Leonard Everett Fisher died this weekend. The noted artist/illustrator, longtime civic volunteer, and one of our last remaining World War II veterans was 4 months shy of his 100th birthday.
He was a Westport icon.
A supremely talentedartist/illustrator, he designed 10 US postage stamps. He illustrated 250 books for young readers, and his works hang in the collections of the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Yale Art Gallery and New Britain Museum of Art.
Fisher created over 700 paintings and 6,000 scratch boards. He’s listed as one of the 2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century.
At the 2022 Memorial Day parade, Leonard Everett Fisher was a month shy of his 98th birthday. His uniform still fit. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
Decades earlier, between 1942 and ’46, he was a topographical mapmaker. He planned, edited and produced maps for campaigns in Italy, France, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the aborted invasion and occupation of Japan.
In 2013 Fisher served as grand marshal of Westport’s Memorial Day parade. He was a proud participant too in Bedford Middle School’s Memorial Day assemblies.
Leonard Everett Fisher at Westport’s 2017 Memorial Day celebration.
More than 70 years after the war, his contributions finally drew national attention.
In 2018 PBS aired “GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II.” Fisher was one of the interviews.
He was in good company. Henry Kissinger, Mel Brooks and other Jewish Americans — some famous, others unknown — shared their experience as part of the 550,000 men and women who fought for their nation, struggled with antisemitism in their ranks, and emerged transformed, to fight for equality and justice at home.
In June of 2019, when Fisher turned 95, the Westport Arts Center invited his friends, fans and family members to celebrate.
It was a fitting tribute. Fisher was a founding member, past president, and current WAC board member.
Leonard Everett Fisher at the Westport Arts Center, for his 95th birthday.
Fisher saw the WAC through many incarnations, from an itinerant organization to its home at the then-closed Greens Farms Elementary School, to its later spot on Riverside Avenue.
Fisher was also a moving force at the Westport Library. He served 3 terms as president, and helped plan the building, on landfill near the Levitt Pavilion.
When he was 93 years young, he turned his attention to a new project: a Westport Artists Museum at Golden Shadows, Baron Walter Langer von Langendorff’s former home at Baron’s South.
For a variety of political reasons, the museum was not built. But, Fisher said at the time, “So long as I put one foot in front of the other, this gives me energy and excitement,” he says.
Today, Westport mourns the passing of Leonard Everett Fisher — war hero, honored artist, neighbor and friend.
For an inspiring 30-minute video interview with Fisher, click here.
Back in the day, stone markers were used to delineate boundaries.
One — on the Westport/Norwalk line — can still be seen off Post Road West, near A&S.
It’s hard to spot. It was also the subject of last week’s Photo Challenge. (Click here to see.)
Only 2 readers correctly identified the site: Brian Taylor (who knew where, but note what, it was), and (of course) Andrew Colabella, who knew both.
Today’s Photo Challenge is one that many more people may be familiar with. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click Comments below.
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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The Super Bowl drive led by Westport Sunrise Rotary and the Westport Police Department at Stop & Shop brought in 600 bags of groceries, and nearly $1,200 in donations.
The food will last for several months at Homes with Hope’s pantry.
Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden thanks all who participated, on behalf of the many recipients.
Presenting a symbolic check at the recent Sunrise Rotary meeting (from left): Liz Wong, Sunrise Rotary president; Officer Craig Bergamo, Westport Police; Rob Hauck, Sunrise Rotary; Helen McAlinden, Homes with Hope CEO; Paris Looney, Homes with Hope vice president; Officer Scott Thompson, Westport Police.
As the FCIAC (league) finalist Staples High boys basketball team prepares for the first round of the state tournament this week, they invite Westporters to the school gym today (Sunday, March 3).
From 9:45 to 11:30 this morning, the Wreckers’ practice is open to the public.
From 4 to 5:15 p.m., shooting coach Dave Hopla will offer one of his legendary clinics.
From 5:15 to 6 p.m., Staples coaches and booster club representatives will discuss the team’s program. Future Wreckers will have a chance to play games, and shoot with current varsity stars.
The cost is $50 per family (Venmo: @staplesboysbasketball). Youth players receive a Staples basketball March Madness t-shirt.
Meanwhile, the team’s silent auction continues through 8 p.m. tonight. Click here to bid on sports and Broadway tickets, Staples “fan experiences” and more.
Proceeds help fund program improvements, including a shooting machine, strength and conditioning program, game jerseys, etc.
Diners at Jeera Thai got an extra treat the other day.
Joining them at the popular downtown restaurant were members of Lyyra. The 6-woman ensemble pushes the boundaries of treble choral, jazz. pop and folk music, as they redefine the entire genre of treble music.
They’ll perform at Christ & Holy Trinity Church on April 21 (5 p.m.; click here for tickets), and the Westport Library April 23 (7 p.m.; click here for tickets). The Library performance is a partnership with local high schools, and feature a mass choir with all students singing alongside Lyyra, and plus a solo set for Lyyra.
Meanwhile, click here for a video of Lyyra entertaining the surprised, but grateful, diners at Jeera Thai.
And finally … on this date in 1923, Time magazine published its first issue.
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Ron Berler is a 1967 Staples High School graduate, and a longtime magazine and newspaper writer.
He played Westport Little League baseball, then was cut during tryouts at Long Lots Junior High and Staples.
He writes frequently about the sport. Some years ago, he wrote a piece for Sports Illustrated on Mose Solomon, the “Rabbi of Swat.” The other day, he posted it here, on Medium.com.
With the approach of both the baseball season and Passover, Ron has written this for “06880”:
Last July — a month after graduating — Staples High School’s Hiro Wyatt was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 3rd round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
The pitcher — who finished his Wrecker season 8-0, with an 0.51 ERA, 107 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 54 2/3 innings — was named Connecticut High School Coaches Association Player of the Year.
If he reaches the major leagues, he’ll be the second Westport native to do so. The first was Hezekiah Allen, in ’84.
1884, that is.
You might say Allen was a prodigy. He reached the big leagues at 21, the same age the Yankees’ Derek Jeter did. A sinewy 5-11, 160-pound catcher, Allen played just 1 game for the 1884 Philadelphia Quakers (now the Phillies), batting 3 times and smacking 2 singles, for a career average of .667.
The Philadelphia Quakers in 1884. Hezekiah Allen is probably not in this photo.
One might wonder: Given that his team would finish the season 39-73, with 1 tie, why wouldn’t manager Harry Wright offer him a second opportunity?
There’s good reason to believe Wright was just plain scared. Allen committed 3 passed balls in his 5 innings on the field, the equivalent of a rabbi dropping 3 matzoh balls in his lap before finishing his soup.
And yet honor him we must. To this day, Allen remains (as far as can be determined) our town’s sole, home-grown major leaguer. You can visit his grave in Willowbrook Cemetery.
And with the coming of the baseball season, it is time to pay tribute to a couple of the sport’s other very minor contributors. I’m thinking, for example, of Larry Yount, the older brother of Hall of Fame Milwaukee Brewers shortstop/ outfielder Robin Yount. Larry was a pitcher for the Houston Astros.
Well, not exactly. Near the end of the 1971 season, he was promoted to the big club. On September 15, with the team trailing the Atlanta Braves 4-1 in the 9th inning, Astros manager Harry “The Hat” Walker signaled for Larry to take the mound. It was the moment Larry had prepared for all his life.
He took the ball from Walker and threw several warmup pitches. Then suddenly, he stopped. His elbow, which had caused him minor pain while throwing in the bullpen, had suddenly grown worse. He called for the trainer and was removed from the game without having thrown a pitch.
And that was it for him. Though his arm soon healed, he never got another chance in the majors. Larry is quite possibly the only player to take the field in his one big league game and never actually play.
Mose Solomon
Which brings us, this Passover season, to Mose Solomon, who in September 1923 jumped from the low, low minors to the New York Giants.
Though the Giants were in first place at the time and would go on to win the National League pennant (they lost to the Yankees in the World Series, 4 games to 2 – the Yankees’ first championship), few fans were trekking to the Polo Grounds to see them play.
John McGraw, the Giants’ manager, blamed Babe Ruth, who would lead the majors that year with 41 home runs and further burnish his nickname, the Sultan of Swat.
Yet that season, Ruth was not the home run leader of all professional baseball. That title belonged to Solomon, a first baseman/right fielder for the Hutchinson (Kansas) Wheat Shockers of the financially unstable Southwestern League, who walloped 49 homers in 1923 against teams like the Salina Millers and the Coffeyville Refiners.
McGraw brought the slugger, who was Jewish, to New York and introduced him to the press, and to the city, as the Rabbi of Swat.
Great nickname. A name that promises the stuff of legend. And for the last month of the season, New York, which was 20 percent Jewish, went wild. As the newsboys from the Roaring ’20s would hawk, read all about it!
So as the 2024 baseball season nears, let’s not forget 20th-century players like Mose Solomon.
Or 19th-century ones like Hezekiah Allen.
Play ball!
(“06880” is the only place you’ll read about Hezekiah Allen. Looking back is part of our mission. So is looking forward. If you enjoy this hyper-local blog, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
If it’s March, the Oscars are coming soon. (They’re March 10 — a week from tomorrow).
This year, there’s a 20% chance the winner for Best Picture will have a Westport connection. And those 2 contenders have their own close connection.
“Oppenheimer” was released by Universal Pictures. Its president, Peter Cramer, is a Staples High School Class of 1985 graduate, where he starred in soccer and track. He graduated 4 years later from Harvard University.
During his 17 years at Universal, Cramer helped the studio to record-breaking results globally, including overseeing the highest-grossing film in Universal’s history: “Jurassic World.”
“Killers of the Flower Moon” — another Oscar contender — was written by David Grann. He is a friend and former classmate of Cramer’s since childhood, and would have graduated from Staples with him had he not gone to private school.
Grann graduated from Connecticut College, and is a longtime New Yorker writer. His most recent book, “The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder” debuted at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list.
David Grann (left) and Peter Cramer
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And speaking of movie honors: 1981 Staples grad Jeanie Bacharach won her 2nd Emmy this year.
A casting director and producer, she was honored for Outstanding Casting in “The Bear.” Congratulations, Jeanie — sorry to be late with this! (Hat tip: Suzanne Propp)
Jeanie Bacharach, with her award.
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Kudos too to the Staples girls ice hockey team.
The co-op squad (with Westhill and Stamford Highs) won their state tournament quarterfinal match Wednesday night against Mercy Northwest Catholic — 3-2, in double overtime.
That vaults them into the state semis, for the first time in their history. They face archrival Darien tonight (Saturday) at 5:30 p.m. at the Shelton Rinks.
The girls lost only 4 games during the regular season — and were the only team in the state to beat Darien. The Blue Wave got revenge in the FCIAC (league) semifinal, eliminating SWS in overtime.
Coach John Fay’s squad is led by senior defenseman and captain Maya Sherman.
Darien is seeded 1st in the state tournament. The Wreckers are 4th. Go get ’em!
The Staples-Westhill-Stamford team celebrates their state tournament quarterfinal victory.
Several big capital spending projects loom in Westport.
What are the rationales, goals and processes?
Town Hall and Westport Public Schools leaders share insights on March 26 (7 p.m., Westport Library) in a community conversation.
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker and Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice will present their capital spending strategies and rationales. A panel of experts will discuss possible funding strategies, capital planning best practices, and the approval process for achieving capital spending goals. An audience Q-and-A session will follow.
The event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Westport, and the Westport Library’s Common Ground initiative.
Longshore is one of several large capital projects planned for the future.
“Below Surface” — the award-winning short documentary that explores the extraordinary power of community through the Westport Weston Family YMCA’s Aqua-fit program — will be screened this Monday (March 4, 6:30 p.m.).
The film is inspiring, powerful, and filled with our Westport friends and neighbors. It follows gifted, compassionate instructor Patty Kondub as she molds her multi-cultural, multi-generational exercise class into a true community.
She — and they — use exercise and friendship as an antidote for grief, stress and physical illness.
The screening will be followed by a panel moderated by Robert Altbaum, recently retired internal medicine physician. Panelists include Dr. Linda P. Fried, dean of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health; Maria Allen, president of the Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging; Moishi Moses, vice president of volunteerisms for the AARP Foundation, and Patty Kondub herself.
Area organizations that support healthy longevity will have information available, including the Senior Center, AARP, YMCA and Westport Department of Human Services.
300,000 American servicemembers have died since the US left Vietnam in 1973, due to exposure to deadly chemicals.
“Agent Orange: A Short Sickening Saga of War” — Carl Addison Swanson’s startling and true tale of the devastating effects of that herbicide — has passed the 500,000 sale mark.
The book is free to veterans through the Veterans Administration, and on sale at Amazon.
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As work continues on 44 Compo Cove — the often-photographed-and-painted 1917 house that’s the first one on the right over the Sherwood Mill Pond walkway — its interior has been gutted.
You can see right through now, to Long Island Sound.
But much of the exterior remains. Its bones are still strong.
(Photo/Matt Murray)
It’s withstood over 100 years of hurricanes and nor’easters.
Fingers crossed, the new/old home will be there for at least the next century.
Aspetuck Land Trust’s next “Lunch & Learn” seminar is “Native Trees, Shrubs and Perennials: Choosing Layers for Biodiversity.”
Anna Fialkoff. a Connecticut College arboretum horticulturist, will show how to
group trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants together for maximum impact and beauty, in a variety of situations and growing conditions.
Samuel Bell — who built over 200 “Bell Colonial” homes in Westport and Weston — died February 21 at his Boca Raton, Florida home. He was 94.
The Norwalk native spent his career as a residential and commercial builder/developer and entrepreneur in Fairfield County and Florida. He was active in his many business interests until shortly before his death.
He enjoyed boating, fishing, hunting and gardening. Sam and his fishing yacht “VII Bells” were fixtures at Saugatuck Harbor Yacht Club for almost half a century.
He was proud of his Italian-American heritage and enjoyed family get-togethers and reunions with his large extended family, along with the authentic Italian foods of his childhood memories. Sam was a devout parishioner at Assumption Church for many decades.
Sam is survived by his children Nicholas (Laurie Bloom) of Weston, Pamela of Villa Park, California, Melinda Bell Dietrich of Delray Beach, Florida, and Samuel F. Bell, Jr. (Melanie) of Weston; 10 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Sylvia and son Jeffrey.
The family will receive friends on April 5 (4 to 8 p.m., Harding Funeral Home). A funeral is set for April 6 (10 a.m., Assumption Church), with a Mass of Christian burial.
Jude Siegel welcomes March, in a novel way (new for our online art gallery, anyway): with a beautiful calendar.
Other submissions this week look ahead to spring, in a variety of ways.
But no matter what your theme, or medium — and whether you’re a first-timer or oldtimer: We welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone is invited to contribute.
Email it to 06880blog@gmail.com. Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Flickers” — watercolor (Jude Siegel)
“Floral Fantasia” (Ken Runkel)
“Green Nature” (Karen Weingarten)
“Palm Tree Trunk” (Tom Doran)
“Step Into Spring” (Ellen Wentworth)
“Not Barbie, But Still a Perennial Favorite” — pencil on paper (Roseann Spengler)
Photographer Andy Millard writes: “In Grand Canyon National Park, this section of rock conglomerate is in the bed of the wash at 220 Mile Canyon. The orange and white striped pebble resembles Nemo the clownfish from the movie ‘Finding Nemo.'”
“Salad Daze.” Photographer Judith Marks-White says: “I whipped up a salad and took a photo. Looks like the head of a sleeping dog by way of a mushroom. An accidental optical illusion.”
“30 Types of Cherries?” Artist Steve Stein writes: “Cherries have a pit (stone) center. Not to be confused with look alike berries: acerola, rambutan, currants or cotoneaster parneyi.”
“Beautiful Faces” (Mike Hibbard)
“Enter!” (Peter Barlow)
“Morning Toilette” (Lawrence Weisman)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Posted onMarch 2, 2024|Comments Off on Real Estate Stats: New Neighbors May Be Oldtimers
These post-COVID days, I often ask newcomers to Westport where they came from: “Manhattan or Brooklyn?”
Most times, I’m right. It’s like the RTM passed an ordinance, limiting homebuyers to those 2 boroughs.
But a large slice of the real estate pie belongs to people who already live here.
I don’t ask them where they’re coming from, because they’re already here. They’ve just moved from one part of town to another.
Our friends at KMS Team at Compass say that last year, 61% of Westport homes were sold to buyers from Connecticut. And many of them were already Westporters.
The most expensive home on the Westport market right now is this 4-bedroom, 5 1/2-bathroom, 8,246-square foot house on 1.35 acres, at 279 Saugatuck Avenue. It’s listed at $12,500,000.
Their reasons vary.
Buyers on Hazelnut Road, for example, wanted more space than their previous home here. Trading up for a pool and room to entertain was important; proximity to schools was a bonus.
New homeowners on Hillspoint Road already lived in the neighborhood. They bought a house they had always admired, when it hit the market.
Sometimes, it’s time for something new. New construction on Maple Avenue North appealed to one clinet.
Others make the jump from renting to buying, as beach residents did with property on nearby Bradley Street.
A growing family wanted a bigger home, but did not want to leave Greens Farms Elementary School. They bought a new home on Center Street.
Empty nesters — no longer needing to live near a school, but with grown children and grandchildren who liked the “vacation” feel of the water — downsized to Saugatuck Shores.
One family wanted to move close to Compo Beach. They explored building a home there, then bought on Soundview Drive when they discovered how expensive new construction would be.
Some downsizers hoping to shed the responsibility of a home, but remain in town, buy condos — new construction like The Mill or Bankside House, or ones that have been in Westport for years, like Harvest Commons, Regents Park or Lansdowne.
Bankside House (lower left) on Wilton Road appeals to Westporters looking to sell their home, move into a condo, and be close to downtown.
So my question to newcomers — “Did you come from Manhattan or Brooklyn” — may still be valid.
But for all those “invisible” new homeowners — those who were already Westporters, of 3 or perhaps 30 years — the right one might be: “So why did you move 2 miles away?”
FUN FACT: Last year, 199 Westport homebuyers (61%) came from Connecticut, and 74 more (23%) from New York.
There were 8 buyers from Texas, 6 from overseas and 5 each from Massachusetts and California (2% each). Another 4 buyers came from Florida and New Jersey (1% each). The remaining 22 buyers (7%) came from other states.
(“06880” covers the Westport real estate market regularly. If you like those stories — or anything else on our hyper-local blog — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Comments Off on Real Estate Stats: New Neighbors May Be Oldtimers
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