Date: Fri 23-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Stan-Evelyn-Verry

Full Text:

Newtown Will Miss Them... Verry Much!

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

After nearly four decades in Newtown, Stan and Evelyn Verry are moving south

this week. They leave behind a legacy of involvement that helped shape Newtown

into the community it is today.

The Verrys have packed the plaque which honors Stan, now 72, as "the

inspiration behind and originator of" the Labor Day Parade, along with

mementos from their years as charter members of such groups as the Rocking

Roosters Square Dance Club and the Newtown Welcome Wagon. The moving van will

take them to Hampton, Va., where their son, Jeff, lives with his wife, Beth,

and their three children.

"We love Newtown," Stan Verry said. "We leave with such tremendously fond

memories."

The Verrys have lived since 1960 at 63 Main Street in the building that served

as the town's John Beach Memorial Library until the Booth Library was built in

1932.

"It's a wonderful house," Evelyn Verry, 71, said. "But when we bought it, it

needed a lot of TLC."

Sweethearts since the seventh grade, the Verrys grew up and were married in

the Cranston, R.I., area. The year after their son was born, they moved to

Bedford, N.H., where they lived for the next ten years. Then Stan was

transferred to southwestern Connecticut.

"We looked all over for a house -- Redding, Southbury, Brookfield, Bethel,

Newtown -- and kept coming back to Newtown," Stan said. "Joe Chase showed us

everything he had, new and old. Finally he said he had one last place to show

us. It didn't look very promising when we drove up -- old green paint and the

shrubbery overgrown. But the minute [Evelyn] saw inside, she said `This is the

place.'"

The Verrys bought the house in late 1960 and moved in between Christmas and

New Years. They had been in Newtown only two months when there was a knock on

their door and a request for Stan to help with Boy Scout Troop 70. He wound up

serving as Scout Master for three years.

"In the beginning I had to do practically everything myself -- put the tents

up, start the fire, cook the meals -- but by the end of the third year the

boys were doing everything," he said. "Evelyn helped a lot with the troop,

too."

Whenever the boys were scheduled to leave for a camporee, Mr Verry would have

them assemble in front of Edmond Town Hall to provide a visible presence of

scouting in Newtown. He also brought them to the Flag Day rededication of

Dickinson Park and was disappointed by the poor turnout of townspeople.

"Only Happy Dickinson and his mother were there, Parks Superintendent Art

Bennett, and Charlie Terrill, the first selectman," Mr Verry said. "I said

there was a lack of community spirit in town -- and that was the start of the

Labor Day Parade. Charlie Terrill put me in charge, and I chaired it in 1962

and 1963."

The parade started out as a three-day festival over Labor Day weekend, a way

to keep people in town for the holiday and bring others back from vacations

earlier.

"There was a block party dance at the Queen Street Shopping Center on

Saturday, a band concert at the town park on Sunday, then the parade and

athletic events on Monday," Mr Verry said.

A water carnival and the crowning of Miss Newtown were added the next year,

and in 1967 the festival actually lasted ten weeks , kicked off by July 3

fireworks. The Verrys were honored as parade marshals in 1982.

Looking back to the first years, Mr Verry recalled that he wanted

entertainment for the block party and thought about the Eastern Banjo Society,

which had some members who lived in Newtown.

"Will Tressler, Doc Berry and Bob Chamberlin, and their wives, agreed to play

but they needed a name. They decided to call themselves the Jackson Pike

Skifflers, starting a group that is still around today," Mr Verry said.

Stan joined the Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Company, and at one of the fire

calls he was asked by Al Nichols to assist on the ambulance. From that point

on, Stan was an active member of the ambulance corps, serving as chief driver

for several years.

"In those days the drivers just picked people up and rushed them to the

hospital," Mr Verry said. "They didn't believe in giving first aid or other

treatment. Then Lou Rowe and I started the first Red Cross first aid training

course, which eventually evolved into the corps members becoming emergency

medical technicians."

Mr Verry served on the Borough Board of Burgesses and twice chaired efforts to

get a historic district in the borough. He has served on the board of the

Heritage Preservation Trust, which oversees the Newtown Meeting House, since

the trust was founded.

The Verrys became co-chairpersons of the Congregational Church's couples club

the month after they arrived in Newtown. Stan went on to become a church

deacon; his wife taught Sunday school classes and became secretary of the

Sunday school.

In the early years, Evelyn Verry decided to get a part-time job and started

working in Edmond Town Hall for Tax Collector George Jackson. Then Rosemary

Mead in the probate office offered her a job with more hours. Eventually

Comptroller Thelma Mathison tapped her for a full-time job in that office.

"I worked in the comptroller's office for many years," Mrs Verry said. "There

was just Thelma, me and a part-time employee. We did all the payrolls for the

school and the town, and the insurance. I loved working at town hall but there

were many other things I wanted to do, so I eventually left."

Six years ago Evelyn enthusiastically joined in the church's effort to start a

thrift shop at Ricky's Shopping Center. She volunteers in the church basement

on Mondays and Wednesdays, sorting, cleaning and pricing the donations, and

currently serves as a board co-vice president.

"I don't know how we'll get along without her -- she does the work of three or

four people," Judy Craven, the board president, said.

Evelyn considers it fun, not work.

"I have made such wonderful lasting friendships," she said. "I'm very close

with the group."

After Stan Verry retired in 1980, he joined his son in operating the 10-4 tire

and electronics store that was located on Main Street South from 1977 to 1989.

"The store served its purpose at the time but it couldn't compete today with

the big chains -- electronics stores like The Wiz and tire stores like Town

Fair Tires," Mr Verry said.

The Verrys, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June, are

looking forward to the moderate climate (golf nearly all year around) and

lower cost of living in the area they will now call home. But they admit they

will miss Newtown.

"I'm very sad about leaving our home," Evelyn said. "But one thing makes me

very happy. The new owners plan to be married here, right in front of the

fireplace on Valentine's Day. They will have their reception in this house.

That made me feel really great."