Special - Letters to the editor

Editor’s note: For those of you who read the editorial section of The Windham Eagle, you are very aware of the many letters we have received from Fred Collins over the years. We received one to three letters per week that were typed on a typewriter. It is with a heavy heart we announce that this will be the last of Fred Collin’s letters to the editor as he passed away early this week. He was 91 year’s old. (See Michelle Libby’s tribute on page 7.)

The first “letter” written below is the very last note we received. On the top, in his own hand writing, he wrote: “Mrs. Glowczak. This is for you! Fred.”

“Tulips”

Springtime came to my house in a pot of tulips, rare outside was cold and snowy. But inside all was fair. Dainty perfumed blossoms each one seemed to say cheer up! For summer’s coming, it’s surely on the way.

“The Fairy”

Once I saw a little elf dancing in the glade overhead the evening sky, underneath the glade. Cast by ferns with dark green fronds, making cool the glade.

Ladies slippers growing round perfumed all the air, laughingly she caught two up, fitted them with care, then she danced and danced in the evening air.

Fred Collins

Chairmen of the sunshine committee

Editor Glowczak:

The loyal readers of The Windham Eagle. There are many claims that project how to calm the nerves and physical malformations. Pills and formulas that profess to cure ailments. Some folks go to great lengths and liabilities. My thoughts take a different vent. “Mother Nature” is often overlooked.

Have you ever taken a causal walk beside a running brook, or perhaps a picnic lunch on a high bluff overlooking a body of water, and watch the fluffy clouds drift by. There is something about Mother Nature that calms the restless soul.

It has to come to pass in my reclining years I have found contentment on so many stable elements-green grass, sturdy trees and of the late a pristine garden. What makes this garden remarkable is my youngest daughter has planned the entire display!

It was no easy task! You see, the ground needed a great amount of tilling: setting and planting trees and flowering bushes that needed deep beds to spread their roots. Decorative stone throughout to fame and enchase their looks. Hanging humming bird feeders along with nesting cedar bird houses accompanied with bird baths to quench their thirst!

Already, a pair of spritely dress barn swallows has set up housekeeping just outside my office window. A long view extending north and south, with green grass as green as the grass of Ireland make for a serene picture. The canaries are darting from feeders to baths singing their thankfulness. Mother Nature at its best. 

Thank god for folks that care, and pass it on to the fellowman! Fred Collins The American 6/29/17

Are you the candle? 

Faithful readers, no matter how much the sun shines on our fair universe, we find a cloud of uncertainty hovering to blot out the light, that the world needs to sustain life. It puts me in mind of a story that tells how light can invigorate a depressed world.

Many years ago, back in bible days, a father of 85 years decided he would retire. He had three sons. He took the boys aside and said that he would give the farm to the one that could fill the barn completely in a certain amount of time.

Rubin, the first son, felt he could do that. So he fathered all the vegetables, but fell short of filling the barn in the allotted time. Caleb, the second son, harvested grain all day but was over taken by darkness before he could fill the barn.

The last son named Timothy, waited till darkness fell. He then took his father and two brothers into the barn. “There he lit a candle” All the darkness in the world cannot hide the light of one candle. Are you the candle?

Citizen, Fred Collins 

Rest in peace, Fred.