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Roseann Trionfi-Mazzuchelli, Marblehead’s veterans agent, refinished the chair herself. It is more than 200 years old, and on Nov. 11 it will be dedicated during the town’s Veterans Day ceremony at Abbot Hall.
The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Abbot Hall auditorium and is open to all, according to a list of November events Trionfi-Mazzuchelli gave the Select Board on Oct. 14. The chair, which honors prisoners of war and service members missing in action, will be dedicated with a missing man table ceremony.
The board accepted the chair Sept. 23, when Trionfi-Mazzuchelli and Ronald Knight, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2005, presented it. The chair is dedicated to the more than 83,000 service members who never made it home and that more than 130 Massachusetts cities and towns have a similar one. The VFW donated the stanchions, plaque and flags. The chair itself was donated to the town.
The board voted to coordinate its placement in Abbot Hall with Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer. On Oct. 14, Trionfi-Mazzuchelli told the board the chair would go upstairs with the stanchions and flags and that the dedication would add time to the program.
“So it’ll be a little bit longer of a ceremony, but that’s okay,” she said.
She thanked Select Board Vice Chair Moses Grader for taking part. No speaker had been announced as of Oct. 14. She also said she was still confirming whether the VFW would hold a small reception afterward.
The chair goes upstairs, but one rule comes with it: No one is to sit on it.
Moulton’s town hall
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton will hold a Veteran Town Hall at Abbot Hall at 2 p.m. that afternoon. In a Sept. 14 letter requesting the hall, Moulton said the forum lets veterans share their pride, grief or appreciation of life with one another while residents who have not served listen.
“I know how hard it is to transition from combat to life at home,” he wrote.
Moulton held his first Veteran Town Hall in Marblehead in 2015, his request-letter says. The board approved the request Sept. 23.
The morning before
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Council on Aging at 10 Humphrey St. will host a 9 a.m. breakfast for veterans, sponsored by the Masons. Trionfi-Mazzuchelli called it completely open. The events list gives no ending time and no registration requirement. The Council on Aging’s number is 781-631-6225.
