Just Plain Neighbors: Flying high at Mill House building

[ Originally published on: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 ]

It's good to show the flag.'' That's how Harry Stafursky of Mill House in Greenfield feels about his gift to tenants of the apartment building on Wells Street, formerly the home of the Millers Falls Co., manufacturer of nationally known tools.

Renovated into 103 apartments in 1986, Millhouse never had a flag.

''I decided to pay for one myself,'' Stafursky said. ''It cost me a little over $2,000. The flagpole came from Alabama and it is at the north entrance.'' He wanted to make sure I emphasize that Francis Maynard, one of the residents, did all the work of erecting the pole and attaching the flag. He is planning a special ceremony for the flag on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

''I hope the flag will remind us of all the good things in America,'' Stafursky said.

And, he finds it hard to believe that he is living in the same building where he used to work for the Millers Falls Co.

My late husband, Brud, used to tell me about being in charge of maintenance on his Navy plane, out in the South Pacific, during World War II.

''One day I reached for a wrench. And there it was, Millers Falls Tool Co. printed on it, something from back home.''

 

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