’s memory proud.
Another local legend, retired MHS teacher and athletic director Alex Kulevich, received a well-deserved honor this summer when the school field house was named for him. The Kulevich family has established a $100,000 foundation for field house upkeep, sponsored by Alex’s former students Steve and Joan Rosenthal. That’s paying it forward in the best Marblehead tradition.
Town Historian Emerita Elizabeth “Bette” Hunt, 93, was honored as well as the recipient of this year’s Marblehead Forever Award for her many contributions to the town’s cultural, educational and historical values. A longtime executive secretary of the Marblehead Historical Society, she led popular walking tours for many years and in 2013 spearheaded the Abbot Hall Clock Tower restoration. Bette, you are a true town treasure.
So are the Rev. Marybelle “Mimi” Hollister and speech pathologist Jessica Brown, designated this summer as Commonwealth Heroines by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. The Class of 2025 comprises more than 125 women who’ve made outstanding contributions to their communities, and we are fortunate to have two of them.
In times like these, politically polarized around so many key issues, we can at least agree that Marblehead harbors some exceptional individuals, young and old. In bidding farewell to Summer 2025, we add them to our long list of local heroes.
The Current Editorial Board
The members of the Current’seditorial board are Bob Peck, chairman of the Current; Virginia Buckingham, president of the Current's board of directors; board member Brian Birke, Current editorial staff member Kris Olson, and Joseph P. Kahn, a retired Boston Globe journalist.
