If you were alive on 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 62 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, more than 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-two 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.
The Jimmy Kimmel controversy is only the latest in America’s long-running debate over how free “free speech” can and should be.
Ari Edelson has spent his career thinking about issues like that. After earning degrees at both Yale University and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the 1994 Staples High School graduate earned international fame as a producer and director in the US and Europe.
In 2008 Edelson took the helm of the renowned Jean Cocteau Repertory, and reimagined it as the Orchard Project. The unique endeavor grew rapidly. In 2015 it moved to Saratoga Springs, New York.
During 10-day-long residencies, companies and artists are provided room and board, staff support and technical resources.
The program hosts 8 to 12 projects at a time, supporting up to 40 projects every summer. Participants range from playwrights working alone on drafts, to full ensembles in large rehearsal spaces.
Most works are cutting-edge. Some skirt free-speech boundaries or norms.
This summer, Edelson was part of an ACLU panel on censorship in the theater. Part of his remarks were about “Falsettos.”
But he was not talking about the Broadway version of the Tony Award-winning show, with its savage and touching exploration of family, love, religion and AIDS. Edelson remembered the production 31 years ago in Westport.
The one that was censored by the Staples High School principal.
Keith Haring designed the “Falsettos” logo.
In 1994 Edelson — a senior, president of Staples Players (and, in his spare time, chair of the Staples Governing Board) — wanted to cap his high school career by directing his first show ever: a Studio Theater production of “Falsettos.” Like one of the characters in the show, he had had a bar mitzvah at the bedside of a dying relative.
Players director Al Pia helped him secure the rights. On a Monday morning, Pia told him Staples was chosen for the first amateur production anywhere of “Falsettos.” Despite its complex themes and demanding score, it would be entirely student-run, from direction and sets, to lighting and music. Edelson was ecstatic.
An hour later, he was devastated. Principal Gloria Rakovic told him he could not do the show.
“The school had already been subject to controversies about sexual orientation,” Edelson recalls. “She didn’t want the school to be exposed to any more.”
His initial reaction: “You can’t tell me what to say.”
His second: “I’ll find a place to do it.”
Edelson went to a pay phone near the fieldhouse, and called his parents.
Then he called his rabbi, Robert Orkand.
“I wasn’t very religious,” Edelson says. “But I wanted him to know. He said he’d support any decision I made.”
Surreptitiously that afternoon, Edelson held auditions. Forty students — an enormous number for a small-cast show — were there.
The next morning, he posted the cast list. Meanwhile, an English teacher alerted the American Civil Liberties Union. The story was gaining attention.
That same day, the town’s interfaith clergy organization had a meeting with superintendent of schools Paul Kelleher. They told him they would support the students’ right to put on the show.
On Wednesday morning, Pia offered to introduce Edelson to Westport Country Playhouse artistic director Jim McKenzie. The Playhouse, he said, was eager to host “Falsettos.”
Westport Country Playhouse artistic director Jim McKenzie, and Ari Edelson. (Photo/Susan Warner)
That afternoon, the administrator in charge of theater told Edelson that the decision was reversed. He could produce the show at Staples.
Uncertain whether the school would change its mind again, or impose certain restrictions, he stuck with the Playhouse.
“I felt I was in a community that encouraged people to speak out,” he says. “I was trying to speak out for what I thought was right, and not be afraid.”
The 17-year-old could easily have avoided the problems he faced from adults who doubted his and his troupe’s ability to handle a show about homosexuality and religious faith.
The young ensemble could have avoided involvement too. John Newman had to juggle his duties as a baseball co-captain, while other actors and musicians were preparing for a European concert and orchestra tour.
“Falsettos” cast. Top (from left): Joelle Heise, Lindsay Meehan, Roby Cygan. Middle: Joanna Bloomer, John Newman, Charles Carleton, Conor Loughridge. Front: Ari Edelson. (Photo/Susan Warner)
None needed to face questions from friends and parents about why they were so interested in learning about AIDS and gays (and bar mitzvahs).
But they did. And — empowered by community support — “Falsettos” had a 2-week run at the Westport Country Playhouse. It played to full houses, earned rave reviews, and left grown men and women in tears.
During rehearsals, the cast had been inspired by meeting and hearing the stories of AIDS patients at Bread & Roses, the Georgetown hospice. Edelson donated half the proceeds there. The other half went to the Mid-Fairfield County AIDS Project.
The director calls those months “a real learning experience, in a world we were only just learning about. We were 16 and 17 years old. We met optimistic characters, in a time of great uncertainty.”
From top: John Newman, Roby Cygan, Joanne Bloomer. (Photo/John Voorhees)
Not everyone agreed with the decision to produce “Falsettos.” Local media — the Westport News, Minuteman and Norwalk Hour — became “a town square for arguments about whether it was appropriate for kids to be telling these stories.”
It was appropriate then, Edelson believes. And now — more than 3 decades later — he believes it more than ever.
Ari Edelson (right) and Charles Carleton.
“To this day, nothing has been more inspirational, and foundational, in my life.”
Censorship had been defeated.
But in 2025, it remains an ever-present threat. Jimmy Kimmel was one of the most recent examples.
He won’t be the last.
(“06880” occasionally looks back at Westport life — to illuminate the present. If you appreciate stories like this, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Last week, Access Health CT – the state’s health insurance marketplace – sent notices that many policyholders will see monthly health insurance premiums rise in January.
Congressman Jim Himes provides links to these resources:
Click here for the Access Health CT website general information page.
Click here to see which plans are available next year.
Click here to see if you qualify for low- or no-cost coverage.
Click here to find an insurance broker who can help.
Click here for more information on changes to federal health insurance policy.
Homes with Hope’s Community Kitchen is open daily for lunch (12 noon) and dinner (5 p.m.). It’s at the Gillespie Center on Jesup Road (behind Barnes & Noble). (Hat tip: Jeff Wieser)
It’s been a busy couple of months for the Westport League of Women Voters.
They’ve worked tirelessly to educate voters, and get them to the polls.
(Just tuning it? Still trying to make up your mind? Not sure where to vote? Click here to learn more.)
But even after the races are decided, the LWV will do more.
On November 12 (9:30 a.m., VFW), they host a coffee and “post-mortem/recap” of the election. Speakers include the registrars of voters.
Two days later (November 14, 2 p.m.), the LWV has reserved a block of tickets to see “Conscience at the Westport Community Theater. It’s the Connecticut premiere of the play about Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, the only Republican senator to oppose colleague Joseph McCarthy. Tickets ($20) are first come, first served. Email Barbra Utting: kubuguzu@gmail.com.
A reader writes: “I shopped at Stop & Shop for 58 years. It’s the best: extraordinary variety, excellent staff, nice customers.
“As I got older, I migrated to home delivery. I was an engineer for 51 years, and until last week the service and quality were at aerospace level. For the last 3 years, I’ve been awed by the precision and speed with which weekly orders were delivered to our doorstep.
“They were packed in a Norwalk facility, and delivered from there. Every driver was cooperative, helpful and well trained. They should be working for SpaceX.
“Two weeks ago, Stop & Shop emailed that they are migrating to a third party delivery service.
“Last night we received the first attempt. It was 3 hours later. Four items were missing out of 24, totaling $28 of the $86 order. They were delivered in soggy, torn paper bags.
“I called the home delivery number this morning at 9, and was 9th in line. I called back at 10, and was 23rd in line.
“I then contacted the Greens Farms manager. He apologized, offered a shopping certificate, and delivery of the missing items today. We’re grateful.
“Their new service may be at the low end of what could be an uncomfortable learning curve. It’s sad to see such a beautiful service vanish. For all our sakes, I wish Stop & Shop the best in fixing the problem.”
The Saugatuck Congregational Church — white, steepled, set far back on a massive lawn, a few steps from downtown — looks straight out of a Hallmark New England movie.
It was in those pews, in 1835, that a group of men hammered out the details that created the town of Westport from parts of Norwalk, Weston and Fairfield.
But it did not happen exactly there.
From its founding in 1822 through August 28, 1950, the 200-ton Saugatuck Church was located diagonally across the street, where the Shell station is now.
That year — in a day-long move so impressive it was documented by Life magazine — the church was rolled across State Street to its present site.
Yesterday — 75 years and 2 months after the move — Saugatuck Church celebrated that momentous occasion. The event included a (much smaller) re-enactment of the move, food trucks, a bounce house, lawn games, a screening of footage from the move, and a few words from Rev. Steven Savides.
Celebrating an anniversary, at the “new” Saugatuck Church location. (Photo/Haris Falk)
From looking back, to looking ahead: The Westport Library Store holiday shop opened yesterday.
And it’s bigger than ever. This year, the Writing Center on the main level has been transformed into the popular marketplace for gifts.
It’s filled with scarves, hates and gloves; jewelry; home
décor like bells, candles and chimes; lanterns and lights; journals, notebooks and notepads; puzzles and games; sketchbooks, coloring books, pens, markers, watercolors — and (of course) more.
All purchases are tax-free. Proceeds support Library services and programs.
The Westport Garden Club has beautified Westport for over 100 years. They do their work quietly. Many people have no idea they even exist.
But the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut does.
The other day, at a lunch attended by 320 gardeners from around the state, they earned an Award of Excellence in Flower Achievement, for their “Westport Town Treasures” show.
Singled out were president Nathalie Fonteyne, and show co-chairs Kelle Ruden and Kara McKenna Wong. Citations were presented to Joellen Bradford for the Best Education Division, Ann Lester (Best Design Division), Joanne Heller (Outstanding Staging), and Ellen Greenberg (for design of the commemorative program (with art by Kerstin Rao.)
The club also received The Mary Loncin Flower Show Award. and a check for $100 for the top evaluated Standard Flower Show in Connecticut.
Individual honors (not flower show-related) went to Susan Nettesheim, who redesigned and maintains the club’s website, and serves as official photographer; Dottie Fincher, a member since 1971, for her exceptional contributions to the annual plant sale over many years, and Katje Donovan, for over 20 years of service as treasurer.
The Westport Garden Club is now planning their annual wreath designs for town buildings, preparing for winter in their 7 public gardens, and developing the 2026 Youth Poetry Contest. For more information, including membership, click here.
Westport Garden Club members, at the awards ceremony.
A few years ago, Danya Herman met Dr. Tom Catena. He’s a missionary doctor, doing important humanitarian work in war-torn Sudan.
The other day, Danya hosted Dr. Tom in her Westport home. He was joined by Dr. Jon Fielder, another missionary doctor and co-founder of African Mission Healthcare,
“It was so inspiring to hear Dr. Tom’s story, the hardships he and the Mother of Mercy hospital face, the countless lives he’s saved and impacted, and to get to talk with someone living a true life of purpose,” Danya says.
“He and Dr. Fielder are heroes to my family. They represent how, through their faith and sense of purpose, they live out our Jewish values of pikuach nefesh (preservation of life), and tikkun olam (repairing the world).
Dr. Jon Fielder (left) and Dr. Tom Catena and guests, at the Herman home.
Today’s serene “Westport … Naturally” scene comes from behind the Levitt Pavilion. It’s a vantage point few people know about. It’s sure worth the short walk.
And finally … in honor of Splash Car Wash’s generous Veterans Day offer (story above):
(Another day, another Roundup filled with news and information you can use. If you appreciate this daily feature — or anything else on “06880” — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Nearly 200 people filled the Senior Center yesterday, for the first all-Select Board-candidate event of the campaign season.
The “Meet the Candidates” session — co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and “06880” — was a chance to talk personalities, not policy.
Moderator Dan Woog asked the 1st selectman hopefuls about their leadership styles, growth experiences, and how they hoped to be judged by residents.
One question — about experiences that have shaped their lives — drew very personal stories.
Republican Don O’Day spoke about saving his father from a house fire, at age 18. Independent David Rosenwaks described being served pork and sausage at a school in Richmond, Virginia and — though he kept kosher — being told to clear his plate. Democrat Kevin Christie related his move from a tiny Vermont town to one in upstate New York, for broader exposure to the world.
Moderator Dan Woog (far right) with (from left) 1st selectman candidates David Rosenwaks, Don O’Day and Kevin Christie.
Second selectwoman candidates Andrea Moore (Republican) and Amy Wistreich (Democrat) also fielded questions about their experiences, and views of their roles.
2nd Selectwoman candidates (from left) Andrea Moore and Amy Wistriech. (Photos/Joan Gillman)
There will be many more opportunities for Westporters to assess the candidates, for a variety of offices. Among them:
Fall Brunch & Design a Sign: Meet Your RTM Candidates: October 4, 10 a.m. to noon Westport Library. The event includes coffee, donuts, snacks, and art activities to keep kids occupied. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
Selectmen Candidates: Focus on Sustainability(October 6, 6:30 p.m., Christ & Holy Trinity Church). Co-sponsored by Sustainable Westport and Earthplace.
Selectmen Candidates (October 14, 7 p.m., Toquet Hall); Sponsored by Westport Youth Commission. Special event for students; adults invited too.
A Conversation with Board of Finance Candidates: October 15, 2 p.m., Senior Center. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
First Selectman Candidates Debate: October 16, 6:30 p.m., Greens Farms Academy. Sponsored by Westport Journal. Registration required; click here.
Select Board Candidates Debate: October 21, 12 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
A Seat at the Selectman’s Table: October 21, 6 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by Westport Library Common Ground Initiative. Registration required; click here.
A Conversation with Board of Education Candidates: October 22, 7 p.m., Toquet Hall. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
A Conversation with Planning & Zoning Commission Candidates: October 23; 7 p.m. Senior Center. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
Candidates Debates: Board of Education, Zoning Board of Appeals, Board of Assessment Appeals, Board of Finance: October 27, 6:30 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Westport.
Candidates Debate: 1st Selectman and Planning & Zoning Commission: October 28, 6:30 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Westport.
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Speaking of politics: Bike Westport invites all 76 candidates — from 1st selectman and boards through the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) — to a “Walk & Talk” along one of the town’s most important corridors: downtown to Saugatuck.
All other interested Westporters are invited too.
The October 12 event begins at 9 a.m. at the Westport Library. They’ll ride or amble over the bridge, down Riverside Avenue, and end at Kneads Bakery for refreshments.
The walk/ride “will highlight the opportunities and challenges of making Westport safer and more connected for everyone — whether walking to school, biking to the train, or moving between downtown and our neighborhoods,” says Bike Westport founder and executive director Markus Marty.
“This is a chance to see firsthand how walkability and bikeability impact daily life in Westport, and to connect with community members who care deeply about the town’s future.
The Saugatuck Congregational Church — white, steepled, set far back on a massive lawn, a few steps from downtown — looks straight out of a Hallmark New England movie.
It was in those pews, in 1835, that a group of men hammered out the details that created the town of Westport from parts of Norwalk, Weston and Fairfield.
But it did not happen exactly there.
From its founding in 1822 through August 28, 1950, the 200-ton Saugatuck Church was located diagonally across the street, where the Shell station is now.
That year — in a day-long move so impressive it was documented by Life magazine — the church was rolled across State Street to its present site.
At 11 a.m. this November 1 — 75 years and 2 months after the move — the Saugatuck Church celebrates that momentous occasion. The event includes a (much smaller) re-enactment of the move, food trucks, a bounce house, lawn games, a screening of footage from the move, and a few words from Rev. Steven Savides.
The entire town is invited. A special welcome is extended to anyone who was actually there, 3/4 of a century ago.
Two people have already been found: Miggs Burroughs and Jack Mitchell.
If you were there that day in 1950, email Jberkowsky1@gmail.com to give a head’s-up. Or just come by.
That church isn’t going anywhere, any time soon.
Life magazine featured the move in its September 11, 1950 issue.
Speaking of religion: The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport invites the community to hear 2 experts on personal organization and auctioneering share advice on how to think about offloading our possessions — especially as life’s changes dictate new demands on space and ways of living.
The “Reduce/Reuse/Recycle” event — at UU Westport, 10 Lyons Plains Road — is this Monday (September 29, 7 p.m.).
The session will address how we think about our treasured possessions: when do we pass them along, and what’s the best way to do it? How much is our stuff worth, in money and sentimental attachment? How do we handle an estate we’ve inherited, work through a move or downsize?
Questions? Email beth@uuwestport.org, or call 203-227-7205, ext. 10.
The Westport Fire Department has been awarded a federal grant of $94,952. FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program is a highly competitive initiative that helps fire departments across the US strengthen their emergency response capabilities.
The award will fund swiftwater rescue technician training for Westport firefighters. It includes hands-on, scenario-based instruction in moving water environments, to perform rescues during floods, coastal incidents and other water emergencies.
Westport firefighters during a 2021 swift water exercise.
“Rollin’ On the River” is both a song, and the title of the next First Folk Sunday (October 5, 12:30 p.m., Saugatuck Rowing Club).
The “celebration of water-themed music” features First Folk creator Suzanne Sheridan (singing “Sailing,” among other tunes). She’ll be joined by Bob Cooper on keyboards, Tim DeHuff on guitar and Matt Livigni on bass.
The Rowing Club is a great spot for the monthly concerts, with music, food and drink by the water. The upcoming “river” theme adds to the enjoyment.
Click here for tickets ($20). For more information, call 203-984-7562.
Suzanne Sheridan
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Our “Westport … Naturally” feature has focused on spotted lanternflies beore.
Today’s image shows swarms at the Compo Beach lockers:
(Photo/Ed Paul)
There were hundreds more.
Here’s a nature lesson. The good news: A “hard frost” will kill the adults, and any remaining nymphs.
The bad news: The insect spends the winter as hardy egg masses. They survive freezing temperatures.
The other day, a woman I did not know made idle chatter as we left the Westport Weston Family YMCA.
“This is such a nice place,” she said. “How long have you been a member?”
“Well,” I said, “I learned to swim back in old pool!”
“There was another pool here?” she asked.
“No,” I explained. “When it was downtown.”
“The Y was downtown?!” she replied, surprised.
“For about 90 years,” I said.
The original YMCA, built in 1923 (now Anthropologie). The beautiful trees — along with the Y — are now gone.
She must be one of the new COVID arrivals, I figured.
Nope. She moved here 3 years before that. She’s been a Westporter for nearly a decade.
How could she not know the YMCA was downtown — and that there was a years-long battle to keep it from moving from the old site to its current spot?
Then, I realized: How would she know?
The controversy — to leave what is now Anthropologie; the rejection of possibilities like Baron’s South; fears about traffic on Wilton Road; demolition of the “newer” Y buildings on Church Lane, and construction of Bedford Square — pre-dated her Westport life.
Construction of Bedford Square, 2015. Patagonia (formerly Westport Bank & Trust, soon to be Compass Realty) is in the rear.
To her, the Y was “always” at Mahackeno. There is no way — other than reading an occasional “06880” reference to it it — that she would know otherwise.
Which got me thinking: What else do those of us who have lived here “a while” take for granted, but which no newcomer would ever know?
The Westport Country Playhouse is one example. New-ish arrivals may hear about it — on this blog, through a flyer in the mail, or osmosis.
But unless they are musical theater buffs, how could they have any clue of the role the Playhouse played in American entertainment history?
The original Westport Country Playhouse, before its 2002 renovation. (Photo courtesy of Bill Stanton)
Its origin in 1931, as one of the first “summer theaters” anywhere? The legendary names — from Henry and Jane Fonda, to Olivia de Havilland and James Earl Jones — who have performed there? The roles Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward played in modernizing it, in the early 2000s?
(And, to be brutally honest: How many 30-somethings know any of those names in the paragraph above — including Newman and Woodward?)
The hundreds of new folks who have flooded into town over the past few years were attracted by amenities like Longshore. Realtors proudly showed off the golf course, tennis courts, pool, Inn and restaurant. They mentioned that it’s town-owned — not private — and open to all.
Did those realtors mention the back story: That the town bought it in 1959 for $1.9 million, to keep it out of the hands of a developer? And that if those leaders had not acted quickly, 180 homes would now be there instead?
The town’s purchase of the failing Longshore Country Club kept it out of the hands of developers.
Speaking of government: I’ve spoken recently with residents who mentioned our “mayor” and “town council.”
Maybe in New Jersey, Florida or Arizona. But here in Westport, our New England heritage includes a “first selectman” (currently, “selectwoman”) and “Representative Town Meeting.”
The RTM can be a mystery — particularly when only the initials are used. What does it do? Who is on it?
Again: How would any newcomer know the answers? Even those motivated by a particular issue — Long Lots School, say, or bike paths — may have only a vague notion of the RTM’s role in our town.
Nor may they know they’re eligible to serve on it. (Though not until 2027 — the deadline to run in this election has passed.)
There is so much more that older/longer Westporters know, but comes as a complete surprise to those who have been here even 6, 8 or 10 years.
Like: Staples High School was originally on Riverside Avenue. (And that before it was Saugatuck Elementary School, the building was also known as Bedford Junior High, and Bedford Middle School. The “new” Staples — opened on North Avenue in 1958 — has its own intriguing, tangled stories of renovations, starting with 9 separate buildings more suited to California than Connecticut.)
Or that the “Bedford” name refers to a fabulously wealthy family, with ties to John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. And that their generosity can still be felt in many areas around town, including — let’s complete the circle — the YMCA.
Once upon a time, newcomers would learn all this, and more — The town of Westport bought Cockenoe Island in the 1960s to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power plant! — through stories in the local newspaper.
Westport owns Cockenoe Island. The town bought it when a utility company planned to build a nuclear power plant there. Pro tip: It’s pronounced “Kuh-KEE-nee.”
Westport had a newspaper?
Not one — several. The Town Crier. Fairpress. The Minuteman. The Westport News.
There’s even a print edition, which seems to be sold nowhere in town, but may be available for home delivery if you are persistent enough with their hard-to-reach customer service people.
Which reminds me: Most new residents do not know — how could they? — that “06880” began in 2009, as an outgrowth of my long-running Westport News “Woog’s World” column.
Or that I began writing for the paper when I was a Staples student, way back in the day.
Just a few years after I learned to swim, at the downtown YMCA.
The original YMCA Brophy pool. It was used for Staples swim meets, before the high school pool opened in 1981.
(Another fun fact: “06880” is a non-profit, supported by donations from readers like you. If you enjoy your new — or old — town’s hyper-local blog, please click here to contribute. Thank you!)
The last time Tom Atkinson, Vance Harrison, John Rhodes, Bill Whidden and John Yingling were in a boat together, Richard Nixon was president.
The last time they were together on land, it was George H.W. Bush.
This week, the 5 former Westporters — friends since junior high — will compete at the Atlantic Class National Championshps.
Right here at Cedar Point.
Cedar Point Yacht Club (Photo copyright Stephen R. Cloutier)
The quintet’s friendship predates even the club’s move to Saugatuck Shores’ Bluff Point. When they took their first sailing lessons, CPYC — established elsewhere, in 1887 — was still building its current facility, on landfill at Saugatuck Island.
It was a great time to grow up. The boys — 4 classmates at Long Lots Junior High School, plus Whidden at Bedford Junior High — regularly sailed across Long Island Sound in 12-foot Blue Jays.
“They let 6 or 10 boats loose, and hoped we’d make it,” Atkinson says.
They built bonfires, slept on the beach, and had experiences like the 4 boys in “Stand by Me” (if Stephen King’s story and movie had been set inland).
Cedar point Yacht Club clubhouse.
Like “Stand by Me” too, they soon scattered. Atkinson was the only one to attend Staples High. The others headed to Deerfield, Kent and Tabor.
“Our parents thought Staples was filled with drugs,” one explains. “Actually, all the drugs were in boarding schools.”
Their lives took separate paths. Rhodes graduated from the University of North Carolina; became national and international news editor at the New York Daily News; took a buyout and spent 12 yaears at the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel; took another buyout, and taught English and critical thinking in a Florida high school. He retired in 2020.
After 5 1/2 years in the Navy, Atkinson graduated from Columbia Business School. He spent his career with Pratt & Whitney. Living in Essex, he is the only one of the 5 still in Connecticut.
Harrison graduated from Cornell University. He worked for a Chicago progressive rock radio station for 10 years. He moved to Oklahoma 37 years ago, where he first ran a radio group, and now heads up a radio trade association.
Whidden graduated from Colby College. He worked on a 38-foot sailing boat; joined forces with Hoyle Schweitzer, co-inventor of the Windsurfer; then i 1981 opened a sailmaking company in Maui. He pivoted to financial services in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia Gorge.
Yingling went to Tufts, then earned a master’s in engineering at Rochester.
Four of them still sail; Yingling and Anderson also compete. Harrison — who calls himself “the best sailor of all of us” — has not been on a boat in 50 years. “I peaked at 14,” he jokes.
They kept “a little bit in touch, mainly through Christmas cards. But until last Friday, the last time they’d been together in one place was in 1991, when Whidden got married in Newport, Rhode Island.
From left: John Yingling, Bill Whidden, Vance Harrison, John Rhodes, Tom Atkinson, at Bill’s 1991 wedding.
The idea to enter the Atlantic Nationals came from Harrison. He’d wanted to get back in a boat for years, but — in land-locked Oklahoma — did not know how.
The other 4 quickly said: “Count me in!”
Planning began in mid-February. They found a boat in Madison, Connecticut. They gathered there last Friday, set it up to be towed to Westport, and followed it here.
They spent the first several hours talking, and catching up. They were relieved to find everyone in good physical — and mental — shape.
In addition to a great reunion and experience, this will be a return to their sailing roots. As teenagers, all 5 crewed on adult Cedar Point races.
So is this just a “Big Chill”-type get-together? After all this time apart, what do the 5 old friends/new teammates hope to accomplish?
Harrison’s original goal was just not to lose.
As he got caught up in the planning, it became “finish mid-fleet.”
Now, he says, he wants to make the top 10.
The others are not so sure.
“If we win,” Rhodes says, “we’ll definitely annoy everyone who invested a lot more time than us.”
(“06880” is “where Westport meets the world” — on land and sea. If you enjoy stories like this, please click here. A tax-deductible contribution will support our work. Thank you!)
Nearly every day, “06880” receives emails from residents complaining about reckless, speeding drivers.
But it’s not only a 2025 issue.
Nearly 70 years ago, the Westport Town Crier & Herald — our print predecessor — addressed the problem.
Alert “06880” reader Siobhan Crise subscribes to Shaun Usher’s “Letters of Note.” Each week he emails important, interesting and/or intriguing letters he’s found.
The most recent one caught her eye. It begins:
In 1955, travel editor Richard Joseph and his wife, Morgan, left the intensity of New York behind and settled into the relative calm of Connecticut.
They adapted quickly to the slower pace of life, and before long had welcomed a Basset Hound puppy named Vicky into their home.
One Sunday evening, as Richard took her out for a walk, a speeding car veered off course and struck the 6-month-old dog, killing her almost instantly. The driver didn’t stop.
The following morning, heartbroken and angry, Richard sat down and wrote a letter addressed “to the man who killed my dog” and sent it to the local paper, Westport Town Crier & Herald. To his surprise, it was soon printed on the front page; before long, it had been reprinted across the country. In 1957, it even inspired a book.
I hope you were going some place important when you drove so fast down Cross Highway across Bayberry Lane, Tuesday night.
I hope that when you got there the time you saved by speeding meant something to you or somebody else.
Bayberry Lane at Cross Highway today. The long-dangerous intersection now has several warning signs.
Maybe we’d feel better if we could imagine that you were a doctor rushing somewhere to deliver a baby or ease somebody’s pain. The life of our dog to shorten someone’s suffering — that mightn’t have been so bad.
But even though all we saw of you was your car’s black shadow and its jumping tail lights as you roared down the road, we know too much about you to believe it.
You saw the dog, you stepped on your brakes, you felt a thump, you heard a yelp and then my wife’s scream. Your reflexes are good, we know, because you jumped on the gas again and got out of there fast.
Whoever you are, mister, and whatever you do for a living, we know you are a killer.
And in your hands, driving the way you drove Tuesday night, your car is a murder weapon.
You didn’t bother to look, so I’ll tell you what the thump and the yelp were. They were Vicky, a 6-month-old Basset puppy; white, with brown and black markings. An aristocrat, with 12 champions among her forebears; but she clowned and she chased, and she loved people and kids and other dogs as much as any mongrel on earth.
A basset puppy.
I’m sorry you didn’t stick around to see the job you did, though a dog dying by the side of the road isn’t a very pretty sight. In less than 2 seconds you and that car of yours transformed a living being that had been beautiful, warm, white, clean, soft and loving into something dirty, ugly, broken and bloody. A poor, shocked and mad thing that tried to sink its teeth into the hand it had nuzzled and licked all its life.
I hope to God that when you hit my dog you had for a moment the sick, dead feeling in the throat and down to the stomach that we have known ever since. And that you feel it whenever you think about speeding down a winding country road again.
Because the next time some 8-year-old boy might be wobbling along on his first bicycle. Or a very little one might wander out past the gate and into the road in the moment it takes his father to bend down to pull a weed out of the driveway, the way my puppy got away from me.
Or maybe you’ll be real lucky again, and only kill another dog, and break the heart of another family.
Richard Joseph
Westport, Conn.
(This letter can be found in the book, “Letters of Note: Dogs.” Signed, personalised, gift-wrapped copies can be purchased here.)
Applications must be made at least 7 days in advance. They’re limited to 1 reservation per household per season (a second may be granted, based on availability).
The centerpiece is Westport Pride’s townwide celebration (Saturday, June 22, 12 noon to 3 p.m., Jesup Green). Music, food, vendors, rainbows and much more — and (of course) everyone is invited!
Two weeks earlier (June 8, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Saugatuck Congregational Church hosts a family picnic and party on their front lawn
LGBTQ families — and allies, or course, — are invited to enjoy a bounce house, lawn games, face painting, crafts, hot dogs, cake, and more.
For more information, call 203-227-1261, or email sarah@saugatuckchurch.org.
(Photo/Sal Liccione)
Temple Israel has a host of activities planned for Pride Month too. They include:
“Unspoken” screening and discussion (June 10, 6 p.m.). The film is about a closeted teen in a religious community who discoverd that he might not be alone. A discussion with writer/director Jeremy Borison follows. Register here.
Pride Shabbat and concert with Elana Arian (June 13, 6:30 p.m.) open to LGBTQ+ individuals and allies.
Rainbow challah bake (June 21, 5:30 to 8 p.m.) — to be shared the next day, at Westport Pride. Open to all; register here.
Temple Israel is also organizing its first LGBTQ+ affinity group — a safe place for those who identify with the community, and allies. For more information, email jcadrain@tiwestport.org.
Meanwhile, Weston celebrates its own Pride on June 3 (4 to 6 p.m., Town Green, 56 Norfield Road).
They’ll raise a rainbow flag, hear from local officials supporting the town’s inclusive culture, and (in conjunction with the Weston Library) host a craft- and Pride-themed story time.
Oh, yeah: There’s an ice cream truck too!
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The Westport Library’s spring book sale opened yesterday, with a rush.
But there are still plenty of great volumes — and music, movies and more — available.
Hours are:
Today (Saturday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (almost everything half-price)
Monday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (fill our logo bag for $10 per bag, or your own equivalent bag for $8, or buy individual books at half-price).
A tiny portion of the many books. (Photo/Pam Docters)
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The Architectural Review Board meets on May 27 (7:30 p.m., Town Hall Room 309).
Among the agenda items: “To review and comment on the proposed construction of a new Long Lots Elementary School/Stepping Stones Pre-School…. Comments offered at the meeting will be considered in anticipation of further zoning review and approvals.”
So far, only general drawings have been shown of a new Long Lots School.
In just a few weeks,”Sunday Gravy” — the talk radio show hosted by Chris O’Dell (Staples High School athlete and coach), Mac DeVito (Staples football legend and coach), and Brian Philpott (son of Staples’ football defensive coordinator) — has gained a devoted following.
The conversation and banter is wide-ranging, casual, and always interesting.
Tomorrow’s show — from 12:10 to 1 p.m., on 95.9 FM and 600 AM WICC should be especially intriguing.
The 3 hosts will dive into the recent controversy involving the non-renewal of Staples boys soccer head coach Russell Oost-Lievense.
O’Dell has intimate knowledge of the situation. He was part of the Staples soccer staff for 20 years, and worked closely with Oost-Lievense.
“Sunday Gravy” is broadcast throughout southern Connecticut. But it’s very much a local production. Shows are taped at the Westport Library’s Verso Studios — and the 2 stations are owned by Westport-based Connoisseur Media.
“Sunday Gravy” crew, at Verso Studios (from left): Mac DeVito, Brian Philpott, Chris O’Dell.
As they prepare to leave Westport after several decades, Carl Swanson and JoAnn Miller must dispose of several large, compelling — but heavy — sculptures by their longtime friend, the late Kelley Spearen.
One has already found a new life. The couple donated it to Wakeman Town Farm, not far from their home off North Avenue.
The move was made recently. Today, it’s the newest — and most intriguing — addition to the Cross Highway farm.
The mural showing early-20th century Westport life — a decades-long feature of the long-gone Townly restaurant — was resurrected when Banana Republic moved in.
That store was briefly replaced by Oka. Now it’s gone.
But the mural can be seen, as work is done inside.
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I am in tears for our loss of Judge Alan Nevas. I did not know him well, and yet Alan has been a constant positive presence in my life for most of my 67 years, ever since my parents moved to Westport in 1959 when I was 2 years old.
My father, Jerry Davidoff (1926-2009), was 2 years older than Alan. From the moment my dad set up a law office on Church Lane in downtown Westport in 1959 he had a deep respect, admiration and collegial attitude about Alan Nevas.
Back during the 1960s there were only about 30 attorneys in Westport. They all knew each other. Dad talked about his colleagues often at the dinner table, so we learned about people like Ned Dimes, Steve Tate, Ed Capasse, Larry Weisman and Alan Nevas.
I think Alan and my father had a similar approach to the practice of law in Westport. They were also politically competitive. Alan was a Republican at a time when Republicans ran things in Westport, and Dad was a Democrat working to win elections whenever possible. They liked each other a lot, and I think they stayed out of each other‘s way in politics.
Alan Nevas
Dad ran for the Connecticut House of Representatives and lost. He later served on the Westport Board of Education and Representative Town Meeting. Alan won local elections. He served on the Board of Finance, and represented Westport in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
Since Dad has been dead for 16 years, I don’t think there’s any harm in reporting for posterity that he tried a couple of times to secure a state judgeship during the years that Democrats ran things at the State Capitol. Dad did not succeed in this dream — a disappointment.
But Alan succeeded in the same pursuit. He served his state and his nation as the US attorney for Connecticut, and then as a federal judge. Every single one of us is better off for Alan‘s contribution to jurisprudence in Connecticut and the nation.
That’s not me talking. That’s my father Jerry talking through me, to remember his friend.
Jerry Davidoff and his wife Denny. (Photo/copyright Nancy Pierce)
For me, one episode stands out. About 7 years ago, when I began researching my family history on Ancestry.com, I found a news clipping from the Westport correspondent for the Bridgeport Post-Telegram providing a report on the spring 1969 Vietnam War protest in Westport. This was a day of events, when people gathered together to protest our government’s war in Southeast Asia.
I was a student at Long Lots Junior High School. Students at Staples High School secured permission from the principal and superintendent to march from Staples to the afternoon protest in downtown Westport, at the corner of State Street (Post Road East) and Main Street.
No such permission was granted to junior high school students. But there were hundreds of like-minded junior high school students, so just before the event the principals and the superintendent acquiesced and sanctioned marches to downtown by students from Long Lots, Coleytown and Bedford Junior Highs.
In splendid weather we converged on downtown, where many hundreds of adults also gathered. From the steps of the old YMCA (now Anthropologie), there were speakers arrayed against the war. A keynote address was given by a member of Congress, recruited to come to Westport to speak against the war.
A view from the steps of the YMCA (now Anthropologie) of the Vietnam protest downtown. Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
That night, in what became one of my strongest memories growing up in Westport, about 500 townspeople crowded into the sanctuary at The Unitarian Church in Westport for a candlelight vigil. The names of 500 Connecticut military war dead were read aloud.
After each small batch of names was read aloud in the darkened sanctuary, another row of townspeople in the pews was invited to light their candles. Slowly, the sanctuary became illuminated by candlelight. Paul Newman spoke, and we all know how rare it was for Paul Newman to speak publicly in Westport.
What I learned only recently from that newspaper clipping is that this day of townwide protest and prayer was the deep planning work of Alan Nevas and my father, along with a strong group of lawyers, physicians and clergy in the town.
They organized the program for the protest downtown. They organized the vigil that night. They were from the tight-knit group of local professional leaders in Westport — people like Drs. Jack Schiller and Paul Beres; clergy like the Revs. Ed Lane of the Unitarian Church, Ted Hoskins of the Saugatuck Congregational Church and Rabbi Byron T. Rubenstein of Temple Israel — and attorneys like Alan Nevas and my dad.
When I came across these names in the Bridgeport paper, none meant more to me than to see that Alan Nevas had collaborated with my dad on this effort.
Alan Nevas (Photo courtesy of WestportNow)
If he were alive today at age 99, my dad would be weeping for the loss of his friend, his admired colleague for 4 decades in the practice of law and service to clients and to justice in Westport and Connecticut, a man aligned with the opposite party but so closely aligned with my dad in core values and mutual respect for the law, and for the town and its citizens whom they both loved with so much heart.
Alan Nevas was a pillar of our community. As I said much earlier, I did not know him well but he was such a treasured friend and colleague for my dad that it is hard to describe what a strong presence Alan was nonetheless for me.
My prayers today and during services tomorrow are for the Nevas family, and for the cause of justice in Westport, in Connecticut, and in the federal courts of the United States, now and forever more.
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