CARTAGENA, Colombia – The admonitions were forbidding. “Never go out of your hotel alone,” a friend with a serious expression said. “Be sure to have someone with you at all times.  And never, ever walk around the city at night.”

With his warnings ringing in our ears, we headed to Cartagena -- a city with a reputation, like many others in Colombia, for drug trafficking, kidnapping and violence.

In a town with such a rich history, Duxbury residents are fortunate to be surrounded by people and institutions dedicated to honoring and teaching this heritage. The Alden Kindred of America, Inc. states as their purpose “…the preservation and the spirit of those early pilgrims from beyond the sea…” Matthew Vigneau, Museum Manager at the Alden House, devotes his day-to-day efforts to championing this preservation.

Sightseeing in Havana, sampling its cuisine and crawling its mambo and jazz clubs hardly qualifies one to assess today’s Cuban political and social realities. Yet visual impressions and snippets of overheard conversations provide clues - a furtive gathering of a small group near a market; a non-verbal reference to Fidel by the stroking of one’s chin.

(Knights of Columbus Grand Knight Jeff bishop speaks to the crowd at one of the three Lt. Timothy Steele Memorial events.)

If the measure of a life well lived is the everlasting honor and respect of a community, then 1st Lt. Timothy Steele’s too brief life was admirable indeed.

Nearing the finish line, Meaghan Steele is surrounded by family members Julie, Anne and Jessica Steele after running the Knights of Columbus 5K as part of the Lt. Timothy Steele Memorial Events. DHS grad and UMass Army ROTC cadet Nick Cline is behind in full uniform. Photo by Karen Wong

A plan to install a Keno monitor at the Hall’s Corner Store will move ahead as the Board of Selectmen said this week they had no objection to it.

This action is a reversal of a decision made by a previous board five years ago.

Full story available on our eEdition

Duxbury knew the boy who built forts and rode his bike around town, who was a standout high school track star. His fellow soldiers knew the lieutenant who led them to the battlefields of Kandahar, who would have followed him to the ends of the earth, who followed him to the end of his life. Meaghan Steele knew another man. She remembers a husband who was “goofy” and would grab her round her tiny waist and dance her around their kitchen.

(One of several magnificent homes that will be on the Newcomers Club House Tour. All proceeds go to a charity of each participating homeowner's choice.)

Corey Wisneski and Trish Ruttgers are Duxbury residents and active members of the Duxbury Newcomers Club. As House Tour chair and president of Newcomers, Wisneski and Ruttgers recently chatted with us about this weekend’s upcoming Spring House Tour and what Newcomers Club brings to our community.

(Editor’s note: Massachusetts Secretary of Veterans’ Services Coleman Nee gave this speech before presenting the Medal of Liberty to the Steele family on Saturday.)

Thank you to the Knights of Columbus and to the Disabled American Veterans for inviting me to Duxbury today to present the Medal of Liberty to 1st Lt. Timothy Steele’s family.

The late Clipper publisher David Cutler was a great believer in merit. When he founded Mariner Newspapers in 1972 he had no idea how to run a business. He had been a leader on the athletic field and the battlefield, but he had to grow into this role. Accordingly, he always gave his employees opportunity to advance, provided only they had the right work ethic.