SPECIAL EDITION:
LLC CELEBRATES
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
On May 19, LLC provided a festive inaugural Lunch and Learn to celebrate the Declaration of Independence in honor of our 250th anniversary.
Opening the program, LLC members read the Declaration as the audience shared their cheers and boos for the stirring words.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE READERS: Patricia Nickles, Joe Petteruti, Catherine B. Hurst, Michael Drummond, Gail C. Hamel
ANGRY CITIZENS: Lois Kemp, Bill Hudson, Jessica Siegel, Jill Toback, Cathy Hurst, Kip Brott, Kathy Webster, Sam Shamoon, Dave Hansen, Kathryn McGovern, Mark Lawrence, Trisha Lawrence, John Brezack, Pat Nickles, Kathy Hague, Barbara Barnes, Beverly Pettine, Katy Gilchrist, Adelina Axelrod, Carol Fay, Mark Guyer, Barbara Simon, Sheila Brush, Sandy Pankiwsa, Lisa Miles, Nini Stoddard, Emily Webber
In a special retrospective script created by Linda Shamoon, the LLC players addressed the questions “What were they thinking in 1776? What events have occurred since the signing of this precious document? What are we thinking in 2026?
THE LLC PLAYERS
Linda Shamoon – John Hancock
Lee Ashcraft – Thomas Hutchinson
Lisa G. Miles – Joseph Brant (Thayendanega) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nickerson Miles – John Adams
Art Norwalk – Ben Franklin
Mark Kaplan – Thomas Jefferson
Joe Petteruti – Reverend Lemuel Haynes
Bill Hudson – Reverend Wiliam Gordon and Abraham Lincoln
Robert Kemp – George Henry Evans
Catherine B. Hurst – Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Wendy Salkind – President Barak Obama
The festivities concluded with a rousing songfest led by guitarist, Henry Chapin. Voices sang out old favorites: “This Land Is Your Land,” “Yankee Doodle,” excerpts from “The Yankee Doddle Boy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” by Providence–born George M. Cohan, and an inspiring “America the Beautiful.”
The gathering then enjoyed a red, white, and blue cake and cupcakes.
Flag courtesy of the Martin House Farm, Swansea, MA
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountains majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Photos by Sheila Brush, Art Norwalk, and Diana Grady
More photos from the celebration will be in future editions of The Lark.
