b'C H A P T E R E L E V E Nor academic leaders, and some Eiave signed on from church pulpits, or heavy-duty assignments with organizations like the League of Women Voters. If they have one thing in common, its that all of them are issue athletes, dedicated to protecting the waterways and neighboring lands of their community.Back at the beginning, these board members shared something else, for the most part: they were seasonal folk, on the Stage Elarbor scene just for the summer. Of twenty elected to the board at the annual meeting of July 28, 1984, only twoGeorge Douglass and C. Robin Turnerlived in these parts year- round.As the Friends came to be more and more visible, some citizens spotted this non-resident characteristic of most directors and wondered, These people are different types, arent they? Theyre not exactly wash-ashores, but theyre just plain different.Turning that perception into a broad-brush generalization is risky. After all, FCWs directors have been no more different than the towns commercial fishermen and women, who are so mightily different from nine-tenths of the rest of us. Most residents couldnt begin to fashion Julia Childs Poulel de Charente a la Melonaise as easily as wliite-jacketed master chefs staffing Chathams alluring restaurants. Who among us can do a hypnotic painting of Hardings Beach the way Jack Garver and Sam Vokey can? How many write compelling novels to compete with writers Anne LeClaire and Rose Connors?And only a handful of Chathamites can stand up in Town Meeting and effectivelyBob Denn, co-owner of cape Fish, argue the minutiae of the Zoning Bylawwanted to see what FCW was all about when he joined the board in the with experts like Jack Farrell and Bill Riley. Nineties.He came away convinced Our town is crowded with diverse talentsthat fellow directors worked hard and like these. But just because theyre special effectively at their board responsibiliand differenthardly keeps us fromties.Gordon Zellnerappreciating their differentness.That matter of some citizens seeing FCW as different came before its board in December 1999. A director asked for a slot on the agenda; he wanted to tell his associates how the community hes known for many years views FCW That director was Hillary LeClaire, native Cape Codder, once a Marine colonel197'