Who Was Francis Hidu?

Newtown's Landmark Eagle Sits In Remembrance

By Dottie Evans

Any person who frequents Edmond Town Hall on Main Street has noticed the imposing cast iron eagle monument to the left of the front entrance steps.

Despite its huge size and stern countenance, the eagle has a certain appeal — especially to children. It is a favorite stopping place as they wander over after eating ice cream at the General Store. Or they gather round the craggy rock where the eagle perches while their parents sit on the benches nearby chatting. Many a cranky 2-year-old has been calmed after being lifted up to sit on its broad back.

Through it all, the eagle is long-suffering. Pigeons perch on its head and rain drips from its beak. After a snowstorm, the back and shoulders are heaped in white fluff.

The eagle monument was put outside Edmond Town Hall October 27, 1989, as a memorial to a beloved local character by the name of Francis Hidu, and although it has stood in that spot only a little more than 12 years, it has already become a beloved landmark.

Like the eagle, Mr Hidu was known for being fiercely protective of his territory. In Mr Hidu's case, this territory was the Edmond Town Hall building, a special place that he served in one way or another for more than 50 years. He was a dedicated longtime town hall manager as well as a longtime movie theatre ticket-taker and usher.

Mr Hidu was also a stern disciplinarian who watched over the hordes of youngsters that passed through the town hall's theater doors. Tales are told of his legendary wrath vented upon any miscreant youths who dared to disrupt a movie in progress by throwing popcorn from the balcony.

Young people knew they did not want to run afoul of Mr Hidu or they were out of there, and not to expect any money back either.

Yet Mr Hidu, who did not have children of his own, "loved kids nearly as much as he loved that building," according to his longtime friend and Zoar Road resident Betty Lou Osborne.

"Everyone knew Francis. He used to make the kids leave the theater if they misbehaved," Mrs Osborne said.

"He prided himself on watching the generations pass, seeing the children grow up and then bring their kids to the movies."

50 Years On The Job

Mr Hidu was born in Fairfield, May 6, 1904, and he moved to Sandy Hook as a young man, where he lived until he died in 1988 at the age of 83. He would have been 99 years old this May.

During that long time spanning half a century, he made many friends in town, Mrs Osborne said.

She mentioned his kindness, his humor, and his love for horse racing. He had been an accomplished jockey who rode, raised, and showed horses in the Southport area at "a gentlemen's track" and "he loved to bet on the horses."

"He was small of stature but he had a large heart."

Above all, she remembered his devotion to the Edmond Town Hall building, saying his involvement began practically from the moment the cornerstone was laid in May 1929.

"He was working on the building as an electrician while it was being constructed and he was a very good friend of the manager, Art Smith. After Edmond Town Hall was completed, they kept Francis on staff as man-of-all-trades.

"He knew the building in and out and was a handy person to have around."

Mrs Osborne had visited Mr Hidu in December 1987 at Danbury Hospital just before he died, and she recalled that his keen sense of humor stayed with him right up to the end.

"We went to see him around Christmas and he wasn't doing too well. But he said he was trying to last long enough to get a little more money out of the government," she said, referring to his next month's pension check.

When Mr Hidu died January 8, 1988, all the flags in town were dropped to half-staff over the weekend. His memorial service was held in the Alexandra Room, the elegant reception hall that occupies a good portion of Edmond Town Hall's second floor.

"To me, he exemplified the town employee who always rose above whatever obstacles there were to get the job done," said Newtown's First Selectman Roderick MacKenzie, who spoke at the service and was quoted in Mr Hidu's obituary.

Mrs Osborne was asked what she thought Mr Hidu would say about the town's latest plan to move all civic functions out of Edmond Town Hall and into a new town hall facility to be constructed at Fairfield Hills.

"I don't think he would have approved," she said.

Scudder Smith Bags The Eagle

After Mr Hidu died, his many friends and members of the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers wanted to place a monument to him in front of the building.

"Something that kids could enjoy and even climb on. Francis would have liked that," said Mrs Osborne who served on the Board of Managers for many years.

When Newtown Bee Publisher Scudder Smith came up with the idea of using the cast-iron eagle, they were delighted. The eagle was one of many that served as logos or mascots for the White Eagle Oil Company, a 1930s oil business that was later bought by Socony-Vaccuum and then Mobil Oil. Socony was Standard Oil Company of New York.

"The cast-iron eagles stood at the entrance to the White Eagle gas stations," Mr Smith said.

He found the eagle in New York through a couple of antiques dealers and its cost was borne by the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers.

At the base is a 1,200-pound rock that was donated by longtime Newtown stone mason Tim Currier.

"Tim and I chose it," Mr Smith said.

"We brought it in on a flat bed truck with the help of Tim's two brothers. It's solid and very heavy. That eagle and that rock — they aren't going anywhere," he added.

Tim Currier Carves The Stone

Longtime Newtown resident Tim Currier owns a rock and moss landscaping business in the south of town known as Sticks and Stones.

He lives off Huntingtown Road almost at the Monroe border in what he calls "the last house in Newtown," from which he manages the family's 60-acre property including a couple of rock quarries.

"Although he has lived in town for 26 years, Mr Currier does not consider himself an old-timer. But he admits he has "seen a lot of changes."

"Scudder came to me and asked about a stone for the eagle," he recalled.

"I went out and picked this off the farm from the lower quarry. We got it out with straps so there wouldn't be any damage or scrape marks on its surface. It has nice ridges and a perfect flat place for the eagle to stand on. People may not realize it, but the inscription is carved out of granite. It wasn't sandblasted or anything. All done by hand, that was a lot of hard work."

Mr Currier grew up knowing the Hidu family because the Curriers and the Hidus both came from Fairfield.

"The Hidus were Hungarian, but they were also tough Yankees and very independent. Francis had three brothers, Martin, Louis and Steven. I was good friends with Martin," he said.

When the Merritt Parkway went in, "that road went right through their barn," Mr Currier added.

"Francis didn't have a family, but he was a good guy. I've got a corner cupboard of his that I like because it reminds me of him."