Published: 11/23/2006
Day 1: Thanksgiving in Danversport
By Matthew K. RoyStaff writer
DANVERS - And still we give thanks.
Even in Danversport, maybe especially there, today is still a day to count our blessings. While yesterday's massive explosion blew out windows, crumpled roofs and rattled nerves, it didn't inflict a wound on the tight-knit neighborhood that can't eventually heal.
Nobody died. Nobody was seriously injured. We don't need to lower the American flag or pause for a moment of silence before today's Danvers vs. Gloucester football game.
"I just thank God that nobody was killed," said 60-year-old Linda Carney of Bates Street. "It could have been such a disaster."
Rainbow Terrace resident Ralph Swift heard the explosion, which he believed was a tremendous earthquake, and thought "This is it, we're not going to make it."
But he did, and so did the rest of his family.
"Everybody's OK," he said. "We had some damage (to the house), but it's nothing we can't fix."
Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday toured Danversport and called it a "Thanksgiving miracle" that no lives were lost.
"It's amazing," said Margery Scott, 88, a lifelong Danvers resident. "Somebody up there loves us."
The explosion destroyed Jeff Moore's office and his childhood home next door, but he is grateful today.
"I'm just glad nobody got hurt," he said. "It's pretty remarkable."
Is it ever.
An Essex, N.H., resident, Moore worried most about his 80-year-old mother, Marilyn. She lives alone on Water Street, across from where the explosion occurred. The blast tossed furniture and launched pieces of glass throughout her one-story home, but Marilyn made it through unscathed.
As for Kimball Memorials, the family business next door, Moore said it will survive.
"We'll plow along," he said of the 160-year-old enterprise. "We'll make it."
We can be thankful the explosion didn't happen in the middle of the day. The streets were clear. People were inside, protected by shelter.
"We're very fortunate that was the case," Selectman Mike Powers said.
We can be thankful today that people's worst fears weren't realized. It wasn't a terrorist attack. It wasn't a plane crash.
It was an explosion that caused terrible devastation. But the scattered debris can be swept from the streets. Windows can be replaced. Ruined homes can be demolished and rebuilt.
