Newtown Senior Center member Larry Passaro gave an insightful history lesson during his “Meet the Presidents” program at the Senior Center on January 30.

A packed audience listened as Mr Passaro gave a detailed snapshot about the lives of each of the United States’ past presidents when they were in office.

He went one by one through 44 presidents and shared facts, such as the years they served in office, where they lived, who their spouse was, memorable quotes they were known to have said, about their final resting place, and what their final words were (if known). He avoided discussing political stances.

However, at the start of the presentation, he did break down the different political parties the presidents were affiliated with. Nineteen were Republicans, 14 were Democrats, four were Whigs, four were Democratic Republicans, two were Federalists, and one was of the Union Party.

“Nine sitting vice presidents became president when the person in office was no longer able to fulfill the role as president,” Mr Passaro added. “Of those nine, only four were reelected for a term of their own.”

Starting with George Washington, Mr Passaro shared that this president served from 1789 to 1797; he was a Federalist; his wife was Martha; prior to presidency he was a planter, land surveyor, and in the military; his home was at Mount Vernon in Virginia, which is also where he is buried; he was called the American Fabius (a Roman statesman of the third century BCE); he was a talented dancer; and, contrary to what people believe, he did not have wooden teeth.

Prefacing George Washington’s memorable quote, Mr Passaro reminded the crowd, “For the quotes, I tried to pick out something that wasn’t self-serving or something that was political. Instead, [I chose] something inspiration, humorous, or something we all can relate to.”

With that in mind, he shared that the United States’ first president once said, “It is better to offer no excuses than a bad one.”

Concluding the portion on George Washington, Mr Passaro revealed the president’s last words were “‘Tis well.”