Occupation: I was an insurance agent in Bridgeport, part-time. I did that for a year, then I worked for Fred Frankel at Newtown Insurance and that was it. We had our second child and I knew I needed to stay home and take care of the children. I was lucky to be able to do that. That was when I started volunteering. I have been a substitute driver for FISH (Friends In Service Here) helping people who need to get to doctor’s appointments but who can’t drive themselves. Now I’m going to be a regular driver as well as a substitute.

I also drive for Meals On Wheels and became a driver-coordinator in 1996. There is a lot of turnover and we are always looking for more drivers.

 

How Long In Newtown: I grew up in Bridgeport and was always a city girl.

Dan and I married 20 years ago in October. We met on the day of my 24th birthday at a restaurant near the train station, where I had gone to hear an Irish band. He introduced himself and we just “clicked.” We were both Irish Catholics from families with eight children. We have only two children, and I think that is just fine.

Family: Our children are Eileen, who is 18 and will be going to the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania this fall, and Patrick, 15, who will be a sophomore at Newtown High School. Both kids went to Hawley School where their grandpa, Bill Honan, graduated from high school. It has been wonderful to have the children grow up near their grandparents.

Hobbies: I don’t like to garden and I don’t like bugs. My husband takes care of the outside. I do like to cook, but nothing fancy.

 

Pets: Ginger is our 4-year-old yellow Lab, and Pumpkin is an inside kitty.

 

Favorite TV Show, Book: I enjoy Law and Order on Sunday night –– any one of them, I just love them all. I’m an old Perry Mason fan. I like Ironsides, too. The Food Channel is good. I’m in a friendly book club that I like a lot. We just finished reading Fortune’s Rocks by Anita Shreve. It’s about a house on the coast of New Hampshire and there is a young heroine. It’s a romance and takes place in 1929 in a working-class mill town.

 

Organizations: I belong to the Newtown Chapter of Regional Hospice, and I am a eucharistic minister at St Rose Church. I taught CCD for 15 years, but I am taking a break from that right now.

Most Vivid Memory About Newtown: Seeing our daughter, Eileen, watch the Labor Day Parade from her granny’s arms, the Christmas Tree Lighting, Santa Claus, St Rose Carnival, and all the things we did on Main Street when the kids were little.

 

Favorite Vacation Spot: When the kids were little, we went to Long Beach Island, N.J., and my dream is to have a beach house some day. We are a beach family, and we went to Mexico recently.

Personal Philosophy: Volunteer if you have the time. Organizations need people and the money is not always out there to hire them. Volunteering helps people in a very direct way. I’m fortunate to have been able to do it.

SNAPSHOT

NAME: Colleen Honan