To the Editor:The Newtown Bee has been providing award-winning community news and features since 1877, making it one of the oldest community newspapers. Among other buildings, benefactor Mary Elizabeth Hawley gifted what is now Edmond Town Hall and Cyrenius Booth Library. The former upholds the wishes of its benefactor as the center of the community that provides residents with space for governmental services and family entertainment through the theater, community rooms, and gymnasium.

Recently, I was involved with the Newtown Historical Society's House and Garden Tour and spent time with two history buffs. Gordon Williams, the chair of this event, was a Trumbull High School history teacher and now is one of our town's volunteer kings. At the garden tour, we honored Newtown Historian Dan Cruson, who taught history and archaeology for Easton-Redding schools and has since enriched us with immeasurable books, articles, research, tours, and archaeological digs. These two men live and breathe history, recognizing its importance to American society.

Newtown has a long and rich history.

The library is well known locally and by area towns for its valuable mix of the newest literature and technology as well as historical artifacts, gemology, and research books. Adults and children from Newtown and surrounding communities come to our library specifically because of its unique quality of focusing on the past and present. People from far and wide attend the annual book sale by The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library, which relies on about 100 volunteers to help sell well over 100,000 items and make approximately $100,000 in sales. The rare book section includes numerous collectables from America's earlier times, again providing additional historic information.

Particularly in times of rapid change as those of today, history plays an important role in the further improvement of American and global human society and culture. Yet history has become increasingly less important in modern-day society despite its significance. It is said that those who control the past control the future. It is hoped that what we learn today is applied to our actions in the future. We try not to repeat our mistakes and gain from our successes. May Newtown establishments continue to pay homage to the past, so we can be rewarded in the future.

Sharon L Cohen

8 Eden Hill Road, Newtown July 12, 2018