Tag Archives: Dick Fincher

Roundup: Kyle Martino, Zohran Mamdani, Dick Fincher …

Posted on May 13, 2026 | 5 comments

Hey, Westport: There’s a problem in town. Recycling contamination is rampant.

Sp the Department of Public Works has launched a campaign to educate residents on proper practices.

Six days a week, residents and private haulers bring recyclables to the transfer station. The next stop is a waste recovery facility in Shelton, where it’s sorted, then sold as commodities to manufacturers for reuse.

Some materials arrive clean, dry and loose. Others don’t. Containers filled with leftover food and cardboard boxes still packed with Styrofoam are common issues.

Small changes can make a big difference.

The 3 major sources of contamination are easy to remember: “No Bags, No Food, No Foam.”

No Bags: Never place recyclables in plastic bags. Although it may seem convenient, all bagged recycling must be discarded at the Materials Recovery Facility due to OSHA safety regulations.

No Food: Empty and rinse all containers before recycling. Food and liquid residue can contaminate entire loads, causing them to be rejected.

No Foam: Styrofoam cannot be recycled in our area. Dispose of it in the trash, and remove packing materials from boxes before recycling them. Styrofoam easily breaks apart and spreads, contaminating other recyclables.

DPW director Pete Ratkiewich says, “Improper recycling creates additional processing costs for the town — costs that are ultimately passed on to residents. By following these simple guidelines, you can help keep Westport’s recycling program efficient and cost-effective.”

Rinse thoroughly before recycling!

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

Yesterday’s item about tickets for Staples High School’s Pops Concert (Friday, June 5), included confusing information on the day tickets are available online.

You can order tickets beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 22. Click here for the link. Remember: first-come, first-served!

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

Kyle Martino is many things.

At Staples High School he was the 1999 Gatorade High School Soccer Player of the Year. He was MLS Rookie of the Year, and earned 8 caps with the US men’s national team. He’s one of the best soccer broadcasters around, and the inventor of Goalpher, an innovation that turns basketball courts into mini-pitches.

Oh, yeah: Kyle, who now lives back in Westport, also created Street FC. They host street-style pickup games in unexpected spaces, from basketball and tennis courts to rooftops and empty lots, making it easy for anyone to show up and play.

Who showed up the other day with Kyle, on a Bronx street?

Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Wearing an Arsenal jersey, he joined Kyle — and a gang of kids — in an impromptu game.

Click here or below, to watch.

PS: Who has better skills: Kyle or the mayor?

It’s actually pretty close.

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

Former Tree Board chair Dick Fincher died in 2024. Over many decades he contributed greatly to Westport, in many ways.

One was as a driving force behind the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum, adjacent to Earthplace and just a few steps from his Old Hill home.

Soon, the Tree Board will honor him with a plaque, celebrating his dedication and love in creating the 12-acre park, then maintaining and caring for it.

Volunteers will reclaim a small area overtaken by invasives. Fittingly, it’s a spot Dick often watered, tending to daffodils and jack-in-the-pulpits.

Dick Fincher, at the Wadsworth Arboretum. (Photo/Dan Woog)

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

The “Shake It For Shea” online auction is now live.

Whether you’ll be at tomorrow’s 4th annual gala (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., The Knowlton, Bridgeport)  to raise money for Long QT Syndrome research at Mayo Clinic through Project Shea — Westporter Mark and Kira Greenfield’s great cause — or not, everyone can click here to bid.

Highlights include:

Golf: Grove XXIII, Winged Foot, Sleepy Hollow, Quaker Ridge, Philadelphia Cricket Club and more.

New York Knicks: First row seats at Madison Square Garden, a private shooting clinic at your home court with Allan Houston, a round of golf with John Starks and Larry, or watching a road game alongside Stephon Marbury.

Entertainment: A live taping of “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen, 2 tickets to “& Juliet” on Broadway, a “Dancing with the Stars” taping, or VIP access to a closed-door Broadway show reading.

Dining: Dinner for 4 at Carbone NYC, the tasting menu at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, an 8-person in-home dinner cooked by celebrity chef Chris Nirschel, and more.

Travel: A week in a brand-new 4-bedroom villa in Cap Cana with a private chef and staff, plus stays at Ocean House, Brazilian Court Palm Beach, Plaza Athenee, Commodore Perry Estate, and more.

Sports memorabilia: Authenticated autographed pieces from Eli Manning, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Malik Nabers, Ray Lewis, Cal Raleigh, Paul Skenes and many more.

And those are just some of the great items.

Every dollar raised goes toward Long QT Syndrome research at Mayo Clinic through Project Shea.

The Shake It For Shea fundraiser.

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

There’s plenty of purple in the photo above — and a ton of fuchsia in the “Westport … Naturally” image below:

(Photo/Niki van Praag)

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

And finally … happy 76th birthday to the great (and ageless) Stevie Wonder!

We could have picked dozens of great songs. Here are just 3:

(It would be “wonder”-ful if every reader supported “06880.” Or just half! Or a quarter, even. Please click here to show some love for this hyper-local blog. Thank you!)

5 Comments

Posted in Entertainment, Environment, Sports, Staples HS

Tagged , , , , , ,

Roundup: Orphenians’ Caroling Crawl, Startup Westport’s Party, Dick Fincher’s Memorial …

Posted on December 18, 2024 | 2 comments

“Caroling Crawl” — a Saugatuck tradition — continues this Saturday (December 21, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.).

Staples High School’s elite a cappella group the Orphenians will entertain diners at several restaurants, in the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event.

They’ll start at the Saugatuck Rowing Club’s Boathouse, then make their rounds at other restaurants around Riverside Avenue, Railroad Place and the rest of the neighborhood, ending at the Little Pub at Dunville’s.

Add that to the list of specials on Saturday’s menu!

Staples Orphenians’ Caroling Crawl.

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

Speaking of Christmas in Saugatuck: Startup Westport — the public/private partnershp for tech entrepreneurs and innovators — chose a perfect location for their holiday party.

Nearly 150 people gathered at Content Studio — Chirag Shah and Jay Norris’ Saugatuck Avenue production studio/meeting/media location — to celebrate the season.

Startup Westport events are always high-energy, with plenty of creative men and women sharing ideas and networking.

Throw in food, drinks, and a DJ, and it was one of the organization’s best events in their very busy 2 years.

Some of the many attendees enjoying yesterday’s Startup Westport holidy party, at Content Studio.

Startup Westport co-founder Jay Norris and his wife Crystal. They celebrated both the party, and her birthday.

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

A memorial service for Dick Fincher — the Tree Board chair, Earthplace and Staples Tuition Grants board member, and church vestryman, who died October 31 at 86 — will be held Saturday, December 28, at 11;30 a.m. at Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.

A reception will follow. The public is invited to attend.

Dick Fincher

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

16 teams of Staples High School students and Westport Police officers hurled balls at each other Monday, in the annual Westport Youth Commission dodgeball tournament.

The event — held in the Staples fieldhouse — has 2 important rules. Each team must include 1 cop. And no aiming at heads.

Otherwise, is a night for ducking, diving, and of course dodging.

Staples’ Teen Awareness Group co-sponsored the tourney. Entry fees help fund their projects.

The Dodge-a-Cop champs! From left: James Penny, Anthony Armentano, Charles Clark, Casey Bag, Nicholas Weil, Officer Mike Davis. (Photo/Andrew Colabella)

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

Over the summer, herbicide was applied to the Jesup Road median, near Westport Pride’s rainbow crosswalk.

The strip between Westport Book Shop and Jesup Green started to look a bit ratty.

Two local businesses rode to the rescue.

SCA Crowley donated a cleanup crew, and mulched the site.

Then Tuliptree Site Design of Norwalk reseeded the pollinator pathway.

Next spring, the colors of the blooms will rival that of the crosswalk nearby.

Mike Mushak of Tuliptree Site Design tends to the Jesup Road median.

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

The New Orleans Museum of Art’s current exhibit “Show & Tell: A Brief History of Photography and Text,” explores t marriage of photos and words.

It includes a work by Larry Silver, the Westport-based, internationlly known photographer.

His image of the Grand Central Terminal waiting room was taken in 1952.

(Photo/copyright Larry Silver)

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

Margery Fisher — a longtime Coleytown Middle School librarian, children’s book author and the wife of noted illustrated Leonard Everett Fisher — died peacefully at home on Friday. She was 94.

After majoring in mathematics and earning Phi Beta Kappa honors at Mount Holyoke College, Margery was recruited by IBM to teach at their school in New York City.

She soon became a system service representative, one of the very few women in the IBM business machine program and pioneering computer path.

While at IBM she met and married her husband of 71 years. She and Leonard  moved to New Haven. IBM transferred Margery to its office there. For the next several years she serviced IBM’s growing business machine products, from industrial computers installed in hardware stores and grocery stores to the United States Navy’s first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus.

Margery left IBM prior to the birth of their children. After moving to Westport she earned a master’s degree in library science at Southern Connecticut State University.

She served as Coleytown Middle School’s librarian for 25 years, retiring in 1995.

Margery was the author of 2 children’s books, for which her husband provided the illustrations: “But Not Our Daddy” and “One and One.”

Margery continued her interest in children’s literature after retiring. She joined the Bank Street College Book Committee, creating, editing and publishing world-wide yearly lists of the best in North American children’s literature.

Margery and Leonard lived in Westport for more than 68 years. They traveled the world together from England (33 times) to the Panama Canal, Italy, Russia, Egypt, China, Hawaii, Normandy and Maine.

Margery is survived by her children Julie Fisher (Robert Aldoroty), Susan Fisher Plotner, and James Fisher (Pamela Viglielmo); grandchildren Lauren, Michael, Samuel, Jordan, Gregory and Danielle, and her sister Betty Meskin Pincus.

Donations in Margery and Leonard’s name can be made to the “Margery & Leonard Everett Fisher Endowment for Children’s Books in the Arts,” c/o Westport Library, 20 Jesup Road, Westport, CT 06880.

Margery Fisher

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

Longtime Westport arts community member and philanthropist Gary Cosgrave died peacefully on Monday. He was 82.

A graduate of Mamaroneck (New York) High School, Gary did not go to college because he suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia. Nevertheless, he achieved remarkable business success.

After the passing of his father, Paul, Gary took over the family business, PROGroup, and as chair and CEO turned it into a conglomerate of 5 businesses: Pro Hardware. Garden Master and Farm Mart, as well an advertising agency and distribution business.

For over 25 years Gary was an active member of Vistage, a worldwide business advisor group.  After selling his business in 2011, Gary continued to mentor business executives and entrepreneurs, and was on the board of Soluxe Inc., parent company of Solomon Community Solar LLC.

Gary served for many years on the boards of the Westport Country Playhouse and MoCA CT.  In 2012 he was honored by the Westport Art Center for his success as chair in stabilizing the group’s finances and developing a new strategic vision.

He was a major donor to the Southport School, an independent day school for cerebrodiverse children dealing with challenges like dyslexia, and to Seeds for Peace and Operation Smile.

An accomplished sailor and scuba diver, Gary threw himself into underwater photography. He built an impressive portfolio of stunning images that he published as books, sold and displayed widely.  He co-authored a book, “Stop, Think and Dream: Be the Difference That Makes a Difference (Teens for Planet Earth),” empowering New York City teenagers.

Gary survived by his fiancé Dina Upton of Westport; son Terry Cosgrave of Colorado Springs, and grandchildren Michaela Patry, Lily Cosgrave, Isabell and Ella Rosenberg.  He was preceded in death by his wife Ruby, daughter Tracey, and brothers Jack and Victor.

Gary’s ashes will be interred at his family plot at Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan on February 8 (10:30 a.m.), followed by a celebration of his life at Rive Bistro (11:30 a.m.).

Memorial donations may be made in Gary’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Gary Cosgrave

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

Claudia Sherwood Servidio — one of our very talented “Westport … Naturally” contributors — finds beauty everywhere.

She shot this image yesterday, at rainy Sherwood Island State Park:

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

And finally … Robert Moses — the urban planner responsible for the construction of hundreds of highways, bridges, tunnels, playgrounds, beaches — and a World’s Fair — in and around New York, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, was born on this day in 1888. He died in 1981.

(Holy Moses! If you appreciate “06880”‘s daily coverage of all things Westport, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

2 Comments

Posted in Arts, Obituaries, Police, Saugatuck, Staples HS

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Remembering Dick Fincher

Posted on November 1, 2024 | 6 comments

Dick Fincher — a longtime Westporter with a quiet passion for the town, and who served it in roles ranging from Tree Board chair, and Earthplace and Staples Tuition Grants board member to Christ & Holy Trinity Church vestryman — died on Monday. He was 86. 

His family says:

The Fincher family lost their hero on October 28. Richard “Dick” Fincher enjoyed 86 wonderous trips around the sun.

The Indiana sand dunes, on the shores of Lake Michigan, were his playground.

Raised by 2 adoring uncles and a fiercely protective grandmother. All provided love, strength and a strong set of values, while at the same time imbuing Dick with a lifetime love of all things natural.

High school was spent at Benlippen in Asheville, North Carolina, where he excelled both academically and in sports. Dick was offered a basketball scholarship by Indiana State, and a soccer scholarship to Wheaton College in Illinois.

Wheaton won out. Dick played soccer, and captained his team to an NCAA championship his senior year.

Their first night at Wheaton, Dick met Dorothy “Dottie” Skeoch at a freshman mixer. Their friendship extended into an adventurous 63-year marriage.

Dick Fincher

An ROTC commitment took Dick and Dottie to Fort Lee, Virginia for a Quartermaster School assignment. There, among other commitments, Dick was asked to form and coach the post soccer team.

After completing his military assignment, Dick joined Continental Can Company. For the next 20 years he saw the world.

He then founded his own consulting and recruiting company, which lasted for the next 20 years.

Upon retirement, unable to sit in a hammock, Dick began carving and hand painting cedar fishing lures, which he sold from the Caribbean to Hawaii.

In 1969, this became Dick’s town. He immersed himself in everything Westport.

In addition to Earthplace, the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum, Staples Tuition Grants, and Christ & Holy Trinity Church, Dick could be found on the sidelines cheering Staples High School soccer games, and attending town meetings where he believed he could make a difference.

Dick Fincher, at the entrance to the Wadsworth Arboretum (corner of Stonybrook Road and Woodside Lane).

His Old Hill neighborhood became his world. He championed formation of the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum, monitored cars speeding through stop signs, gave advice, cared for folks in dark clothes walking the narrow streets, and worked endless hours in his yard, sharing the abundance of his garden with neighbors.

Seeing and visiting with neighbors, feeding his many birds, sitting on his front porch or strolling with his dog Gunner were the highlights of his day.

Summers found Dick captaining his boat on Long Island Sound, fishing for stripers and blues, and running lobster pots with his boys.

In his wake he leaves Dottie, his beloved sons Rick, Doug (Tracy) and Scott (Julie), 10 adored grandchildren (with a great-grandchild on the way), and many cousins, nieces and nephews whom he loved.

A celebratory service is planned for Christ & Holy Trinity Church on December 28.

A gift in Dick’s name to Staples Tuition Grants’ Dick and Dottie Fincher Award
would delight him.

6 Comments

Posted in Environment, Obituaries, religion

Tagged , , , , ,

Tree Board Sheds Members

Posted on February 24, 2023 | 8 comments

Five years ago, Monica Buesser’s husband got a job in Norwalk.

They bought a home in Westport for the usual reasons: lower taxes than surrounding towns, excellent services, beaches, marinas and summer entertainment.

During their 20 years in New Jersey, Monica — who is a master gardener, and earned a master’s degree in biology — had served on the Ridgewood Tree Commission. She wondered if there was something similar here.

Her first week in town, she heard about a tree giveaway at the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum, near her new home. She walked over, met members of the Westport Tree Board, and — without knowing quite what it did — offered to help.

Chair Dick Fincher and tree warden Bruce Lindsay were happy to have her. Monica interviewed with then-2nd Selectwoman Jen Tooker, and joined the group.

When Fincher resigned as chair in 2021, Monica took over. She continued the work he had begun, earning certification as a “Tree City USA” from the Arbor Day Foundation.

Westport Tree Board member Monica Buesser (left) and Lynne Perrgo celebrate the town’s “Tree City USA designation in October 2021.

Twice a year the Tree Board hands out trees, at places like Town Hall and Jesup Green. They’ve organized “Oaktober” celebrations, and worked with the Wadsworth Arboretum to upgrade its visibility and educational offerings.

Monica has not accomplished all that she wanted. A tree planting program similar to one in Ridgewood is still not off the ground.

The Tree Board’s role, Monica says, is to “support the tree warden, and educate the public about trees and the community.”

Westport Tree Board sapling giveaway.

But working with the town’s bureaucracy can be frustrating. Pages of informational content created by Tree Board member Jim Corley is not yet available on the town website.

A link to report problem trees using photos and GPS coordinates — similar to a link on Fairfield’s website — is also not yet live.

Part of the problem, Monica says, is that Westport’s tree warden is not a full-time employee. In addition, he only handles “street trees” — not those at schools and parks, or on private roads.

Buesser and her husband are moving soon, to be closer to 2 children in Washington, DC. (A third is in Utah.)

Her departure — coupled with the Tree Board resignations of Jim Corley and Alice Ely — means there will be 3 vacancies.

She is excited by the passion and knowledge of members like Dick Stein (“he knows every house, every person and every tree,” she says), and Frank Rosen (the News12 videographer helped produce a feature on oak trees; a new one, on sycamores, is in the works).

The Tree Board is important, she says. As Eversource pursues a controversial vegetation management plan — which included cutting trees 100 feet away from utility lines in Redding — the town will need to be vigilant, she warns.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Tree Board — including how to serve — should email treewarden@westportct.gov.

(Tree stories are some of the most popular on “06880.” To keep them — and all others — coming, please contribute by clicking here. Thank you!) 

8 Comments

Posted in Environment, Local politics

Tagged , , , , ,

An Evergreen Grows In Westport

Posted on August 16, 2017 | 6 comments

First, it was natural land: wooded, a bit wet.

Then it was cleared for farming. Eventually, nature took over again.

Stone walls show that this wooded land was used long ago for farming.

In 1959, Lillian Wadsworth sold 12 acres to the town of Westport — for $1. The year before, she’d given 62 acres to the fledgling Mid-Fairfield County Youth Museum. The organization later changed its name — first to the Nature Center, then to Earthplace.

A philanthropist, artist and sculptor, Wadsworth was active in the Westport Garden Club, Westport Library, and various preservation and horticutural organizations. 

The Board of Education considered the site — bordered by Stonybrook Road and Woodside Lane — for a school. Residents of the quiet neighborhood objected.

Eventually, the town designated the 12 acres for passive recreation.

The Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum is called “Stony Brook Rd property” on this Google Maps Earth view. Earthplace is at top.

About 20 years ago, the town explored selling the site to a developer. Nearby resident Dick Fincher and town attorney Stan Atwood helped scuttle that plan.

In 2009, a micro-burst felled hundreds of trees. They sat, rotting, for several years.

In 2014 Fincher and Lou Mall got 1st Selectman Jim Marpe interested in the site. When tree warden Bruce Lindsay saw it, he immediately recognized its potential.

With a $50,000 urban forestry grant — and hundreds of volunteer hours — a few trails were cut. Fincher and neighbor John Howe played key roles, and saved a beautiful Norway maple.

Dick Fincher, at the entrance to the Wadsworth Arboretum (corner of Stoneybrook Road and Woodside Lane).

A Norway maple at the Wadsworth Arboretum. The teepee nearby was built by students.

Since then, volunteer restoration efforts have continued. The land was given an official name: The Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum.

Now Fincher and Stein — both members of Westport’s Tree Board — are kicking the project into high gear. The Board has formed a non-profit — Westport Evergreen — to solicit foundation, corporate, civic group and individual funding to manage, maintain and improve open spaces throughout town.

The start of the Eloise Ray trail, on Stonybrook Road. Eloise Ray was a noted landscape architect.

In addition to the Wadsworth Arboretum, Westport Evergreen has done preliminary work at Baron’s South, the 32-acre wooded site between South Compo and Imperial Avenue.

So far, 40% of the Wadsworth site work has been completed. Dangerous deadfalls and invasives were removed; a trail plan has been established, and several trails added. Specimen vegetation has been planted, signage installed, and benches and tables were made by Stein from salvaged wood.

Dick Stein made this bench from salvaged wood. Lou Mall invited fellow RTM members here for a picnic.

Clearing the massive amount of underbrush is “not a job for amateurs,” says Dick Fincher.

Dick Fincher stands on a bridge built earlier this summer by Lou Mall, Dick Stein and tree warden Bruce Lindsay.

Dead creepers line a Wadswworth Arboretum trail.

Still ahead: a visitors’ information kiosk, 3- or 4-car parking area, and path along the Stonybrook perimeter.

A visitors’ kiosk will be built here. All the wood comes from the Wadsworth Arboretum site.

Westport Evergreen hopes to organize work days with groups like the Boys Scouts, Staples’ Service League of Boys, and Rotary and garden clubs.

One of the trails already cut at the Wadsworth Arboretum. Many have been created by students.

Last year, several Staples senior interns and members of Mike Aitkenhead’s environmental studies classes worked at the Arboretum.

Westport Evergreen seeks contributions to the general fund, or for planting a tree or purchasing a bench. Email blindsay@westportct.gov, or write Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum, c/o Tree Warden, 110 Myrtle Avenue, Westport, CT 06880.

When funding is completed, this rock will bear a plaque saying “Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum.”

In the meantime, wander over to the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum. It’s open 365 days a year.

And it’s free.

That’s priceless.

6 Comments

Posted in Environment, Organizations, People

Tagged , , , ,

Coming Soon To Westport: The Wadsworth Arboretum?

Posted on October 1, 2015 | 11 comments

Hartford has the Wadsworth Atheneum.

If Lou Mall has his way, Westport may soon have its own Wadsworth Arboretum.

The RTM member has asked our board of selectmen to rename 11.84 acres on Stony Brook Road “the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum.”

The proposed Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum is called "Stony Brook property" on this Google Maps Earth view.

The proposed Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum is called “Stony Brook property” on this Google Maps Earth view.

According to Mall, in 1959 Wadsworth sold land on the  corner of Stony Brook and Woodside to the town — for $1. It was purchased for a school, which was never built.

This property, Mall says, “is a priceless gift to generations to come.”

In December 2013, nearby resident Dick Fincher wrote his RTM representatives about the property. He described damage done during a 2009 storm, and expressed concern about the town’s liability to anyone walking on the land. No action was taken, Mall says, due to a lack of funds.

In early spring 2014, 1st  Selectman Jim Marpe asked tree warden Bruce Lindsay to inspect the property. He applied for and received an urban forestry grant. The Planning and Zoning Commission then designated the area as open space. Fincher and neighbor John Howe cleaned up the property, saving a beautiful Norway maple tree.

Land near the proposed Wadsworth Arboretum.

Land near the proposed Wadsworth Arboretum.

Now, Mall says, the land needs a name.

Wadsworth was born in 1887  in New York, and died at her Kings Highway North home in 1962. (Her great-granddaughter, Sarah Cronquist, lives there today.) Wadsworth was a philanthropist, artist and sculptor, and widow of industrialist Dudley Wadsworth.

As founder and president of the Lillian Wadsworth Foundation, she contributed to the Mid-Fairfield County Museum — now called Earthplace — and donated 62 acres to it.

She was also active in the Westport Garden Club, Westport Library, Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities, the Connecticut Antiquarian and Landmark Society and New York Horticultural Society.

The land Mall hopes to name for Wadsworth is heavily wooded. Designated as “passive recreation” space, its location adjacent to Earthplace makes it attractive to nature lovers.

“We have an opportunity to make this parcel the blueprint for neighborhood and volunteer involvement of funding, building and maintaining open space in Westport,” Mall says. “We need to respond as Lillian did, with clear thought and vigorous action.”

(Hat tip: Doug Fincher)

11 Comments

Posted in Environment, Local politics, Organizations, People

Tagged , , , , ,

Sand And Silt In The Saugatuck River: The Sequel

Posted on August 27, 2014 | 14 comments

A recent “06880” post on the Saugatuck River sand and silt buildup drew many comments. Longtime Westporter Dick Fincher reached deep in his memory bank, and added these thoughts:

The river channel, from the bay to the Post Road bridge, was last dredged by the Corps of Engineers in 1969. That is a firm date, because we had just moved here. We were living in a rented house at 165 Riverside Avenue, right on the river.

In theory the Corps is supposed to keep the channel dredged on a regular basis. But in fact it has not, since the river is not considered an essential waterway for commerce and/or extensive pleasure boat traffic.

I believe the Saugatuck dredging had 2 forks, about 300 yards south of the Post Road bridge. One went straight up the channel. The other bore over to the quay more or less in front of the library, then alongside it to the bridge.

This no doubt was because in the old, old days the commercial channel actually went right up to the backs of the buildings on the east side of Parker Harding, before it became a parking lot.

Until the mid-1950s, the Saugatuck River lapped up against the back of Main Street stores. Construction of the Parker Harding parking lot changed the river's currents substantially.

Until the mid-1950s, the Saugatuck River lapped up against the back of Main Street stores. Construction of the Parker Harding parking lot changed the river’s currents substantially.

Despite not being dredged, for many years — probably into the early 1990s or thereabouts – the lower portion had a good channel (almost to the Bridge Street bridge) because Gault got regular barge deliveries to their dock. Barges with 8-foot draft scraped the channel clean every time they came in or went out.

I would venture that the shallowness your contributor saw in the upper river (unless he just happened to see it at extremely low tide) is exacerbated by the fact that the lower river is also silting. There are spots even in the lower channel that at low tide are barely passable in the middle of the channel, right by Stony Point.

I know the folks at Earthplace take regular readings on the river’s health. Perhaps they can shed some light on this.

Dick’s insights reminded me of a romanticized version of the Saugatuck River’s traffic. A number of years ago, when commercial brokers were trying to market the gruesome glass building on Gorham Island, they ran a big ad in the real estate section of the Sunday New York Times. It featured a drawing of the building — and right next to it, way upriver of the Post Road bridge, was an enormous schooner. As if.

(Photo/Scott Smith)

The Saugatuck River at low tide. (Photo/Scott Smith)

14 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Environment, Looking back, Saugatuck

Tagged , , ,

Longtime Westporters Pay Staples Tuition Grants Forward

Posted on March 1, 2014 | 1 comment

When Richard Berkowitz served on Staples Tuition Grants’ board in the late 1970s, only a few small grants were awarded to graduating seniors. Board members quietly solicited donations from friends and neighbors.

In the early to mid-1980s — when Dick Fincher served on the STG board — a $1,000 grant was considered great.

Dick Fincher (left) and his son Doug.

Dick Fincher (left) and his son Doug.

Fincher recalls, “This was a period of very high unemployment. Interest rates got up to about 20%, for a short time. It was surprising then, as it probably is now, who in Westport had a financial need in terms of paying college expenses.”

Berkowitz and Fincher’s rewarding experiences serving on the STG board — helping students earn a college education — was noticed by their children.

“That sense of community drew me to the program. I’m following my dad’s lead,” says Dick’s son, Doug Fincher. He — along with Berkowitz’s daughter, Jody Beck — are now STG board members.

When Doug graduated from Staples in 1982, friends received grants. Some still live in town today.

Families he knew as a student continue to support STG’s named awards. There are nearly 100 of them, established by individuals, companies and civic groups.

The 2 newest named awards honor Ken Brummel and Westport Temple Lodge #65.

Ken Brummel

Ken Brummel

The Brummel award — donated by his daughter Lisa — celebrates a longtime educator. In 1964 — at just 28 years old — Ken Brummel was named principal of Bedford Junior High School. He later served 12 years as Westport’s superintendent of schools. He was widely admired as an innovator, and a strong supporter of teachers. He died a year ago, at 77.

The Temple Lodge has served the town since 1824. Freemasonry is the oldest fraternal organization in the world, with members dedicated to caring for those less fortunate and giving back to their community.

Staples Tuition Grants is not as old as the Temple Lodge — but few organizations are. STG was established in 1943 with a $100 gift from the Staples PTA. Last year it awarded $317,000 in grants to 122 students — graduating seniors, and alumni already in college — thanks to gifts from over 500 individuals, PTAs, civic organizations, local businesses, trusts and private foundations.

(To make a tax-deductible donation, or for more information, click here; email giving@staplestuitiongrants.org, or write STG, Box 5159, Westport, CT 06881-5159.)

Staples Tuition Grants new logo

1 Comment

Posted in Education, Organizations, People, Staples HS

Tagged , , , , , ,