School graduation season offers a time for reflection, planning and often some heartwarming stories, but it was considerably more for 82-year-old Jean Spurr of Groveland.

Spurr was awarded an honorary diploma June 1 from Georgetown High School where she was a member of the class of 1959 at graduation ceremonies on Saturday morning. She recently told WHAV listeners the unusual and heartfelt experience of how she came to finally don cap and gown and participate in high school graduation.

Spurr and her companion, Steven D. Sardella of Haverhill, were guests on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program. Earlier this year, Sardella had an idea about a special birthday gift for Spurr. He asked the Georgetown School Committee to grant her an honorary diploma based on her life experience. The School Committee unanimously agreed and everything fell into place.

“They gave me a cap and gown and a flower. The superintendent, everyone, was just so nice to me there. They treated me with so much respect. They were just awesome,” she said. “(The ceremony was) in back at the Perley High School—the Perley Elementary now, but it was the Perley High School where I went to school.”

Spurr explained how she had an excellent attendance record, but fell just a few credits short of graduating. Instead of attending an extra year of school, as was the case back then, she married and moved to Groveland where she raised a family, waitressed for 30 years and eventually came to own the Groveland Square Diner. She also drove a school bus for nearly 20 years, worked for the Groveland Highway Department and currently volunteers at the town clerk’s office.

Spurr earlier considered attempts at earning her diploma earlier. “I had all my books for the GED, and I tried at different times during my years to try it. For some reason, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it!”

She said the diploma will have a special spot in her home.

“Yes I do, I have it home. I’m going to put it right in my living room where everybody can see it and I can look at it every day. It’s beautiful. I can’t describe how I feel! It’s just mind boggling to me how nice everyone was. My family was there. I’m very grateful.”

Spurr was joined by family as School Committee Chairman Michael Hinchliffe presented her with a diploma during this year’s Georgetown graduation ceremonies. Spurr strode across the stage to accept her diploma, share hugs with School Committee members and administrators and briefly thanked all those in attendance.

“Jean your journey is one of unwavering spirit and love for your community. You have served with grace, faced life’s challenges head on, and now you come before us a graduate,” Hinchliffe said in remarks during the ceremony. “This diploma is a symbol of your life long journey of learning and service.”

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When it comes to reaching out with a helping hand, a Haverhill church is reaching out halfway across the world to help orphaned children.

West Church is sending 15 people today on a mission trip to Moldova, a small country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. Leading the group is church Director of Outreach Mark Cottrell. Speaking recently on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program, he explains how the 767 Broadway church became involved.

“For a number of years we’ve supported a ministry in Moldova, a gentleman named Oleg Reutki—he’s a pastor over there—and he runs a number of orphanages. They call them transition homes, mostly young girls being ministered to them.”

Cottrell adds Oleg runs an organization called New Hope Eurasia. “He has invited us to come over and serve in the orphanages. We’ll actually be staying right in the transition homes. We’ll be bringing all sorts of different supplies. We’ll be bringing clothing and shoes, and all sorts of needed things that he would like to have us bring to the orphans. We will be running a Bible school for them in two different locations.”

Cottrell also says the West Church group will be doing some outreach, and serving Ukrainian refugees in the country. When asked about the safety of making the trip to Moldova, Cottrell had these words.

“We’re warned, but we are relying on our host Oleg to know the lay of the land and, if anything was bad, I trust him to say ‘please don’t come.’ But, there have been rumors and rumors of war for Moldova since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, and really the news hasn’t changed too much.”

To help with the trip, Cottrell says they received a generous donation from Reworld, formally known as Covanta. Reworld Haverhill’s Area Asset Manager Mark Van Weelden told WHAV the company is “pleased to be able to support the activities of these dedicated volunteers. Hopefully, the kids impacted by these acts of kindness can see a world reimagined.”

West Church also received help with supplies, including from a dentist who donated 200 toothbrushes and toothpaste. West Church normally runs missions every year, mostly to Latin America for construction projects, but the trip to Moldova, working with orphans and refugees, is bringing in people who wouldn’t normally make a missionary trip.

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If you are looking to show off your creativity in the kitchen, you may be interested in using a “secret weapon” to make it easier.

This Saturday and Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Carolyn’s Farm Kitchen hosts an open house at the new storefront location. Owner Carolyn Grieco was a guest this past Wednesday on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program, where she announced she will be opening a location at 800 Broadway in Haverhill.

“A lot of my customers know me for baking at the market, as well as the products, but it is not a bakery. I used to own a bakery many years ago in Middleton. It was great, we ended up selling it. It was a lot. I was at a point where either I had to move into a larger space and grow, and at that time we decided to sell it. That was probably 25 years ago we sold it. So, as I get a little bit older, being in the food business beats you up physically, for sure, and I’m finding that. I feel that this next phase is really sustainable for myself,” she explains.

Over the years, Carolyn’s Farm Kitchen has been a mainstay at the Haverhill Farmer’s Market and other markets in the area. Though she is known for her baked goods, Grieco says her passion is making the mixes that make it easier for people to make their own baked goods.

“These are all original tried and true recipes I’ve developed over the years, over my career. I went to culinary school well over 30 years ago. These are all my babies! They are all original recipes, all tried and true, and I really designed them for simplicity. My tag line, if I had one, would be ‘simple seasonal scratch baking’ and that’s it. They are meant to be simple, one bowl assembly. You add a few additional ingredients, especially local farm fruit you can get at the farmers market or one of the local farms here in Haverhill, and they are package to oven in five minutes.”

There’s more at CarolynsFarmKitchen.com and on her Facebook and Instagram accounts.

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