William R. Schumann                   Willian R. Schumann, 74 of Harwich Port. Died on Friday, August 19, 2016 at Cape Cod Hospital.                   Born in Jersey City, N.J. He was the son of the late William C. and Josephine K. Schumann. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Gerie Snell Schumann.   A native of Basking Ridge, N.J. Bill graduated from Bernards High and Drew University. He an...

CHATHAM- Marguerite “Peg” Falconer passed away peacefully from a brief illness on July 8, three days after her 97 th birthday.   She died the way she lived with grace and surrounded by love. Elegant.  Kind.  Gracious.  Words one hears again and again when you mention the name Peg Falconer. Born in Quincy in 1919, to the late Edward and Margaret Walsh.   Her mother encouraged her to paint and often painted wit...

Anne Achilles O’Brien passed on August 12 as she had hoped, at home in Chatham surrounded by her four children. In addition to daughters Katrina (Avi) of Banning, Calif., and Marian (Trevor) of Matunuck, R.I., and sons Burges (Cindy) of St. Helena, Calif., and Matthew (Lori Ann) of Sebastopol, Calif., Anne is survived by her siblings Ted, Daphne and Steve (Gary) Achilles, and grandchildren Emilyn, Truitt, Theo, I...

              Louise V. Petrasko of Centerville &  Cheshire, Conn. , passed away peacefully at Cape Cod Hospital on August 20, 2016.  Born Louise Doane on July 21, 1923 in Milton, she was raised in Weymouth. She was married to her beloved husband Charles & lived most of her life in Cheshire, Conn. where she raised two children, vacationing frequently in Chatham with other family members at their hom...

Harwich – Mary Ellen (Andros) Clarke, 58, of Harwich passed away on Saturday, August 27 th surrounded by her family following a 2½ year battle with cancer.  She was born on December 31, 1957 in Lynn to the late James S. Andros and Ellen (Canaris) Andros.  Mary graduated from Lynn English High School in 1975 and from the University of Lowell in 1979.             Mary was the loving wife of John H. Clarke of Ha...

The new backpacks are packed, pencils are sharpened, and most kids will soon be back at school. But there are steps parents can take now to help make the school year injury- and illness-free for their kids. Kathy Riley, the Harwich Elementary School Nurse and the nurse leader for the district, said the start of school is always a busy time in her office. “A lot of kids have trouble with transitions,” she sa...

CHATHAM – A video taken by a group of tuna fishermen about a dozen miles east of Chatham shows a pod of orcas swimming alongside the boat. It's the second sighting of a killer whale off the town's coast this summer. The video was shot by Alex Wyckoff aboard the Fish Box out of Pleasant Bay on Tuesday. At least four orcas, females and juveniles, can be seen in the waters around the boat and swam along the boat ...

CHATHAM — In the faded photographs on the walls and on the plaques listing names of past members and commanders, the Brown-James-Buck VFW Post holds history. “We're stewards,” Operations Manager Carl Rostek said. “We refuse to let this place go under.” But the building on George Ryder Road isn't a museum. For nearly 60 years, it's been a refuge for local veterans as well as an important community resou...

CHATHAM – Before moving any further with a proposed agreement, Chatham officials want assurances that both the town and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have equal responsibility for management of the waters west of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Language in a draft memorandum of understanding proposed by the Fish and Wildlife Service commits both parties to working “cooperatively” to protect the res...

CHATHAM — They're among the first seasonal residents to arrive each year, and they're a fixture on the local waterfront until fall arrives. Ospreys are a familiar, often beloved part of the local landscape. So when utility crews removed an osprey nest from a utility pole off Morris Island Road earlier this month, it left a number of neighborhood residents concerned and angry. In an email copied to The Chroni...

CHATHAM – Seth Rolbein, a long-time Cape journalist and former senior advisor to Cape and Islands Senator Dan Wolf, was named director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust last week. Rolbein will work with the trust's current director, Paul Parker, through the end of the year, when Parker will head up a new organization that will seek to bring the trust's model of community ownership and management of fishing quota...

CHATHAM – Despite the theft of four of the 43 sharks in the park – one of which has yet to be recovered – an auction of the whimsical sculptures exceeded last year's total by nearly $8,000. The online auction, which ended last Friday, earned $50,079, half of which goes to the sponsor, the Chatham Merchants Association, and half to the individual artists whose work attracted thousands to the downtown display ov...

CHATHAM – Planned improvements at Old Mill Boatyard have been scaled back after bids for the work came in above the available funding for the project. The most significant element of the work – replacement of the bulkhead at the town-owned Stage Harbor facility – remain in new bid documents issued last week. Other items have been removed and a few included as alternatives which could be added into the project ...

William Shakespeare had a connection to Chatham. Sort of. That’s according to Bernard Cornwell of Chatham, the internationally best-selling author of nearly 60 novels, including the televised Sharpe series and the recent Lost Kingdom series. Cornwell, 72, spoke for 60 minutes last Sunday in the Eldredge Public Library during the annual meeting of the Chatham Historical Society. His topic was “Shakespeare’s ...

HARWICH — The town has only limited power over the use of drones within the community, town counsel has ruled in a legal opinion relating to a local regulation seeking to keep the devices away from public beaches. In early April members of the recreation and youth commission and Recreation Department Director Eric Beebe came before selectmen with a proposed regulation seeking to ban the use of drones and other...