Beth and I moved to Lincoln, NH, a beautiful mountain town, in 1995, because we fell in love with it on our honeymoon and had aspirations of opening our own restaurant. Beth was an honors graduate of the Culinary Arts College of Johnson and Whales University and had a passion for making people happy through food. Later that year we opened “The Carving Board” offering a variety of healthy and delicious meals. Patrons loved the food, but we learned most people on vacation want to indulge a little….? It wasn’t long before one of the locals told us we’d go broke trying to sell healthy food in that town, and that it was, and I’ll never forget his words, a “cholesterol calamity around here.”

We thought a lot about what he told us, and the following Spring, we converted our kitchen and became the “White Mountain Chowder House”, selling fresh-fried seafood and Beth’s delicious chowders. Business immediately got better. In June that year, we heard about the Portsmouth Chowderfest, the oldest in New England, and decided to enter it with Beth’s seafood chowder.

There were twenty-five restaurants entered, and halfway through the event, one of the officials came over to us and said, “We could shut this down right now. You’re killing everyone!” When it was over, we were the people’s choice unanimous winner and took home the first-place ribbon. We immediately had a large sign made for the side of our building, advertising we were the first-place winner of the Portsmouth Chowderfest and business doubled overnight. Years later, Beth developed a bad back and could no longer lift the heavy chowder pots, so we converted our restaurant again in 2004, becoming Flapjacks Pancake House, and that too shortly became very successful.

In the spring of 2016, Beth discovered two cuts on one of her fingers that weren't healing, so we went to the hospital. After many tests, she was diagnosed with SCLERODERMA, a life-threatening autoimmune disease like Lupus and Crohn's. Six months later, on December 12th at 4:45 in the afternoon, Beth died in my arms and left my heart shattered in a million pieces. In early 2017, I established “The Beth Foundation” to raise money for research, with the hope of finding the cause and cure for this horrible disease, and also to support disabled veterans and homeless animals, two causes closest to her heart.

Beth IS the kindest and most generous person I’ve ever known and though she shunned attention, I know she’s looking down smiling, knowing she’s still helping others. Beth always said food was her currency, and her spirit lives on through our Flapjacks team that continues to carry out her mission.

Notes: Through the dedication and hard work of the “Flapjacks Family” Flapjacks is still operating today, with the proceeds from all of our merchandise sold going to “The Beth Foundation”. Thank you for your continued support.