The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 30

CL THE BOSTON GLOBE TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2003 OTHER OBITUARIES Page B7 Barbara McInnis; care, support to Obituaries nurse gave homeless By Casey Farrar birthday. GLOBE CORRESPONDENT "Barbara As a nurse practitioner at the Pine Street Inn, Barbara McInnis focused on preventing tuberculosis at the shelter. Her care, however, went well beyond medical charts and incidence rates. She touched the very essence of their lives, residents and caregivers say. Ms.

McInnis, 67, who spent nearly 30 years working at the homeless shelter, died Saturday at Maine Medical Center a week after she was involved in a car accident. As a tribute to her service, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program named a medical respite unit in Jamaica Plain in her honor in 1993. It was one of the first public facilities of its kind in the nation. "She truly was the closest person I would call a modern-day saint," Chris Ragosta, who worked with Ms. McInnis at Pine Street Inn for 14 years, said yesterday.

"She was so giving of herself and more than willing to share what she knew with other doctors, nurses, and counselors she worked with. The circle of people whose lives Barbara touched is enormous." Her impact on the homeless community was more than could be expressed in words, some friends said, but to one former patron of the Pine Street Inn, Ben Tousley, it could be expressed in a song he wrote for her on her 50th McInnis, a friend of the there with us through hard times and McInnis, the salt of the the world someday remember her worth," Tousley, a folksinger wrote in a "Song for Barbara," which he recorded for her. Ms. McInnis, who grew up in Boston and attended Cathedral High School, started working occasionally at the Pine Street Inn Clinic as a public health nurse with the state Department of Health and Hospitals. Specializing in tuberculosis, she found that her work led her to the Pine Street Inn so often she decided to request that she regularly staff the shelter, Ragosta said.

In an interview with The Globe in 1993, Ms. McInnis admitted that working at the Pine Street Inn was a challenge for her at first. "When I first came to Pine Street 20 years I really didn't understand homeless people," she said. "Then, I spent time with them, heard their stories and learned who they were. I found they have the same medical needs and the same desires in their hearts and souls that everybody has." She was a great listener, friends said.

"She had this ability to listen to people in a nonjudgmental way," Mary Hennessey Wohn, a former University of Massachusetts pro- 1993 GLOBE FILE PHOTO BARBARA McINNIS fessor who knew Ms. McInnis for 30 years, said yesterday. "Whenever someone needed to talk to her, she was totally there for them, and there was never a sense of judgment. She just listened and understood." Her desire to help the homeless led Ms. McInnis to start a traveling volunteer service similar to the current Pine Street Outreach van.

Dubbed Stone Soup, the group would travel around Boston to bring donated soup to homeless people who couldn't go to the shelter. Tousley's musical tribute to her ends: "Good for what ails you from goose bumps to don't call her Reverend or Doctor or just call her Barbara cuz that's who she is." Ms. McInnis leaves one sister, Jacqueline Carlson of Brockton; and several nieces and nephews. Funeral arrangements are being completed. George W.

Welch, 85, Boston firefighter By Lauren Bobrowich GLOBE CORRESPONDENT George W. Welch, a retired Boston firefighter, died Saturday in the Life Care Center in Scituate. He was 85. Born and raised in Boston, he attended public schools before enlisting in the Marines in 1941. "He signed up the night of Pearl Harbor, with three of his buddies," said his son-in-law, Boston firefighter Kevin MacCurtain of Hanover.

"Out of the three of them that went, he was the only one who came back." After his discharge, Mr. Welch worked for the former Massachusetts Transit Authority. In 1947, he joined the Boston Fire Department, where he worked on Ladder 7 until he retired in 1978. "He was really a Pierre Graber, at 94; ASSOCIATED PRESS LAUSANNE, Switzerland Pierre Graber, former Swiss president and foreign minister, died Saturday after suffering a stroke, the state chancellery said. He was 94.

Mr. Graber joined the leftist Social Democrats in 1925 and became mayor of the western city of Lausanne before he was elected to the seven-member coalition Cabinet in 1969, where he served as foreign minister for eight years. His first challenge was international terrorism. In February of 1970, 47 people died when a GEORGE W. WELCH model firefighter; he was just someone that people looked up to," MacCurtain said.

Mr. Welch also washed win- Swiss minister Swissair flight to Tel Aviv was blown up in midair. Seven months later, a group of Palestinians hijacked three airplanes, one of them belonging to Swissair. Mr. Graber was involved in the negotiations, and Switzerland was one of four countries that freed Arab prisoners in return for the release of the hostages.

Mr. Graber also negotiated free trade agreements with the European Economic Community. He held the annual rotating presidency, a largely ceremonial position in 1975. PICTURE PERFECT Globe O'Brien To purchase a high-quality reprint of this photo, visit The Boston Globe Store, order online at www.globestore.boston.com or call 617-367-4000 The Boston Globe Store The corner of Washington and School Streets, downtown Boston 617-367-4000 www.globestore.boston.com The Boston Globe boston.com Funds backed for rape counseling ASSOCIATED PRESS House and Senate lawmakers are urging their Democratic leaders to restore rape crisis center funding that was cut 1 from the Legislature's version of the budget. More than three dozen representatives wrote to House Speaker Thomas Finneran, Democrat of Boston, and House Ways and Means Chairman John Rogers, Democrate of Norwood, asking that they include funding for the centers in a future supplemental budget package.

The money, about $618,000, will help the centers stay open for another four months. Without the funding, about 13 of the state's 18 rape crisis centers will close, according to the letter and advocates for the centers. "I am deeply concerned for the welfare of these thousands of victims who will have nowhere to turn," Representative David Linsky, Democrat of Natick, wrote in the letter signed by 38 other House members. "Their health as well as the health and safety of all residents of the Commonwealth is at grave risk if we do not act immediately to restore these essential support services." Eleven state senators signed a similar letter to senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Therese Murray, Democrat of Plymouth, asking Governors propose more for A AmeriCorps By Lara Jakes Jordan ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Governor Mitt Romney and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell are leading a push by 43 governors to double AmeriCorps funding to $200 million this year to avoid cuts in the troubled volunteer service program. "We hope you will do everything possible to ensure that these programs are not closed or drastically cut; that needed services continue to be provided by AmeriCorps members; and that we can continue to tap the idealism and patriotism of so many of our citizens who want to serve," wrote Romney, a Republican, and Rendell, a Democrat, in a letter dated yesterday to President Bush.

AmeriCorps, which pays volunteers in stipends and college grants for up to a year, is the brainchild of former Pennsylvania senator Harris Wofford. At issue is a Senate-approved plan to give AmeriCorps an additional $100 million this year to fill its 50,000 volunteer positions. That would bring the program's total spending level to $200 million. Without the money, supporters say, as many as 20,000 volunteer jobs would go unfilled. But Republican House appropriators, pointing to AmeriCorps' cash-flow and accounting troubles, are reluctant to deliver the money.

for slightly more money, about $671,000. Funding the centers is not only the right thing to do, but makes fiscal sense because the centers use the money in part to help train volunteers, the senators wrote. "Our experience with rape crisis centers has shown us that they are among the most cost efficient services in the human service arena," the letter said. Leaders in both houses have defended cuts to services, saying the state had to rein in spending to close an estimated $3 billion budget gap. Lightning kills Maine soccer youth Last year, Americorps signed up 20,000 more volunteers than it could afford, leading to congressional accusations of mismanagement and inefficiency.

House appropriators were scheduled to consider the funding last night. The volunteer program already has received $275 million for the current federal budget year, which ends Oct. 1. In his 2004 budget request, President Bush proposed increasing the number of AmeriCorps volunteers from 50,000 to 75,000. "It is truly a shame that mismanagement might prevent willing individuals from serving their communities through AmeriCorps," Romney and Rendell wrote in the letter, which was signed by 41 other state executives, including Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, the president's brother.

"Without an emergency appropriation, the dramatic decrease in AmeriCorps positions now being proposed could seriously affect communities and individuals who rely on AmeriCorps members for help," they wrote. The letter was not signed by the governors of Alabama, Colorado, Hawaii, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas. FREDERICTON, New Brunswick A 14-year-old girl from Maine died Sunday after being hit by lightning during a youth soccer game. Sarah Elizabeth McLain, of Springfield, was hit on a field near Nashwaakis High School in Fredericton, the Bangor Daily News reported. The lightning struck McLain directly, said Marion Edwards, her great-grandmother, who added that emergency medical workers on the field tried to revive the girl.

Twenty-one other girls and a 16-year-old linesman were taken to Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton as a precaution, according to the Fredericton Daily Gleaner. (AP) dows in several residential areas on the South Shore. "He was from the generation where work was everything, and pleasure came later," said his son, George W. Jr.

of Wrentham, a Boston Fire Department captain. "He was a hard worker, and that's what kept him going." Mr. Welch was a member of the Florian Associates, Local 718, and the Charitable Association. He also enjoyed baseball. He also leaves his wife, Lillian (Spillane) of Hanover; a daughter, Maureen MacCurtain of Hanover; five grandchildren; and four greatgrandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 9 a.m. today in St. Anne's Church in Readville. Burial will be in New Calvary Cemetery. 1998 GLOBE FILE PHOTO ELLIOT NORTON Services are Friday for Elliot Norton A funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m.

Friday at St. Patrick's Church in Watertown for Elliot Norton. Mr. Norton, the dean of American theater critics, died Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 100.

For nearly a half century, Mr. Norton was a critic for The Boston Post, The Boston Record American, and The Boston Herald American (now The Boston Herald). Annual awards for the best theatrical performances in Boston are named in his honor. Burial will be at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. For the record Correction: Because of an editing error, the date of funeral services for Sherwood C.

Collins was wrong in his obituary yesterday. Collins's service was held yesterday in the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester. I Correction: Because of an editing error, the age of Lucille Roberts, founder of one of the largest health club chains in the Northeast, was incorrect in an obituary Friday. She was 59. Mass.

man killed in watercraft accident A Blackstone, man was killed and his 3-year-old son seriously hurt in a personal-watercraft accident on the Pascoag Reservoir. They were riding around 6:30 p.m. Sunday when the watercraft collided with a motorboat pulling a water skier. Kevin Gignac, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy, Bradley, was flown by helicopter to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, where he was in critical condition yesterday.

The boater, Wayne Arnold, 49, of Burrillville, was treated for minor injuries. (AP) 'I need Sampson tells operator SAMPSON Continued from Page BI patcher that he had killed two people in Massachusetts and another in New Hampshire. "I tried to kidnap a man today and take his car, and I didn't wanna hurt him, and I almost did, and I'm just I'm sick of it. I know I'm gonna go away for the rest of my life, but it's better I'm in there than out here 'cause if I'm out here I've got a problem," said Sampson, according to the transcript. "I'm a convicted felon.

I've done 16 years in jail throughout my life, and I'm out here hurting people and stealing, and I can't, I can't take it," he said. He also told the operator three times that he had tried to surrender before. "I tried to turn myself in in Abington, Massachusetts about a week ago at 1:00 in the afternoon at 7-11 in Abington, Massachusetts," he said. "I told them to be at the Island Grove Bridge at 3:00, I'd turn myself in willingly. They didn't show up." In March, former FBI clerk William H.

Anderson was sentenced to six months in federal prison for denying under oath that he took a phone call from Sampson the day before the Abington drifter allegedly went on the killing spree. Sampson's lawyers filed the transcript, they said, because prosecutors had "falsely characterized" the final 911 call in a trial memorandum submitted in court last week. In that document, prosecutors downplayed the significance of the conversation, indicating that Sampson had called 911 only to surrender for a carjacking earlier that day. The memo didn't mention Sampson's apparent pangs of conscience or desire to confess. But prosecutors don't believe it was conscience that motivated Sampson.

Sampson called 911 after tripping an alarm in a house he had broken into in Plymouth, Vt. Prosecutors believe he called police because he was afraid they might respond to the alarm, storm the house and kill him. "I'm gonna sit in the driveway. I'm turning myself in, OK?" Sampson told the operator. "I don't wanna get killed.

Alright? I'm just scared. I tried to turn myself in last week." Sampson seemed eager to unburden himself, interrupting the 911 operator as she connected the call to a state police dispatcher. "I'm calling from 911," the operator told the dispatcher. "I have a Mr. Sampson on the line who'd like to talk to somebody about ah "Turning myself in, please, without getting killed," interrupted Sampson.

Sampson told his story to the operator and the State Police dispatcher. The dispatcher told him twice to calm down. When the dispatcher indicated that troopers would be sent to the house, Sampson said he would surrender without a fight. "They don't need, they don't need to pull any guns," he said. "I mean I'm not gonna do anything.

I don't have a gun. I have a knife. It's in the other room." When they arrived at the house, State Police troopers removed him through the window he had broken. A key was needed to open the front door. Authorities said Sampson fled to Vermont in Whitney's Saturn after killing Whitney.

But the car broke down just over the state line. The next day, Sampson hijacked a car at knifepoint. The driver escaped. Though Sampson is not charged here with Whitney's murder, prosecutors hope to present evidence of the crime to jurors when they consider the death penalty. Tribe, R.I.

agree to expedite smoke shop case ASSOCIATED PRESS PROVIDENCE The Narragansetts and the State of Rhode Island have agreed to a plan that will hasten a federal court decision on the tribe's disputed taxfree smoke shop. They also agreed to allow the tribe to recover as much as $100,000 in damages if they win their case. The smoke shop will remain closed while the case proceeds. The state also will delay its prosecution of Narragansett tribe members while the case proceeds, according to the agreement presented yesterday in US District Court. "We feel we're on the road to vindication," said Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, after a hearing before Judge William E.

Smith that followed closed-door discussions in the judge's chamber. At issue is a store the tribe opened July 12 on their land in Charlestown. On July 14, after two days of discussion between attorneys for the state and the tribe, state troopers raided the smoke shop. Armed with a warrant to seize its merchandise, the troopers forcibly entered the store, clashing with tribe members who resisted. Seven people were arrested and minor injuries reported on both sides..