Ann Gleszer

Former NHS Language Teacher

Ann Gleszer, 95, of Danbury, died July 7. The daughter of Catherine and Frank Golick of Columbia, she was born June 21, 1916.

She graduated from the University of Connecticut with a master’s degree in education. While attending college, she got her private pilot’s license. She served in the Women’s Air Service Pilot (WASP) program from 1944 until the end of the war, as a test pilot. After deactivation, Ms Gleszer was a flight instructor and a test pilot for aeronautical engineer, businessman, and inventor Charles Kaman in Bloomfield, and was featured flying a Kaman Aircraft K-125 helicopter in the November 15, 1948, issue of Life magazine. In August 2009, Ms Gleszer received the Congressional Gold Medal honoring her WASP service during World War II.

Ms Gleszer married Thomas Griffin (deceased) and lived in Switzerland with their two sons, during which time she learned fluent French. She taught French at Simsbury High School in the early 1960s, and taught French and Spanish at Newtown High School, until her retirement in 1983.

She is survived by her husband, Kenneth, of Danbury; her two sons; a grandson; and many neighbors and friends in the US, Switzerland, and Italy.

A memorial service at the Methodist Church in Bethel, as well as interment in St Mary’s Church Cemetery, Coventry, will take place at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to Masonicare Hospice at masonicare.org, or the Salvation Army at salvationarmyusa.org.

To light an online candle, visit www.CornellMemorial.com.

The Newtown Bee        July 15, 2011