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PROFILES

 

Profile spirits would like to highlight some great and influencial people who have touched our lives, and the lives of others.   Their Spirit lives on with us and through us.  They may be gone, but not forgotten.

 

Our bird initial logo is in the shape of a bird as a bird is thought to house the spirit, and aid in bringing the spirit from one life to the next. 

William McCoy

William McCoy the East coast's most bestest runner of alcohol during prohibition.  His dedication to his work, lead us the term 'The Real McCoy' referring to the fact his booze was never watered down, or of lesser quality.   Capt. McCoy, a nondrinker who never touched liquor, found a role model in John Hancock of per-revolutionary Boston and considered himself an "honest lawbreaker."  McCoy took pride in the fact that he never paid a cent to organized crime, politicians, or law enforcement for protection.  Unlike many operations that illegally produced and smuggled alcohol for consumption during Prohibition, McCoy sold his merchandise unadulterated, uncut and clean.  Staying just outside US watters, he sold his bootleg liquor to smaller boat owners who would bring it ashore.  The government had to trap McCoy in international waters where he was arrested.  He spent 9 months in jail before going back to being a boat builder in Florida.

 

Jim Fortune

Jim Fortune

 

Oct. 23, 1927 -  Aug. 12, 2013

 

Jim Fortune was born in Philadelphia to a New York mother, and an Irish Immigrant father.  Jim served our country in the Second World War, and after words in the Coast Guard,  In 1950 he married Genevieve M. Baker and they had five children. His family moved to Bridgewater, in 1962 to homestead on an 18th century farm.

 

Jim returned to education at Plymouth State College (Now Plymouth State University) and graduated as the Valedictorian in 1966 with a Bachelors in Art Education.  He furthered his education at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. Receiving a Masters of Fine Arts in 1969.  He met his wife Peggy Houseworth at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston where they were both enrolled in the Masters of Arts Education. 

 

Jim taught at Plymouth State College teaching a generation of students how to see.  Working in his studio, He kept a good schedule of exploring new places,  creating new works and displaying his works.  He was always learning, creating, exploring, and sharing his ideas as well as his art.   Jim’s work extended outside of his teaching and artwork.  Jim spent a great deal of time in his gardens.  He brewed beer, wine and mead, and traveled often to experience new places and cultures.   Jim showed his work extensively, and had exhibits throughout the country.  Jim’s artwork seamlessly linked his fascination for and investigation of the pattern and rhythm of nature.

 

 

Fred W. Anderson


Born in Lakewood, Ohio on August 17, 1941, he was the son of Wallace and Ernestine (McNutt) Anderson. Raised and educated in Loudonville, Ohio, he graduated from Loudonville High School as President of his class in 1959. He then attended and was graduated from Ottawa University and Andover Newton Theological School. He was ordained in 1967 in the United Church of Christ, Vermont Conference, where he began his ministry as pastor of the Pittsfield Congregational United Church of Christ.

 

Fred married Alison Smith in 1966, and they had three children,  John 1967,  Gregory 1969 they adopted one child Susan 1971.  When later called to Massachusetts, he served as Pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational UCC in Norton, and as Pastor of the United Congregational UCC in Worcester. Toward the end of his ministry he served an additional eight different UCC churches as transitional Pastor.  After retirement, Fred continued working with the Massachusetts Conference in pastoral care, pasturing to the clergy in Massachusetts.

He was awarded the key to Worcester City in 1994 for his many years of service to the City by Mayor Raymond V. Mariano. He received several recognition from the Civil Liberties Union for his dedication to helping the minorities in the City of Worcester and was presented a plaque of recognition by his colleagues for outstanding service to the Inter-Faith Community of Worcester.

Much of his ministry was focused on social justice. In 1963 he was jailed for three days with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Williamston, NC for a nonviolent demonstration promoting racial integration. Throughout his years in ministry in Massachusetts, he served on various boards, councils and social justice task-teams of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ. While serving in Worcester he helped to establish the Worcester Interfaith Coalition for the Homeless. -

Daniel Webster

 Jan. 18, 1782 – Oct. 24, 1852

Daniel Webster was a New Hampshire senator, and a key Whig leader.  Webster spoke for conservatives and lead the opposition for Democrat Andrew Jackson.  He served in the House of Representatives for 10 years and Senate for 19 years (for Massachusetts) and as Secretary of State under three presidents.   Webster was one of the highest regarded courtroom lawyers of the time, and was instrumental in several key U.S. Supreme Court cases. 

Webster was born in what is now Franklin, NH and attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Dartmouth College.   He worked as a schoolteacher and was the headmaster of the Fryeburg Academy in Maine where he served for only one year. 

Webster set up a legal practice in Boscawen in order to be close to his sick father and became increasingly interested in politics.  In 1807 Webster gave his practice to his older brother and moved to Portsmouth after his fathers death where he opened a practice. 

Between 1801 and 1824 Webster argued several decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court and these cases remain major precedents in Constitutional jurisprudence in the United States.   He ran for president for the last time in 1852, and never won the presidency.  If he had accepted the roll of vice president from Zachary Taylor, he would have held the highest office in the land as Taylor passed 16 months after becoming president. 

Webster passed at his home in Marshfield Massachusetts in October of 1852.

James Anderson

James Anderson was born about 40 miles north of Edinburgh Scotland on his fathers farm about 1755.  He apprentenced as a farm manager before managing the family farm and moving on to managing how own farm.  In about 1790 he moved his wife and seven children to the new world where he became the farm manager for George Washington.    George Washington's Farm Manager convinced the retired president to build a small still at Mount Vernon in 1797.  This distillery grew to one of the largest in the country processing some 11,000 gallons of whisky at the estate.  The distilling opperations became one of the most profitable part of the estate and was supported by the large grist miss on the site and the silage from distilling fed a large number of the best fed pigs.  James Anderson and his son John Anderson managed the farm and distillery untill after Martha Washington's death in 1802.

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