Grinnell revels in Ephraim Williams role

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
Bruce Grinnell holding his Ephraim Williams hat. (Photo by Linda Carman)
WILLIAMSTOWN - Over the past several years that local attorney Bruce Grinnell has portrayed town father – or at least benefactor – Col. Ephraim Williams Jr., he has gotten used to wearing 18th century shoes. “There’s no right or left,” Grinnell said. “They’re just two shoes, both pointing straight ahead.” Saturday afternoon, Grinnell will lead off the Holiday Walk parade in his straight-ahead shoes, lace jabot, frock coat and tricorn hat — the very model of a colonial gentleman. His parade appearance will be the culmination of the 250th anniversary celebration of the town’s founding. Yesterday, in the book-lined conference room of his law firm above BankNorth on Spring Street, Grinnell talked about his Williams avatar. “Ephraim comes out of mothballs in March for the celebration of his birthday at the Williams Inn,” he said. “Carl and Marilyn Faulkner deserve credit for resurrecting him.” Although Grinnell is by now almost as identified with the part as Hal Holbrook was with Mark Twain, he is the third to portray Williams. “Originally, it was Thorman Hulse,” Grinnell said. “Then for some reason Steve Lawson couldn’t do it, so they asked me.” He was no stranger to role-playing. Just a few years after he and his wife, Judy, moved to Williamstown, he joined a group in period uniforms designating itself the Silver Grey Militia walked from a succession of Northern Berkshire communities to Bennington, Vt., for a reenactment of the Battle of Bennington. “There must have been 25 of us,” he recalled. Grinnell, a 1962 graduate of Williams College, where he was a history major, has enjoyed his portrayals of the town and college founder. “With the town’s 250th anniversary, Eph took on a little more prominence,” he said. He finds it surprising that the college, which was founded with funds from Williams’ estate, has no celebration of its initial benefactor. Part of the deal was that the town, formerly known as West Hoosuck, was to rename itself Williamstown in his honor. Ephraim Williams was born March 7, 1714, in Newton and killed Sept. 8, 1755, in an ambush near Lake George, N.Y., serving with Colonial forces in the French and Indian War. His remains — although probably not all his remains — were reinterred in Thompson Memorial Chapel at the college. The Holiday Walk will mark at least the third time this celebratory year that Grinnell has suited up as the colonel. In March, he presided at the birthday celebration at the Williams Inn, when Carol Stein-Payne, on horseback, arrived with a proclamation from the Legislature designating the town’s celebration. Also that evening, he narrated and introduced a concert of early American music at the Clark Art Institute. He was faced with a difficult choice for the July 4 parade and opted out of playing Williams to stay as crew of a vintage bicycle owned by Henry N. Flynt Jr., a noted town history buff. But he was back in costume for the town birthday picnic in September, as he will be again on Saturday. Researching the role, the Grinnells visited the spot near Lake George where Williams was killed. And Bruce Grinnell sought out material about Williams in the college library. “There really isn’t too much known about his life,” he said. “His family was from eastern Massachusetts. He undertook dangerous military service on the frontier, and he was killed during an expedition. Nothing is written about what kind of individual he was or what his aspirations were. He is considered to have been something of a free spirit, and apparently fighting on the frontier had some appeal.” Grinnell said it took some time for the terms of Williams’ will to be fulfilled and for the funds to establish the college to become available. Williams was killed in 1755, and the college wasn’t founded until 1793. This anniversary year has been an enjoyable and an educational experience, for him, Grinnell said. “It was terrific. In part,it was dress-up, but in part, it’s given me an appreciation of what times were like then. Where we were located on the frontier, really, it’s remarkable the college survived. He added, “It’s nice that the celebrations have drawn such a cross-section of people. There probably is this interest in our history and in how Col. Williams has affected the town. Without him, we’d probably be just one of those towns with one gas station and a stop sign.” As a Williams student, Grinnell was part of the movement to abolish fraternities at the college, a step that paved the way for a smoother transition to a more diverse student body, including the admission of women. Grinnell, born in Northampton, taught school for two years in Swampscott before law school at Boston University and, after a year of clerking for a federal judge, he and his wife moved to Williamstown in 1968. All three of their grown children were born here. He worked for Lawrence Urbano, later a judge, from 1968 to 1971, when Urbano was the only practicing attorney in town. And in 1971, he formed his own firm, which now has two floors in the brick bank building. “I love the area,” he said. “I truly don’t think I’d choose to live anywhere else. It’s rural, but we’re close enough to New York and Boston. I love small- town living, and I think its advantages far outweigh any drawbacks. There’s a great sense of community here. Despite the Yankee veneer, people would do anything for you if there’s a need. I think that’s a quality left from the frontier. Of course, because of the college, there are many newcomers in town, and we have a much more mobile society now.” Deborah Burns, chairwoman of the 250th Anniversary Committee, said, “I think, as always, Bruce inspires us with his leadership and vision, just as Ephraim Williams did.” Although Grinnell will doubtless continue his portrayals of Williams, they will be less frequent and ceremonial than in this anniversary year just past. “For another 50 years, anyway. And by then it will be somebody else,” he said.
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Pittsfield Council Passes $232.7M Budget

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council unanimously approved a $232.7 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 

It is a modest, almost 2.9 percent increase from FY26. 

"I do want to give the community kind of a heads up as we move forward on budgets. What we see coming out of the federal government that's trickling down to the states, it's going to be harder and harder for us as a community to meet our needs under the Proposition 2 1/2," Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said. 

"We're going to have challenges, as we've seen communities across the state trying to override the Proposition 2 1/2, because we have dwindling amounts of money coming from the state and federal government." 

She pointed out that, at the same time, utility bills are going up for both residents and the city, as are the costs of pavement and other items. 

The amended budget of $232,777,720, down from the $232,782,090 originally proposed, includes cuts to the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the restoration of funds for councilors to attend the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association conference. 

The Pittsfield Public Schools' $86,855,061 budget includes $68,886,061 in state Chapter 70 funding and $18 million from the city. With $345,000 in school choice and Richmond tuition revenues, it totals $87,200,061 and is an approximately $300,000 increase from the Pittsfield Public Schools' FY26 budget of $86.9 million. 

The district's budget will fund 13 schools, as Morningside Community School will retire in the fall, and includes the middle school restructuring. 

Councilors also approved the use of $2 million in certified free cash to reduce the tax rate, and appropriated $450,551 for parking-related expenditures. 

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