March 13 is a busy day on the birthday calendar. First, there is Heather Birch, aka Mrs Howard Pearl, who is less than a year older than me. The late great Krauthammer would be turning 75. There’s also Don Grandmaison, my former mailman and Nashua’s oldest—still on the job and turning 83.
Deviating from chronological order, I want to dispense with some rain on the parade by noting that Comrade Andru Volinsky is turning 69. Saving the oldest for last, there’s the regionally famous John Diefenbach, who is turning 85 and is considerably the world’s most conservative guy. More on that in a moment, but let’s first consider that the elderly commonly eschew material gifts for their birthdays and prefer some recognition. This article serves that purpose.
John is not someone I met in person as a stranger. There was an evolution to it, and I will do my best to give a summary of the timeline without getting too much into the weeds of detail. It’s important to point out that it started back when I was a low-information voter who didn’t even know what a RINO was. I just dutifully voted in every election, primary, city, and special election. I faithfully voted for the Republican because my dad had taught me well to despise Democrats. More on him in a moment.
In my 16 years of working in a Comcast warehouse with the daughter (Sue) of a Mason ham radio operator, I learned all about her nuclear family members and those close to them, and the world slowly shrunk. Sue would often talk about “this wicked conservative guy” who’s a friend of her dad and “he’s way out there.” An air force veteran with a disdain for Democrats, John sounded like a dear kindred spirit of my dad, who has been hating on the teachers’ union since before Proposition 2 1/2.
One day, during the latter years of the BO regime, I commented in some FB thread, and it got John’s attention. He private messaged me, asking for my number. When I gave it to him, he called to discuss the content of that thread further, though the exact topic escapes my memory. John and I became FB friends, and Trump was elected not long after that. Sadly, Sue became a vicious Trump hater, which strained our previously friendly work relationship as time went on. There’s enough to write a separate article on that, but let’s get back to John.
Sometime in the following years, John invited me into a FB group called “Patriots,” which had a picture of John Wayne on the front page and was often in the Zuckerberg penalty box. I met many of his cyber friends there and later joined MeWe at John’s idea, and so did many others. I don’t remember if the formation of Patriots was before or after meeting John in person, but I do remember a school special election after meeting John in person because I had met Howard Coffman at the same time.
Not wanting to waste my vote or vote the wrong way, I messaged John because Howard was a sitting member at the time. City elections call themselves nonpartisan and therefore won’t display party affiliation on the ballot, hence my desire for some guidance before visiting the polls. I asked John who Howard planned to vote for, and his answer was, “I’ll give you his number so you can ask him yourself.” I called Howard, explaining the reason for my call, and voted for the candidate that he suggested though the other candidate won. Since city elections are in odd-numbered years, this special election had to have been in 2018, the same year as that train wreck of an election that brought Jersey girl Pignatelli into Wheeler’s seat, Melanie into Kevin’s seat, and the senate gavel into the possession of Donna Soucy.
2019 was the next city election, and I was still a low-information voter, especially at the city level. Imagine for a moment how active I could have been at the time had I known then about all the crap Laurie Ortolano has been complaining about! I knew our mayor didn’t have an opponent, and Kevin was collecting petition signatures to be Alderman Dowd’s opponent. Also, at the time, Queen Heather Raymond, now a Ward 1 rep, was the school board chair and trying to get Doris expelled over some stupid stuff. The NTU was actively electioneering against the “Evil 5,” a non-NTU slate of 5 school candidates, including incumbent Paula Johnson and Howard and Doris. Paula would become the sole survivor of that catastrophe, but the day before that election, it was John who put out a “call to action” email distribution.
He said Howard and Doris needed people to hold signs for them, something I had never done before or ever thought about doing. There are nine places to vote in Nashua, and the polls are open for 14 hours. Wanting to be a team player, but concerned about the “dos and don’ts” of such a task, I inquired, pointing out that I could make myself available at Charlotte school after work. I have always ignored people holding signs because I have always decided who to vote for before going to the polls and thought “are there really people who make their decision at the last minute?” John gave me the email for Howard and Doris. Howard replied, instructing me to show up at Charlotte school, which I did, assuming I would be holding just a sign for him or Doris. When I arrived for my very first sign-holding experience, I didn’t recognize anyone in person on either side of the aisle until I spotted Kevin and his wife and approached them. I was handed a totem instead of just a sign and told not to worry when I asked all kinds of first-timer questions.
I could easily write a separate article about my first totem-holding experience as it involved sightings of Melanie, even though she lives in Brookline, and this was a CITY election. I turned my back to her when she walked by but kept the totem facing the sidewalk. I met Ms Scales, the only Democrat school candidate to not get elected, even though she was the only black candidate, but she wasn’t NTU-endorsed, and she had some decent talking points.
What I didn’t know at the time was who her mother was, Lemonade Linda Harriott Gathright. I met Mr Lambert, who was the first rep candidate recruiter I ever encountered. I credit John with setting up this first exposure for me, even though it was just to get sign-holding help for Howard and Doris. I was there until after dark and became a captive silent listener as Mr Lambert and another guy were talking about rep recruitment.
I later shrugged it off as ridiculous that some stranger would consider me as candidate material for any office. Still, I did discuss it with John a few months later because filing time for the 2020 race was approaching. Kevin McHugh of the NH Conservative Majority Project was lamenting about the dearth of candidates to fill up the slates. I asked if the Newmans had opponents, and there weren’t enough volunteers. It was John who encouraged me and put in a good word, though Seamus Casey was the one who called and answered my questions that I was too shy to ask in a social media group setting. John also warned me that my slate mate and former rep, McCarthy, was a union guy.
Over the “dark years” following the Great Heist, I stayed in touch with John as Governor DeSantis was becoming a popular antithesis to the Damn Emperor. John and Elaine packed up and moved to Florida in August 2021. Before leaving, he had a farewell party at a Townsend church rectory, and I met Colton among several other attendees. Colton was recruited (presumably by John) to be a rep candidate, and I ran again due to a hole in the Ward 2 ballot.
In the summer of 2022, John and Elaine returned to visit and help spread name recognition for Colton, who had to campaign in 4 towns in a primary against Flanagan. John also introduced me to Victoria Stuart, who lived in the locally famous “Dean house” in Ward 3. Victoria became a great friend and generous supporter when I became Alderman Dowd’s opponent.
John wanted some souvenirs to take back to Florida and asked for a campaign sign from both me and Colton. Upon arriving home, he planted our signs next to one for Governor DeSantis in his yard and took a picture. This was at the beginning of hurricane season, and they had to be removed for at least one storm. This time, he put them back out with all kinds of debris in the background and took another picture. Neither Colton nor I were elected, but John returned our signs when he returned for a visit in the summer of 2023.
John and Elaine did the area tour to maximize seeing everyone for their 2023 visit, and Victoria hosted a Bon Voyage party at her “Dean house” abode, the last time I saw John in the vertical position. Shortly after arriving back in Florida, John took a tragic fall that resulted in injury and the need for a level of care above Elaine’s skills. He went from one facility to another over the months, starting in Florida, then taking the “Honor Flight” to Massachusetts, and continued his search for a more desirable place. The last time I saw him in person was on his birthday last year when he lived in Concord (their Concord, not ours).
Knowing a Brookliner famous for her commissioned cake art, I wanted to have a cake made that looked like a radio, but all my efforts to make contact and discuss the idea were unsuccessful. C’est la vie. Val Odgen stepped up and said, “I know what John likes, and I will make that cake.” She did, and it was served in the activity area of that Concord facility. We even posed together for a group picture.
Last month, John’s son sent a group email that things weren’t going well for John, and he requested hospice care and wasn’t having visitors. The unfortunate news came at a time when I was working on my escape from Nashua, so I just placed it in the back burner of my mind and procrastinated acting on it. In the planning of this article, I later reached out to his son to discuss an appropriate picture and learned from him that the hospice request was deemed to be too premature at this point. The optimist would consider that good news, perhaps suggestive of another complete trip around the sun. Still, my personal opinion as a non-family member is, “Let’s make THIS one count.”
Editor’s Note: Howard Coffman, John Diefenbach, Doris Hohensee, and Laurie Ortolano have all contributed to GraniteGrok and all but John, still do.
