Monthly Archives: March 2013

Honoring Bill Meyer

Posted on March 3, 2013 | 16 comments

Bill Meyer — Westport’s uber-mega-volunteer-extraordinaire — will be honored next Sunday (March 10).

There’s a reason the 3 p.m. event is in Christ & Holy Trinity’s magnificent Branson Hall: It’s one of the few places in town big enough to hold all of Bill’s admirers.

In his 83 years, Bill has done more than 83 normal people could in 83 lifetimes.

Professionally, he had a fulfilling career as national sales manager for several companies. “We manufactured and sold pens and pencils,” he says of one business.

That’s like saying Bruce Springsteen “plays music.” In fact, Bill managed 800 workers on a Blackfeet Indian reservation in Montana. He was so motivational and inspirational, the tribe adopted him — and gave him an honorary Indian name.

But as much as he traveled, Bill always found time for Westport.

Plenty of time.

Here is a teeny-tiny, way-too-partial list. Bill…

  • was elected 9 times to the RTM. He chairs the Parks and Recreation Committee, and serves on its  Education, and Health and Human Services Committees
  • founded the Westport Little League softball program; was a member of the Little League board of directors; umpired — and had a softball field named for him
  • served as Y’s Men president and membership chairman
  • been a director of Sunrise Rotary, Senior  Center, First Night, Westport’s AARP chapter, Westport Community Theatre, and 2 intercity Bridgeport agencies
  • served on the Saugatuck Congregational Church council
  • mentored a boy from age 5 through adolescence
  • helped with Meals on Wheels
  • volunteered on many Republican campaigns
  • was a board member of Isaiah House in Bridgeport, which helps parolees transition from prison to life outside
  • won the 2004 Service to Older Adults award
  • earned a Westport First award
  • received the YMCA’s Faces of Achievement honor.

I got tired making that list.

Bill never gets tired of anything.

He loves Staples. He loves Westport, sports, the theater, church, the Republican party, volunteering, old people, young people, and his wife Carolyn.

Bill also loves to talk.

Boy, can he talk.

When he takes the mike next Sunday — after tributes from state and local government officials; Little League, Y, LWV, First Night, Sunrise Rotary, Human Services and Saugatuck Church representatives; the Blackfeet Indians, his mentee, and his longtime friend Chris Shays — Bill will likely talk for a while.

He’ll thank all the people who helped him over the years. He’ll tell stories about his many adventures in Westport.  One tale will lead to another. Then another.

And one more.

That’s fine. Bill Meyer deserves his day in the sun.

In fact, no one deserves it more.

This photo epitomizes Bill Meyer. He's volunteering at the Great Duck Race, sponsored by Sunrise Rotary, while hugging Republican State Senator Toni Boucher.

This photo epitomizes Bill Meyer. He’s volunteering at the Great Duck Race, sponsored by Sunrise Rotary, while hugging Republican State Senator Toni Boucher.

16 Comments

Posted in Arts, Education, Local politics, Organizations, People, religion, Staples HS, YMCA

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Wild Pear Closes

Posted on March 2, 2013 | 5 comments

The Wild Pear — the oddly named “Fresh Food Fast” place on Church Lane, a few steps from the Spotted Horse and Westport Y — has closed.

Previously, the small spot housed the original Chef’s Table.

Too bad neither of them could make it work. Both offered good soups, sandwiches and salads, but with very limited seating.

Too bad too that neither lasted long enough to take advantage of what will be an intriguing redevelopment of the area, once a retail/residential complex replaces the YMCA.

Perhaps the 3rd time is the charm.

The sign is already gone from The Wild Pear.

The sign is already gone from The Wild Pear.

5 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Restaurants, YMCA

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Ben Zawacki: Professional Draper

Posted on March 2, 2013 | 13 comments

For over 50 years, Staples Players has served as a pre-professional launching pad. Hundreds of alums have gone on to rewarding, highly regarded — and sometimes even lucrative — careers in acting, directing, dancing, lighting and set design.

Now, add costuming to the list.

As a child growing up in Westport, Ben Zawacki was inspired by Broadway shows, Lincoln Center ballets, and of course Players productions.

He did not want to act. He played in the pit orchestra as a freshman, but the next year discovered the costume crew.

Ben Zawacki, hard at work.

Ben Zawacki, hard at work.

Dee Alexander — who designed costumes for all of director David Roth’s shows — took Ben under her wing. Working on Players shows — as well as her New Canaan High productions — Ben learned the craft quickly, and well.

The summer before senior year, he did an 8-week program at Carnegie Mellon. He studied scene and lighting design, painting,  carpentry, and costume technology.

That last course opened up a new world. Costume technology became Ben’s major at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He learned everything from basic sewing skills to pattern making, advanced draping and tailoring.

From his first moment there, Ben wanted to become a professional draper in a costume shop.

A draper takes a costume designer’s rendering, and brings it to a wearable form. He creates all the patterns, and does all the costume fitting — while managing the team that cuts and stitches the fabric. They’re always on deadline.

Over 5 summers at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ben worked his way up from intern to head draper. Now he’s assistant draper at Tricorne LLC, building costumes for Broadway, TV, film, opera and dance.

These bias cut dresses for "Ten Cents a Dance" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival were made of very fine fabrics -- and they had to be completed in a tight time frame. It was one of Ben Zawacki's toughest assignments.

These bias cut dresses for “Ten Cents a Dance” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival were made of very fine fabrics — and they had to be completed in a tight time frame. It was one of Ben Zawacki’s toughest assignments.

“I love the magic of watching a designer’s sketch become a 3-D work of art that can withstand 8 shows a week,” Ben says.

A good draper needs a good sense of math — and a good sense of the human form.

“I went to school with self-taught sewing skills, and only able to read a commercial pattern,” Ben explains.

“Now I can hard-tailor a man’s coat, make bias cut and period gowns, all while creating my own patterns.” He is detail-oriented — not just about what the audience sees, but how a garment is finished on the inside. “We don’t take any shortcuts,” Ben says.

He certainly has not taken any shortcuts in his career — though he’s made a big impression, in a brief time.

And he makes it look sew easy.

13 Comments

Posted in Arts, Entertainment, People, Staples HS

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Gault Seeks Sesquicentennial Stuff

Posted on March 1, 2013 | 2 comments

When they’re not brutally bashing each other in the Comments section, “06880” readers are united in a love of Westport’s past.

So today’s post is something we all can agree on: Helping Gault celebrate its 150-year legacy in town.

Today, the company that’s morphed from coal, sand and oil into energy solutions launches a “Call for Memories” campaign. The aim: putting a modern spin on the time-honored tradition of sending congratulatory messages.

An early delivery truck. Check out the phone number on the side: "5181." Today, it's 203-227-5181.

A delivery truck in 1939. Check out the phone number on the side: “5181.” Today, it’s 203-227-5181.

At a mere 100 years old — in 1963, the year civil rights protesters were fire-hosed in Alabama, and JFK was killed — Gault received hundreds of letters, cards and telegrams (!). Senders shared personal memories of great experiences with the company and family.

Telegrams have gone the way of the Gaults’ 1st delivery method — horse-drawn wagons. Cards and letters are headed that way soon.

So this time, Westport’s oldest business has created an online site — gault150.com/memories — to collect 150th-anniversary memories from family friends, organizations, trade partners, and Gault Energy & Stone employees and customers across Fairfield County.

These memories will be showcased on the company’s anniversary website www.gault150.com, as well as in a commemorative booklet and at this summer’s Westport Historical Society exhibit, “Five Generations of Yankee Ingenuity: The Gault Family.”

Gault's facility once towered over its Riverside Avenue neighbors, like the Jockey Club.

Gault’s facility towered over its Riverside Avenue neighbors — like the legendary Jockey Club directly in front — in this 1953 shot.

Sam Gault — the 5th generation to lead the company, who was born (cue the eerie music) during that centennial year — has spent several months passing around the company’s 100th anniversary files, which were sealed for 50 years.

“Many of us saw these for the very first time,” Sam says. “It’s amazing to read through everything my father and grandfather received 5 decades ago. These mementos are priceless to me and to my family.”

Now, Sam says, “we’re scanning hundreds of fragile documents and photos that trace our family and company’s 150-year history. This campaign will assure that our more recent history will be preserved for the next 150 years and beyond.”

Sam hopes these memories — like first selectman Gordon Joseloff playing baseball in the 1950son Gault Field (now houses on Imperial Avenue) — will inspire others to describe how the Gault family and businesses have touched their lives.

Gault Field, on the river side of Imperial Avenue, brought Little League baseball to Westport.

Gault Field, on the river side of Imperial Avenue, brought Little League baseball to Westport in 1947.

Three generations of the Gault family will choose some of those memories for inclusion in a time capsule at the family’s Compo Road South barn. It will be opened at the company’s 200th anniversary.

“06880” readers in 2063 will no doubt still enjoy looking back, when not engaged in debates over the poor parking habits of hovercraft drivers, and whether the YMCA should move from its longtime Mahackeno home to a new location.

(To submit memories to the Gault site, click here. For more information about the Gault family history and the company’s 150th anniversary celebration, click here.)

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Posted in Local business, Looking back, People

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