February 20, 1998

By mid-afternoon last Sunday, February 15, firefighters responded to Newtown High School after four copper heating pipes burst in a third-floor science lab in the school’s new addition, causing considerable water damage to that room, to the new lecture hall on the floor below, and to the foyer adjacent to the school’s new cafeteria. Firefighters went to the school to help clean up the mess, according to Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead. A water-filled heating coil in Room A-205 froze and burst, causing “a substantial amount of damage … to three floors,” he said.

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St John’s Episcopal Church parishioners held a rose and flower sale last weekend at the church in Sandy Hook. Warden Kim Keenan worked with Sue Kokoszka and Joe Meadows to plan and run the event. After the two-day sale, flowers were also taken to Ashlar of Newtown to cheer several parishioners who are residents there.

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A relatively mild winter has allowed construction on the Fairfield Hills bypass road to continue. Loaders placed dirt in dump trucks on Mile Hill Road on Tuesday as part of excavation work needed to install new storm sewers. When completed, the bypass road will provide a direct link for heavy truck traffic and other traffic between Route 34, Interstate 84 and Route 25 via the Fairfield Hills campus.

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Jean Mann is a sculptor, potter and porcelain artist of talent and sensitivity whose works have received critical acclaim here and abroad. One of her favorite pieces is a miniature porcelain dragon boat that measures only 2½ inches from “nose to tail,” as Ms Mann describes it. It has been recognized by American curators at the Smithsonian Museum as well as in the Orient, where the ancient art of miniature porcelain carving is greatly revered. Ms Mann sculpted the dragon boat in just three months in 1978, when she made it to honor her late friend Marni Wood. Though the dragon has been exhibited widely in Connecticut and New York, it will remain in Ms Mann’s private collection until her death, at which time she has stipulated that it should go to Cyrenius H. Booth Library for its permanent collection.

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Drama students at Newtown High School staged three performances of The Mad Woman of Chaillott last week. The drama/comedy focuses on the anti-establishment “mad women.” According to teacher Tom Swetts, about 80 students worked on different aspects of the production, which was directed by Ruth Ann Baumgartner of Town Players of Newtown. Katie Mouney, Claire Nowicki, Laura Terry, and Alexandra Zaleta were the four “mad women” in the production.

February 16, 1973

Curriculum changes throughout school systems are essential. One of the reasons is so that a system will not stagnate under teaching methods which go on for years and years without change, and another is to improve upon programs already established. In Newtown one area of study which is in need of curriculum change is language arts. Students are having troubles writing — serious troubles — and as a result, the School System is taking a long look at its teaching methods in language arts, and changes are being made.

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Newtown’s trees and woodland areas escaped the 1972 gypsy moth infestation with relatively little damage, and even less is expected this year, according to a survey made by Deputy State Entomologist George W. Schuessler. Mr Schuessler reported to First Selectman Frank DeLucia this week that an aerial survey last summer showed measurable defoliation in only 680 acres of woodland, mainly in the Hattertown and Botsford districts, or less than 2 per cent of the town’s total area. The extent of the defoliation in the affected areas was defined as “light,” or between 10 and 25 per cent.

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Fire gutted the lovely old Meadowbrook Road home of the Peter Chapdelaine family on Tuesday morning, February 13, and firefighters worked almost an entire day at the scene. Volunteers from the United Fire Company of Botsford, Newtown Hook and Ladder Company No 1, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Company, and Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company were called out, and extra help was called in from the Stepney Fire Department and Monroe Fire Department. Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company, Sandy Hook, and Hawleyville were also on standby at the Hook and Ladder Fire House. The home was vacant at the time of the fire. By the time the first firefighters came on the scene, the first floor area near the kitchen, a stairwell leading to the second floor, and the second and third floors were fully involved.

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Dr Benton Egee of Currituck Road is back home after a five-day visit to Las Vegas to attend a conference of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The weather was fine and the conference very fruitful, Dr Egee reports, but the gaming tables weren’t much help.

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Articles and memorabilia from New England, the rest of the United States, and the far corners of the world made their appearance at the “Show and Tell” meeting of Newtown Historical Society on Monday evening, February 12, in the conference room of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library. It was evident from the well-attended meeting that Newtown has its share of collectors of antiques and people with beautiful and priceless treasures. A particularly rare item was a lock of George Washington’s hair, removed, according to the letter written in 1853, from his “cold body.” Preserved in a gold frame on velvet, the unusual keepsake has been handed down from one generation to another and is now owned by a family member living in Sandy Hook.

February 13, 1948

EDITORIAL INK DROPS — OUR INTEREST IN SPORTS WELL PLACED: Perhaps a newspaper, because of its very nature, is more aware than others of activities and trends taking place within its territory. To The Bee an increasing interest in athletics has been evident in Newtown for some time — and we are very happy about it. It is a sign of healthy minds and bodies among our young people to find them competing on basketball courts in winter and playing baseball games in summer. … We point with pride to Newtown’s wide-awake interest in athletics and compliment the leaders who have created it. Mayhap our town will yet produce an All-American tackle, a Big League pitcher, or an Olympic skier — with more winters like the present, our chances for the latter cannot fail!

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“The most successful March of Dimes to date” was Judge Paul V. Cavanaugh’s description of the 1948 Infantile Paralysis drive in Newtown, with figures Tuesday night showing a total of $1,183.94 received at that time and with further contributions expected through the mails. The total amount is also expected to be increased by another basketball game to be played under the auspices of DiSesa’s Green Acres.

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In view of the fact that one-half of the children who have been born on the European continent since World War II are already dead from malnutrition, it seems fitting that Newtown should have a part in the campaign which started on February 2, to raise 60 million dollars in the United States to feed some of those who are still alive. At least, so it seemed to the group which met at the home of Colonel C. Sidney Haight on Main Street on Tuesday afternoon. Colonel Haight will be in Hartford this Friday, attending a meeting of the State Committee. The goal of the campaign is one day’s pay, profit, or income from each individual.

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“Joe” Savelli, popular proprietor of The Red Maple on South Main street, returned to his home on Wednesday from the Danbury hospital where he underwent a recent operation.

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Mrs Paul A. Cullens and Mrs Sarah Mitchell left Wednesday for St Petersburg, Fla., where they will visit Mrs Cullens’ mother, Mrs S.R. Robinson, for two weeks.

February 9, 1923

Newtown loses a very substantial and valued citizen in the death on Tuesday evening of William Benjamin Glover, of the Borough. Mr Glover had been in failing health for a year and while his demise was not unexpected, his sudden death on Tuesday came as a shock to his family and all his friends. Mr Glover was suddenly taken for the worse late in the afternoon and breathed his last just as his wife and children entered the house on their return from Ridgefield, where they had just attended the funeral of Mrs Glover’s mother. Mr Glover was 47 years old. Born February 25, 1875 to Walter H. Glover and Sarah Northrop Glover, he sprang from one of the oldest Newtown families. His grandfather, Benjamin Glover, from whom he took his second name, was one of the leading men of the town in his day and owned at one time exceeding 500 acres of land in Hanover district. … While naturally undemonstrative and retiring by nature, Mr Glover was one of the most delightful of companions, as the writer can testify from personal experiences. He enjoyed his friends and there will be many who will mourn the passing of this friend and sterling citizen.

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A CARD: We wish through The Bee to sincerely thank all the friends and neighbors for the kindness shown us and loving words of sympathy given us during the illness and death of our loved ones.—[Mrs W.B. Glover and children. Newtown, February 7, 1923.

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Mr and Mrs Ernest W. Northrop of Stamford announce the birth of a son, born February 5. Mr and Mrs Eugene Northrop of Hattertown are the happy grandparents of this, their first grandson.

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Wednesday night was the coldest night of the year. The thermometer registered at 18 degrees below zero in Sandy Hook.

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Herbert H. Cutler received his commission as postmaster at Sandy Hook, Monday, and now is postmaster in good and regular standing. He is receiving congratulations on his appointment.

February 18, 1898

THE NEWTOWN LIBRARY LIST OF NEW BOOKS JUST ADDED [abridged]: 1174, The Seven Little Sisters, Jane Andrews; 1175, Each and All, Jane Andrews; 1176, The Choir Invisible, Jane Lane Allen; 1177, Marjorie Daw, Thomas Bailey Aldrich; 1178, Standish of Standish, Jane G. Austin; 1179, A Girl’s Point of View, Lilian Bell … 1200, Jerome, A Poor Man, Mary E. Wilkins; 1201, The Story of an Untold Love, Paul L. Ford; 6034, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, William J. Rolfe; 6035, Shakespeare’s Othello, William J. Rolfe; 6036, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, William J. Rolfe; 4242, American Ideals, Theodore Roosevelt; 4243, English Lands, Letters And Kinds, Donald G. Mitchell; 4244, Studies in Shakespeare, Richard Grant White; 2142, The Puritan in England and New England, Ezra Hoyt Byington; 2143, Century Book of Famous Americans, Elbridge S. Brooks.

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Deputy Sheriff M. Carlton Ridgers of Newtown was here on official business, Thursday, and remained over night the guest of his brother deputy sheriff, Powers. It was his first visit here and he seems to think Ridgefield a delightful place.—[Ridgefield Press.

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E.H. Reed, a well-known Stratford farmer, was in town on Monday. Mr Reed has sold over 500 cows, this winter, the result of advertising in The Bee.

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DODGINGTOWN AND VICINITY: Mrs George Crane has been entertaining relatives from Bethel, Redding and Danbury. | Lyman Whitehead has been very sick, but is now slowly recovering. | Mr and Mrs Ammon Taylor of Sandy Hook have been the guests of R.D. Shepard. | E.E. Ferry has a horse sick with lung fever.

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The accommodation train which is due in Pittsfield at 8:50 p.m., met with quite a delay, Saturday night, just north of the Still River train. The engine got disabled in some way and could not move backward or forward. Engineer McDermott worked on her until the arrival of the New Milford special, which pushed the train to New Milford where another engine was waiting to take the train to Pittsfield, arriving three hours late.

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M.A. Todd of Hartford was in town on Saturday, stopping at the Grand Central.

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A.S. Hill of Kent, who has been engaged for a month or more on Dick’s hotel, returned to his former home on Tuesday.

Do you have photographs of people or places in town from a bygone era? The Way We Were is the perfect landing spot so that your photographs can be enjoyed by Newtown Bee readers. Images can be e-mailed as attachments to shannon@thebee.com, subject line: Way We Were photo. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date. If you live locally and would like to loan a photo/photos, please give us a call (203-426-3141) to let us know when you will be visiting.