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Committee Opening

On September 3, 2026 Grace Skogen celebrated birthday #103 at the Thomas Upham House.

I had the delighted to read to her the Town of Medfield proclamation Honoring her on her 103rd birthday.

AMAZING GRACE

Grace (Dilanian) Skogen was born on September 3, 1923. She was raised in Jamaica plain. She was the oldest of three children and the only girl. Her father was a shoe maker until he lost his job during the Great Depression and her mom went to work sewing ties for a manufacturer. Grace remembers helping her mom by traveling on the train with her younger brother to Boston for pickup and delivery of the ties. Her mom made all of her clothes and beautiful dresses. Grace recalls a teacher commenting on her dress and asking her where she got it when Grace said my mother made it the teacher asked if she could make her one also.
Although she lived in Jamaica Palin She walked every day to Roxbury Memorial High for girls and graduated in 1941 as president of the senior class. Grace gave the graduation speech at Symphony Hall and can still recite it today. Grace was awarded a scholarship to Radcliff but unfortunately was unable to go she had to go to work to help the family.
Grace worked at Athens Olympia as a hostess and then was offered a job at RW Press Prich & Co. an accounting firm in Boston. She said “I can do it.” And she did. She was also a Railroad Annalist before accepting the job that she loved most of all, Wall Street. Grace was one of the first women stockbrokers on Wall Street. Grace said “you have to love what you do and it’s not a job.”
She remembers buying her first car a white Cadillac that she couldn’t drive home because of the shifting, so she had to call her brother to drive it off the lot for her.
She met her husband, Sheridan on her way home from work one evening. She was in NY City near Central Park when she saw him and asked if it was a safe place to walk. He responded “not for a pretty young lady like you” Sheridan walked her home and the rest is history they were married for around 60 years.
Grace never smoked never drank loved to dance, play golf, swim in the ocean and travel. She said “I had a good life.” She and her husband loved to travel Europe.
Grace loved clothes and was always seen wearing a dress, heels and a hat. She was always stylish and was so well dressed (she still is). She loved the designer dress sale at Filenes Basement in Boston and was always in line before the doors opened. Her niece, Lynne remembers going with Grace and her mom when she was just a little girl and thought she would get trampled from all the people running in for the sale.
Grace built her dream home in NJ she picked out everything that she wanted and was only able to live there for a year when Sheridan was transferred to Florida. In Vero Beach, Florida she felt that there was a need for a plaza, so she got to work and helped design a ten store plaza with offices above the stores (including her office.)
Grace never had children of her own her niece, Lynne and her nephew, David are her children they have always been very close.
Today we celebrate Grace turning 103. What a wonderful milestone.
Happy Birthday Grace
We love you.

Prepared by Grace’s family.

From last year’s 102nd Birthday.

Select Board Office Hours this Friday

I hold regular monthly office hours at The Center on the first Friday of every month from 9:00 to 10:00 AM. 

Residents are welcome to stop by to talk in person about any town matters. 

Djuna Perkins – the “D” is silent, she is not. She has had the administrative experience needed to run the DA’s office.

Dear Friends,

Please join me in voting Djuna Perkins for Norfolk County District Attorney in the September 1 Democratic Primary. Djuna is the most qualified candidate for the job. She’s a former Assistant Attorney General, Assistant District Attorney and head of the Suffolk County Domestic Violence Unit, and a lawyer with 30+ years of experience standing up for victims of crime.

• Djuna has been unafraid to challenge the political status quo to restore justice to Norfolk County. She got into this campaign early because she wanted to stand up for what is right and amplify the voices of those unheard.

• Djuna’s commitment to justice is shaped by her lived experience. Her mother died by suicide when Djuna was a baby and she grew up in poverty and on public assistance. She understands what injustice is because she has lived it, and she has dedicated her life’s work to protecting those who need it most.

• Djuna speaks truth to power. From calling out the current District Attorney’s failure to charge the murderer of Sandra Birchmore and her refusal to treat those with money, connections and power differently, to her vocal opposition to ICE abuses and attacks on our most vulnerable neighbors from the Trump administration, Djuna will always stand up for what is right.

• Djuna is a longtime resident of Dedham. She and her husband, a Milton Public Schools teacher, have three young adult children.  Aside from me, Djuna’s endorsers include Progressive Mass, Progressive MA Western Norfolk County, and over one hundred highly respected city and town councilors, select board members, criminal justice professionals and Democratic and community leaders. A full list is here.  

The Democratic Primary is September 1. Early In-Person Voting began Saturday, August 22. 

Please Vote Djuna Perkins for District Attorney.

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the Superior Court order enjoining the construction of statutes of two saints at a Quincy public safety building as being constitutionally prohibited by the Massachusetts Constitution.

===================================================

KAFKER, J. The mayor of the city of Quincy (city) seeks to
install two ten-foot-tall statues on the façade of the city’s
new public safety building at taxpayer expense. One statue
depicts Saint Michael, an archangel with wings, stepping on the

head and neck of a demon.3 The other depicts Saint Florian, a
larger-than-life Roman soldier towering above a burning building
and extinguishing the fire with water from a single vessel.
Saint Michael and Saint Florian are recognized as religious
saints by the Catholic Church. They are also important symbolic
figures for police officers and firefighters, respected for the
values of bravery and honor they represent.
The plaintiffs, fifteen residents and taxpayers of the
city, sued the city and the mayor in his official capacity to
prevent the installation of the statues, arguing that the
expenditure of public funds on, and the display of, the statues
violate art. 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, as
amended by art. 11 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts
Constitution, which provides: “all religious sects and
denominations . . . shall be equally under the protection of the
law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to
another shall ever be established by law.” A Superior Court

judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary
injunction and denied the city’s motion to dismiss. The city
appealed, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing and the statues
are permissible under art. 3.

We conclude that the plaintiffs have standing as taxpayers
under G. L. c. 40, § 53. We further conclude that the
constitutionality of the statues must be evaluated according to
the framework we set out in Colo v. Treasurer & Receiver Gen.,
378 Mass. 550 (1979), a decision that explored and applied the
evolving text, constitutional history, and purposes of art. 3.
That decision further considered, as helpful guidance,
additional factors recognized in Federal and State case law,
particularly the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Lemon
v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), which reflected the Supreme
Court’s establishment clause analysis at the time, to identify
improper intermingling of State and religion. Applying the
comprehensive reasoning of Colo, we conclude that the motion
judge did not abuse his discretion in granting the preliminary
injunction. We therefore affirm.4

Yesterday the Baptist Church celebrated the 250 years that it has been extant in Medfield by ringing its bell 250 times.

Names not known, but Pastor Hunter Gutherie stated that they are siblings and the one on the left is a FBC Medfield congregant.

Town alert –

Select Board Office Hours this Friday

I hold regular monthly office hours at The Center on the first Friday of every month from 9:00 to 10:00 AM. 
Residents are welcome to stop by to talk in person about any town matters.

From David Baime –

The Leaf Blower panel discussion recorded by Medfield TV and presented during Medfield Climate week is now available on YouTube:

The title on YouTube search is “Leaf Blowers – What’s All the Noise About?“