Category Archives: History

Vietnam War Veterans Day: A Westporter Remembers

Posted on March 29, 2025 | 38 comments

Carl Addison Swanson reminds us that today is National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

Memorializing the date in 1973 when the last American ground troops left Vietnam, it is a day of recognition, remembrance, healing and education.

Swanson – a longtime Westport resident, Staples High School graduate, and author of books about Vietnam — has a special connection to today.

He served there.

About 2.7 million other Americans did as well. 58,000 died there.

And 300,000 of Swanson’s comrades have died since the end of the war, from exposure to Agent Orange.

Vietnam Memorial wall, in Washington.

Swanson says that according to government statistics, on any given night 40,000 veterans are homeless. Half are from the Vietnam era.

49 Westporters served in Vietnam, Swanson notes. One was a woman, Clistie Spearen, who joined the Navy after graduating from Staples in 1966. She ended up an E-9, after 20 years as a “WAVE.”

Meanwhile, a group of local women, calling themselves “Project Hope,” sent care packages to every Westporter in Vietnam each month, for over 5 years.

“Their chocolate chip cookies were legendary,” Swanson says. “It speaks to the compassion of many who chose not to protest, but to do something directly for the military personnel.”

Five Westporters never came home.

A plaque in Veterans Green, opposite Town Hall, honors their service.

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One of those 5 is Timothy Barmmer. In 2012, “06880” honored him, with this story:

The World War I and II memorials across from Town Hall are impressive.

But nearby lies a smaller, less-noticed plaque. This one salutes 5 Westporters killed in Vietnam. Timothy M. Barmmer (Marine Corps), Michael B. Paquin and Stephen A. Shortall (Army) and Frederick M. Rader III and Francis A. Walsh (Air Force) are cited for their “honorable service in Southeast Asia, in the face of uncommon adversity.”

Westport’s Vietnam Memorial, opposite Town Hall.

In January 1968 — more than a year after arriving in Vietman — Tim Barmmer wrote to his parents in Westport:

Listen, I’m sorry I’ve waited so long, but I went to Bangkok for 7 days, and when I got back we were pretty busy.

I guess you’ve heard a lot about Khe Sanh on the news & stuff, but DON’T WORRY! I’ll be honest, we’ve been getting hit with rocket & artillery every day, & they’ve surrounded us, but if you’ve seen the support we get, you’d feel as good as I do.

We have built a bunker so good, NOTHING could get through it — believe me.

Lance Corporal Tim Barmmer

We have jets bombing the area every 15 minutes, gunships, & B52 bombers every day. Feel a little better? I have not been SCRATCHED. The American flag flies atop our hole, unscathed!

We call ourselves the “glorious untouchables” and we’ve been put in for two more medals. How about that?

I’m pretty sure they’ll be pulling us out after all this is over, ’cause we’ve lost about 40 in a month — maybe we’ll go to Okinawa or something!

Bangkok was REALLY GREAT! I’m gonna go back there some day — met some really good people there. Thailand people are really friendly & good to Americans. It was terrific R&R!

I have a lot of work to do. Take care of yourself, and remember – I AM FINE — morale is terrific, and the guys are fighting their hearts out. Keep praying as I am, and we’ll keep fighting for you.

I made TV carrying a wounded News Coresspondent down the street — look for me on CBS! How about that?

Don’t worry, please. Give my love to all, and I’ll see you in 4 1/2 months. Love you all,
Tim.

Two days later — on January 30, 1968 — Lance Corporal Timothy M. Barmmer was killed by enemy fire. He was 20 years old.

Tim Barmmer’s company.

A recon corpsman said, “He died in my arms. He died trying to get someone else in the bunker during incoming… Tim was literally throwing people in (the bunker). Shrapnel got to him.”

Later, Tim’s parents received a letter from a woman named Viola Howes. Her son Roger had often written about Tim — his best friend, and someone who “made this place bearable.”

This time, Roger wrote about his best friend’s death. Viola wanted another mother to read Roger’s words:

Yesterday evening we were sitting in our bunker eating C rations and a rocket came in about 3 feet from it. Huck (Tim’s nickname), Doc, Mac and Zeke were outside heating chow. Huck tried to push them in like the big stupid loveable guy he was and took the blast and was killed instantly. The other 3 are in serious condition and sent back to the States.

My God, what a dear friend we’ve lost, Huck was big and big hearted, he could be gruff yet gentle. We loved him like a brother and he left an impression that could never be forgotten. Everyone in our company could not help but like him. He was first to help a new guy coming in. He was the first one to welcome me here. This place can never be the same without him.

God has some purpose in it I know, but Oh God, we will miss him. Could you do me a very great favor and have a Mass said for Huck. His name is Timothy Barmmer. Thanks Mom, so much.”

Timothy Barmmer’s name is engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. It’s panel 35E, Row 65.

His name lives forever, too, in the much smaller — but no less significant — Vietnam veterans’ plaque opposite Town Hall, right here in Tim Barmmer’s hometown.

38 Comments

Posted in History

Tagged Carl Addison Swanson, Timothy Barmmer, Vietnam War

Pics Of The Day #2874

Posted on March 2, 2025 | Comments Off

Connecticut’s 9/11 Memorial is at Sherwood Island State Park, for 2 very poignant reasons.

On that awful day, residents stood at the shore and watched smoke rise from the Twin Towers.

The site was ready to be used as a staging area, for rescue equipment. Sadly, it was never used.

The memorial is inscribed with the names of all 161 state residents killed that tragic morning.

The other day, Pam Docters visited the memorial. Among the usual shells and pebbles left by family members, friends and strangers, she saw beautiful sea glass.

Nearly 25 years later, in mid-winter, we remember and honor all those we lost.

Scott and Keith Coleman (bottom row, center) were Staples High School graduates. They worked together, at the World Trade Center. (Photos/Pam Docters)

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Posted in Beach, History, Pic of the Day

Tagged 9/11 Living Memorial, Sherwood Island State Park

Marc Selverstone: Presidential Scholar Studies #47

Posted on February 24, 2025 | 10 comments

Marc Selverstone is a presidential scholar.

He teaches and writes about the American presidency.

In 2025, that’s like being someone who studied ocean liners and icebergs in 1912.

That’s my analogy, not his.

Marc Selverstone

Selverstone — a 1980 graduate of Staples High School — is the University of Virginia Miller Center’s director of presidential studies, and co-chair of its Presidential Recordings Program.

The Miller Center is non-partisan. When we spoke on Friday, Selverstone chose his words carefully and judiciously.

But still …

In the 50 years since its founding the Center has examined tapes, conducted oral histories, convened panels, and embarked on many other projects. It gauges the trajectory of the presidency as an institution, and make recommendations to ensure its effectiveness in American life.

Neither Selverstone nor his colleagues have ever seen a presidency like the current one.

They are not journalists, writing about executive orders, negotiations and norms-breaking as they occur.

They are not pundits or talking heads, explaining it all on TV or podcasts.

Presidential scholars wait. They need access to documents, records, memoirs and other historical information, to examine and assess the success or failure of any particular administion.

But still …

In his first term, President Trump showed an unprecedented disregard for the Presidential Records Act. In many ways, his second administration is even less bound by tradition (and laws) than the first.

It’s clear, Selverstone says, that — unlike in 2017 — the Trump administration was ready to govern from Day One.

“They had a very clear sense of what they wanted to do in terms of policy and execution, and who they wanted to have involved,” he notes.

“That’s especialy true with their use of executive orders. There have been dozens already.

Since January 20, President Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders.

“it’s so hard to get things done through Congress. So presidents reach for executive power. Most presidents of a different party come in and reverse some orders of the previous president, and add some of their own. But this expands greatly on what other presidents have done in the first 100 days.”

Because Republicans control the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the White House, Trump can “flex his executive might as much as possible,” Selverstone says.

“His followers like that — even though, by and large, many Americans are concerned about too much executive power.”

Selverstone adds, “We’d be hard pressed int he modern era to identify another president who tiptoes to the line, to suggest that laws or courts might not matter.

While Congress is a co-equal branch of government, right now members are “not really holding the president’s feet to the fire, in areas like personnel and policy.”

In recent years, Selverstone says, the balance of power has shifted more to the executive branch. The Trump presidency had accelerated that trend.

In fact, he adds, “as Trump asserts authority over ndependent agencies in a way that makes some people uncomfortable, he seems to invite court challenges. Favorable rulings could expand his power even more. That to me is a very different presidency.”

Recent Supreme Court rulings have widened presidential power.

Meanwhile, the Federal Election Commission is, like other independent agencies, in Trump’s crosshairs. Its independence is no longer assured.

The norms being overturned now date back to the post-Watergate era, after Richard Nixon sowed fears about an “imperial presidency.” Selverstone is very familiar with that period, through his work with the Miller Center’s Recordings Program. He helped transcribe and analyze White House tapes that Nixon — among other presidents — made in secret.

“Whistleblower protection, inspectors general, the FBI — they’re all being neutered now. Not even Nixon would have done that,” Selverstone says.

President Nixon tested many presidential norms.

What does all this mean for Selverstone, and the Miller Center?

“We pride ourselves on being a non-partisan institution,” he says.

“We look at an array of challenges, and explore how the presidency addresses them in national life. As trust in government plummets, that’s of great concern to us at the center.

“We engage citizens from all walks of life, in both parties. We run programs that look at uses of presidential power, with people from both sides of the aisle.

“We convene scholars to think throught how we got here, what it means for us now, what might be done, and ask, will it stand the test of time?”

An important conference is set for the fall. Major figures from past administrations — Republican and Democratic — who “believe in good government” will offer insights into the past, present and future.

Based on the first 5 weeks of the administration of the 47th president of the United States, they’ll have plenty to talk about.

(“06880” is “where Westport meets the world.” This story — about a Staples grad who studies national politics — is one small example of what we do. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

10 Comments

Posted in History, Politics, Staples HS

Tagged Marc Selverstone, President T, University of Virginia Miller Center

Library Closed — Harriet Tubman Event Tonight Is Virtual; Board of Ed Postponed

Posted on February 6, 2025 | 1 comment

The Westport Library is closed all day today (Thursday).

They hoped to open at 2 p.m. But the forecast of additional precipitation and potential for icy road conditions made a full-day closure the safest option for patrons and staff.

Tonight’s scheduled program — “Harriet Tubman: Military Scout and Tenacious Visionary: Author Talk With Jean Marie Wiesen and Tubman’s Descendant, Rita Daniels” — has been moved to a virtual event, at 7 p.m. Click here for the link.

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In addition, tonight’s Board of Education has been postponed to next week (Thursday, February 13, 7 p.m., Staples High School cafeteria).

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Posted in Education, History, Library

Tagged Board of Education, Harriet Tubman

MLK

Posted on January 20, 2025 | 6 comments

This story has become a Martin Luther King Day tradition on “06880.” At this point in our nation’s history, today — more than ever — we should think about the history of our nation before Dr. King was born.

And where we are, nearly 6 decades after his death.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. Westporters will celebrate with a day off from school or work. Some will sleep in; others will shop, or go for a walk. Few will give any thought to Martin Luther King.

Twice, though, his life intersected this town in important ways.

The first was Friday night, May 22, 1964. According to Woody Klein’s book Westport, Connecticut, King had been invited to speak at Temple Israel by synagogue member Jerry Kaiser.

King arrived in the afternoon. Kaiser and his wife Roslyn sat on their porch that afternoon, and talked with King and 2 of his aides. She was impressed with his “sincerity, warmth, intelligence and genuine concern for those about him — our children, for instance. He seemed very young to bear such a burden of leadership.”

Martin Luther King, with Sarah and Tema Kaiser at their home on Brooklawn Drive, before his Temple Israel appearance. Their brother Michael had a cold, and was not allowed near Dr. King.

King’s sermon — to a packed audience — was titled “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” He analogized his America to the time of Rip Van Winkle — who also “slept through a revolution. The greatest liability of history is that people fail to see a revolution taking place in our world today. We must support the social movement of the Negro.”

Westport artist Roe Halper presented King with 3 woodcarvings, representing the civil rights struggle. He hung them proudly in the front hallway of his Atlanta home.

Artist Roe Halper (left) presents Coretta Scott King with civil rights-themed wood carvings.

Within a month Temple Israel’s rabbi, Byron Rubenstein, traveled south to take place in a nonviolent march. He was arrested — along with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

In jail, the rabbi said, “I came to know the greatness of Dr. King. I never heard a word of hate or bitterness from that man, only worship of faith, joy and determination.”

King touched Westport again less than 4 years later. On April 5, 1968 — the day after the civil rights leader’s assassination in Memphis — 600 Staples students gathered for a lunchtime vigil in the courtyard. Nearby, the flag flew at half-staff.

A small portion of the large crowd listens to Fermino Spencer.

Vice principal Fermino Spencer addressed the crowd. Movingly, he spoke about his own experience as an African American. Hearing the words “my people” made a deep impression on the almost all-white audience. For many, it was the 1st time they had heard a black perspective on white America.

No one knew what lay ahead for their country. But student Jim Sadler spoke for many when he said: “I’m really frightened. Something is going to happen.”

Dr. Martin Luther King

Something did — and it was good. A few hundred students soon met in the cafeteria. Urged by a minister and several anti-poverty workers to help bridge the chasm between Westport and nearby cities, Staples teachers and students vowed to create a camp.

Within 2 months, it was a reality. That summer 120 elementary and junior high youngsters from Westport, Weston, Norwalk and Bridgeport participated in the Intercommunity Camp. Led by over 100 Staples students and many teachers, they enjoyed swimming, gymnastics, dance, sports, field trips, overnight camping, creative writing, filmmaking, photography, art and reading.

It wasn’t easy — some in Westport opposed bringing underprivileged children to their town — but for over a decade the Intercommunity Camp flourished.

Eventually, enthusiasm for and interest in the camp waned. Fewer Staples students and staff members wanted to devote their summer to such a project. The number of Westporters willing to donate their pools dwindled. Today the Intercommunity Camp is a long-forgotten memory.

Sort of like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Even on his birthday.

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Martin Luther King Day bonus feature: In the late 1950s, Westporter Tracy Sugarman took his son Dickie, and Dickie’s friend Miggs Burroughs, to a picnic in Stamford.

Rev. Martin Luther King was there, at the invitation of the host: Jackie Robinson.

Sugarman — a noted illustrator – was also a civil rights activist.

Miggs — a junior high student — took the Minox “spy” camera he’d bought earlier that summer.

He still has those photos. Here are the 2 pioneering Black Americans: Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson.

(Photos/Miggs Burroughs)

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Posted in History, Politics, religion, Staples HS

Tagged Martin Luther King Day, Roe Halper, Westport Intercommunity Camp

World For Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2024 | 3 comments

One of the many joys of Staples High School’s 84th annual Candlelight Concert was the debut of a stunning a cappella song.

Eight singers performed “World for Christmas” — Anders Edenroth’s quiet message of concern yet hope for our planet, delivered through the eyes and voice of a newborn child — with beauty, love, and teenage optimism.

Copyright issues prohibit a link to the Staples performance. But today — a day to celebrate faith, hope and joy, in a world filled with negativity, and teetering on the brink of self-destruction — “06880” offers this version of the stunning Candlelight Concert song.

It’s the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse
The stockings are hung by the chimney with care
But hopes for Saint Nicholas I wish I could share

I am new to this world, I arrived here this morn
To this beautiful planet, though beat up and torn
I don’t need a gift, need no more than I’ve got
Hear the unspoken wish from a tiny, tiny tot

I only want the world for Christmas
The blue green for ever turning world for Chistmas
Nothing more nothing less
I want it for keeps and I promise to share
So that everyone who wants can cuddle and care
I only want the world for chistmas
The blue green for ever turning world for christmas
To restore to repossess
Please make it last, my fate is in your hands
Oh give me a present for the future

You could follow your heart, but you follow a whim
And fill up your stockings way over the brim
Ignoring the signs in your frail crystal ball
You wish away, wish away, wish away all

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow
Gives a luster of midday to objects below
Why your eyes won’t see
When they’re given all this light
I wonder, I wonder this very special night

I only want the world for Chistmas
The blue green for ever turning world for Chistmas
To restore to repossess
Please make it last, my fate is in your hands
Oh give me, oh give me
Oh give me, oh give me
Oh give me a present for the future.

“Earthrise.” This iconic photograph was taken during a lunar orbit by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968.

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Posted in Arts, Environment, History, Staples HS

Tagged "World for Christmas", Candlelight Concert

December 7, 1941

Posted on December 8, 2024 | 11 comments

Yesterday was December 7 — a date, President Franklin Roosevelt promised, that will “live in infamy.”

Joey Karmanosky had graduated 6 months earlier from Staples High School, where he was sports editor of the Inklings newspaper.

In his diary, he wrote: “We got home late from Church today. Mom had to stop for some errands and the car wouldn’t start. It is old and I know Pops will not get another one.

“We walked home in the cold. We got home about 2:00 or so and the house was cold too. A few neighbors were there and the radio was on full blast. I think it was a CBS channel from the city because it was all crackling and I could barely hear anything. Two neighbors were over too. Listening.

“‘The Japs bombed us,'” one neighbor said to my mother. She went straight to the bedroom.

“I sat on the floor next to Pops. His hand was twitching. ‘What does this mean, Pops?’ I asked.

“‘We are at war,’ he said with no emotion. I got up after awhile and walked out on our street down toward the beach (Burying Hill) and figured I would have to join up to fight. What else could I do?”

According to Carl Addison Swanson, who sent along the chilling diary excerpt, Joey enlisted in the Army right after new year’s, in 1942. He served in the Pacific theater (New Guinea).

He returned to Westport in April 1944, “thin as a rail.” He discontinued his diary shortly after enlisting.

Carl says that Joey served as a Westport mail carrier for decades. He died in 2006.

Joey Karmanosky

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Posted in History

Tagged Joey Karmanosky, Pearl Harbor

November 22, 1963

Posted on November 22, 2024 | 55 comments

Today is Friday, November 22, 2024.

If you were alive on Friday, November 22, 1963 — and were over, say, 5 years old — you understand how dramatically, and traumatically, America shifted that day.

If you weren’t, there is no way you can comprehend it.

The murder of President Kennedy was a horrific, galvanizing moment in time. It happened 61 years ago today, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was in 5th grade. Since September my friends and I had walked to and from school. We gathered on High Point Road, cut through the Staples High School athletic fields and parking lot, sauntered down North Avenue, walked across open farmland, and arrived at Burr Farms Elementary.

We were like the “Stand By Me” boys: talking about kid stuff, reveling in our independence, figuring out each other and the world, in a world that would soon mightily change.

Minutes before school ended that beautiful Friday, the teacher from next door burst into our room. “Kennedy got killed!” she yelled. A girl broke into spontaneous applause. Her father was a leading Republican in town.

Our teacher slapped her face.

Usually, our teacher wished us a happy weekend. That day the bell rang, and we just left. No one knew how to interpret her reaction. We’d never seen a teacher hit a student before.

Then again, we’d never heard of our president being murdered.

As my friends and I gathered for our ritual walk home, we suddenly had Something Big to talk about. For the first time in our lives, we discussed news. We had no details, but already we sensed that the world we knew would never be the same.

That vague feeling was confirmed the moment we walked down the exit road, into the Staples parking lot. School had been out for an hour, but clots of students huddled around cars, listening to radios. Girls sobbed — boys, too. Their arms were wrapped around each other, literally clinging together for support. I’d never seen one teenager cry. Now there were dozens.

At home, I turned on the television. Black-and-white images mirrored the scene at Staples a few minutes earlier. Newscasters struggled to contain their emotions; men and women interviewed in the street could not.

The president was dead. Now it was true. I saw it on TV.

Walter Cronkite on CBS, announcing the death of President Kennedy.

My best friend, Glenn, slept over that night. The television was on constantly. The longer I watched, the more devastated I became.

John F. Kennedy was the first president I knew. My father had taken me to a campaign rally in Bridgeport 3 years earlier. I could not articulate it then, but I admired JFK’s energy, was inspired by his youthfulness, and vowed to grow up and (like him) make a difference.

Now he was dead.

Bill Mauldin captured the grief of a nation.

Saturday was rainy and blustery. I watched more TV. Like most Americans, I was obsessed by this unfolding tragedy. Like them too I had no idea that the impact of that weekend would remain, seared in my brain and heart, 6 decades later.

Sunday was the first day I cried. The raw emotions of all the adults around — in the streets of Westport, and on the television screen — finally overwhelmed me. I cried for the dead president, my fallen hero; for his widow and children; for everyone else who looked so sad and vulnerable.

Then — right after noon — Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Once again I sat transfixed by the TV. I was stunned, and scared.

Monday was a brilliant fall day. President Kennedy was laid to rest under a crisp, cloudless sky. The unforgettably moving ceremony was watched by virtually everyone in the world with access to a television.

To my everlasting regret, I did not see it live. Glenn said we could not sit inside on a day off from school. Rather than risk being called a nerd (or whatever word we used in 1963), I chose playing touch football at Staples over watching history. I was in 5th grade. What did I know?

The coffin, at Arlington National Cemetery.

The next day we went back to school. The Staples parking lot looked exactly as it had before that fateful Friday. Our teacher never said a word about slapping the girl who cheered President Kennedy’s assassination.

Thanksgiving arrived on schedule 2 days later. At our dinner — like every other table in America — the adults tried to steer the conversation away from the awful events that had consumed us for nearly a week.

In the days and months to come — as the country slowly, painfully, pulled itself out of its collective, overwhelming grief — I devoured everything about President Kennedy I could find. I saved Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post. I ordered the Warren Commission report. Like so many others I still have it all, somewhere.

In the years that followed, my admiration for the young, slain president grew, then ebbed. But it never died. He remained my political hero: the first president I ever knew, cared about, was mesmerized by, and mourned.

When President Kennedy was killed, journalist Mary McGrory said, “We’ll never laugh again.” Daniel Patrick Moynihan — who worked for JFK — replied, “Mary, we will laugh again. But we will never be young again.”

Sixty-one years ago this morning, I was a young 5th grader without a care in the world.

Walking home that afternoon, I could never not care again.

55 Comments

Posted in History, Looking back

Tagged Burr Farms Elementary School, John F. Kennedy assassination

Steffi Friedman’s Story, In Sculpture

Posted on November 20, 2024 | 4 comments

Steffi David was born in Berlin in 1925 — a century ago, next year.

Her idyllic childhoood — visiting museums with her dentist father, skiing in Czechoslovakia, summering in Switzerland — ended abruptly when Hitler gained power.

In 1937, she and her fellow Jewish classmates were banned from German schools.

The next year — 2 weeks before Kristallnach — 13-year-old Steffi, her father, mother and sister escaped by train to Amsterdam. They had transient visas.

They moved on, penniless, to Panama. At 15 Steffi moved once again, this time — alone — to live with an aunt and uncle in Queens. Within 2 months, she was fluent in English.

Encouraged by a teacher, Steffi earned a scholarship to the Art Students League in Manhattan. She took night classes at the Pratt Institute. During the day, she worked.

Her first job was as a graphic artist. She gave half her salary to her parents, who had finally joined her in America.

After marrying Bridgeport native Al Friedman, and building a home on Yankee Hill Road in Westport, she gave up her career to raise 3 children.

Steffi Friedman

When the youngest was in junior high, Steffi began studying sculpture at the Silvermine School of Art. Her teacher and mentor, Stenley Bleifeld, was later named International Sculptor of the Year.

After 8 years as a student, Steffi became a teacher herself — first at Fairfield University, then for 30 years in her home studio.

She also volunteered, working with talented inner city youth through Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County.

For 19 years she ran Camp Terra Cotta, teaching people from around the world in Vermont.

Steffi worked into her 80s. She was prolific in terra cotta, bronze and stone.

Her work is now part of over 100 private collections. It was shown in galleries throughout the US.

It lives on in Westport too. Temple Israel commissioned several pieces, including one of Golda Meir.

Steffi Friedman, with her Golda Meir sculpture.

“Never Again” hangs on an outside wall. Dedicated in 2004 as part of the temple’s “Tolerance Center,” Steffi considered it her most important work.

“Never Again,” at Temple Israel.

Steffi’s “Pas de Deux” ballet has a place of honor in the Staples High School courtyard. Earthplace features a large piece — “Free to Be Me” — in the atrium, and another smaller work. She also donated 2 sculptures to the Westport Library’s children’s section.

“Pas de Deux,” in the Staples High School courtyard.

“Her art was how she expressed her emotions,” Steffi’s daughter Margie says. “She was so pleased these pieces are all over town.”

Steffi Friedman died in 2019, after complications of a stroke and dementia. She was 94.

Margie Friedman

When her daughter emptied the home her mother had lived in for 67 years, she found hundreds of photos and slides of Steffi’s work. Worried they might be lost — but unsure what to do with them — Margie shipped them to her home in Santa Monica, California.

Soon, she realized she had enough material for a book.

Maggie scanned the images, cleaned them up, found a self-publishing company, wrote text, and created layouts

It took 2 years. Margie — a 1972 Staples graduate — worked around her full-time job, as a TV producer.

The result is “Steffi Friedman: Sculpture.” The 118-page book, printed handsomely on glossy paper, includes dozens of photos of the artist’s work, along with her compelling, first-person bio.

In one section, Margie explains the importance of Jewish themes to her mother’s work. Other sections include figurative sculptures, ballet dancers, children, portraits, fairies and nymphs, stone, abstracts, nature, commemorations and illustrations.

The audience is both local (Steffi’s friends, fans and former students in Fairfield County) and global. Margie has sent copies to Holocaust and Jewish museums and organizations worldwide — including one in Berlin, which holds her mother’s family’s artifacts and writings.

Feedback has been gratifying.

“People love the breadth and depth of the artwork,” Margie says.

“A lot of people didn’t know her story. She didn’t talk about it for years.

“She would have loved this.”

(“Steffi Friedman: Sculpture” is available at the Westport Barnes & Noble. It can also be ordered from Maggie. Email wgwmargie@aol.com for details.)

Steffi Friedman’s “Free To Be Me” is now on view at Earthplace.

(“06880” often covers Westport’s arts scene — its past, present and future. If you enjoy that coverage, or anything else on our hyper-local blog, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

4 Comments

Posted in Arts, History, religion

Tagged Steffi Friedman, Temple Israel

Westport Honors Veterans: Freedom’s Fiercest Defenders

Posted on November 12, 2024 | 10 comments

Our World War II veterans are almost gone.

But the wars kept coming: Korea. Vietnam. The Gulf. Iraq. Afghanistan.

Over all those years, Westporters have served their country.

Yesterday, in a simple but meaningful service, our town paid tribute to those men and women.

VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 helped sponsor the ceremonies. Speakers included master of ceremonies Judge Edward Karazin (a member of the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame), 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker, and Staples High School senior Alessandro Alderucci.

Some veterans wore their uniforms. Others dressed more informally. Those who could, stood up straight.

All sat or stood proudly.

Look at their eyes, in the remarkable photos from Ted Horowitz — himself a former member of the Army Reserves — below. They tell you all you need to know about the importance of Veterans Day.