Final images of today’s snow …
Saugatuck River, from the Kings Highway North bridge (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
Whitney Street (Molly Alger)
Rayfield Road (Hilary Ellis)
Jennie Lane (Photo/June Rose Whittaker)
Treadwell Avenue (Photo/Jimmy Izzo)
Main Street (Photo/Jimmy Izzo)
Posted in Downtown, Local business, Pic of the Day, Restaurants, Weather
Tagged Nomade, Savvy + Grace, Snowfall 2023
Today’s first-of-the-year snowfall — on the last day of February — created gorgeous scenes all over town.
Eno Lane (Photo/DIck Kalt)
Old Mill Grocery & Deli (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
Earthplace (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
Near downtown (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
Hillspoint Road (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
Rayfield Road (Photo/Hilary Ellis)
Saugatuck River (Photo/Leigh Gage)
Winslow Park (Photo/Jennifer Johnson)
Tamarac Road (Photo/Jennifer Johnson)
Posted in Local business, Weather
Tagged Earthplace, Old Mill Grocery & Deli, Saugatuck River, Winslow Park
Supplies have been delivered. Now construction has begun on apartment buildings in Lyman, Ukraine. Work on 2 is already completed.
Lyman apartments.
Funds for building materials to shore up the structures — nearly demolished during 5 months of Russian occupation — came from $252,000 donated by Westporters to our sister city.
Work is being done by local contractors, hired by Ukraine Aid International. The non-profit was founded by Westporters Brian and Marshall Mayer.
At work in Lyman.
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The Milwaukee Bucks may not seem, at first glance, to be the 3rd most valued US sports franchise.
But if the reported 25% sale of the NBA team by co-owner — and Westporter — Marc Lasry goes through, at a valuation of $3.5 billion, it would be the 2nd-highest for an NBA team (behind the Phoenix Suns’ recent $4 billion), and 3rd overall (the Denver Broncos went for $4.65 billion in June).
Marc Lasry (right), after the Bucks won the NBA championship. (Screen shot photo/Fred Cantor)
Lasry and fellow hedge fund titan Wes Eden bought the Bucks for $550 million in 2014, from former US Senator Herb Kohl. They won the NBA championship in 2021. (Click here for the full story: Hat tips: Michael Catarevas, Chris Grimm and Fred Cantor)
Marc Lasry’s Beachside Avenue estate includes this full-size basketball court — including the Milwaukee Bucks’ slogan, “Fear the deer.”
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The Granola Bar has joined Nobu Restaurants.
Well, in a coffee partnership, anyway. Parent company TGB Hospital Group has partnered exclusively with Coffee of Grace, a Black woman-owned brand. It will be served — and sold by the bag — at The Granola Bar’s 5 locations, plus Old Mill Grocery & Deli.
Nobu is the only other group to offer a Coffee of Grace custom blend.
Coffee of Grace emphasizes environmental stewardship, and supports farmers (particularly female coffee growers) by sourcing directly from co-ops in Rwanda, Peru, Guatemala and Brazil.
All coffees are 100% arabica, specialty grade, organically grown, and ethically sourced from small lot coffee farmers through 100% Direct Trade business.
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Speaking of food:
Months after a “Coming Soon…” sign appeared at 793 Post Road East — the new retail/residential complex at the foot of Long Lots Road, behind Shearwater Coffee and Pizza Lyfe — Gallo Express is finally open.
The takeout and delivery-only store offers salads, pasta, pizze, panini, and plenty of full meals. Click here for a menu, and more details.
Screenshot from the Gallo Express website.
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Aspiring interns can apply now apply for the 2023 Joanne Woodward Internship Program at the Westport Country Playhouse. Interns work directly with senior staff in the areas of development, education, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Interns also attend weekly seminars with guest speakers including Playhouse staff, visiting designers and artists, commercial producers and more.
Due to the Playhouse’s shortened season, production internships are not available this year.
The program runs from May 27 through August 12. The stipend is $600 a week. The application deadline is March 17. For more information, click here.
Stephen Sondheim (crouching, top of photo), during his 1950 apprenticeship at the Westport Country Playhouse. Also in the photo: future film director Frank Perry (front row, left) and Richard Rodgers’ daughter Mary (2nd row, 4th from left).
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Tonight’s Malloy Lecture in the Arts has been postponed, due to weather.
Artist/musician Richard Butler will now appear on Saturday, April 1 (7 p.m.), in conversation with Chris Frantz.
That’s the 3rd day of the 2nd annual VersoFest. The April 1 lineup for the music and media event now features Butler, Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer (and Fairfield resident) Frantz, and legendary producer Steve Lillywhite, reuniting 3 rock icons who rose to international prominence in the late 1970s and 80s.
Butler was part of the Psychedelic Furs, one of London’s leading post-punk bands.
Lillywhite delivers his festival keynote — also a conversation with Frantz — on Saturday, April 1 at 1 pm.
The Spring 2023 Malloy Lecture in the Arts with Butler replaces the previously scheduled laser light show at VersoFest. It will be rescheduled.
The Malloy Lecture in the Arts is a gift from Westport artist Susan Malloy. The Westport Library created the lecture series in 2002 as a free, public discussion by an individual who has had a significant cultural influence. and whose work has enhanced understanding and appreciation of the arts.
Richard Butler
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Speaking of the Westport Library: it opens at noon today.
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Also postponed: tonight’s FCIAC boys basketball semifinal. #4 Staples High School now takes on #1 Ridgefield tomorrow (Wednesday, March 1, Wilton High School). Tipoff is 7:15 p.m.
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The latest “What’s Next in Weston” podcast features part 2 of 1st Selectwoman Sam Nestor’s interview with Public Safety communications director Larry Roberts.
They discuss the cost and coverage of the statewide emergency communications system, and how it will benefit town residents.
The podcast is produced by the Y’s Men of Westport and Weston.
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Guitar master Bob DeVos kicks off March in Westport with a blend of originals and masterpieces, at this Thursday’s Jazz at the Post (March 2, shows at 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner at 7 p.m.; VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399).
He’ll be joined by Organ Trio bandmates Dan Kostelnik and Steve Johns, plus Greg “Jazz Rabbi” Wall on saxophone.
Recommendations are highly recommended: JazzatthePost@gmail.com.
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Naturally, today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature features snow.
The first of 2023 made this intriguing mark on Nancy Axthelm’s back yard:
(Photo/Nancy Axthelm)
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And finally … It was the perfect snowfall, in fact.
Just enough to be pretty. Not enough to be onerous. No wind, drifts or bone-chilling temperatures.
So although the weather outside is far from frightful, it’s about time to let this song rip:
(Take a break from shoveling. Sit by the fire. Have some hot chocolate. And please, consider a donation to “06880.” Click here — thank you!)
The threat of snow closed the Westport Library early yesterday, forcing the much-anticipated 8-30g panel to Zoom.
There, nearly 200 Westporters got a cold dose of reality. The innocuously named state regulation, which mandates affordable housing percentages for municipalities — and used by developers to gain approval for much larger market-rate projects — is here.
It’s not going away.
But, the panelists noted, Westport can take proactive steps to mitigate some of its most onerous effects.
The evening — organized by Representative Town Meeting member Nancy Kail, and led by RTM moderator Jeff Wieser — began with a bit of history.
The first 8-30g proposal came 25 years ago, in 1998: 10 units on Cross Street, 3 of which were deed-restricted for 40 years as affordable.
Others followed: 41 units on a small parcel at the Wilton Road/Kings Highway North corner (a rare denial in court). 81 units on Lincoln Street. 19 units at Morningside Drive North.
122 Wilton Road — site of a proposed 6-story, 48-unit apartment building — sits at the corner of Kings Highway North. The property abuts the Taylortown Salt Marsh. The Planning & Zoning Commission’s denial was eventually upheld in court.
The infamous Saugatuck Summit development, which began as 55 townhouses on 10 building lots, ballooned to 187 units, and ultimately was settled at 157.
1177 Post Road East — across from Greens Farms Elementary School — was a “friendly” 8-30 go, without battles between the developer, town officials and neighbors.
All told, Westport now has 32 affordable units, created by 8-30g legislation. When Summit Saugatuck and other projects are completed, there will be 108.
Overall — including units built before 1990, when 8-30g was enacted — there are 390 units deemed affordable.
When projects currently in the pipeline are completed, approximately 6% of Westport’s housing stock will be affordable.
State Representative Jonathan Steinberg called the 8-30g regulation “a blunt instrument.” But, he noted, Westport has done “a great job. We’ve built affordable housing, and we’ve embraced an inclusive housing plan.” He called housing “a national crisis.”
Yet the town’s 4-year moratorium on 8-30g proposals expires this Saturday (March 4). At that point, town attorney Ira Bloom said, developers can file applications.
One is already in the works, for 30 Maple Lane in Greens Farms. “The gate will open,” he predicted.
30 Maple Lane — between Greens Farms Road and New Creek Road, near the Greens Farms train station — is the site of an 8-30g application that may be filed soon.
“But Westport is not alone,” Bloom added. “There’s an intense focus by developers on Fairfield County.”
There is, he noted, a true need for affordable housing in the area. But developers also use 8-30 for their own ends.
The regulation makes it almost impossible for municipalities to prevail. Towns have lost 75% of all cases that have gone to court, Bloom said.
And “developers know it.”
Local officials who turn down an 8-30g application must prove their decision was driven by “a significant public interest.” However, traffic, even safety, are not always reasons for denial. (Wetlands can be a reason, however.)
“The process does not make it easy to negotiate once an 8-30g application is filed,” Bloom said.
A questioner asked whether the 8-30g formula includes beds in homeless shelters, like the Gillespie Center. The answer: No.
Units at The Saugatuck — the Bridge Street co-op limited to to buyers below an income threshold — also do not count for 8-30g.
Though its apartments are income-restricted, The Saugatuck co-op on Bridge Street is not included in Westport’s housing stock for 8-30g purposes. (Photo courtesy of SmartMLS Inc.)
Planning & Zoning chair Danielle Dobin believes the town can reach 10%. But, she explained, “it will take collaboration between town boards, and residents getting behind it.
“Westport believes in affordable housing. What we don’t want is density, or building on wetlands.”
The RTM can play a key role, she told the Zoom audience.
She urged the legislative body to create an affordable housing fund. Using town-owned land, developers could built low-density projects.
One example: Linxweiler House, on Post Road East between Fresh Market and McDonald’s. The historic home there could be renovated, and moved closer to the road. Cluster housing could be built behind it. Homes with Hope could provide supportive services to residents — who would have access to public transportation, almost at their door.
Linxweiler House, on Post Road East,
Another possibility, which town officials have explored for several years: the state-owned Department of Transportation maintenance facility on Post Road East by Parish Road West, just east of Walgreens.
Of course, even with funding, finding willing developers is not easy. Developers make much more money on market-rate housing than on affordable units.
It was an informative Zoom evening. Nearly all 200 attendees stayed on to the end.
They — town officials, residents, those who hope to become residents, and developers — will follow the next steps in the 8-30g saga closely.
Beginning Saturday, when Westport’s moratorium officially ends.
(“06880” is your hyper-local blog. Please click here to help us continue reporting on important town issues. Thank you!)
This story has been updated, to include a correct rendering of the proposed new golf clubhouse. The previous image did not show the location near the 1st tee.
When the Parks & Recreation Commission meets on Thursday (March 2, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall), they’ll vote on a long-awaited Capital Improvement Plan for Longshore.
A much-derided idea of turning the entrance into a 2-way road has been scrapped.
But many other elements presented earlier — including a new golf clubhouse; pickleball courts; relocation of the maintenance facility to the brush dump; improvements to the platform tennis and tennis area, pool and playground, plus construction of shoreline and pedestrian paths — are in the plan.
Changes will be coming to Longshore.
Parks & Recreation Department staff has approved the recommendation. It’s the culmination of work done by the Stantec consulting firm. Beginning in January 2022, they held meetings with 14 user groups and town departments; conducted a community survey; held 5 open houses; sent out a second survey, and held several public meetings.
Parks & Rec calls the plan “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make improvements to connectivity, pedestrian and vehicular circulation, safety, functionality, support of uses, accessibility, aesthetics, capacity, ease of use, and recreation opportunities for an increasingly diverse population of park enthusiasts.”
Among the specifics:
A new golf clubhouse by the 1st tee will provide:
The golf plan includes a clubhouse and golf cart storage (orange), and pedestrian paths (dotted lines).
The current pools are outdated. The improvement plan will include a zero entry pool and splash pad. The redesign will capture water views currently blocked by mechanical systems.
Playground replacement and redesign will separate it from the Sailing School congestion, and improve safety.
Realigning the platform tennis and tennis area will move the platform tennis courts closer to parking, add up to 12 parking spaces, and allow for the possible installation of a bubble in the future.
Plans show changes to the racquets are (blue), the relocated playground (pink), and the pool complex.
Relocating the parks maintenance facility to the brush dump will:
A new traffic circle will improve vehicular circulation, especially for drivers unfamiliar with Longshore, and improve usability of the Cuttings Lane loop road.
Modifications and changes could be made during the design phase.
The Parks & Rec Department recommends a timeline beginning with the “much-needed” pickleball and platform tennis facilities to be built first.
“While we understand the golf community has been waiting for a longer period of time,” officials say, “the golf operations can continue to function while the other uses do not have facilities available to meet the demand.”
The improvement plan is projected to take 10 years. The projected cost is $47,099,000.
Longshore reflections at Gray’s Creek (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
The Westport Library is closing tonight at 6, because of the impending snowstorm.
Tonight’s special panel on affordable housing — “The Impact of Connecticut State Statute 8-30g: What We Can Expect for 2023” (Monday, February 27, 7 p.m.) — will still be held. However, it will be a Zoom session only. Click here for the link.
Panelists include State Representative Jonathan Steinberg, Westport town attorney ira Bloom, Planning & Zoning Commission chair Danielle Dobin and Connecticut Center for Ending Homelessness CEO Evonne Klein. The event will be led by Westport Representative Town Meeting moderator Jeff Wieser.
There will be at least 3 new winners in the 2023 Great Westport Pizza Contest.
That’s not my pie-in-the-sky prediction. It’s a fact: Westport Pizzeria and Jordan’s are no longer here to defend their titles (Best Slice and Best Plain for the former; Best Delivered for the latter) from the first event, in 2018.
But Joe’s Pizza (Best Meat; Best Gluten-Free), Tutti’s (Best Veggie) and Rizzuto’s (Best Personal) are.
They — along with Cuatro Hermanos, Gallo Pizza, Golden Pizza, Julian’s Kitchen, La Plage, Old Mill Grocery & Deli, Outpost Pizza, Parker Pizza, Pizza Lyfe, Romanacci, Spotted Horse and Via Sforza — are firing up their ovens.
The 2nd Great Westport Pizza Contest begins Wednesday (March 1).
In fact, all of March is Westport Pizza Month. 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker makes the announcement — and kicks off the contest, at noon Wednesday at Romanacci on Railroad Place.
There are 8 categories: the 7 from the contest 5 years ago, plus the new Best Flatbread.
The judges are experts: all of us. Voting will be done online (be sure to visit the venues!). Each participant is entered in a drawing, to win a free pizza from one of the 8 winning restaurants.
Winning restaurants receive plaques. For more information and to access the voting pages, click here.
The event is organized by the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce, with sponsorship from the law firm Berchem Moses.
Previous Chamber contests have included burgers, soups, sandwiches and salads. This is the first time an event has been reprised.
(Here’s something where everyone wins: Please click here to support “06880.” Thank you!)
Posted in Restaurants
Tagged Great Westport Pizza Contest, Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce
This is one of the greatest sports items I’ve ever run:
On Saturday in Staten Island, Westport’s own remarkable athlete (and artist) Norma Minkowitz broke the 400 meter world — yes, world — indoor record,
For the women’s 85-90 year-old age group.
Norma’s record time was 1:50.99. That smashes the previous record of 1:51.89 — held by Emma Mazzenga of Italy, since 2019 almost a full second.
Here she goes:
And here’s what happened next:
But wait! There’s more — much more!
Norma had just 30 minutes to prepare for her next race: a grueling 800 meters.
Typically they’re run on separate days — certainly not just half an hour apart.
Yet Norma smashed/demolished/obliterated the American record. She ran a 4:33.38. The old record was — are you sitting down? — 6:14.93, set by Florence Meiler last year.
With a bit of rest, Norma might have made it 2 world marks in less than an hour.
Norma Minkowitz, with her medals. (Photo/Jeff Mitchell)
Congratulations, Norma. You’re amazing.
And to the rest of Westport: What did you do this past weekend? (Hat tip: Jeff Mitchell)
BONUS LAP: Click here for an in-depth “06880” story on Norma Minkowitz.
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Amis restaurant closed yesterday.
The restaurant — one of the anchors of Bedford Square when it opened 6 years ago — posted this sign:
(Photo and hat tip/Larry Bartimer)
In response to a request for information, a restaurant representative said: “Simply put, just not enough sales.”
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Earlier this winter, Wendy Van Wie was the winning bidder on a work of art. It showed Marigny, France — our first sister city, since just after World War II — and was donated by residents there to help raise funds for the new sister city our two towns share: Lyman, Ukraine. (Click here for the back story.)
The artwork recently arrived in Westport. Wendy’s husband Mark Yurkiw, his fellow Westport Artists Collective member Miggs Burroughs, and Katya Wauchope of Ukraine Aid International created a short film. It honors and thanks our friends from Marigny, and celebrates our connection with Lyman.
Click below to see:
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Longtime Westporter Martin (Marty) Albert died on Thursday, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 77 years old, and had been diagnosed nearly 30 years ago.
The Brooklyn native graduated from Jamaica High School in 1962. He earned degrees from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, Boston University Law School, and a master’s in taxation from NYU. He worked as an attorney at Cohen & Wolf for 35 years.
He enjoyed golf, skiing and walking. He served as vice president of United Way (Bridgeport), vice president of the United Jewish Appeal, board member of the Jewish Home for the Elderly Foundation, president of Birchwood Country Club and vice president of Temple Israel.
Martin is survived by his wife Janet, children Elizabeth Heyer (Joseph) and Andrew (Rachel), sister Naomi Gardner, and grandchildren Samson, Austin and Presley Heyer, and Madison and Aaron Albert.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, February 28, 10:30 a.m., Temple Israel). Burial will follow at Temple Israel Cemetery, 225 Richards Avenue, Norwalk. Shiva will be observed at the home of Janet Albert on Tuesday, February 28 and Wednesday, March 1 from 2 to 8 p,m. To share a condolence message, click here.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation.
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I’m not sure if a rock has ever been the centerpiece of our “Westport … Naturally” feature.
But it doesn’t get more natural than this view, from Compo’s South Beach:
(Photo/Jonathan Prager)
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And finally … in honor of Norma Minkowitz (story above):
(“06880” — your hyper-local blog — relies on reader support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
In 1864, Edward T. Bedford was 15 years old. He stood outside the Westport Hotel — a wooden building on the corner of State Street (the Post Road) and Main Street — watching men play pool. He could not go inside, “on account of the saloon.”
Edward T. Bedford.
Decades later, Bedford was a wealthy man. He had become a broker of lubricating oils for railroads, and helped chemist Robert Chesebrough sell his new product, Vaseline. He was a director of Standard Oil, and associated with many other very successful companies.
He still lived in Greens Farms, where he was born. Recalling his years outside the Westport Hotel — and knowing the town needed “some place for boys and young men to congregate” — he announced in 1919 plans for a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
He had a perfect place, too: The Westport Hotel. It was the same spot, in the heart of town, where half a century earlier he’d been denied entrance.
Bedford spent $150,000 on the Tudor-style building. It would be a place to exercise one’s body, and mind. It included reading and writing rooms, bowling alleys, a gymnasium — and of course, pool tables. (Bedford also financed a new firehouse next door on Church Lane, designed in the same Tudor style.)
The Westport YMCA.
The Westporter-Herald called the YMCA dedication on September 5, 1923 “second to none in the history of the town. Not since the day of the official opening of Westport’s new bridge over the Saugatuck River has there been anywhere near as great a gathering as notables, both local and out of town.”
The Bedford building lobby.
Connecticut Governor Charles E. Templeton was there. He pointed to Bedford, noting that while he did not have “the opportunities the young men of today … he didn’t smoke or wile his hours away; he didn’t stay up until midnight, not at all, but instead went to bed early and then was fresh for the tasks of the day to follow.”
Much has happened in the 100 years since. Several years after it opened, Bedford donated a pool. During World War II, boys walked the short distance from Staples High School on Riverside Avenue (now Saugatuck Elementary School) to learn how to jump off flaming ships into the sea.
An early YMCA youth basketball team.
In 1944, Y leaders searching for space for a day camp for boys found 30 acres of woods and fields along the Saugatuck River, near the new Merritt Parkway’s Exit 41.
Frederick T. Bedford — Edward’s son — said that his Bedford Fund would pay half the purchase price, if the town raised the other half. Within a few weeks Y leaders had collected $10,000. The Bedford Fund matched it.
Camp Bedford opened. At Frederick Bedford’s request in 1946, the name was changed to Mahackeno.
In 1953, Westport artist Stevan Dohanos used Camp Mahackeno for this Saturday Evening Post cover.
As Westport grew in the post-war years, so did the YMCA. The downtown building became an unofficial teen center, hosting everything from the Downshifters hot rod club to Mrs. Comer’s ballroom dance classes. (Y membership was eventually open to girls, too — as well as families, and senior citizens.)
In the 1970s and ’80s the Y added a new pool. Lucie Bedford Cunningham Warren and Ruth Bedford — granddaughters of the founder — provided $200,000 through the Bedford Fund to acquire the fire station, and convert it into a 2-story fitness center. (The brass pole stayed.)
There were squash courts, and other games upstairs. (Paul Newman was an avid badminton player.)
But the downtown quarters grew cramped. Y directors looked for new space, in places like the Baron’s South property. A protracted battle — legal, political, even involving the character of downtown and the Y’s responsibility to it — eventually ended.
The YMCA built a 54,000-square foot full-service facility — “The Bedford Family Center” — on a portion of its Mahackeno property. It opened in 2014, thanks in part to financial support from Lucie McKinney and Briggs Cunningham III — Edward T. Bedford’s great-grandchildren.
The Bedford Family Center, 2014.
Helping guide the construction process as members of the Y’s governing boards were 2 of Lucie’s children, John McKinney and Libby McKinney Tritschler. They’re the 5th generation Bedford’s involved with the organization.
Since then, the Y has added a gymnastics center, and more fitness rooms. They’ve upgraded nearby Camp Mahackeno. And they were stunned to receive a $40 million endowment from the estate of Ruth Bedford.
The Westport Weston Family YMCA — today’s official name — used a portion of the bequest to establish the Bedford Family Social Responsibility Fund, to continue developing youth, promoting healthy living and fostering social responsibility.
All of which is a long way of saying: Happy 100th anniversary, Westport Y!
Officials have planned a year of celebrations. Highlights include:
Share Your Stories: Members and the community are invited to share Y stories, memories and photos. They’ll be featured on the anniversary web page.
“100 Faces of My Y”: a project for youth to create self-portraits in the medium of their choice, for display in and around the facilities.
Healthy Kids Day (April 29): a free initiative celebrated at Ys across the country. with fun activities, healthy snack demos, food trucks, sports lessons, games, art, and free t-shirts for the first 200 children.
The 7th Annual Golf Tournament (May 22, Aspetuck Valley Country Club, Weston): A fundraiser for the Y’s financial assistance program.
100-Year Anniversary Gala (“Sneaker Ball,” October 6, Mahackeno Outdoor Center): Donations and sponsors will fund financial assistance to under-resourced families and those in need. In 2022, $746,000 was awarded to over 400 families.
The Westport Weston Family YMCA is no longer limited to young Christian men.
The world has changed since Edward T. Bedford stood outside a hotel — and then bought it, to build both a building and a legacy.
If the next 100 years are anything like the last, our Y will continue to grow, evolve — and impact countless lives.
A relic from the Y’s downtown days. (Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)
Posted in Children, History, Looking back, Teenagers, YMCA
Tagged Camp Mahackeno, Edward T. Bedford, Ruth Bedford, Westport Weston Family YMCA
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