Marquis memories
The Marquis of Granby has held a special place in our family’s heart for many years. Our daughter, Rachel, became a member in 1984 at the age of 11 and remained a member until graduating from high school. During those years, Janet Ford served as director, and my late husband, Tom, along with Bruce Sullivan and Don Ford, drove the Marquis bus.
I joined the board of directors and served until 1993. I chaperoned many parades and musters and proudly walked behind the corps during parades—ready in case of a flying drumstick or perhaps the need for water.
The corps membership reached 50 in 1990. Those were vibrant and memorable times. We recall the Granby Bicentennial Muster Parade in 1986; a 1989 muster attended by the Old Guard; performances at the Connecticut Legislature, the Old State House in Hartford and Mount Vernon; and, according to Janet Ford, perhaps the most profound and moving performance of all—at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1990.
Through our years of involvement with the corps and the dedicated adults on the board, Tom and I formed lifelong friendships. We continue to gather with many of those friends twice a year.
I am deeply saddened to learn that the Marquis of Granby will no longer be in existence and will no longer serve as the highlight of our Memorial Day parade—especially in this year of our country’s 250th celebration, when their performances would have meant so much.
Marilyn Nystrom
Support cultivated meat
While the topic has faded from public discussion, the threat remains of another pandemic, à la Covid-19, spreading around the globe and leaving devastation in its wake. To help prevent this possibility, our political leaders should support state and federal funding of cultivated-meat research. The new protein is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. Animal agriculture is a frequent cause of zoonotic diseases making the jump to humans.
Although growing cultivated meat is now technologically feasible, it’s too expensive to mass produce. Further study will fix this. Let’s build facilities like the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture at schools across the country. I have no doubt that, working together, researchers can overcome the remaining scientific barriers to making cheap, slaughter-free meat. Among other things, this will be a significant boon for public health.
Jon Hochschartner