WORDS ABOUT WILTON: Gail Hoar – Where the past is present

The other day, I joined Michael Dell’Orto on his back porch. Michael is someone who people may have seen for decades serving on various Wilton committees or working behind the scenes in other ways but know little about.

Our conversation led me to a way to tie all the reasons I wanted to talk to him together. He began by commenting, “We live in a house that is emblematic of our community, a home where the past is always present, where old struggles help inform how to handle new problems. Personally, my wife and I honor the past while not being shackled to it and whatever we do we try to blend the past with the present, making certain any changes we make fit the character of our house.”

Michael then led me to the original front door that was the house’s entry portal when first installed in 1770. He continued, “When I look at it, I think about the knock that came in the middle of the night in 1859 when neighbors came in search of the Meeting House door key they hoped would allow entry to quell the fire raging inside. That must have been a dramatic moment, but it came to no avail. The Meeting House burned to the ground. Although we no longer use this door, and instead use the new entry installed when an addition was put on before our time in Wilton, this door, with all its history, is still here.”

According to him, it all started in December of 1985 when he and his wife, Jackie, first moved into the house and community they immediately fell in love with. The rightness of their decision was affirmed a few days later, when their front porch filled with caroling neighbors welcoming them to their new home. Later, community-wide traveling Christmas parties and other neighborhood events reaffirmed their good decision.

When they lost their day-old son, Michael shared, “This whole community came together to lift us up. People here say, you don’t really belong someplace until you have someone on the hill and now we do.”

As our conversation continued, it became clear how much history and research have become a part of Michael’s life. One of the first things Michael and Jackie did when they became residents of Wilton was to go to the post office to find out their address. They were thrilled to learn it was RFD1 Box 280 and not just a street address.

The second thing was to go to the library to get library cards. While at the library, the town librarian at that time, Jane Alsfeld, told them they had to get to know the people who frequented the historic rooms upstairs. There, he met Phyllis Tallarico and Helen Ring, who told him he lived in “Charley Peter’s old house” and that he must read the town history to find out more about his historic home.

He continued, “The longer I live in Wilton, the more I learn. I learned that Mrs. Marjory Moors not only owned one of the most elegant homes nearby but also owned our house yet never lived here. That was how it became known as her gardener, Charley Peters’, home where he lived with his family until 1972.” Michael added, “One of Charley’s daughters, Nellie Peters Frye, also used to come by and tell stories about growing up in this house.”

Michael explained, “This house energized me. It made me realize I’m part of something that dates back to before the American Revolution.”

As owner of one of the older homes still standing in Wilton, he and Jackie wanted to have something from past history to become part of what they would pass on to future generations of owners. That was when Jane Peters Bergeron, who usually goes by P. Jane Bergeron, gave them her grandfather’s desk, lamp and chair that had at one time been part of the house’s furnishings decades earlier. They will go with the house when the time comes to welcome new owners.

After learning so much about his home, Michael became more deeply hooked on researching the history of Wilton. It was an easy next step to volunteer to serve on the Wilton Heritage Commission for 20-plus years and currently serve as secretary of the Wilton Historical Society. Along the way, he has volunteered for many other projects proposed by other Wilton organizations.

He continued, “Because of that experience, I joined the group that put together the Acadian Publishing Company’s book ‘Wilton, Temple and Lyndeborough.’ I want to emphasize the group part of this since it was a huge effort put out by dozens of others. My name went on it only because I was the person who took all the information for the Wilton section that others had gathered. All I had to do was to pull the text together and fit it into the template required by the publishing company.”

You should know that it’s not just in Wilton where Michael may be recognized, although his face may be disguised by grease paint. He has for years been a figure in the theater world from Peterborough to Merrimack to New London, and as far afield as Maine to Boston, where he played in a Charles Playhouse production of “A Christmas Carol.” Locally, he may be best remembered for the numerous times he played Jacob Marley for the old American Stage Festival in their space in Nashua or when he was on stage at Peterborough Players.

His first big success as an actor was when he was cast as the lawyer, Monsieur Brunette, in the Parker Brothers’ VCR games of “Clue” and “Clue 2, Murder in Disguise.” He even has a Hollywood film to his credit. He played the WBU boxing commissioner in the film “The Fighter.” That movie played at the Town Hall Theatre, where residents were able to cheer Michael on during his one scene and even cheered as his name appeared in the credits.

He said, “That’s one of the joys of living in a town like Wilton instead of in the anonymity of a big city. People’s successes and triumphs are cared about.”

Although mainly recognized in the theater world for his acting, Michael has also served the New England theater community for many years as chair of the New England Area Liaison Committee of Actor’s Equity. He is proud of the work he did that helped to establish a thriving theater scene in the Greater Boston area that stretches from Maine to Vermont and south.

Words Michael has continued to live by come from his past during the time he was a graduate student in the theater department at Catholic University. He was told by the founder and chairman emeritus of the theater department, the Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke, “Theater is a harsh business. You need to make certain you feed your soul and look at others as a part of your community.”

The other night, while watching the Tony Awards, he explained, “I felt connected to several winners who I had known through being part of small, regional theater groups. I have friends from California to Maine. I remember them for the kindnesses they showed me or treating me, when a student, as a friend and colleague and I try to pay it back to others.”

He continued, “Remembering those words from my past, while living in this place, in our house and this community, helps me be a person today who strives to be a good father, husband, friend, neighbor and community member.”