Spring 2007 Publisher’s Letter

Welcome to the spring issue of WellesleyWeston Magazine. Like just about everyone, I love this time of the year because of so many wonderful changes taking place. Outside my windows I see plump buds on the trees that are ready to burst with vivid green blossoms. Songbirds fill the morning air with new life and celebration. Soon a beautiful lush growth fills every garden, much like the one on the cover of this issue and throughout our neighborhoods.

As I drive or walk through Wellesley and Weston, I can’t help but also note the manmade changes taking place. Steel girders line a well-traveled road and cover what used to be parking lot. The former lawn of a once-admired building lies under a mound of dirt. Where once stood a modest cape-style home now stands a majestic new colonial replete with six bathrooms. There is a great deal of chatter about more buildings coming down and more developments going up. And while there is excitement, there is also a sense of wariness about too much going on all at once.

Change can be positive and exhilarating. It can also be negative and frightening. No matter how you view it, however, change is inevitable. At WellesleyWeston Magazine, we embrace the kind of change that we hope will bring new business to our area. We welcome new residents to Wellesley and Weston who enhance the vitality and diversity of the populace. We look forward to the future as we contemplate what all of these changes mean for the people who live and work here.

But on the other hand, we also honor and respect the past. That’s why we feel articles like those in our “Neighborhoods” series and “The Way We Were” are so important. These articles serve to remind us that we have a collective community history that has shaped the culture and character of who we are today.

As we celebrate the new buildings going up and mourn the loss of some coming down, it is comforting to know that our communities will continue to thrive not because of buildings, but because of the people who live and work and visit here. Whenever we sit down to talk about potential subjects for the magazine, I marvel at the number of talented people who live nearby. This issue is no exception: Featured within are Wellesley and Weston residents like Dr. Joseph E. Murray, winner of a Nobel Prize for Medicine; Ron Pownall, photographer to rock-star giants; the best-selling author Fred Reicheld; the men and women who founded Metco and made it work; World War II veterans who volunteer their time to share their experiences with young people; and finally, the generations who have lived here and worked to shape a neighborhood like Poets’ Corner and other neighborhoods throughout the area.

I hope you take the time to relish the glories of spring, and when you do, that you remember to reflect upon the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who, after walking through the area where Poets’ Corner is today, noted in his journal, “I am in the midst of a beautiful country…”

Sincerely,

Beth Furman