Tag Archives: Assumption Cemetery

Roundup: Summer Stroll On Soundview, Keys In Bentley, Paddlers On Sound …

Our 2nd annual Soundview Summer Stroll is on tomorrow.

A few showers should not dampen the fun. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Soundview Drive — the beach exit road — will be closed to traffic.

The street will be filled with live music, kids’ activities (face painting, chalking, etc.), a photo booth, food and more. We welcome everyone to walk, stroll, Rollerblade, and enjoy Westport at its best.

The Soundview Summer Stroll is offered free of charge, by “06880” and the Compo Beach Improvement Association. See you there!

=================================================

Westport Police can’t say it enough: Don’t leave your keys in your car.

Especially if it’s a Bentley.

One was taken Thursday, from the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot. between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Police are reviewing surveillance tape.

Not necessarily the stolen vehicle.

=========================================

Want clean water, and a thriving Long Island Sound? And a chance at prizes worth over $1,000?

All you need is a kayak, paddleboard or canoe — and a place to launch from.

Between August 1 and 10, paddlers of all experience levels can join the 10th annual “Paddle for the Sound.”

Paddle at your own pace, from any location. Track your miles, and submit your progress.

All proceeds from registration fees (and any other team or friends fundraising) will support Save the Sound’s work to protect the Sound and its rivers, restore vital habitats, fight climate change, and preserve the lands that sustain the region’s wildlife and communities.

Long Island Sound is home to over 100 plant species, 1,200 invertebrates, and 170 fish species. Birds and wildlife make their homes along its shores and islands. It’s important to the regional economy, and a great resource for swimming, fishing, paddling and connecting with nature.

It faces serious threats from pollution, habitat loss and warming waters, which Save the Sound works to solve.

Paddlers will compete for prize packages worth more than $1,000, based on total distance paddled.

Register any time through August 10 at www.savethesound.org/paddle. For a map of over 100 launch sites, click here.

=================================================

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 399 hosts its 61st straight monthly blood drive on Wednesday (July 30, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

Donors are encouraged to schedule appointments in advance. Click here; then use sponsor code VFWWESTPORT. Or call 800-733-2767.

==================================================

Richard Epstein spotted this odd juxtaposition at the Assumption and Christ & Holy Trinity Cemetery on Kings Highway North:

(Photo/Richard Epstein)

“I am not sure anyone took advantage,” he says.

==================================================

Michael Szeto sends today’s beautiful “Westport … Naturally” photo: a gorgeous American goldfinch.

He (the bird) enjoyed himself on Thursday, playing in a Stony Point puddle.

(Photo/Michael Szeto)

==================================================

And finally … today is a musical birthday bonanza. Darlene Love turns 84. Mick Jagger is 82. Bobby Hebb, Dobie Gray and Brenton Wood were all born on July 26 too.

Rather than single any one entertainer out, I’ll honor another anniversary. On this date in 1775, the office that later became the US Post Office was established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin was named our first Postmaster General.

PS: Alex Chilton was just 16 years old when he sang lead on this #1 hit. He and the rest of the Box Tops did not even pretend they were faking it on this show.

(Mick was right: We can’t get no satisfaction, if readers don’t support their hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. We love you!)

Roundup: VFW Flags, Michael Douglas, Wynston Browne …

Saturday was a red-letter day in Westport.

Actually, a red-white-and-blue day.

Early in the morning, community volunteers — including Scouts from Troops 39 and 139 — gathered at Assumption Cemetery on Greens Farms Road

They placed new flag holders and flags on the graves of  veterans.

“Today was about recognizing our heroes, and making sure their sacrifice is remembered,” says Phil Delgado, quartermaster of VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399, which funded the project.

Donations to help fund more flags and holders are welcome; email delgadopa@icloud.com. If any veterans’ graves were missed (not all had military inscriptions), email VFW Auxiliary member Patty Kondub: Nortonpk@icloud.com.

(Photos courtesy of Andrew Colabella and Patty Kondub)

==================================================

This past Tuesday, a Stamford gala celebrated Michael Douglas’ career as an actor, producer, nuclear disarmament activist and philanthropist. The event was a benefit for the historic Avon Theater.

Among the star-studded crowd were politicians and businesspeople. Plus 3 former Downshifters — buddies from Douglas’ teenage years in Westport.

The trio flew in from across the country: Charlie Taylor (Kentucky), Tom Hatch (New Mexico) and Morgan Smith (Idaho).

Michael Douglas with Charlie Taylor, Morgan Smith and Tom Hatch, at Stamford’s Avon Theater.

The Downshifters were a civic-minded, educational and fun hot rod club, in the 1950s and ’60s. Parents Magazine named them one of the 14 outstanding youth groups in the country. (“There must have been a father in town who worked for them,” a member said.)

(Click here and click here for some great Downshifters back stories. Click here for one featuring Michael Douglas himself.)

A young Michael Douglas. He attended Bedford Junior High School, but his parents shipped him off to boarding school instead of Staples.

The Stamford event — emceed by Terre Blair — included a short film clip of Taylor’s music, with images of cars and people from the Downshifters days. Douglas was stunned.

Another, less important video tribute, came from Michael Bloomberg.

(Click here for the Downshifters video. The music is as good as the photos. After his hot rod days, Taylor had successful dual careers, with Vanderbilt University and as a noted Nashville singer/songwriter.)

As for Michael Douglas hot rod: He had a 1947 Mercury, with a Model A axle in the back. It was named the “Ruptured Duck.”

==============================================

Speaking of film stars: Wynston Browne has enjoyed quite a whirlwind of activity.

The Staples High School senior — a non-speaking autistic teenager whose communication via a typing device has opened up his own world, and shown the rest of the world his remarkable, wide-ranging and tremendous intelligence — was featured in a News 12 profile.

On Saturday, the Cablevision team — including host Mark Sudol and Frank Bruce Rosen, who conceived of and filmed the piece — were honored as an Emmy winner.

Wynston Browne

Meanwhile, the film “Presumed Incompetent” — starring and inspired by Wynston’s life — has been accepted as a finalist at both the Santa Monica, California ETHOS Festival (November 9) and New York’s Big Apple Film Festival (December 12, 657 West 57th Street, 5:45 p.m.; click here for tickets. Click here for a link to Wynston’s acting reel.)

ETHOS is an awards program and film festival recognizing impact-driven films casting lights on critical current social causes and themes.

Wynston will do talkbacks — using his communication devices — at both the ETHOS and BAFF festival screenings.

“06880” is proud to say we knew and admired Wynston even before he was a star!

===============================================

Everyone was a winner at Saturday’s Challenger baseball’s 12th annual Halloween game and party.

The Westport Winners — the team that competes in a league for boys and girls with disabilities — squared off for an intra-squad game: Team Spooky vs. Team Scary.

Thirteen buddies from middle school age to adult joined the young athletes, along with many families and spectators.

Afterward, everyone enjoy pizza and Halloween treats.

The vibe was as fantastic as the weather.

Dressed for Halloween — and baseball. (Photo/Beth Cody)

=================================================

Clarendon Fine Art — the great gallery at the head of Main Street — welcomes Craig Alan next month.

A reception for the solo show — featuring the artist’s distinctive images of iconic faces, buildings and abstracts, in hundreds of intricately painted figures — is set for November 22 (6 to 8 p.m.). Click here for details.

Art by Craig Alan

================================================

There are just 3 days till Halloween.

So naturally, today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature features:

(Photo/Copyright DinkinEsh Fotografix)

==================================================

And finally … on this date in 1893, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique” premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.

He died 9 days later, of cholera.

(Today — if you enjoy any of these Roundup stories — “06880” challenges you to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)

Swamped Saturday

A few scenes around town, as tides rose, and flooding inundated Westport today.

High tide was a few minutes ago, just before 12:30.

The forecast for the rest of today and tomorrow: windy.

Owenoke (Photo/Nathan Greenbaum)

Compo Beach (Photo/Dinkin Fotografix)

Soundview Drive (Photo/Dinkin Fotografix)

Evan Harding Point, at Longshore (Photo/Scott Smith)

Canal Road on Saugatuck Island (Photo/Gene Borio)

Taylor parking lot, downtown (Photo/Amy Schneider)

Main Street (Photo/Amy Schneider)

One view of Parker Harding Plaza … (Jennifer Johnson)

… and another (Photo/Amy Schneider)

Willowbrook Cemetery (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)

And, from last night, this uprooted tree at Assumption Cemetery on Greens Farms Road. (Photo/Carrie Kuhn)

 

Roundup: Tree Lighting, Sherwood Diner, Wreaths Across America …

Light ’em up!

Westport’s annual tree lighting is set for next Monday (December 4, 5 p.m., Town Hall).

The Staples High School Orphenians will perform. Then the tree on the lawn in front will be lit.

It’s a quick, fun ceremony. And everyone is welcome.

The Town Hall tree, 2022. (Photo/Dan Woog)

==================================================

More joyful news:

The Sherwood Diner reopened at 8 a.m. this morning!

It’s been closed for 4 weeks, as the kitchen was updated.

Now, the world is back to normal.

Whew!

Sherwood Diner (Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)

==================================================

Each Christmas season, the Wreaths Across America program honors fallen servicemembers, and all who serve. Over 2 million volunteers take part, in all 50 states and overseas.

Last year, for the first time, Westport joined in.

We’ll do it again this year.

The date is December 16. The time is noon. The cemetery is Assumption, on Greens Farms Road.

It wouldn’t have happened without Patty Kondub. The popular Westport Family YMCA and Senior Center fitness instructor (and Staples High School girls golf coach) is the local coordinator.

As part of her many other Westport activities, she’s also vice president of the VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 Auxiliary.

Click here to sponsor a wreath. To designate a wreath for a specific veteran at the Assumption cemetery, email Patty: nortonpk@aol.com. You can also email her to volunteer to mark graves before December 17, and place them on that date.

SPECIAL NOTE: On today — Giving Tuesday — $5 of every $17 wreath this year is donated back to the Westport VFW.

For Patty, the project is personal. Her father — John Kondub — was a World War II Marine, and VFW Post 399 member. He earned a Purple Heart, for hand-to-hand combat in the Marianas Islands (Saipan).

He is buried at Assumption Greens Farms Cemetery — almost across from the farm where he was born, before I-95 was built.

“There are over 350 veterans buried in this cemetery,” Patty says. “I hope they all get wreaths.”

==================================================

The Westport Department of Human Services’ Warm-Up Fund helps households with home heating expenses through the cold winter months.

It’s especially welcome as the cost of food, housing — and heating bills — all rise.

Tax-deductible donations to the Westport Warm-Up Fund can be made online (click here, then scroll down), or by mail to Department of Human Services, Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Ave., Westport CT 06880

==================================================

Back in 2020, the Hackett family wanted to do something meaningful to give back to those in need.

All avid athletes, they chose a project that connects with them, and their Westport community. (It also helps clear out clutter.)

Working with Leveling the Playing Field — a non-profit organization helps underprivileged youngsters who need sports equipment — they’ll collect new and gently used sports and playground equipment.

They’ll be at the Granola Bar this Saturday and Sunday (December 2 and 3), from 8 a.m. to noon.

(From left): Alex, Chloe and Daisy Hackett, with a few of their many donations.

You must have stuff lying around: cleats, field hockey sticks, lacrosse equipment, bats, ice hockey skates, footballs, softball gloves, soccer shin guards, etc. Click here for a full list of items — you’ll be amazed at what you forgot you have.

So clean out your garages, sheds and basements. It’s time to level the playing field for everyone!

For more information about this amazing organization, click below:

==================================================

Chabad of Westport launches its new speaker series, “Critical Conversations,”  with a big name.

Former Israeli Minister of Justice and Interior Ayelet Shaked comes to the Newtown Turnpike center this Thursday (November 30, 7:30 p.m.). 

Shaked is a prominent political figure, known for her dedication to Israel. Her insights and perspectives on the complexities of the region are especially meaningful in the wake of last month’s terror attack by Hamas on the nation.

A Q-and-A session will follow Shaked’s presentation. For more information and reservations, click here.

==================================================

MoCA Westport’s first-ever Artisan Market (Holiday Edition) promises “a delightful day of luxury holiday shopping and art exploration.” It’s December 9 (noon to 4 p.m.), at MoCA’s Newtown Turnpike campus.

Attendees can also enjoy the current Purvis Young exhibition (and treats from the Cowabunga Food Truck).

Admission to the Artisan Marketplace is included in the $10 gallery admission fee. Admission is free for MoCA members.

Artisans include:

  • Mediterranean Botanicals
  • Hudson & King Jewelry
  • Bedford Embroidery
  • Camille & Co.
  • COG (Jen Cogliantry Design)
  • Shawls by Sonika
  • Jennifer Hoertz Millinery
  • Tocco Studio
  • hipV Modern Vintage Jewelry
  • Lucy Curran Party
  • Runo Store
  • Ellis Sant’Andrea Fine Art
  • Le Rouge Aartisan Chocolates
  • ARRA
  • SantM
  • KVO Collections

===============================================

Westport’s PTA Cultural Arts group is bringing Matthew “Magic Morgan” to all the elementary schools this week.

He and his wife Liliana — deaf magicians from Wisconsin — perform around the world. In addition to magic, students learn some American Sign Language.

Matt and Liliana will also perform for the public at Westport Town Hall tomorrow evening (Wednesday, November 29, 6 p.m.). Admission is $10.

Magic Morgan and Liliana

==================================================

Natural beauty can be found just steps from downtown.

Claudia Sherwood Servidio spotted today’s “Westport … Naturally” scene by the Kings Highway North bridge, near Canal Street.

(Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)

==================================================

And finally … happy 94th birthday to Berry Gordy.

He’s best known as the founder of Motown Records. But he’s also a songwriter (“Lonely Teardrops,” “Shop Around,” “Do You Love Me,” “I Want You Back,” “ABC.”)

He was the mastermind behind groups like the Miracles, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Stevie Wonder.

For several decades, Motown was was the highest-earning Black-owned business.

(“06880” is here for you this holiday season — and 24/7/365. Please click here to help support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)

Planting Flags, Unearthing History

A Westport parent writes:

Dan, thanks for sharing stories about Westport’s Vietnam veterans.  It is essential for younger generations to be reminded of the bravery and sacrifices of our own townspeople.

I have to share with you the sense of pride expressed by the Westport Boy Scouts who spent 4 hours yesterday distributing flags to the graves of veterans all over town.

The Scouts were proud to honor these brave men and women, whose sacrifices helped safeguard our nation and allow it to grow in prosperity and security.

Assumption Cemetery on Green’s Farms Road looks great, thanks to local Boy Scouts.

To me, it was an incredibly important reminder of how history comes alive for our young people, and how much they marvel at and appreciate the sacrifices of those who came before them. I thank the VFW and Scout leaders for giving them this opportunity.

Some newer Scouts were surprised to discover that such a large number of Westporters have served our country in the armed forces, and wondered how many untold stories could be shared with their generation.  The boys also were impressed to see the physical resting sites of Wheelers and Sherwoods, and the founders of Staples and Bedford, whose contributions also resonate so strongly in their everyday lives.

We will visit the Westport Historical Society to find more information to answer their questions. And hopefully, when we march tomorrow morning, the boys will have the chance to talk with the veterans who, because of their service to our nation, are able to participate in the well-earned festivities.