Date: Fri 26-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Dave-Lydem-Labor-Day-Marshal

Full Text:

David Lydem Will Help Newtown Wave The Flag This Labor Day

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

David Lydem wasn't born on Flag Day, but he probably should have been.

The Newtown police lieutenant has come to be known as much for his role as

guardian of the town's most endearing landmark as for the 30 years he has

served the community on its police force.

A quiet, self-effacing man by nature, he has good-naturedly submitted to

newspaper interviews during the past 15 years that he has been keeper of the

flag because he knows that publicity is the only way to raise money for the

Flag Fund each time it is depleted. Flags are expensive -- as much as $490 for

the 20x30-foot versions that fly each summer -- and they wear out quickly.

"Newtown Celebrates The Flagpole" is the theme for this year's Labor Day

Parade and to recognize the keeper of the flag, the Newtown Summer Festival

Committee announced recently that Lt Lydem will be the parade's grand marshal.

"He was the first person who came to mind when we decided to honor the

flagpole this year," said Kym Stendahl, committee co-chairperson. "Time and

time again he is right there, raising money to buy flags, getting the flagpole

painted, doing everything as a volunteer. Without him, we wouldn't have a

flagpole."

"Fifteen years ago the police department put the flag up and down every day,"

Lt Lydem said. "I got kind of an attachment to it. The pole had started to

deteriorate -- the ball had been off for some time -- and the pole was thick

with many coats of paint that had started to chip."

"People volunteered money and help," he said. "The pole was sandblasted and

then it got a new paint job and a new ball. We went on to get new lights on

the pole to replace the single spotlight that used to be mounted on the Chase

Building. We got the new lights up with the cooperation of the Borough, which

pays for the electricity."

Originally a 6x8-foot flag was flown, tiny by today's standards.

"I thought it might be a good idea to get a bigger flag to fly for special

occasions, so the VFW donated a 12x18-foot flag. Then people like (Bee

Publisher) Scudder Smith said to fly it all the time and agreed to contribute

money so we could do it.

"Then, we decided to get an even bigger one -- 20x30 feet -- for special

occasions. Everyone liked it so much that we decided to fly it from Memorial

Day to Labor Day every year. Now we leave it up until October."

The biggest flag is $490, or $460 each in quantities of three. The 12x18-foot

flag is $250 or $218 each for three. The large flag lasts a year, sometimes a

year and a half. Three or four of the smaller flags are used each year. Audrey

Spragg, the wife of Newtown Finance Director Ben Spragg, volunteers her

services to repair the flags, otherwise even more would have to be purchased.

When the first 12x18 flag was flown, it was promptly stolen. So Dave Lydem

invented a locking mechanism 15 feet up the pole.

"Somebody got up the 15 feet to cut the rope and steal the flag so then we had

to hire a steeple jack to put up another rope," he said. "It is now tied off

above the lights and since then Hook & Ladder has volunteered to put up the

flag with the ladder truck."

Many Coincidences

Flag Day is celebrated each year on June 14, a date that Dave Lydem could find

some significance in. He doesn't have a lucky number but if he did, it

probably would be 4. He was born on 4/4/44, the fourth in a family of five

sons, and named David, a name which starts with the fourth letter of the

alphabet. When he came to Newtown, he was assigned badge No 4 and call number

4 on the local police force.

Lt Lydem takes coincidences in stride, finding them interesting. He and his

wife, Emi, a nickname for Mary Ellen, were born in Waterbury Hospital a few

months apart. While he grew up in Monroe, she has lived in Newtown all of her

life.

Emi works part-time at Danbury Hospital where she is an intensive care nurse.

She has almost completed the training to become eligible to take the exam and

be licensed as a nurse practitioner.

"I grew up on Glover Avenue when it was a dirt road," she said. "I used to go

to the movies at Edmond Town Hall every Saturday afternoon -- they were 25

cents -- and had a regular routine. On the way home I would stop at the Parker

House to feed the parrot. The lady who sat at the desk would give me a

cracker. Then I would walk to the Hawley Manor where I'd `ride' the big iron

dogs out front. In between the Hawley Manor and the Scudder-Smith House, I'd

walk the railing. I remember that whenever the power would go out, everyone

would go to the Hawley Manor to have dinner."

Dave Lydem's parents had moved to St Albans, Vermont, after his birth but came

back to Connecticut and settled in Monroe when he was five years old. When he

graduated from Masuk High School, Dave's future plans -- according to the

school yearbook -- were to join the state police force. He started college,

working at Curtis Packaging to earn some money, then was drafted during the

Vietnam War. He joined the military police and was sent to Korea, where he was

stationed for 14 months. After he completed his two-year tour of duty, he was

discharged and decided to try to join the state police.

"My friend Ray Tompkins was on the Newtown force and he encouraged me to join

(the local force) because it was easier," Lt Lydem said. "I got on as a

constable under the resident state trooper. Newtown didn't have an organized

department then."

Previously there had been only four constables but Lt Lydem was one of four

more who were hired at the same time in December 1967. He met Emi the

following year. She had started college, then left to marry her high school

sweetheart, Bill Winspur. When he drowned in a swimming accident in Candlewood

Lake, she was left a widow with an infant daughter, Deborah.

Emi and Dave married and had another daughter, JacLyn. After operating a day

care business out of her house and later selling real estate, Emi returned to

college. She earned both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in nursing

at Western Connecticut State University to become a nurse educator and

medical-surgical nurse specialist.

After living on Hall Lane for 10 years, in a house that had belonged to the

mother of Newtown Police Sgt Jack Qubick, they bought Emi's parents' house on

Georges Hill Road and enlarged it. They accumulated pets, including a cat,

Missy, who is now 20 years old, a burro named Willie and a mule, Jenny.

"We've always loved animals," Emi said.

In the past few years, both daughters married, and the Lydems now have a

19-month-old granddaughter, Lily, the daughter of Deborah and Dan Holmes.

JacLyn is married to Richard Krikorian, a Danbury fireman, and has a pet

grooming business. The two young couples live across the street from each

other on Dodgingtown Road.

Co-Chairmen of the Parade

Dave was promoted to sergeant in January 1971, about six months before Newtown

established an organized police department. He became lieutenant in 1989.

In the early 1980s, Emi and David Lydem were co-chairmen of the Labor Day

Parade, the same year that John and Jo Anne Klopfenstein co-chaired the Summer

Festival Committee. At that time, there was not only a parade but also other

activities including fireworks and a dance party at the Queen Street shopping

center.

"The whole idea was to keep people in Newtown for the holiday," Emi said.

"It's a big job. This is the only Labor Day parade in the state of

Connecticut."

One year Allen Hermansson of The Florist on the Green came up with the idea of

having marchers carry one of the largest-size flags in the parade.

Emi said. "(Curtiss Clark) from The Bee got up in the steeple at Trinity

Church and took a photo of the flag passing below," Emi said. "When we walked,

you could actually see that the flag takes up the whole street."

Emi Lydem is in the photo, one of the tiny figures that can be seen marching

with the flag. So is a car, pulling a boat trailer, stuck on West Street as

Main Street was closed for the parade.

"I spent a lot of years organizing the traffic for the parade," Dave Lydem

said. "The most frequent complaint that I heard from drivers was that they had

to make the Bridgeport ferry on time and the parade was holding them up."

Recently The Bee ran an article and editorial about the lack of funds in the

Flag Fund. The response was immediate, Lt Lydem said. Donations, large and

small, began pouring in. The Lions Club made a $500 contribution, and so did a

family that used to live in Newtown. The letter, from that donor, said in

part, "We always knew we were home and safe when we would drive into town and

see the flag proudly flying over Newtown."

"A lot of people have that special relationship with the flagpole," Emi Lydem

said. "When it comes to this project, I'm probably David's biggest

cheerleader."

Since the Flagpole Fund now has raised enough money, Lt Lydem is encouraging

everyone to make his contributions to the Labor Day Parade, an event which

costs about $13,000 a year to stage. Checks made out to Newtown Summer

Festival should be sent to Fleet Bank, 6 Queen Street, Newtown, 06470.