HARWICH — A second employee at Allen Harbor Marine Service has succumbed to the coronavirus. Bob LeBlanc, 87, the marina's facilities manager, and father of Craig LeBlanc, owner of the business, passed away last Monday after a week of hospitalization. COVID-19 has hit the business exceptionally hard. On March 28, Julie Bruchu Bradley, 59, a sales administrator at the marina, died after a brief battle with t...

HARWICH — Seth Doane, a 1996 graduate of Harwich High School and a CBS News foreign correspondent who lives in Rome, has been battling the coronavirus for nearly a month. In an email interview, Doane provided insights into his battle with the virus and the measures Italy has taken to counter the pandemic. “I’ve been quite fortunate as my symptoms were mild,” Doane wrote. “I suppose I should say the symptoms ‘h...

HARWICH — Outer Cape Health Services and several other community health centers which have been struggling to stay open as revenues slide during the COVID-19 pandemic will benefit from an infusion of federal grant money. Congressman Bill Keating, D-Ninth District, announced last week that $3.5 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act will be distributed among six centers in th...

On Monday morning, Alan Harrison climbed the steps of Orleans Town Hall with a plastic tote of goodies, all for his new online exercise classes. Harrison, the town’s recreation director, is one of many across the region who has plunged into online teaching as a means of keeping people healthy during the COVID closures. “I normally run these classes live,” said Harrison, who teaches Burdenko fitness and tai chi...

CHATHAM – Lucky students from across the country, and even other parts of the globe, had quite an opportunity when shark enthusiast and expert Greg Skomal joined the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy for an online Q&A session in which he shared some fun tidbits about his long history as a shark scientist. On April 9 Skomal joined Marianne Long, education director for the AWSC, for a 45-minute chat about how...

The lights go down. You silence your phone, get any last minute coughs and squirms out of your system and settle in for an evening’s escape into the magic of theater, elbow to elbow with your fellow audience members.  Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?  If you are yearning for the shared experiences you used to enjoy at our many local theaters and creative spaces, take heart. Hardly missing a beat, as t...

Do you know someone who is going above and beyond in this extraordinary time? Let us know! For the next few weeks we'll be highlighting those who do good deeds in our local communities by selflessly helping their neighbors. Drop us an email at editor@capecodchronicle.com if you know of any good deeds you'd like to see exposed.   ABC Window Challenge Chatham Elementary School and community partners J...

A Plastic-free Earth Day Editor: One might think, why talk or think about environmental issues now, after all we are in a world crisis with COVID-19. But it is our natural environment, when healthy, that keeps us healthy. The toxic chemicals that we accept in our every day lives can stress our immune systems and make us vulnerable to disease. This week I watched a Frontline documentary on WGBH about the ...

Living with uncertainty is stressful. Life always has its share of unknowns; emergencies, unforeseen situations, sudden changes that are out of our control. But what's happening now is extraordinary, relatable only to measures taken during World War II, though the comparison is not exact. Then, the country was pulling together against a common enemy and was not divided along partisan lines. That's not the case to...

When you honk your horn Friday nights to honor medical, fire, and police personnel for their dedication, save a toot for the folks at Chatham Village Market and at Friends’ Marketplace in Orleans. They and their colleagues at the local chain supermarkets and convenience stores have become essential workers, by their deeds and by declaration of the governor. “We’re the only grocery store in the town of Chatham,...

For weeks, people across the Cape have been hunkered down, ideally at home, as they take personal measures toward eradicating a global pandemic. But that isolation, sudden in many cases, can come with its own set of issues, which is why taking care of one’s mental health is just as important as taking care of one’s physical health. “The mental affects the physical,” said Deborah Ennis, a licensed mental health...

ORLEANS — The new normal for learning in Massachusetts—virtual lessons via the internet—will likely become the regular normal next month. “We’re all thinking we will not be coming back in on May 4,” Nauset Superintendent Tom Conrad told a virtual meeting of the regional school committee April 9. His reference was to his fellow Cape superintendents, who are “doing some planning behind the scenes. One of the p...

HARWICH — A second employee at Allen Harbor Marine Service has succumbed to the coronavirus. Bob LeBlanc, 87, the marina's facilities manager, and father of Craig LeBlanc, owner of the business, passed away last Monday after a week of hospitalization. COVID-19 has hit the business exceptionally hard. On March 28, Julie Bruchu Bradley, 59, a sales administrator at the marina, died after a brief battle with t...

Jean Patricia Raymond    After a wonderful life of  93 years, Jean Patricia Raymond passed away on March 25, 2020. With her husband of over 72 years, Robert G. Raymond, Jean lived in Chatham. Jean was born in Worcester, the daughter of Carl and Doris Semon, and spent her early years in Auburn. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and married Bob in 1948. They l...

George Walter Fontaine  On April 4, 2020, Dr. George Walter Fontaine passed after a long battle with congestive heart failure. He was 89.      He leaves behind his loving spouse, Carol (nee, Peterson) of Chatham, his daughter Lorraine Fontaine of Truth-Or-Consequences, N.M., his son Jeffrey Fontaine of Oxford, Miss., his son David Fontaine, M.D. of Bedford, N.H. (Laurie), his daughter Jane Price of Muscatine...

Patricia Ann Rafuse 12/09/1938 - 4/3/2020     HYANNIS - Patricia Ann Rafuse (née Wahl) passed away peacefully April 3, 2020. She is sorely missed by her loving children Jonathan, Heather, and Amanda; her grandchildren Abby and Sam Higgins, and Melia and Caleb Rafuse; her son in-law Peter Higgins and daughter-in-law Leticia Palos-Rafuse; her sister-in-law Franny Macdonald and Franny’s three children Jennifer, ...