Town Honors Kasbarian

For 30 Years At Park & Rec

By Jan Howard

Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian returned early from an appointment September 10 to find the office staff had planned a party, complete with chocolate cake, soda and coffee, flowers, and gifts.

It was all for her, in celebration of her 30 years with the Parks and Recreation Department.

“I didn’t want any of this,” Ms Kasbarian, a somewhat reluctant honoree, said.

 First Selectman Herb Rosenthal presented her with a certificate of appreciation marking her 30 years of “exemplary service to the Town of Newtown.”

“Sorry it wasn’t cash,” Mr Rosenthal quipped after presenting the certificate.

Surrounded by members of her staff and other town employees, Ms Kasbarian cut her cake and admired her flowers, while fielding teasing comments about when she might be retiring.

“Not for a while,” she said. “I have to pay for my new car.”

Ms Kasbarian became director of the department in January 1986 following the resignation of former director Bob Ceccolini. Prior to that she served as administrative assistant in the department.

The town has changed in the last 30 years and so has the Parks and Recreation Department.

When asked what Newtown was like then as compared to now, she noted, “There is no comparison. The town has quadrupled in size since then.”

The Parks and Recreation Department has moved around in 30 years, she said. When Ms Kasbarian first began working for the department 30 years ago, it was operating out of Edmond Town Hall in half of the current registrars of voters’ office.

In 1981 the department moved to Town Hall South and in February 1997 to Canaan House at Fairfield Hills. Then three years ago it moved back to Town Hall South.

Staffing for the department has changed through the years, too. When Ms Kasbarian started work, the staff consisted of a director and her. The first recreation supervisor was hired in 1974 through the CETA program. Later, the staff increased to her as director, a recreation supervisor, a secretary, and three members of the park crew.

Now there are ten people on the crew, and the office staff is comprised of four full-timers and one part-timer.

She remembers overseeing the construction of the pool at Treadwell Park, one of the last work phases of the new park.

 There have been many fun times during the years, she said, particularly when she worked for the late director, Lee Davenson. “He was always pulling practical jokes,” she said.

She remembers one particular prank that was played on him. “One day somebody put a bucket of water over the door and got him,” she said. Another time she remembers, he dressed up in a King Kong suit when the movie was playing at Edmond Town Hall Theater.

Then there are those other times throughout the years when she would be called out at night to unlock the gates at the park for someone who got locked in or met the police when alarms were going off at the parks or the teen center.

Fun times still exist at the Parks and Recreation Department. One of Ms Kasbarian’s gifts on Wednesday was a huge chocolate bar, which she cheerfully said her staff would gladly help her eat.