Portraits Honoring Citizens Of Distinction Unveiled At Booth Library

By Shannon Hicks

As Newtown continues to celebrate its 300th birthday, award-winning members of The Connecticut Society Of Portrait Artists (CSOPA) have been invited into an unprecedented project: A series of portraits honoring Newtown citizens of distinction, as nominated by C.H. Booth Library’s Board of Trustees.

The historic Booth Library, with its classical architecture and impressive Genealogy Room, inspired the idea.

“We could think of no better way to celebrate the town’s 300-year commitment to historical preservation than to create new paintings honoring distinguished citizens of past and present,” explained Jeanine Jackson, the founder and co-chair of CSOPA. “These museum-quality works will become a part of the town’s legacy for future generations in private collections of artists or models.”

A kickoff event was held at library in March, hosted by Library Trustee Paula Stephan and CSOPA member artist Alain Picard. Since then, the artists and their subjects have set up meetings to begin work from life and photo studies.

The collection will be in place by this weekend, and will remain on view in the Olga Knoepke Memorial Meeting Room until September 30. An opening reception is planned for Saturday, September 19, from 6 to 8 pm.

Every one of the residents selected for inclusion in the collection have served Newtown in many ways, either by working for and/or volunteering within the town and surrounding community.

The CSOPA artists, who come from all areas of Connecticut (and even New York and New Jersey), and their subjects are as follows: Alain Picard of Bethel will create a portrait of Town Historian Dan Cruson; Jeanine Jackson (Stamford) — First Selectman Herb Rosenthal; David Luchak (Old Greenwich) — Businessman Richard Sturdevant; William Rorick (Southbury) — Booth Library Director Janet Woycik; Judy Perry (Old Saybrook) — State Representative Julia Wasserman; Janice Baragwanath (Trumbull) — Family Counseling Center Chairman Joseph Humeston; Diane Aeschliman (Killingworth) —Marie Sturdevant; Karen Martin (Chappaqua, N.Y.) — former Town Clerk and former State Representative Mae Schmidle; Joseph Sundwall (Bridgewater, N.J.) — William Denlinger, Esquire; James DeCesare (Hartford) — former First Selectman Jack Rosenthal; Leslie Bender (New Paltz, N.Y.) — former First Selectman Timothy Treadwell (deceased); Sandra Wakeen (Morris) — philanthropist Mary Elizabeth Hawley (deceased); and Joyce Zeller (Harrison, N.Y.) — Lee Davenson, former director of Newtown Parks and Rec (deceased).

The three posthumous portraits are being done from archival photos.

The Portraits’ Subjects

Two pairs of the portrait subjects are related: Jack Rosenthal, a former first selectman, is the father of current First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, and Richard and Marie Sturdevant are a married couple.

Still living on Main Street, Jack Rosenthal served for five consecutive terms as First Selectman of Newtown. He coached and played for Newtown Baseball Club for 12 years, was a firefighter and served as president for the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company. He was on Charter Revision Commissions, was the moderator of town meetings, was a member of the Board of Finance, an active member of the Democratic Town Committee from 1967 until 1975, and a delegate to numerous conventions.

The portrait created by James DeCesare depicts Jack Rosenthal standing in front of Edmond Town Hall, smiling confidently.

Herb Rosenthal has been the first selectman since 1997. Before that he served on the Board of Education for 13 years, three of those years as its chairman. He has also served as chairman of Housatonic Valley Economic Development, treasurer of Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, president of Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, and a member of board of the Council of Small Towns.

A former Naval officer, Mr Rosenthal is a Vietnam veteran, and has been a Newtown resident for 52 years.

The Sturdevants have lived in Newtown for 33 years.

Marie Sturdevant said this week that she had seen her finished portrait and she was “very pleased” with it.

“To be honest, I was overwhelmed when I was first approached” about the project, said Mrs Sturdevant. “I think my husband felt the same way. This isn’t why we do things for the town, and that’s why being included really surprised us.

“When I met my artist she was so low-key, she really put me at ease. I wasn’t at all self-conscious or uncomfortable, which I thought was going to be difficult to overcome,” she continued.

Mrs Sturdevant has been following the development of other portraits in the “Faces of Newtown” series, and mentioned the portrait of Janet Woycik looks “very nice,” and Joe Humeston’s “looks very well.”

Mrs Sturdevant has been a member and secretary for the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers; former president of Newtown Scholarship Association and Newtown BPW; former secretary with Connecticut BPW; and was named Newtown BPW’s Woman of The Year.

Mrs Sturdevant is a former co-chairman for Newtown Labor Day Parade Committee and Newtown Summer Festival. She is also a former administrative secretary for Newtown Legislative Council. She volunteers for Cancer Association, American Heart Association, and other civic groups and activities.

Richard (Dick) Sturdevant may have the title of “retired businessman,” but he is among those people who seem to be just as active in retirement as he was while working for a living.

Since 1982 Mr Sturdevant has been a trustee for Union Savings Bank (he is currently serving as chairman of the board), and since 1999 he has been a member of the Governor’s Small Business Advisory Council. When he retired from 1998, he had been the owner/manager of Sturdevant’s Photo/Video Corporation in Danbury for just under 30 years. Prior to that he was an account executive for Royal Globe Insurance (1960–68) and Allstate Insurance Company (1968–70).

“I’m very excited about participating in the ‘Faces of Newtown’ celebration,” artist David Luchak said. “In my portrait of Richard Sturdevant I wanted to express a casual, easygoing demeanor [while] at the same time someone who is decisive, civic-minded, and with a businesslike presence.”

Bill Denlinger has been president of the Board of Education and the Parks & Recreation Commission.

As a young man, he was the president of the Jaycees and a few years later of Big Brothers. Recently, he has been president of Newtown Lions Club. He has been a Hospice Table Sponsor for a number of years, and he has done much pro bono work for various groups in town including Nunnawauk Meadows, of which he was a founding member. He has also donated time to C.H. Booth Library.

Anthropology and local history teacher Dan Cruson retired at the end of the 2004-05 school year. As chairman of The Tercentennial Steering Committee, he has been immersed in tercentennial events for nearly two years. A resident of Newtown for 35 years, Mr Cruson became the town’s first official town historian in 1994, although he had been serving in that capacity for nearly 15 years already by then.

For his portrait of Mr Cruson, Alain Picard worked from a series of digital photos he shot of Mr Cruson at the library.

“I saw the portrait about three weeks ago and I am very happy with it. Alain did a great job,” Mr Cruson said last weekend. The portrait shows Mr Cruson sitting at a desk, his right forearm resting on the desk near an opened book, and he is holding pipe in his left hand.

Mr Cruson has written extensively on the history and prehistoric finds in the towns of central Fairfield County. He has done countless scholarly articles for Newtown Historical Society’s newsletter, The Rooster’s Crow, and is a past president of the historical society. He is the author of Newtown and Newtown, 1900–1960, both part of the popular Images of America series; The Prehistory of Fairfield County and Newtown’s Slaves: A Case Study in Early Connecticut Rural Black History.

Among his work within and for Newtown, Joseph Humeston has served as chairman of Family Counseling Center since 2003 and as director of the center since 2000. He is a trustee, past president, past vice president, and past treasurer for C.H. Booth Library; director and secretary, and past vice president and past treasurer of Newtown Chamber of Commerce; a current Trustee, corporator and secretary for Newtown Savings Bank, and a retired senior executive vice president for the bank.

Mr Humeston has also worked on the Housing Opportunities Team of the United Way of Northern Fairfield County, been a member of Newtown Local Housing Partnership, and a co-chairman of Housatonic Habitat for Humanity.

The resume of Mae Schmidle, Newtown’s Lady in Red, seems to grow every year. She and her husband Bob have lived in a historic home in the town’s Hanover district since 1964.

She is currently vice president of the VNA, first vice president of Newtown’s BPW, and a board member at The Children’s Adventure Center, among countless other credits.

She served as town clerk for Newtown for ten years, and was the state representative for the 106th District, and has been very involved for years with the Republican Town Committee. Her pet projects have included everything from chairing the committee to build a new high school, the Adult Ed programs, serving on the state PTA, saving the town’s legendary flagpole, all levels of Newtown’s BPW, and served on the state commission for the National Bicentennial celebrations.

She is the author of, among other works, Newtown Ye History, and enjoys painting.

A member of the Tercentennial Committee, Mrs Schmidle has been involved with most of the projects celebrating the town’s 300th birthday. She single-handedly coordinated a special folk art exhibition at the library and a one-day Rooster Rally, both held in June.

She is known by residents of all ages for her fondness for the color red, and is seldom seen wearing an outfit without that color. Appropriately, the portrait created by Karen Martin features Mrs Schmidle in a red suit.

Julia Wasserman has been living in Newtown for more than 40 years, and serving as its representative in the State House of Representatives since 1991. Among her public service she is a former member of Newtown Legislative Council, an appointee of the King’s Mark Resource, Conservation and Development Project, a former member of Fairfield Council Soil & Water Conservation District, and a former member of Newtown Conservation Commission. Before beginning her work as a State Rep (R-106), she was also the director of health for the Town of New Fairfield. Mrs Wasserman is also a retired captain of the US Army (WAC).

Janet Woycik has served as the director of C.H. Booth Library for 24 years, taking care of everything from approving books to be added to the library’s collection, receiving special collections of books and accepting art from award-winning artists to fighting for every penny the town’s Board of Finance approves for the library’s working budget, and overseeing everything else in between.

She has been a co-chair of the annual Christmas Tree Lighting for 20 years and is a co-chair of this year’s tercentennial celebrations. In October Mrs Woycik will be one of the featured performers in The Moral Outlaw, one of four tableaux vivants being coordinated by Amber Edwards for presentation at the high school as the tercentennial observances continue.

Mrs Woycik is also a member of the Board for Newtown’s Chamber of Commerce. She has been a resident of town for 30 years.

Lee Davenson was selected in 1972 to serve at Newtown’s first Parks & Rec director. He had pioneered numerous programs in town including Little Racers, Charlie Brown Baseball, various softball leagues and senior citizens’ programs. He was instrumental in the creation and construction of the town’s second park, Treadwell Park.

As Newtowners prepare to celebrate Labor Day with the annual parade on Monday, longtime residents may remember Mr Davenson’s appearance in August 1979. That year, according to The Newtown Bee, “Parade Marshal Lee Davenson was resplendent in a light blue tails outfit, reminiscent of a riverboat gambler’s garb. But most of all, he was resplendent in his white roller skates as he occasionally jumped out of his official car to wheel around and greet the parade watchers. Lee wasn’t too steady on his rollers, but he managed the route without a tumble in spite of it.” Mr Davenson was just 31 years old that year, making him the youngest parade marshal to date.

Mr Davenson died in 1988, only 40 years old. During his life he had been dubbed The Clown Prince of Recreation and had earned, in 1977, the title of Outstanding Young Man in Newtown. Joyce Zeller’s portrait shows Mr Davenson leaning against a fence at Treadwell Park, with the park’s pool in the background and a grin across his handsome face.

Mary Hawley (1857–1930) is perhaps the best-known benefactor in Newtown’s history.

Mary Hawley, the eldest and only surviving child of hardware mogul Marcus C. Hawley and Sarah Booth, spent her early years in Bridgeport before moving with the family to the Booth homestead, now known as The Inn at Newtown, in 1872. She married once, but secrecy and the hint of scandal surrounded that marriage from beginning to end.

Her first gift to Newtown was the building of a new school, the one on Church Hill Road now known as Hawley School. (Her generous gift was actually turned down initially, as taxpayers were afraid that the cost of coal to heat the building would be unaffordable. She offered to pay for the heating coal, and the building went up.)

From there, other philanthropic acts followed, one upon the other. Her funds paid for the renewal and upkeep of the Village Cemetery, ornate gates to the cemetery were installed and an ornate Hawley family monument was built near the entrance; The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Main Street exists due to her gift of money, as does the Memorial Bridge near Hawley Pond (which was created through excavation paid for by Mary Hawley), Edmond Town Hall (named after her maternal great-grandfather) and the C.H. Booth Library.

Until her death on May 11, 1930, Mary Hawley worked quietly and steadily to leave her family’s mark upon the town.

Her will, published in the May 30, 1930, issue of The Bee, lists many family members, house servants, acquaintances, and organizations that benefited from her endowments. Ranging from $1,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars, each and every one expresses her concern for the others who touched her life, and her wish for their continued success long past her days.

In September 1971, when he was serving as first selectman, Timothy Treadwell administered the oath of office to swear in the first four sergeants and 13 officers of Newtown Police Department. Mr Treadwell served just eight months of a two-year term before he was killed in a house fire in February 1972.

During his lifetime Mr Treadwell also taught Sunday School, served on Sandy Hook School’s PTA, headed the Finance Committee of Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts, organized and served as president of The Newtown Young Republicans Club, was a member of and on the executive board of the State Federation of Young Republications, served as an alternate to the GOP State Convention.

From 1959 until 1962 he also served on the town’s Parks & Recreation Commission. Timothy B. Treadwell Memorial Park, on Philo Curtis Road in Sandy Hook, is named in his honor.

In a note sent to members of CSOPA, Timothy Treadwell’s daughter thanked organizers of the exhibition for selecting her father for inclusion.

“I am practically in tears that 33 years after my father’s passing he is being remembered this way,” Susan (Treadwell) Walsh wrote.