Retiring Lt Lydem ––

Staying On As Keeper Of The Flags

By Andrew Gorosko

David Lydem recalls the crisp autumn mornings when, while traveling on police patrol on Castle Hill Road, he would encounter the sun rising above the eastern horizon, dramatically illuminating the Main Street flagpole, with its flag flying amid a field of brilliant fall color.

Views such as those linger in the mind’s eye, imprinting the distinct sense of place that the flagpole creates for Newtown, Mr Lydem explains.

After almost 35 years with the Newtown Police Department, Lieutenant Lydem, 58, is retiring from service on Friday, July 12. He is the longest serving member of the police department.

Although the lieutenant may be turning in his police paraphernalia, he plans to continue as the town’s keeper of the Main Street flag and flagpole, an unofficial role that he has held since 1984.

In that capacity, he has handled the care, maintenance, repair, and operation of the flag and flagpole on a volunteer basis.

“I’ve enjoyed it for so many years. It’s been a lot of self-satisfaction,” he said. “I’m just a facilitator,” he added. Newtown Hook and Ladder firefighters handle the mechanical work involved in keeping the flag flying, and many people have donated funds to cover flagpole-related costs, Lt Lydem said.

The flagpole, which stands 102 feet tall when measured to the top of its 16-inch-diameter ball, requires a fair amount of work to keep in good condition, Lt Lydem explains.

A recent paint job on the pole done by a steeplejack cost $2,700. The large flags, measuring 20 feet by 30 feet, that fly on the pole in the warm weather cost $470 apiece. The smaller flags, measuring 12 feet by 18 feet, that fly on the pole at other times cost $260 apiece. Also, on occasion, the rack of lights mounted on a lower section of the pole, which illuminate the flag at night, must be repaired.

The nylon flags flown on the pole do not last as long as one may think, the lieutenant noted, explaining that heavy weather can put a flag in tatters. How fast flags wear out determines how many flags are needed in a given year, he said.

When he assumed the flag keeper’s duties 18 years ago, the town had been flying a relatively tiny six-foot by eight-foot flag on the pole. Although such flags are large enough for general use, they appear quite small when flying atop a 100-foot-tall flagpole, he noted.

The town then started using 12-foot by 18-foot flags, but the larger flags attracted thieves. Eventually, the town created a system in which the flag was tied off high above the street, requiring Hook and Ladder’s ladder truck to get to the flag’s tie-off point, thus providing some flag security.

Flagpole Views

Besides the vivid eastward autumnal view of the flagpole from Castle Hill, Lt Lydem especially likes the view of the pole looking southward from the head of Main Street, and the view of the pole looking westward from Church Hill Road.

 “I would like to see it [stay] the way it is,” Lt Lydem said. But he added he expects that in time amid traffic pressures created by an increased local population, traffic signals may be installed at the flagpole for safety reasons. The flagpole intersection is now regulated by stop signs on Church Hill Road and West Street

The least visually objectionable type of traffic signals at the flagpole would be signals mounted on vertical posts at the four corners of the intersection of Main Street, Church Hill Road and West Street, the lieutenant said.

Lt Lydem said that since his impending retirement from police work has become publicly known, he has been the recipient of many good wishes from people he knows who have told him that they consider him to be a link to the town’s past, when the town was a simpler place.

Lt Lydem’s wife Emi is a nurse practitioner at DATAHR in Brookfield.

The George’s Hill Road couple has two grown daughters who live in town, Deborah Holmes and Jaclyn Krikorian. Deborah and Dan Holmes have three children, Lily and a set of twins, Eli and Hanna. Jaclyn and Richard Krikorian have a daughter Taylor, and are expecting a second child.

After his retirement, Lt Lydem plans to pursue his passion for running, do some work around the house, and play some golf.

Following a summer off, he plans to seek work other than law enforcement, and possibly start a landscaping business.