The Stromsted family was well known in Pepperell, especially for the giant pool behind their home on Mt. Lebanon St. I attended several pool parties there and other gatherings as a classmate of the youngest daughter, Siri. A handful of kids’ parents were known as serial volunteers, and Mrs. Stromsted was one of them long before the words “soccer mom” appeared in any cultural glossary or in commercials for new cars featuring student athletes en route to/from a game.
Having played field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse in addition to soccer, I’ve had plenty of rides in Mrs. Stromsted’s big yellow Oldsmobile station wagon, always plastered with trashy political bumper stickers. Along with Dukakis, John Kerry, Paul Tsongas, or whoever was up for election at the time, one said: “Stop Proposition 2 1/2, vote no on Question 2.” More on that one in a moment.
Other parents who were regular fixtures at school events kept their political views to themselves, as did the faculty and staff, for the most part. Mrs. Stromsted was an outlier, and I have to say that she was my first exposure to someone with bad views on full display. Being in a blue state, I knew others in the voter population weren’t strangers, but they just weren’t so forward about it.
One day when Siri had a gathering at home, I saw a pile of Jim Shannon bumper stickers on a table near the door. When parents arrived to pick up their kids, Mrs. Stromsted handed them out like those parents were trick-or-treaters. When I saw my ride approaching, I said a polite goodbye and left before the car came to a complete stop. I don’t remember who was driving that day, but my father is a Republican and my mother is an independent who votes red, so I knew they wouldn’t care for a Jim Shannon sticker. Furthermore, they frown upon displaying ANY bumper stickers, so much so that I remember them parking in the designated area of the Benson’s Animal Farm parking lot for patrons who didn’t want the staff to sticker their cars.
Mrs. Stromsted was also part of the staff for the many years that my mother volunteered with at the polls. Having moved out at 18, I never voted in Pepperell, but my younger sisters have. The youngest, who still lives at home, and I still regularly call each other “Dumb Ass,” just like in that 70s Show sound bite that Grokster Steve often includes in his Morning Update montages. Before elections, I would admonish my sister not to be a dumb ass and suggest a sure-fire way of avoiding voting like one. I told her to pay attention to the candidates Mrs. Stromsted supported and always vote for their opponents. Now back to that Stop Proposition 2 1/2 bumper sticker.
The Smith family dinner conversation on weeknights almost always started with “How was school today?” The first time I saw a Stop Proposition 2 1/2 bumper sticker most likely was on Mrs. Stromsted’s car. Instead of talking about academic or athletic stuff, I just asked: “What’s Proposition 2 1/2?” My dad quickly got that signature “angry vertical line” above his nose, and steam came out of his ears as he told me what it was and made sure I knew the teachers’ union was responsible for funding and distributing those stickers calling for a NO vote. It would be another 8 years until I was old enough to vote, but he made sure that I knew the correct answer, YES, which just came naturally as a matter of logic. All of today’s efforts to make our Question 2 fail put my mind in Mr. Peabody’s Way Back Machine to 1980.
Now here we are today, though in NH, with a modern-day Question 2 that clearly calls for a YES answer. Anything else(a NO vote or an undervote) is evidence of mental illness. Granite Grok, NH Journal, and the SDGANH, to name a few, have already explained the Question 2 voters will face next week, and some even include FAQs with answers. Please share those resources with your neighbors if they haven’t already committed to voting yes. It’s also a good idea to make contact with like-minded people in the late afternoon to make sure they didn’t blow off voting. If they make excuses, have the appropriate rebuttals ready and offer to help (ride, watching the kids, etc.), if applicable.
I thought about Mrs. Stromsted and her useful-idiot ilk after I stumbled over her obituary. She died at age 95 just a few months ago. Whether she’s still on the Pepperell voter list is unknown (to me).
Don’t let Mrs. Stromsted’s contemporaries serve that poison NTU Kool-Aid to your low-information voter friends. Make sure they show up and vote YES on Question 2.
