HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-12-04-MMC-min.docxMonuments and Memorials Committee
Minutes of Meeting
December 4, 2025 By Zoom Teleconference
Members Present: Nick Wong, Chair; Avram Baskin, Glen Bassett, Linda Dixon, George Gamota,
Regina Sutton.
Guests: Bill Poole, Wei Ding
Members Absent: Liz Huttner, Leslie Masson
Business
Chair Nick Wong opened the meeting at 4:05 p.m., welcomed everyone, and declared that a quorum
was present.
Approval of Minutes and Meeting Dates for September, October, and November
On motion made and seconded, the minutes of September 11, 2025 were approved on a roll call vote.
There was no quorum for the meeting of October 2; in lieu of minutes, Secretary Linda will submit
informal notes for this meeting. No meeting took place during November.
Progress Report re STEAM Team
Wei Ding, mentor to the STEAM team, reported on their second annual partnership with the Monroe
Center for the Arts to introduce a projection mapping segment as part of Lex Lux on Saturday,
January 10 at the Depot Building. The program theme is "Shine Together." A portion of their
presentation will feature several individuals from our committee database stories on the
Revolutionary and Civil Wars, WWI and WWII, and modern day. This is an important stepping
stone to familiarize the community with the work of the STEAM team and prepare them for the
team's big show in May or June.
Wei believes that the M&M Committee provides a valuable service but is not well known in the
community. Highlighting individuals drawn from our database can educate the community and our
youth about the outstanding citizens who came before us. She suggested that we ask the audience to
suggest additional "heroes" to be included in future projection mapping projects. The M&M
Committee would review, evaluate, and select these submissions for future projects.
This led to a discussion about whether this suggested project would fall under the committee's
mission. Avram, Glen, and Nick felt it did not. The proper role of the committee, in their view, was
to offer support; review and comment; offer additional data to stories already submitted to the
Heroes team; and encourage ongoing communication with our subcommittee. More discussion will
follow.
Recap of Boot Camp
Nick reviewed the Boot Camp for Committee Members, held on Saturday, October 4 and sponsored
by the Select Board. More than100 members of various Town committees attended. Nick, Leslie, and
Linda attended from the Monuments and Memorials Committee. Attendees received many valuable
tips, including best practices for committees and individual members.
Review of Database
Nick referred to the working meeting held two months ago. He and Linda will meet before the next
meeting to verify that all stories submitted by members have been received by Nick and entered in
the database. Nick will then assign remaining stories to be written to various members.
Concord Armory as a Possible Resource
George mentioned that the nearby Concord Armory is a storehouse of military records for
Massachusetts and Lexington. It contains the original induction cards for service members in the
Revolutionary and Civil Wars, World Wars I and I, and beyond. This could be a source of additional,
valuable information on entries in our database. George, Linda, and Bill are interested in visiting the
site, if it looks promising. Linda will contact BG (ret) Leonid Kondratiuk, former archivist, for his
opinion if the site is worth visiting.
Next Steps
• Let's aim for April to finish the database.
• Nick would like to turn our thinking to which committees we want to share our database
with, and how to make contact.
• Clarify 1) Who owns the database and 2) who maintains the database going forward. The
language in the committee charge is unclear. Once the committee completes the creation of
the monument inventory, are we responsible for maintaining it? How often? If the Select
Board has not considered this situation, we should recommend how we proceed.
• Avram and Nick will schedule a meeting with our liaison Doug Lucente to get his input.
On motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m. The next meeting is
Thursday, January 8, 2026.
Respectfully Submitted,
Linda Dixon, Secretary