Sometimes the fun of doing this research in in the slice of life stories found in different papers. Long before Mickey Rooney or Elizabeth Taylor made heading to the altar a revolving door occurrence, there was John Patrick O’Toole.

In Scituate there were rules and guidelines at last. The neighbors were getting more than restless. They believed that the Town fathers had not taken their interest into account all of these months.

The Town of Scituate was served by three Selectmen in 1956 rather than the five person board present today. Those Selectmen were: Chairman Robert Tilden, Jackson Bailey, and G. Maxwell Shields. The heat was on them from March until the day the ship finally went off the beach. August would be a good month for them as the summer crowds were soon to let up and a team was to arrive to put the project on a solid footing.

Captain J A Johannsen and Admiral Lebbeus Curtis took the helm in late August. They began work from the place where the story began, Mrs. Russo’s house on Rebecca Road. Their plan was well detailed in the paper. One note that was new to the writer is that the rudder and propellor were to be taken off to move 17 tons from the stern to the bow as the bow had taken the grounding better than the stern had. Details about the channel to be created and how that might be done are also available in this August 30, 1956 article in the South Shore Weekly Mirror.

This news to close out the month was quite welcomed as the beginning of the month had seen a terrible loss. Mrs. Bernard Killion, the manager of Dreamwold since the mid Thirties died suddenly. She and her family were moving out of the property as local investors were soon to take over. Mr. Killion had been taken ill while driving with her daughter, pulled over, call authorities, but died shortly after arriving at the hospital. Having worked with every dignitary imaginable in the course of her duties and having been favored by all of them, her funeral brought the toast of New England to Scituate.

Among those dignitaries will be former Mayor, Governor, and Congressman James Michael Curley. The Mayor was very much in the news in 1956 as his famous Jamaica way home had been sold and the publishing of The Last Hurrah, a fictional telling of Curley’s last race, was climbing the best seller list. Curley promised his own telling of the tale in his own book.

An emerging political name that were replace Curley had a tough month as well. Senator John F. Kennedy was defeated in his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the Vice Presidency. Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois would run with Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. Another rising star would dodge a bullet when Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neil was allowed on the November ballot after a challenge. He was accused of living in Scituate rather than in Cambridge.

Midmonth the Town was startled by a break in at the high school and concurrent vandalism. The Boston papers told a lurid tale of tremendous damage but Chief William F. Kane corrected the record in the local paper.

Those vandals should have been saving up to play the mini golf course over at Paragon Park.

There was some good news to offset this drama. The Scituate Yacht Club held its Fashion Show and also entertained the Little League with a picnic.

The Tom Twigg who is seen below being presented with a baseball will later be a long time Scituate Policeman.

In another note that surprised it was learned that a bill to include Scituate and Cohasset in the MDC water system failed in the Massachusetts Senate. With all the guests to Scituate visiting Etrusco looking around and picking out neighborhoods that bill might have changed the fortune of the town. A study had just come out predicting a final population of over 30,000. That water was going to be needed.

While Scituate never got to over 30,000 residents, Golf Champion Fordie Pitts eventually moved his family here and settled on Second Cliff. He will win 10 combined Father Son and Father Daughter State Championships.