Author: Joey Ciaramitaro

June 14 meeting of the Gloucester Area Astronomy Club, followed by a Star Party!

The June 14 meeting of the Gloucester Area Astronomy Club is rapidly approaching, and it’s going to be a dandy. We’re holding the meeting in the Visitor’s Center at Halibut Point State Park, with a star party immediately following (weather permitting).

At the meeting, amateur astronomer Jim Koerth will show us what’s going to be up in the sky to look at and how to find it, and afterwards we’ll go out onto the grounds of the park and observe everything we just heard about in Jim’s presentation. Some objects to look forward to include the moon and Saturn, as well as bright galaxies and star clusters.

The meeting will be on Friday the 14th regardless of weather, although if the weather doesn’t cooperate the observing portion will have a cloud date of the next night, Saturday 6/15 at sunset. As a rule of thumb, if you can see the moon and some stars, we’ll be out there.

The meeting will start promptly at 8:00 as always. Please park in the paved lot on Gott Avenue and walk up the gravel drive to the Visitor’s Center.

GAAC meets on the second Friday of every month for presentations and activities related to observational astronomy. The public is warmly invited; no experience or telescope is necessary to enjoy the proceedings.

UUSR Peace Fest Student Art Contest

A reception and viewing of the entries in the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport Peace Fest Student Art Contest
will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14 in the church vestry, 4 Cleaves Street, Rockport. Rockport students
in grades one through twelve were invited to submit original artwork related to the theme of peace. The contest
winners will be announced and awards will be presented at 7 p.m. during the reception. All of the art will be on exhibit
in the church vestry through the month of June and the winning art will be displayed during the UUSR Peace FEST in
Harvey Park on Sunday, June 23, from 12 noon to 5 p.m.

Hi Joe,
Our friend Joyce Perkit passed away on Sunday.  Here is a little bio, in case you’d like to post anything.  A fun photo is also attached.
Sincerely,
Sue Auclair
Jamaica Plain and Gloucester resident Joyce Perkit, who passed away on Sunday, June 2, 2013 at age 71 after a long and hard-fought battle with breast cancer, was a brilliant and learned woman who stood up and defended people’s rights and community causes that she thought were vitally important. She was a highly regarded attorney who practiced entertainment law in the Boston area in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Later, she gave up full time law and moved on to be a first rate real estate broker and real estate investor. Her close friends knew what a fountain of knowledge and information she had and how adept she had become at real estate and any area connected to the field.
Joyce was quietly also a poet, a serious lover of antiques and a devotee of music and the arts.  Back in the ’80s, when she was practising entertainment law, she represented an award-winning and successful pop/rock band in Boston, Girls Night Out.  The band featured singer Didi Stewart, saxophonist Myanna, guitarist Wendy Sobel and keyboardist/singer, songwriter, arranger Alizon Lissance.
Most recently, Joyce was very active in community land use planning in Jamaica Plain. A graduate of Radcliffe College and Northeastern University School of Law, Joyce was frequently quoted in the Jamaica Plain Gazette when she was active on the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council.
Edward Rose, the founder of the world-famous Rose Art Museum was Joyce Perkit’s great uncle and when the Rose Art Museum was going to be closed by Brandeis University’s President at the height of the recession, Joyce was one of four key family members of more than fifty who spearheaded the family movement to save the Museum in 2009.  The family team won the cause largely because of Joyce and today the Rose Art Museum is thriving once again.
Death Notice and information:

Perkit, Joyce Lynda of Jamaica Plain, formerly of Brookline. Entered into rest on June 2, 2013 at 71 years of age. Beloved companion of James “Pete” Chamberlain for 30 years. Devoted mother of Kurt Shapiro and his wife Paula of Las Vegas, NV, Ivan Zalkind of Walpole, MA, and Ariel Keefer and her husband Jamie of Audubon, PA. Loving sister of Sharyn Lane of Atlanta, GA. Cherished grandmother of Evelyn and Lily. Joyce was a proud graduate of Radcliffe College and Northeastern University Law School. Graveside services will be held at Sharon Memorial Park, 120 Canton Street, Sharon, MA on Wednesday, June 5, at 11:45 AM. Expressions of sympathy in her memory may be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Attn: Marilyn DeSantis, Donor Relations, 400 West Cummings Park, Ste. 6650, Woburn, MA 01801.