Occupation: I am a retired mechanical engineer. I originally started with Manning, Maxwell and Moore in Bridgeport. They split off an aircraft products division in Danbury that was sold to Consolidated Diesel Electric and became Consolidated Controls
Occupation: I am a retired mechanical engineer. I originally started with Manning, Maxwell and Moore in Bridgeport. They split off an aircraft products division in Danbury that was sold to Consolidated Diesel Electric and became Consolidated Controls Corporation. I was one of 12 key people with them. That spun off into Unimation, where I worked on the first industrial robot in the world. Unimation was purchased by Westinghouse and when Westinghouse decided not to build hydraulic robots anymore, I retired in 1986. I was working with Joe Engelberger with Transitions Research Corporation in Danbury, too, at that time, and continued working with him. We designed the first HelpMate, an autonomous courier used in hospitals. I retired from Transition Research in the mid-90s.
Family: My wife, Jeane. We met when we were students at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and have been married for 59 years. We have five children. Carole lives in California, Keith is in Southbury, Lee is in Florida, Connie is in Newtown, and Christopher is also in California. We have six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Pets: We donât have any pets. Connieâs cat, Pepe, is temporarily living here. I guess heâs our grandcat.
How long have you lived in Newtown? We have been in Newtown since February of 1956.
What do you like to do in your free time? I play golf, I make wire jewelry, and I sing in the choir at Newtown Congregational Church. I belong to Newtown Rotary Club, and am on the board of World Help Foundation and Newtown Preservation Trust for the Meeting House. I was on the Planning and Zoning Commission in the 1960s. I like to write basic programs for computers to do stuff I want them to do for me. I designed the stationery recently for Newtown Congregational Church.
Do you have a favorite sports team? I am an anti-Yankees fan. I had a soft spot for the Dodgers when they were in New York.
What is the biggest change you have seen in Newtown? The biggest change is the amount of traffic, as it is all over our country. Iâve also seen the effects of global warming. The winters here used to be more severe. We would take the kids skating every winter on Taunton Pond and I wouldnât do that now. We used to get a lot of snow.
What is the best thing about Newtown? The way it has developed. Other towns around here have not developed as nicely as Newtown. I think Newtown has grown in an orderly fashion because of the Planning and Zoning.
Do you have a favorite travel destination? We have the best of all worlds. Two of our kids live in California and one in Florida. We spend two weeks around Thanksgiving in California and a month in Florida. Weâve also done some international travel with work and the People to People foundation. Weâve been to Australia, China, Hong Kong, the Holy Land, Greece, Egypt, Spain. We went to England, as well. I served in the Army Air Force Reserves as a captain in World War II in the Aleutian Islands, and when I turned 70, Jeane and I traveled back there as a birthday gift from her.
Who do you most admire? Probably Joe Engelberger. Heâs very smart and heâs always worked on products to improve humanity.
Do you have a personal philosophy? To appreciate all that God has given us. The Lord has been good to us. We have lived in the best of times.