Remembrances

Newtown paid homage to a number of Newtown notables and past officials in 2006, including Dr B. Joseph Meehan, who had a medical practice in Newtown for more than 30 years; Isabelle MacKenzie Murray, the first woman president of Rock Ridge Country Club; Robert W. Wallace, a 25-year veteran teacher at Newtown Middle School; Joseph J. Wupperfeld, a 50-year member and former chief of Newtown Hook & Ladder; noted writer Donald Dale Jackson; Newtown Highway Department employee and former Scout Master James “Ben” Elkins, Jr; John G. “Jack” Kipp, an active community member who was the former chairman of the Republican Town Committee, chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and a member of the Legislative Council; Theodore A. Braun, who drove School Bus No 1 for 25 years; former member of the Newtown Legislative Council Richard Recht; and Dr Jane E. Oltman, a staff psychiatrist at Fairfield Hospital and a founding member of Spay and Neuter Association of Newtown.

Newtown also noted the deaths of longtime resident James William Crick, Jr — “Mr Post Office” —who served the Newtown Post Office for 41 years, served on the Board of Directors at Newtown Savings Bank, was an associate member of Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and on the Newtown Borough Zoning Board of Appeals.

Also lost were Sgt Martin J. Pytko, a 26-year veteran of the Newtown Police Department; longtime Newtown dairy farmer and bus driver Albert Sanford Boyson, who also served as a Newtown constable, was a member of Newtown Hook & Ladder, and a corporater for Newtown Savings Bank; Merhl Hiteshew, Jr, a former Newtown Board of Education member; and Robert Joseph Tynan, a recognized engineer and active community member, including past president of the Newtown Lions Club.

Dr Vincent P. Dole, professor emeritus of The Rockefeller University and an authority on the pharmacology of addictive diseases; Dorothy Stadler Giacomini, a former Newtown math and science teacher; Edith E. Kinivil, one of the original residents of Nunnawauk Meadows; Thomas P. Lyddy, a decorated athlete and owner of the local Homestead Inspections business; and another native Newtowner, William E. Lovell, who served more than 30 years on Newtown Hook & Ladder, also died in 2006.

Further losses to the village last year were Charles E. Wrinn, who lived here many years and served as finance chairman for St Rose and was the recipient of the Team Connecticut Lifetime Achievement Award; Richard Recht, owner of the Longview Tree Farm on Tunnel Road. Mr Recht was elected to the Newtown Legislative Council in 2003, where he served until 2005. He was also a member of the Newtown Republican Town Committee.

The town also paid respects to Clifford Alden Richardson, a life member of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Company, longtime resident, and former chairman of the Fire Commission; Vern F. Knapp, a 70-year resident recognized for her needlework; Francis M. Krasnickas, who served tirelessly on the Newtown Public Building and Site Commission during the years of the Newtown High School and library additions; and J. Robert Carroll, former Public Works director.