Beryl and Jack Harrison

Celebrate 40th Wedding Anniversary

Jack and Beryl Harrison of Platts Hill Road recently celebrated 40 years of marriage. Their wedding day was on Memorial Day 1964, a holiday that traditionally fell on May 30 until — as Jack points out — it was moved to the fourth Monday of May.

The Harrisons celebrated their 40th anniversary at their cottage on Laurel Lake in Fitzwilliam, N.H., where the photo above was taken.

Over the years, they have lived in many different locations including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego, Calif.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Penn., and finally, Connecticut, moving to Sandy Hook in 1976, then across town to Platts Hill Road.

Beryl is well known to many Newtown residents as head of the reference department at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library. She enjoys gardening, cooking, baking, and putting up jams and jellies.

Jack is a retired marketing and sales executive and consultant, and is also a retired lieutenant commander (LCDR) with the United States Naval Reserve. Now he says he spends his time “watering Beryl’s garden, eating Beryl’s cooking, and enjoying her baked goods spread with plenty of her homemade hams and jellies.”

The Harrisons have two sons and three grandsons. Derek Harrison and his wife Claire live in Warwick, N.Y., and are the parents of Owen, 2, and Luke, 4 months. Trent Harrison and his wife Cindy live in Sandy Hook with their 1-month-old son, Tyler Knight, and their border collies, Monty and Tess.

Jack and Beryl own a border collie named Bonnie, and a cat that answers to both Boots and Feets. Their key interests are their grandchildren and family, travel, photography, sheep dogs, border collies, boating, literature, and gardening.