Recovered family movie triggers trail of tears

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AUBURN — Trails to our parents’ distant past can often be found in damp basements and cluttered closets of their homes.

If you follow these disappearing paths, sometimes you get lucky and unearth something they never told you about from their past.

When my father died, the depressing obligation of cleaning out his home fell to his offspring.

Rummaging through my parents’ personal belongings made me feel like a cat burglar trying to get his hands on jewelry and credit cards. The grief you are feeling rises exponentially
when you throw out or donate your parents’ personal items.

There were several boxes stuffed with pictures of their lives frozen in black-and-white and color stills.

I became the designated the caretaker of our family’s photographs. There were hundreds of photos of McClure Street, the Blizzard of 1978, Waterford, Penn., and the Tall Ships sailing into Boston during the nation’s bicentennial in July 1976. 

We recorded the events of our lives with an old Polaroid camera.

When I began sifting through the pictures, we discovered about 20 feet of eight-millimeter film in a small box. My mother’s uncle, Rocco Conte, shot the film in 1958. It was a mystery for my son and me, but there it was, sitting in a box in my parents’ home for 58 years.

We tried to see what was on the reel, but it was impossible to make out all the images. A couple of weeks ago, I suggested we leave it to the professionals and we took it to a business where they transfer millimeter film to DVD.

After all, who still owns a projector! 

Photo Finish transferred the film to DVD in just two weeks. 

We picked up four copies, rushed home and shoved one of the discs into the DVD player.

The 2:59 second film was footage of their 1958 wedding in living color. I sat still, my eyes widened before they filled with a stream of tears. My wife and I watched it over and over, and through our watery eyes, we marveled at the silent, color images of the wedding. 

It was a cinematic glimpse of my Italian heritage and the relatives and friends who are no longer here.

Why didn't they tell us there was film! I could have made this for them a decade ago.

It took three minutes to transform me into an emotional train wreck and resurrect the grief I felt when I buried my dad with full military honors in November 2014.

I watched my smiling mom and her pristine white dress enter the church. Our young and handsome Italian father had a wide grin on his face as the crowd began throwing rice at the newlyweds.

The film was like a silent movie and the key actors were my mom and dad. I saw my grandmother, my uncle Rock, Carol and other people who have passed into eternity.

Watching those long lost images of the their past made me realize their absence in our lives still hurts like hell.

Those feelings of loss never go away and watching them drive away in the film to a honeymoon in Canada snapped my heavy heart in two.

But those images of my parents were worth a good cry and it won’t be the last time I shed a tear when I watch this must-see rare film of my parents in the prime of their lives.

Modern Marvels

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —  For these young engineers, thinking outside the box is mandatory. These cars do not come in a model kit box. There are no directions.

Students start from scratch, and they must come up with a game plan to construct their own unique solar-powered cars, which are also built for speed. Creativity is definitely a perquisite — along with patience and dedication.

Watching these students learning how to think on their feet and make things work when all goes wrong is astounding.

Even though money is tight, gas remains criminally high, and time is always at a premium, a sour economy didn't stop this family from traveling four hours to proudly watch our son, Anthony, compete in the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's Junior Solar Sprint Competition at the High School of Commerce on a cloudy Sunday.

 

It was nearly a 500-mile round trip after leaving Auburn, Maine, but watching Auburn Middle School's two three- and four-man teams compete in this grueling, seven-hour event was worth the price of filling my gas tank twice as AMS's finest competed against their exceptional peers from all over the Northeast.

 

The designs were creative and eye-opening, and you could tell students put a lot of hard work into perfecting their solar-powered cars. Besides being judged on technical merit, innovation, craftsmanship, artistic merit, best reuse of material, best compartment, team spirit and sportsmanship, these cars were also engineered for speed.

 

Building sun-powered cars requires using a variety of lightweight materials, a soda can and a solar panel, to get the cars to run on a track. These teams gave up two afternoons a week during the school year to make their creations come to fruition.

 

The solar-power car teams from Auburn Middle School began their journeys to Springfield, Mass., from Owls Head, Maine, where two teams qualified to compete in the Northeast competition. AMS students went head to head against other Maine schools at the Owls Head Transportation Museum.

But every solar-powered team needs a dedicated teacher who has the ability to inspire his teams to create a sun-driven model car out of limited materials.

Jim Rowe is that kind of teacher who knows how to keep his students motivated. He has that special gift and infinite patience to point them in the right direction.

Rowe has been coaching aspiring engineers for over a decade, and it never gets old for this talented teacher. His students thrive under his direction. Under his tutelage last year, the Sun Ship, which was designed by my son and Damian Yoder, won for Artistic Merit at the Northeast competition and was the fastest car at Owls Head.

Last Sunday in Springfield, the AMS teams finished in the top 25 percent in speed even though Auburn Middle School did not receive an award, But kudos to the team of Anthony Blasi, Damien Yoder, and Cole Taylor for their "When Pigs Fly" creation, and to the team of Ben Knoblach, Erza Thomas, Jarod Cloutier and Harley Lombard for their car - "Cool Running."

"First I want to congratulate and thank you all for a successful year," said Rowe in an e-mail to his students and parents. "Although the teams did not win awards in Springfield, they did very well, from my experiences, finishing in the top 25 out of 108 for speed and doing very well in artistic merit and craftsmanship.

  "I was very pleased and proud to have so many parents in attendance. The most I have ever had the honor of participating with. It has been an honor to work with your children.  It truly has."

All six students found common ground to work together and make this competition a success as well as build confidence and pride in themselves. And, of course, Jim Rowe's input obviously had a lot to do AMS' strong showing in the competition.

For more information about solar powered cars competitions, check out www.nesea.org and www.meepnews.org.