As some of you know, Windham’s wonderful food pantry is open Mondays each week, for the convenience of some of us who run short occasionally. In September, due to Labor Day, the food pantry will be closed on Monday, Sept. 3 – but they will be open on Tuesday, Sept. 4 for all who are interested. That’s a very nice accommodation, I think.

We have some dedicated and highly skilled volunteers in Windham. I’ve been here nearly all of my 70 years except for the 15 years I spent in Boston, Manhattan, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Rosebud, S.D. I’ve seen volunteers (and some elected officials) come and go. When I first came back to Windham in 1970 I needed a job and there were none to be had in this town. Not even a fast food burger flipper was needed! Since I had the sole care of a baby, I needed a job and one of the first ones was as clerk for the Planning Board – back when Wilbur Bell, Linc Partridge, Peter Tubbs, Peter Tetrault, and some others sat on this important body.

It’s a great job because you get to experience how development happens. Back then, it was Shaw’s and Hannaford’s Shop and Save who were coming to Windham. Recently it’s been Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. Big projects with lots of very technical details to be worked through. Enough paperwork, plans and blueprints to fill a wheelbarrow – each week!

For the past seven or eight years, I’ve again acted as clerk, taking the minutes, for the twice-a-month Planning Board meeting and have appreciated the opportunity to earn a little extra with this part-time job. Reluctantly, I’ve resigned from that task. I started my second book (about Windham history) a couple of years ago, which needs to be finished and I figured I could use the summer and fall to do that.

However, I want to say that it has been really interesting for these past years to listen in on the terribly involved and important attention which is paid to any project coming before the board. I’m a native Windhamite and have seen my hometown evolve from a place where walking home on a dirt road was safe to a mini-city where shoplifting and drug possession are reported routinely in the newspaper. I’ve seen people build houses a mile from a main road and expect the town to provide public safety services and I’ve heard many who have moved here work adamantly to turn a country town into a suburb. And I’ve known many who have sold property which they inherited, only to move away.

If you’ve been here 10 or 20 years, you cannot imagine how Windham has changed. But through all these changes, the Planning Board members have worked diligently with our ordinances, and with the ever-changing state laws regarding the environment; nowadays, they concern themselves with a non-ordinance, but a “guideline” regarding the design of future structures.

And so, my good word this week, is to commend our volunteers, and in particular the planning board. The current board includes Jim Lauzier (who, coincidentally, was also on the board back when I returned to Windham), Jim Seymour, Keith Williams, Steve Adams, Dave Nadeau and Jim Hanscom. Each of them has a life, a family, jobs and other responsibilities like each of you. Still, on a couple of nights a month, and several early Saturday mornings, they willingly gather to consider development and to make sure it’s safe, within the law and in many cases, easy on the eye. I, for one, appreciate their work. I might be watching on Monday nights, but my shorthand pad and pen will be far away!

Thank you and see you next week.