Community

Oysterponds: Signs of summer, including big OHS celebration Fourth of July weekend

Summer is really here since tomorrow marks the official opening of the Orient/East Marion Park District beach, aka Truman’s Beach. The hours are 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily. The monthly park district board meeting will be Thursday, July 7, at 7 p.m. at the school. All are welcome to attend.

Another sign of summer is the shift in the time of services at Orient Congregational Church, which until Labor Day will begin at 9:30 a.m. This way, you can worship before you hit the beach, the golf course or the water.

Speaking of OCC, the monthly fellowship supper is Wednesday, July 6, at 6:30 p.m. All are invited. Bring a dish to share. During dinner, you can talk about the annual church fair on Saturday, July 16, and find out what you might be able to do with all those former treasures you cleaned out of the attic.

Speaking of summer and treasures, AJ Dak is back and open for the season with a shop full of treasures, vintage and new, in the former Girl Scout building (that’s a test of your Orient history). So if you need a quick host or hostess gift, Alan’s your man.

Oysterponds Historical Society will host a free celebration of local history and culture this Sunday, July 3. It will all kick off at noon with a parade down Village Lane, with nonagenarian Gert Reeves as grand marshal. Everyone is invited to join in and, hopefully, decorate their bicycles (wheelchairs, walkers and leashed pets). The celebration will continue at the Old Point Schoolhouse with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and a performance by the North Fork Chorale. The next stop will be a picnic on the Webb House lawn and an open mic until 3 p.m. For more info call 323-2480. See you there!

Speaking of our heritage, when Orient native Sarah Gillooly heard of the passing of Bob Berks and Mooreen Terry so close to each other she emailed back, “Wow, sad. Two Orient institutions lost in one weekend.” Interesting statement.

This week, news of the death of another Orient institution, Estelle Adams, reached me from Prescott, Ariz., via her son Larry, another Orient native. Estelle and her husband, Ned, lived in Oysterponds for 66 years until they moved to Maryland — can you believe eight years ago? It’s hard to believe they’ve been gone that long because they were both such big parts of our community. Estelle, who was 97, taught third grade in Orient and later substituted in Orient and Greenport and was an early advocate for education. She was a very quiet, brilliant woman with a knowing look who was always there, always there, always there — especially at the Methodist church. After he read that I had written “there must be something in the water” the week before, Larry said Estelle is confirmation of that. I think that’s something good.

When you see Ruthie Tuthill on June 30, wish her a happy birthday. Don’t tell her I told you.

There’s an early deadline for next week’s column due to the Monday holiday. I need your news by Thursday night. Meanwhile, let’s all be grateful for our freedom, this weekend and always.