Date: Fri 13-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Gail-Halapin-BPW

Full Text:

w/photo: Gail Halapin Has Found A Home, And More, In Newtown

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

"This is your town - take part in it, give to it," Gail Halapin urges, and she

takes her own advice to heart.

This year's recipient of the Newtown Business and Professional Women's "Woman

of the Year" award has been actively involved in community life since she

moved here 27 years ago.

Gail is president of the Newtown League of Women Voters, vice president in

charge of programs for the Newtown Women's Club, a member of the Red Cross

Community Council and the Literacy Volunteers of America, and is a deacon in

the Newtown Congregational Church.

She has served as volunteer coordinator of the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen in

Danbury and for many years was on the Committee for Ballet Miniatures of the

Marsha Mark School of Ballet. She was a state-level coordinator for the first

Special Olympics in Connecticut, and a member of the Newtown Jaycees and Young

Republicans.

She has sunk her roots deeply into Newtown soil after what had been a very

transient early life.

"My mother died when I was nine and my father when I was 11," she said. "But

my mother had not been well for many years - she had a hole in her heart. I

frequently lived with relatives and later in foster homes. My sister says I

was born with a suitcase in my hand."

Gail met her husband, John, in school. They married after he graduated and

began teaching in the Ridgefield schools. Three children - Alison, Melissa and

Timothy - arrived in rapid succession while Gail earned a degree in media

studies at Sacred Heart University.

"It took nine years because I was pregnant and raising young children," she

said. "But I made many good friends at the university among the faculty

because I was an older student and closer to the age of the instructors than

to most of my classmates."

After completing an internship at Connecticut Public Television, she joined

Production Consultants Inc, directing and producing video programs for major

corporations and educational institutions in the tri-state area. After six

years, she was asked to be a partner.

She also taught at the University of New Haven but kept close ties with Sacred

Heart University, particularly after making the decision six years ago to work

part-time.

"From September 1994 to June 1995 I coordinated a special project, `30,000

hours of Community Service,' at Sacred Heart," she said. "It commemorated the

school's 30th anniversary and consisted of service projects involving the

students, staff, faculty and alumni. I was shooting for 50,000 hours actually,

but we wound up with about 49,000. It was great being with the young people at

the college again."

Gail also produced a video for the development office of Fairfield College

Preparatory School as a gift to the school. Her son Timothy was 17 and a

senior at Fairfield Prep when he died of a heart attack from an undetected

congenital condition on Thanksgiving Day in 1987. The Halapins have

established a scholarship in his memory, providing $1,000 each year to an

incoming freshman.

"After Tim died I worked two more years full time, then decided to only do

those projects which really interested me," Gail said. "Because I'm not busy

all of the time I have more opportunity to get involved with activities in the

community - and to spend time with my grandchildren."

Both daughters have married. Alison, 28, has two young sons; Alison, 26, is

expecting a baby soon.

Gail is a Republican candidate for Legislative Council in District III A/B.

"I'd like to see this town have a vision of what we will be like 10 years from

now, not just a year or two ahead, and work toward that vision, doing what is

best for the town," she said. "There are so many talented people in town,

people with all kinds of skills, that we could accomplish so much if everyone

just pitched in."