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THE WAY WE WERE

NOVEMBER 24, 1972

Newtown High School's football team demolished the Green Wave of New Milford,

42-14, on Saturday to remain in a first-place tie with Joel Barlow for the

Western Connecticut Conference Title. The Indians finished the season with a

7-1 record and allowed opponents only 8.1 points a game while scoring a

league-leading 24.3 points per game. In the final game, Mike Newman, the

junior quarterback, had the best day of his career, completing 15 out of 20

passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Mike Trosan was the leading scorer

in the game, snaring two of Newman's aerials for scores plus a two-point

conversion pass. Bill Cavanaugh, Tom Saint and Hunter Stevens each scored a

touchdown for the Indians.

Plans and procedures for spending Newtown's allocation of federal

revenue-sharing money will be discussed at the December 2 meeting of the Board

of Selectmen. The town will be allowed two years to report how each year's

allocation is used. The intent of the program is to finance capital projects

which would not otherwise be possible without increasing local taxes.

At the November 21 Board of Selectmen meeting, the board accepted the

resignation of Mrs Beatrice Pittelkow as tax collector and William Morrissey

as chairman of the Conservation Commission. Mrs Margarete Knauer was appointed

to succeed Mrs Pittelkow and Howard Kemmerer to succeed Mr Morrissey. Mrs

Julia Wasserman also was appointed to the Conservation Commission to succeed

the late Sidney Blumberg, who died in September. Mae Schmidle was appointed

fulltime administrator of the town's CDAP plan, at an annual salary of $10,000

financed by the Emergency Employment Act. Her functions will include seeking

federal and state funds for implementing CDAP programs and preparing

individual programs for submission to public hearings and town meetings.

The 11 major contributors to the Development Fund of Danbury Hospital were

honored at a Founders Day reception on November 21 in the dining room of the

hospital. Among those honored were Mr and Mrs Bertram Strook, longtime Newtown

residents and well-known philanthropists. Mr Strook, who founded the

Development Plan in 1958, steering it from $19,000 to more than $1 million a

year in contributions, is the retired president of S. Strook & Company, one of

the leading woolen manufacturing companies in the country. Also honored by the

hospital was Dan Lufkin, Connecticut's commissioner of environmental

protection, who has lived in Newtown at Poverty Hollow Farm since 1967. Mr

Lufkin is a trustee of the hospital and a generous supporter of its expansion

efforts. In 1969 he founded Connecticut Action Now Inc, a nonprofit

nonpartisan organization dedicated to citizen involvement in environmental

protection and social change. He served nationally as a member of the nine-man

steering committee for Earth Day in 1970 and is a trustee of the Environmental

Defense Fund. Anna Hyatt Huntington, world-famous sculptress and

philanthropist, was honored for her contributions of both money and her

sculptures to the hospital. Mrs Huntington and her late husband have donated

their 873-acre estate in Redding, Bethel and Newtown to the state for a future

park.

The Old Rock Road Corporation continued the campaign for its proposed Newtown

racetrack last week, sending William F.X. Flynn, vice president of PACE

Corporation, to address the Kiwanis Club in the Newtown Inn. PACE is the

public relations agency that has been handling the campaign since it began in

September. Mr Flynn said there is a great deal of evidence that the supportive

services needed by the racetrack, such as horse breeding and training farms,

would be beneficial to the town. He said large numbers of people would come to

the town "looking for food, lodging accommodations, entertainment, gas,

liquor, etc" because of the track. He read a letter from the Chamber of

Commerce of Prince George's County, Md., which said a similar track there

employed 1,100 people at the peak of the season and provided business for

local feed, grain and van services. During the off season, the track is

extensively used for its dining and banquet facilities, the chamber said.

Mrs Vincent Gaffney of Newtown has been named the Connecticut Farm Bureau's

Mother of the Year. Last month she was named Fairfield County Farm Bureau

Mother of the Year. The state award came as a complete surprise to Mrs

Gaffney. She received the award at the bureau's annual meeting in New Britain.

Among the guests were her four sons and their wives.

NOVEMBER 21, 1947

Twice in 24 hours, townspeople turned out for a special town meeting with

nearly 450 people assembling in the gymnasium of the Edmond Town Hall last

Thursday evening to act on matters concerning Regional High School District No

3. The object of Thursday's meeting was to appoint representatives from the

town of Newtown to negotiate the terms and conditions of the town's withdrawal

from the regional high school district. But after much discussion it was

decided that the town should wait until the matter is settled in court.

Otherwise, if the town voted to spend $700,000 to build a high school in

Newtown, it might also be held responsible to pay the $420,000 assessed as its

share of the regional high school. The meeting was adjourned with no action

taken.

The Hawley Manor was the scene of a reception last Saturday afternoon

following the wedding of Miss Shirley Nichols to the Rev Arthur E. Berry in

the Congregational Church. About 60 relatives and friends attended. Ralph

Bowen, son of the inn owners, was home during the weekend with a classmate

from the Wooster School in Danbury. James Bowen, who attends the University of

Connecticut at Storrs, also was home over the weekend.

The Townsmen's Chorus, under the leadership of Donald Griscom, will sing at a

public concert on Sunday night at 8 o'clock at St John's Church in Sandy Hook.

Mr Griscom will play several pieces in a recital of organ music. Men of all

ages are welcome to join the chorus. The next rehearsal will be held in the

Trinity Church Guild Room on November 24 at 8 pm.

Fifty Newtown residents turned out on a brilliantly clear and crisp fall

evening Tuesday to attend a literary session in the lecture room of the

Cyrenius H. Booth Library. That more did not turn out for the affair was their

misfortune, for it was entertaining, instructive, and, unlike some civic

projects where the performance barely warrants the charge made, it was free.

The occasion was the local celebration of Book Week.

Noie Louis Richards, Sr, Sandy Hook businessman for the past 37 years and in

business at the present location of Richards Service Station on Church Hill

Road since the outbreak of World War I, died Sunday morning. He was 81. Before

establishing his current business, Mr Richards operated a general store in

Sandy Hook. His first operations on the new site were in junk and used

furniture, gradually expanding into the ice business, fuel oil and gasoline

and automobile service. Previously he was a wood-cutter in Stratford and a

peddler of dry goods and of fruits and vegetables in Bridgeport. Pall bearers

at the funeral were Charles Lorenzo, Arthur Drew, Louis Lorenzo, Frank

Hubbell, John Troesser, and Joseph Racz.

Charles F. Conger of Botsford district passed away at the Danbury Hospital

this Thursday morning at the age of 82. He was a blacksmith by trade and at

one time represented Newtown in the General Assembly in Hartford. He is

survived by a grandson, Charles F. Botsford, also of Botsford.

Gertrude's Nursing Home has opened on Mile Hill Road in Newtown. A lovely old

colonial home in the country has been remodeled and is completely modernized

for the comfort of elderly people. It offers good food, good care, under the

auspices of owner Gertrude Kelly. For more information call 62-W1.