Annual NSA Fundraiser Pays

Tribute To Judge William J. Lavery

With a full complement of 36 teams and sponsored by the Newtown Savings Bank, the Jack Friel Memorial Golf Scramble was held under blue skies at the Whitney Farms Golf Club on June 18. Teams teed off at 11:30 am, finishing at 5 pm.

A sit-down dinner was held after the tournament to award prizes and especially to pay tribute to and “roast” the guest of honor, William J. Lavery, chief judge on the State Appellate Court. The event was expertly emceed by John Harper, morning personality for Star 99.9, who introduced several long-term friends of Judge Lavery, including Judge Howard Owens, John Fallon, Esq., and Bill Meyer of Newtown. All recapped humorous anecdotes from their past association with Judge Lavery and the tribute was topped off by the presentation to the honored guest of the most fitting symbol of Newtown – a live rooster!

Bill Lavery has been a Newtown resident since 1972 and raised his four children here. Throughout these years, he has been a stalwart volunteer both in the Newtown community and the greater Bridgeport/Danbury area. Among his many volunteer activities, Judge Lavery has been director of the AIDS Project of Greater Danbury, has served on the board of the Family Counseling Center in Newtown, and is currently on the Board of the Trustees of the Booth Library. He served as chairman of the Library Board’s Building Committee during its $4 million expansion project.

In the early 80s, Bill Lavery joined the Newtown Scholarship Association Board of Governors and served on the Board for nearly 20 years. During that time he saw the NSA grow to an organization which now distributes more than 60 scholarships each year to graduating Newtown seniors and as continuing aid to undergraduate students. In its 64 years of existence, the NSA has evolved from an association which provided a single scholarship of $50 to one that over the ensuing years has provided nearly $2 million to deserving Newtown students. As Bill Lavery pointed out in his remarks, “99.9 percent of every dollar contributed to the NSA goes directly to scholarships.”