The Veterans Voice

The Veterans Voice Newsletter of the New Hampshire Veterans Home, Fall, 2013 Commandant’s Resident Profile: Joel Nordholm Report Master musher comes full circle Margaret “Peggy” LaBrecque Things have come pretty much full circle got pretty sharp at his own dog dealings. In for Joel Nordholm. one trade with Bill Shearer, president of The greatest gift is you A path that started out around the age of 4 Paine Furniture Co., and a major figure on Greetings and Happy Fall: with a little dog sled ride through the farm the New England racing circuit that centered I can not believe that the Holidays will fields that surrounded the New Hampshire on Laconia at the time, Shearer didn’t even shortly be upon us. Veterans Home in the 1930s has brought realize he was dealing with a 14-year-old, he As the autumn leaves have turned col- him back to the top of Winter Street after a says. ors and fallen, much has happened here at most uncommon life: championship musher, Joel won his first dogsled race in the early the Home. The residents have been busy well-known dog breeder, Smithsonian- 1940s at 14, while he was still in high with trips to see the foliage and to ball recognized master dogsled builder, agricul- school. He’d end up competing on the New games and other events around the state. tural agent, teacher, and more. England circuit for the next several decades, The Home’s annual Family Fun Day, an That early jaunt got him hooked on dog- running his last 100-mile race in the early intergenerational celebration, was a huge sledding from the start, he says, and he was 1960s. Laconia was a well-known center for success, attended by scores of residents and already breeding and training dogs for his the sport in those days, he said. It was pretty staff and their families. The beautiful teams by his early teenage years. His father weather made it a fun day for everyone. bought him his first dog for $15, but he soon Continued on next page Activities are a key element in the care we provide here at the Veterans Home. We continue to plan new and exciting trips and many other recreational activities to keep She’s on the Calendar the residents from being bored. That’s vital, since boredom can lead to loneliness -- and loneliness leads to depression. This time of year – or really at any time -- the greatest gift any of our residents can receive is a visit from you. Visits help keep the loneliness of missing loved ones at bay. Visits remind our residents that they are not forgotten, that they are loved by those that they love the most – you. With the holiday just past, please join me in wishing all of our residents a “Happy Veterans Day!” Thank them for their service and sacrifice, and remember to thank the families of all veterans for their sacrifice as well. I look forward to seeing all of you over the next couple of months as the Home celebrates Thanksgiving, Christmas and rings in the New Year. For the second consecutive year, a work by a resident of the New Hampshire Veterans Home has been chosen for the “Member Masterpiece” calendar published by the New Hampshire Health Care Association. Artist Joan Ryder is shown above with her winning work, “Reflections,” in a photo taken in Au- gust, when her painting took first place in our resident art competition. Resident Profile A master musher makes his way back to Winter Street much a Franco-American thing, He said he picked up some imported by the thousands of tips from Ed Moody, a dog- Quebecois who had migrated racing friend and master sled south to work in New Hamp- builder, but otherwise he’s en- shire’s bustling textile mills. tirely self-taught in all of the ara- Pointing to a picture on his cana of sled-building, like exactly wall of Ovide Carrier, winner of how long to steam the white ash the 1936 Laconia 100-miler with wood to get it to bend without one of his dogs, he ruefully re- breaking. He introduced some calls the scandal the following innovations in his sleds, such as year when many dogs’ feet were plastic runners instead of the cut up by sharp ice when, due to much heavier steel ones, and what he calls driver greed, the lashing the frame together, at first race pressed on despite bad con- with rawhide, later nylon cord, ditions. The state veterinarian, for lighter weight and better who also happened to be the flexibility. mayor of Laconia at the time, His craftsmanship has re- shut the race down and it didn’t ceived a number of honors. In resume until after the war, at 1999, he did a two-week resi- much shorter distance. It’s cur- dency at the Smithsonian Folklife rently 15 miles. Festival in Washington, D.C., Joel described how he’d start demonstrating the craft. In 2005, training puppies for the team at 6 the New Hampshire State Coun- months old, hitching two at a cil on the Arts awarded him a time to the front of his bicycle Traditional Arts Apprenticeship and getting pulled around town. grant to pass along the skills to “I learned as much from the dogs Karen Jones, owner of a Husky as the dogs learned from me,” he Joel Nordholm talks dogs with Whatleigh Torsey, owner kennel in Tamworth and a vet- said. of Barking Brook Sled Dog Adventures in Plymouth, who eran musher herself. A Tilton native – at one time brought one of her dogs with her on a recent visit. Because of employment and his father was chairman of the family obligations, Joel never local school board and his mother versity of New Hampshire and cluding teaching middle school in made it to Alaska to compete in was alumni secretary and music going to work in a series of jobs Claremont for a year. the Iditarod, the 1,000-mile Sew- director for the Tilton School – as a county agricultural agent, He retired at 62, and after he ard-to-Nome trek that’s the he spent his junior and senior then into a federal agricultural stopped racing, moved into seri- world’s most famous dogsled years of high school at the Tilton agency. That job took him to a ous dogsled building, a craft he’d race. School, where he played basket- series of posts mostly in upstate started to learn in the 1950s. He But he has no regrets. It’s an ball and other sports. New York. After a decade or so got into the sled-making because entirely different race now, with His dog-racing career took a of that, he wanted to stop moving “I wanted a new sled and I could- groomed trails, cell phones, vet- break for Naval service in the his family around and returned to n’t afford one,” he said. That erinary services and mandatory Pacific during World War II, New Hampshire, where he did a was when, he points out, they stopoffs. No more mushing though he’d actually had a spate of miscellaneous jobs, in- cost about 30 bucks each. through blizzards. He says he chance to keep working with doesn’t follow the dog racing dogs as a sled-dog handler in one scene any longer. of the little-known “Arctic search In all, Joel says he’s been and rescue team” units set up blessed: with a working career during the war. But he passed on where he was on his own a lot, it after a friend warned him about with bosses who did not hover; the lonely lifestyle of heavy with a good marriage – his wife drinking and gambling that went passed away a few years ago; and on in the remote outposts. Not to with two grown daughters mention that the idea seemed who’ve both been successful in pretty half-baked to him, with life. bureaucrats suggesting things like And he’s still enjoying his trying to mount heavy machine regular walks into downtown guns on dogsleds. Tilton. He’s a familiar figure to Joel returned to his New drivers on Winter Street, where Hampshire roots after the war, one homeowner installed a bench getting a degree in agronomy and A pair of Joel’s beautiful hand-built white ash dogsleds, with a “veterans’ rest stop” sign, animal husbandry from the Uni- prized items in the state’s mushing community. probably with him in mind. Celebrating the Holidays at NHVH Decoration Guidelines To minimize potential fire hazards as- sociated with holiday decorations, please observe these guidelines. Questions? Con- tact the Safety Department, x4451. • No live or natural cut Christmas trees, garland or wreaths. • Artificial trees must be small and labeled “flame retardant” or “flame resistant,” and UL-approved. No Fiber optic trees or decorations. • No electric lights or devices of any kind allowed in resident care areas. Unbreakable ornaments and battery operated lights are an alternative. • Before using electrical light strings for decorations in nonresident care areas, they must be checked by the Maintenance and/or Safety Depart- ment for proper operation (fraying, bare wires, loose connections, cracked plastic parts). Planning on dining out with your loved one on Thanksgiving or Christmas? Please let • Electrical light strings used for the social worker on your resident’s unit know as far in advance as possible. Or ar- decorations MUST be unplugged at rangements can be made to share a meal here at the Home, although we can’t ac- the end of the day.

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