November 2014

In this issue of the Skyscraper you will find some nice photos of AstroAssembly 2014. This year’s event marked the centennial of Seagrave Observatory, and what an enjoyable time we had – perfect weather, great talks, interesting exhibits, and wonderful camaraderie!

Noteworthy for this year’s centennial celebration was that we had a couple of Frank Seagrave relatives in attendance. Sharon (Seagrave) Vetter of Wisconsin made the journey to Rhode Island with her long-time friend and travelling companion Linda Baumgartner. Mark Seagrave came from Millbury, Massachusetts with his fiancée Mary LaRue and her daughter Emily. Sharon and Mark trace their ancestry back to Revolutionary War Capt Edward Seagrave (1722-1793) of Uxbridge, Mass. Linda (Seagrave) Ventres and John Ventres (husband and wife) made the short journey from Burlington, Connecticut. Linda is a more direct Frank Seagrave relative. She is the great, great niece of Frank. Her great, great grandfather was Frank’s brother, Clifford.

All of our Seagrave guests enjoyed their visit very much, and were thrilled to see what a special place Seagrave Observatory has become. A special thanks to Dave Huestis for arranging their visit.

Another surprise was the exhibit of a beautifully restored 1914 Model T Ford, driven from West Warwick to Seagrave by George Taber, a friend of one of our members, Ernie Ross. It was fun to imagine Frank Seagrave driving such a car 100 years ago, from his home in Providence out to his private observatory in North Scituate. Thank you Mr. Taber, for making our day even more memorable.

As always, it took many volunteers handling all of the tasks necessary to organize and operate our annual event.

Kathy and Steve Siok were our co-chairs this year, putting together a nice program of speakers.

Linda Bergemann once again took care of registrations and handling our expenses.

Tina Huestis and Alex Bergemann helped manage the registration table and sold books, coffee mugs, and raffle tickets.

Conrad Cardano cooked many hamburgers and hotdogs, and he was assisted by a number of our members in running the lunch grill.

Dave Huestis arranged the printing of commemorative postcards and “Seagrave” coffee mugs available for sale.

Trustees Tom Thibault, Jim Crawford and Conrad Cardano, along with Bob Stahlbush and other members of the Observatory Committee, did a great job painting our buildings, reorganizing the inside of the meeting hall, cleaning the telescopes and preparing the grounds. On a number of occasions, Tom Thibault’s son, Adam, and, Jim Crawford’s son, Brian, assisted their fathers in making many of the improvements to our property, so a special thanks goes out to them as well.

Many other people helped out as well, both at AstroAssembly and during the months before. On behalf of Skyscrapers, I would like to thank each and every one of you that helped make AstroAssembly such a great success.