Snapshots

Name: Margaret Rocco

Nickname: My nickname is Baby doll given to me by my Aunt Jean. Aunt Jean was from Brooklyn and had all boys; she always wanted a girl. She had a red bee hive hairdo and a leopard skin coat. My aunt always said she wanted to adopt me and every time I saw her she would pinch my cheeks and call me Baby doll and that became my nickname.

Occupation: I am a school secretary at Newtown Middle School. I am also the keeper of the key, which means I hold the key to the teacher’s supply room.

How Long In Newtown: We’ve lived in Newtown almost 30 years. We had some friends who lived here and were impressed with the schools. So we moved here from Stamford for the schools and the country feel.

Biggest Change You Have Seen In Town: Of course the population growth. There was so much farm and horse land before. You use to have to go to another town to get things, now it’s available here so that’s a good thing.

Family: My husband’s name is Frank and we have three sons, Frankie, Tony and Ted, who all still live in Newtown.

Pets: We have Auggie. He is a big loveable Shepard husky mix from a shelter. We also have Kodiak who is a husky. My youngest son Ted brought him back from a trip to Canada five years ago. Of course I have to mention we have two Westies, Bella and Finster, whom I got under false pretenses. I volunteered to dog sit for both dogs (who belonged to two different owners) and keep them at my house. I continued to keep the dogs, pampering and spoiling them much longer than the intended vacation time and my husband would ask when are the owners coming back for them. We enjoyed the dogs so much that they ended up staying with us.

Hobbies: Rug hooking. Also I just finished a jewelry making class in Norwalk and started to make jewelry. It takes practice. I also love to shop for everything, anywhere, anyplace.

Favorite Books: I love mysteries, especially Agatha Christie. My all time favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird.

Favorite Music: I love all kinds of music. My favorite is classical because it is so calming and distressing.

Favorite Vacation Spot: We love to travel. When our sons were growing up we always went to the Cape. I just love Paris. I would love to back there. I found the people to be wonderful there. I also love Italy. The vendors are out on the street and you can buy anything. I just love all the history and architecture. Everywhere you look it’s like a piece of art, the windows, balconies, shutters and fountains. We also enjoy cruises. We went on a cruise to Bermuda and we would like to take a try the western Caribbean next.

Favorite Television Show: I love the cooking channel and the BBC channel all that British stuff.

Organizations: I belong to a group called The Anna’s. It is a close group of girlfriends who get together. We go to New York to see plays. We go to dinner, movies and shop together. We are called The Anna’s because one of the husbands could never remember all of the girls names so he nicknamed us The Anna’s and it stuck.

Most Vivid Memory About Newtown: The first Christmas we lived in Newtown. It was so beautiful to see all the houses with colored lights and the candles in the windows through the snow. It was a typical, homey New England town; we fell in love with it right away.

Personal Philosophy: The nicer you are to people the nicer they are back. Life is so short you may as well have fun.