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PEOPLE PLACES&
By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter WESTBOROUGH -There were several chances of Michael and Susan Abladian meeting and not meeting.
But, after decades, the couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on Aug. 16.
“She was my partner,” Michael said in a recent interview. “That was it. We took our vows pretty seriously.”
The Abladians met while Michael, who was an electrical engineer, was working in California.
His company had developed a new high-altitude reconnaissance system, but they were having trouble putting it into fighter jets.
Michael had learned that one of his friends that he grew up with had been living in St. Louis.
He made several trips, inadvertently meeting Susan, who had moved to St. Louis for work, on a couple of occasions.
But then, Michael’s company told him that they needed
PHOTO/LAURA HAYES
Michael and Susan Abladian celebrated 55 years of marriage last month.
Michael Abladian
a representative in St. Louis. They made Michael an offer he couldn’t turn down and he was heading back to Missouri.
At first, they didn’t connect, but when Michael would visit his friend, Susan was there.
As Michael described it, they never really dated — Susan lived in an apartment house with other young people their age and they got together as a group.
Then, however, Michael got the call to go to Vietnam.
“My boss called, and he says, ‘Pack up your stuff, you’re going to Vietnam. And you can’t tell anyone because it’s classified,’” he recalled.
Susan asked Michael where he was going.
“I said, ‘Back to the office for a visit,’ never intending to come back. I felt kind of bad because by then we sort of made a connection,” Michael said.
When he got on the plane, the stewardess told Michael he had a phone call. It was his boss. Michael’s mission had changed and he didn’t have to go to Vietnam.
After that, he and Susan began getting closer.
A year later, they were dating when Michael was assigned to go to France and Germany for a pair of two-year trips.
“I said, ‘What do I do now?’ Marriage was not on my horizon at all,” Michael said.
He had to break up with Susan.
One day, they were sitting on the floor, and Michael was helping Susan balance her checkbook. Michael said when Susan would run out of money, she would call her father.
He caught Susan looking at him.
Finally, he asked her how she would make out in life when her parents passed.
“She said, ‘Well then, you’re going to have to take care of me,’” Michael recalled. “In a sense, she proposed to me, sort of.”
Eventually, the couple moved to Massachusetts. They had two children. Susan was elected to the Westborough Board of Selectmen.
The pair traveled the world picking up mementos along the way that now fill the front room of their house. There are pictures from Egypt, a vase from Moreno and Lladró figurines from Spain.
“We worked on our problems and said to ourselves, we never went to bed angry,” Michael said. “We worked it all out.”
Northborough dedicates Purple Heart Town signs
By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter NORTHBOROUGH - Residents gathered under the American Flag in Ellsworth McAfee Park on Aug. 31 as the town dedicated signs that designate Northborough as a Purple Heart Town.
“As someone who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times, it always felt like home when I came to Northborough,” said former State Representative Harold Naughton.
In an interview with the Community Advocate, Commander of the American Legion Post 234 Rick Currier noted that the dedication was held in a place named after two Northborough veterans who were killed in action. Neil Ellsworth and David McAfee both died during the Vietnam War.
“I’m so proud to be a Purple Heart Town because, when vets come through, they see
Former State Representative Harold Naughton presents a flag to Leslie and Dan Arsenault.
PHOTOS/LAURA HAYES
that [we] care,” Currier said.
During the dedication, Veterans’ Agent Justin Sousa said the Purple Heart dates back to George Washington. It was the first medal that was authorized for wounded members of the Continental Army.
It was then reconstituted in the early 20th century, he said.
“It used to be an award for valor, and now it’s an award if you get wounded in combat,” Sousa said.
Northborough was designated as a Purple Heart Town by the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Sousa said this added Northborough as a stop on the nationwide trail.
Eight signs will be posted on main routes throughout town.
The Aug. 31 event featured Purple Heart recipient Major Denny Drewry of Westborough and Leslie and Dan Arsenault, the parents of Army Spc. Brian Arsenault, who died in Afghanistan in 2014. Reps. Meghan Kilcoyne (D-Northborough) and Danielle Gregoire (DMarlborough) were also in attendance alongside a number of town officials.
“I would often say of all the towns that I represented in my 26 years in the House, there’s always such a tremendous turnout on Memorial Day and Veterans Day events in the town,” Naughton said.
He congratulated Northborough for becoming a Purple Heart town and “continuing to recognize the sacrifice of those service members with us and gone.”
Naughton, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, opted not to seek reelection to the House in 2020. He was replaced by Kilcoyne earlier this year.
When he was closing out his offices, Naughton found a box he had packed away when he returned from his last deployment in 2015. In that box was a flag that had flown in the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.
Naughton presented the flag to the Arsenaults.
“Sorry it’s so late, but it still means as much as it did at the time,” Naughton said.
Veterans’ Agent Justin Sousa talks during the dedication.
