Nancy Marsh Gault — a longtime Westport resident, who helped carry out her family’s long tradition of civic involvement and philanthropy — died peacefully on May 29, after an extended battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 90 years old.
A native of Easton, she grew up immersed in her family’s business. Marsh Dairy was a local Easton institution that reflected the strong work ethic and close-knit values that shaped her life.
After graduating from Endicott College with a degree in retail and merchandising, she married Bill Gault in 1958. He was part of the 4th generation of Westport’s Gault Energy and Stone businesses. The couple built a life defined by partnership, resilience and devotion.
Nancy played a vital role in supporting her husband and the family business, particularly during long New England winters.
Nancy Gault
The Gaults resided in Westport for nearly 70 years, raising their family and becoming deeply rooted in the community.
Nancy had many passions. and was deeply engaged in area organizations. She was an active member of the Westport Young Woman’s League, president of the Bedford Junior High PTA, and held leadership roles in both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
She was an avid volunteer at the Norwalk Hospital Treasure House Thrift Shop for several decades. Her love for gardening blossomed into long membership in the Westport Garden Club, including the presidency from1991-93. Her beautiful gardens and greenhouse at her home on South Compo Road were widely admired.
Nancy and Bill were world travelers. They visited the Arctic , Antarctica, and countless places in between, meeting many wonderful friends along the way.
Nancy was happiest surrounded by her family, especially during the holidays, when she created lasting traditions filled with warmth, joy and togetherness. She is remembered for her love of cooking and baking, recipes that have been carried on by the next generations.
Nancy was predeceased by her husband Bill. She is survived by her daughter Ginger Donaher, husband Jim, and their children Megan Donaher Ventrella (Chris), Meredith Donaher White (Travis) and Brendan Donaher (Danielle); son Sam Gault (Nancy), grandchildren Jillian and Ben, and great-grandchildren Sadie, Grace, Margo and Tucker.
A family burial service is set for Willowbrook Cemetery, followed by a private reception in her honor on a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Westport Garden Club, to help carry out the mission of beautifying Westport and promoting conservation and environmental education.
Nicole Gerber nominates Steve Kidney of Growing Designs, and his team, as Unsung Heroes. She writes:
Steve Kidney grew up on Tamarac Road in Westport. He raised his family in Fairfield, and now lives in Easton.
He is a true gentleman who genuinely cares about both his clients and the gardens he creates, and he is always willing to help out whenever needed.
Most recently Steve, his foreman Mazuk and the entire Growing Designs team donated their time, talents, labor, and several beautiful perennial plantings to the design and installation of new garden beds at Homes with Hope’s recently renovated Susie’s House on Compo Road North. It’s a few yards from Steve’s boyhood home.
The entire crew was happy to help, and fully embraced the spirit of the project.
Growing Designs, on the job.
Their generosity helped transform the backyard space into a welcoming and restorative environment for the 6 young women living at Susie’s House.
Growing Designs contributed this work in support of an AWARE CT (Assisting Women through Action Resources and Education) event last weekend, celebrating the organization’s 2025–2026 partnership with Susie’s House.
Thanks, Steve and the Growing Designs team, for all you do. You are true Unsung Heroes!
(Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com. “06880” is proud to honor them — and tell many other tales of town too. Please click here to help us do that, by supporting this hyper-local blog.)
The Greens Farms Elementary School 4th grader died in an automobile accident in 2018. He would have joined Philip in graduating from Staples High this month. Philip helped lead an effort to create a scholarship in his cousin’s name.
Perrin’s father, James Delorey, also spoke movingly about Perrin’s life and legacy. James said:
I am so grateful to be here with my wife Dr. Angela Ryan, our 2 beautiful daughters, Perrin’s little sisters, Mireille and Elodie, and our families. Thank you have having us.
To those of you who didn’t know our son, Perrin was a thoughtful young man with a great future ahead of him. Angela and I talk about him all the time, and Mireille and Elodie do too. He truly is present in our family of 5. On our way here, Mireille and Elodie were talking about looking into Perrin’s blue eyes!
Perrin Delorey’s sisters, with a photo of their brother.
You’re all at a huge moment in your lives, and in ours too. We know Perrin should be graduating from Staples right now – or, at least, doing great things in his senior internship.
All of Perrin’s friends are at the end of their high school careers, and many of them are here today, making plans for career, public service, university.
It has both difficult and wonderful to see all of your accomplishments these last eight years – performing in school plays, excelling at athletics, becoming astonishingly good baseball players, hockey players, making the most beautiful music, volunteering in our community and making the life of this community even richer, climbing mountains, becoming Eagle Scouts, becoming adults.
You’re all doing such an amazing job at all of these, and we love to see it happening.
I’m here tonight because Perrin’s classmates, led by his “identical cousin” Philip, have created the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, a Staples Tuition Grant that – because of the generosity of so many at the 3-on-3 basketball tournament, at the Skate for Perrin at Longshore, at the Perrin Delorey Memorial Cup hockey game, or responding to our outreach, or to our generous coverage in “06880” — the award will be given in perpetuity to help students pursue their dreams of higher education.
Perpetuity is a long time, and we are so grateful for every one at Staples Tuition Grants who made this possible: Joan Gillman, Aiko Nose, Kara and Philip Sullivan, everyone who donated.
James Delorey
I was kindly asked for my thoughts about criteria – what do we want this award to represent. I think Jeff Brill of Westport Little League really got it right with the Perrin Ryan Delorey Sportsmanship Award, presented not to the “best” player, but to the player who works the hardest to improve and help their teammates.
We are so inspired by all the recipients of this award. This occasion makes me think forward about the continued adventures of Perrin’s friends and peers as they enter adulthood.
What will you teach us? Where will you take us? What will you teach others? What kind of families will you build? How many people will you help? Who will you love? What kind of lives will you make?
We had all these questions and great expectations for Perrin. Now have them for his little sisters, and, honest, we have them for all of you!
Perrin Delorey, at Yale Bowl.
We love watching his cousins, classmates and friends grow up. We are so proud of you as you accomplish great things, and we exult in you becoming who you are. We can’t help but wonder what kind of person Perrin would be today, what would he be interested in, and what great new things he would be teaching us.
I have a poster here of our last photo of Perrin as a Cub Scout. It’s the most grown up he looks in any photo, and it’s the one that is easiest to imagine him looking like as a high school senior.
It’s a photo from our annual end-of-year pack picnic at Compo Beach, just a week before he died. Mireille is going to this same picnic in a few days.
The last event of the picnic – of the Scouting year – is the great tug of war. All the photos are amazing. Determined smiles on every Cub Scout. Pure joy on the faces of the parents cheering them on.
Perrin is so handsome in this photo. He just looks so strong and confident. I’ve seen the same looks on your faces as we have watched you grow up these last eight years.
In this Cub Scout tug of war photo, it’s clear, Perrin is playing the game right, doing his best, making a difference for his team, pulling as hard as he can. What a bright future that boy had.
What a bright future you all have.
I am so excited for all of you. Have fun at college, learn something from everyone you meet. Be kind and do your best to make their experience an excellent one, too. You have an amazing future, and you’re going to make a difference in other people’s lives.
So now, and as you go on your amazing adventures, we ask you to do this from time to time: Take a deep breath, say your friend Perrin’s name out loud — “Perrin” — and do your best to help someone else’s dreams come true.
I love you. We love you. Thank you.
(For more information on Staples Tuition Grants — including how to donate to the Perry Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, and others — click here.)
Fifty years of Apple history flew by in an hour last night.
David Pogue educated, entertained and intrigued a full house. The writer/TV correspondent/explainer-in-chief returned to the Westport Library — where he often spoke and moderated panels, during his 20 years in town — for an author talk on his new book about the tech behemoth’s first half century.
David Pogue, with a vintage photo of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
Accompanied by a whiz-bang slide show, Pogue romped through the highs (2.5 billion people own an Apple device) and lows (in the 1990s, they were 6 weeks away from bankruptcy).
Apple’s market cap is now $4 trillion dollars. They make $1 million every 90 seconds.
Pogue — who for the first 10 years of his career was a Broadway conductor — used the Library’s grand piano to belt out 3 song parodies. One — a “My Way” takeoff called “I Want an iPhone” — was filmed in Westport.
David Pogue at the piano, singing about an iPhone. (Photo/Susan Garment)
He showed it on the big screen. I’m sure it was filmed, edited and projected using Apple products.
Before the event, David Pogue chatted with Jay Babina. The teenager runs the very cool Westport Tech Museum, filled with early generation Apple successes and failure. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Seventeen members of Staples High School’s premier jazz ensemble, Staples Jazz 1, earned several standing ovations Friday night, from a standing room only crowd at New York’s Birdland Jazz Club.
The group was the opening act for the Birdland Big Band, at one of the jazz world’s most iconic venues.
The high energy performance, directed by Kevin Mazzarella, featured classics including “Moten Swing” and “Big Swing Face.”
It was a full day of music, for the young musicians. Earlier in the day they participated in an educational clinic led by Birdland Big Band director David DeJesus, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Maria Marmarou. The students received personalized coaching, performance feedback, and professional insights.
“For many jazz musicians, performing at Birdland is a dream,” says Mazzarella. “For our students to have the opportunity not only to perform there, but also to learn from world-class musicians and then share the stage with the Birdland Big Band, was truly extraordinary. What made me proudest was not just the quality of the music, but the way these students supported one another, carried themselves professionally, and embraced every moment of the experience.”
Staples Jazz Ensemble, at Birdland.
================================================
Fresh off the 53rd annual Fine Arts Festival, the Westport Downtown Association is gearing up for summer.
The Sidewalk Sale returns June 26-28.
And summer music is back on Church Lane, entertaining diners and strollers. The weekend schedule includes many popular names.
June 5: Owen Daniel
June 6: Moss
June 12: Ethan Walmark
June 13: Dan Tressler
June 19: Owen Daniel
June 20: Eliot Thompson
June 26: Moss
June 27: Vinnie Ferrone
Summer music on Church Lane. (Photo/Jonathan Alloy)
The Westport Farmers’ Market is many things, to many people.
To chef/owner Brian Lewis of The Cottage, it means a special Farmers’ Market Menu.
Available at dinner Tuesday through Sunday all summer long, the $65 3-course menu highlights ingredients sourced from local farms and producers. It’s a seasonal snapshot of food at its peak, while supporting local agriculture.
The menu evolves, as new ingredients become available. Current offerings include:
Fort Hill Farm kohlrabi salad with pea leaf ricotta, chili vinaigrette, and coffee walnut crumble
Hand-rolled garganelli with Double A Ranch chicken sausage, broccoli rabe, and sunflower seeds
Ox Hollow Farm beef sirloin with fermented gooseberries, mustard greens, burnt alliums, and red wine jus.
The Farmers’ Market Menu coincides with the opening of the Cottage patio, for outdoor dining.
Brian Lewis shops at the Farmers’ Market — and shows off a dish.
For Sustainable Westport, the first Monday of each month is special.
That’s the evening for a casual meet-up. It’s a great chance for people to learn more about sustainability, from getting involved with the organization to making an impact at home.
We’ve posted a couple of times about the Whitney Street road reconstruction and sidewalk renovation project. We’ve noted in particularly the huge boulders involved.
Here’s one more photo. It shows the scale of the work — and the great job being done by the workers.
Drummer Greg Burrows is one of Greg (The Jazz Rabbi) Wall’s favorite musicians.
This Thursday (June 4, 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner at 7), Burrows headlines “Jazz at the Post” — the long-running series at VFW Post 399 created by Wall and the Jazz Society of Fairfield County.
Burrows will play the music of noted composer Ed Bonoff, with whom he’s collaborated for decades. He’ll be joined by saxophonists Wall and Frank Basile, trombonist John Fumasoli, pianist David Childs and bassist Rick Zurkowski.
The Staples High School Jazz Ensemble II will play at 7.
And finally … it’s the 3rd of June. Here in Westport, it’s not exactly another sleepy, dusty Delta day.
But … well, you know the rest:
(The 3rd of June — and all other 364 days — are perfect times to show support for “06880.” From here to the Tallahatchie Bridge, it’s where Westport meets the world. Please click here — and thanks!)
All over town, builders and families are buying old (and some young) homes, and tearing them down.
Some were poorly constructed, and go easily. Others are more sturdy. But they too succumb to the wrecking ball.
It will take a lot to topple 50 Sylvan Road North — the 1920 Tudor Revival owned by a host of well-known people, including actor Frank Gorshin and billionaire Marc Lasry.
(Photo courtesy of MLS)
Fortunately, that won’t happen.
And not just because the walls are more than 2 feet thick.
50 Sylvan Road North, today.
The 9-bedroom, 8 1/2-bathroom stone home, on a 3-acre lot, was bought 2 1/2 years ago by attorney Jeffrey Ment and Dr. Mary Murray, Westporters since 2000.
Sturdy construction, from 1920.
They’ve painstakingly renovated the long-neglected property, both inside and out.
Mary Murray, in her back yard.
The interior was in bad shape. The exterior — including gardens, statues and fountains that had disappeared under weeds and algae — was worse.
It’s taken time, energy, creativity and love. But now, 50 Sylvan — beckoning behind an old-style stone wall — looks much as it did when Charles Cutler designed it over 100 years ago.
If it looks a bit like other local landmarks, there’s a reason: Cutler also created the Westport Bank & Trust (Patagonia) building downtown, and Greens Farms Elementary School.
The first owner was Arthur Dare Whiteside, president of Dun & Bradstreet. Subsequent owners included a variety of artists and actors, including Gorshin — The Riddler on “Batman,” among many other notable roles.
But by the time Murray and her husband — who passed it often, on their walks from nearby Marion Road — bought it, it had fallen into disrepair.
It took them a while to figure out what to do, or even where to begin.
As landscape architects Beate Hochman and Emilio Mandujano explored, they found overgrown sculptures, rock gardens, even a pond. “It was like an architectural dig,” Murray recalls.
This sculpture and fountain was rediscovered, and restored.
Gradually, the property has been transformed. The owners have added their own touches too, like a farm building with 10 chickens and 5 ducks, and a nearby koi pond.
The chicken and duck coop, with pond in front.
Inside, Murray and Ment have restored carvings — of Latin sayings, animals and more — in nearly every room. They’ve brought old fireplaces back to life.
Intricate carvings, over one of many fireplaces.
They’ve worked on rooms that were important a century ago but are no longer needed, like the one where Whiteside’s driver could pull in and wait. He was not allowed anywhere else in the house.
It’s been a labor of love — and mystery — for the owner. “This is such a special place in Westport history,” Murray says. “I keep imagining that world, and what it was like, 100 years ago.
“Westport is a place of creativity. It’s nice to remember who we were, and still are.
“I don’t why anyone would need new construction, when they could have this.”
Mary Murray, at the rear of her home.
Another restoration at 50 Sylvan Road North.
Landscape architect Beate Hochman is responsible for much of the work on 50 Sylvan Road North. The detached garage in the back was added by a previous owner, after the home was built. (All photos/Dan Woog unless otherwise noted.)
The Emmert family — owners of Cold Fusion — send this note to the Westport community:
With bittersweet emotions, we announce that Cold Fusion Gelato will close at the end of August. We will focus on the manufacturing side of our business.
As we enter our 6th summer season, we have so much gratitude for our wonderful customers, generations of staff and the community. Whether you’ve come by to satisfy a craving, to celebrate a special occasion or simply for a cup of coffee, it’s been our pleasure to serve you.
We are passionate about creating an all-natural, preservative-free, artisan product. We sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed our gelato and the experience in our store.
A Cold Fusion sampling.
Westport is a special place for families, and that is reflected at Cold Fusion. We consider it a privilege to be a place where many teens experience their first job.
It’s been a such a joy to be a part of our employees’ journey growing into adulthood. Many of our alumni stay in touch; quite a few have since graduated college and started their careers. We couldn’t be prouder.
As 20-year residents of Westport, the store has become our second home downtown. We are thankful for one last season of meeting new customers, family meet-ups, laughter and smiling faces.
Come join us for as much gelato as you can handle for the next few months — and look out for our product at surrounding supermarkets and restaurants.
In the spring of 2010, Staples Players staged a very challenging show: the dark yet comic musical “Little Shop of Horrors.”
It had a little bit of everything — from rock, doo wop and Motown to an enormous talking plant that feeds on human blood and flesh
Media instructor Jim Honeycutt filmed that classic production. Click here or below to see.
A number of cast members went on to careers in creative fields. Among them:
Peter Molesworth (Seymour) is a successful writer, actor and filmmaker. Recent acting credits include “Pear,” “How to Catfish Your Ex” and “Fix.”
Eva Hendricks (Audrey) is a lead singer, and Dan Shure (Mr. Mushnick) plays bass, in Charley Bliss, a successful New York band. Their current release is “Back There Now.”
Michelle Pauker (Audrey) is a singer and actor. She has appeared in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Idaho Shakespeare Festival), “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (Great Lakes Theatre Company), and “Into The Woods (Forestburgh Playhouse).
Max Samuels(Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.) is a is a stage and screen actor known for his roles in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” He also appeared in “George Kaplan,” “Angry Young Man,” “The Winter’s Tale” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”
Matthew Van Gessel (Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.) is an actor, director and writer. He played Isaac Goodenow in the “The Sudbury Devil,” appeared in the film “Bookworm,” was featured as an actor in the project RedDrop, and was cast as Father Rand in “The Vampires of New Orleans.”
Tori Schachne (Shirelle) is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the vocalist for the indie-electronic/synth-pop duo Soft Streak. They played at SXSW as official artists in 2019 and toured the West Coast, opening for Brother Tiger. Their music has been featured in Netflix and cable tv shows.
Clay Singer (Radio Quintet) has extensive theater credits including “Masquerade” (New York), “Fiddler On the Roof” (St. Louis), “Perchik” (Westport), “The Band’s Visit” (North American tour), “Into the Woods” (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), “Next to Normal” (Vero Beach, Florida), “Man of La Mancha” (Westport), “Romeo and Juliet” and “Ragtime” and “The Full Monty” (both Pittsburgh).
Madeline Seidman (Mrs. Luce) is an actor. Her off-Broadway credits include “Garside’s Career,” “Partnership” and “Becomes a Woman.” Regional credits include “Love, Love, Love” (Washington) and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (Chautauqua, New York). She can be seen in the TV shows “Elsbeth” and “A League of Their Own.”
81 students received $420,000 in scholarships, at Staples Tuition Grants’ annual ceremony. The average award — $5,186 per recipient — is a record in STG’s 85-year history.
But the greatest highlights were speeches honoring Perrin Delorey. A 4th grader at Greens Farms Elementary School when he died in an automobile accident, he would have graduated this month with Staples’ Class of 2026.
Philip worked with his uncle and aunt, James and Angela Delorey, his mother Kara Sullivan, and his and Perrin’s classmates, to endow a new Perrin Delorey Do Your Best Award. Philip and James spoke lovingly of the legacy Perrin set, and of the importance of remembering and honoring him.
Their words brought tears to many in the Staples library. They deserve a wider audience too. Philip said:
Thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here tonight. I know this time of the year is pretty crazy.
Standing in front of you right now is an experience that is hard to put into words. I see a room filled with classmates, friends, families, and community members coming together to celebrate something so wonderful. I am so blessed that I was among the many that had a role in making it happen.
Philip Sullivan, at last night’s Staples Tuition Grants ceremony. (Photo/Dan Woog)
I think I speak for all of my graduating classmates when I say that high school is a journey with many challenges and self-discoveries. It is for this reason that graduation is so special to all of us.
Collectively and individually, we have completed tasks and achievements that in some cases were beyond our wildest dreams. And now, the universe of possibilities opens for us as we prepare to take steps toward college, career development, and an endless sea of choices for how we continue following our hopes and dreams. The mere idea of graduating from a school life that we have known since we were little kids, and entering the world as adults is sometimes more exciting than I can fathom.
As a 4th grader in Westport, my cousin Perrin was just like any of us at that age. He was playful, silly, quirky, had countless inside jokes and funny games that he shared with me and his friends — and like the rest of us, he was full of hopes and dreams.
He loved fancy cars and international travel. He played many sports, baseball and hockey being his favorites. Together we endured religion classes, shared holiday traditions and piano recitals and karaoke nights, and produced our own home movies. I am sure that many in the Class of 2026 see a bit of themselves in their memory of who Perrin was as a kid.
Philip Sullivan created these sports cards honoring his cousin, and passed them out to last night’s Tuition Grants recipients.
When Perrin’s life ended, my class faced a new reality that many of us had likely never considered — understanding our own vulnerability and wondering what would happen to our own dreams.
But almost as instantly as he was gone, a tremendous wave of community support swarmed in to aid the blow to our elementary school spirits.
Several good samaritans from Westport Little League organized a way for us to be together as a community. Friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances from near and far showed up. They let me and my family know that we weren’t alone in our grief. The communities of Westport, our schools, our clubs, our friends immediately saw solidarity in being together and there for each other at an otherwise very difficult time.
To my Aunt Angela and Uncle James, and to my grandparents also here tonight: your strength and love continues to inspire us all.
It’s this same spirit of widespread support and love, centralized in Westport and spanning beyond our town borders, that came together this fall and spring, to raise the more than necessary funds to establish the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award.
Perrin Delorey, with a Little League game ball he was awarded.
Just as Perrin represented the young kid in all of us as Westport 4th graders, the Staples graduates represent the best of Westport youth. The recipients of the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award receive not only the gift of a scholarship to help them achieve their dreams, but the reminder that they come from a community that loves and believes in them so much, that hundreds of donors made generous contributions of all sizes, to support them in their dreams, in honor of a life lost too early.
This year’s recipients are near and dear to me because they have been my friends and classmates since I was in kindergarten. Just like Perrin represented all of us when we were in 4th grade, these recipients represent the class of 2026.
They are hard working, kind, unique, strong, and filled with hopes and dreams. If there was ever a way to turn a tragedy into something joyful and hopeful, it is through the awarding of the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award to some of Staples High School’s brightest and most deserving students. I am filled with gratitude to have been able to help facilitate establishing this award.
I am eternally grateful to the community of people that helped us remember Perrin through the students of today and the future. And I especially want to thank my mom, Kara Sullivan, for all of the help and support she has given. This scholarship truly wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Thank you to my Westport community, friends, family members and all who support me and our class by remembering Perrin. And congratulations to Jordan and Dylan.
(For more information on Staples Tuition Grants — including how to donate to the Perry Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, and others — click here.)
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)
GET THE “06880” APP
The “06880” app (search for it on the Apple or Android store) is the easiest way to get “06880.” Choose notifications: whenever a new post is published, or once or twice a day. Click here for details.
