The latest news from Willowbrook Cemetery includes a new president, longtime Westporter Sal Lucci; more daffodils, plantings, trees and irrigation, and a renovated mausoleum section.
Also this: A large expansion of Section 14, with over 5,000 new graves.
A press announcement attributes this to “increased demand.”
Apparently, people are dying to get in.
Daffodils at Willowbrook Cemetery. Frederick Law Olmsted helped design the Main Street property.
This morning’s post — with photos from Westport Memorial Day parades past — inspired 2 alert and historically minded “06880” readers to send in their own.
Jack Whittle found this shot on the Gault 150th anniverary website. It shows a 1920s-era parade — minimalist though it was — passing Willowbrook cemetery on North Main Street. Leonard H. Gault drove the fire truck.
Ann Sheffer sent along 2 photos. Here are some Girl Scouts circa 1955 (with her mother, Betty Sheffer, as a troop leader):
This one from 1961 shows the parade on the Post Road (the Mobil gas station is now where Finalmente is, across from the old post office):
Here was the scene in 1966. Fairfield Furniture stores has of course been converted back into its original “National Hall” form.
Mark Potts offers this scene from 1972. Staples band leader Bob Genualdi (tie and jacket) leads his musicians up the Post Road, in front of the bizarrely named S&M Pizza. (Note the group sitting — as kids did back in the day — on top of the adjacent store.)
Remember: the 2016 version steps off at 9 a.m. Monday (May 30). Get your camera ready — don’t forget to charge that cell phone!
Posted in Downtown, Local business, Looking back, Places
Tagged Ann Sheffer, Gault, Jack Whittle, Memorial Day parade, Willowbrook Cemetery
You can get anything you need for your life on eBay.
For death, too.
Right now, for example, you can bid on a Willowbrook cemetery mausoleum. It fits “two (2) caskets and one (1) urn” comfortably.
The Willowbrook mausoleum.
The starting bid is just $2,900. Thanks to PayPal, 12 months financing is available.
The sellor (loulou0605) has 100% positive feedback.
But that’s not all! There’s “free local pickup”!
The auction ends Wednesday, at 10:25 a.m. So act now.
This offer will expire before you do.
(Here’s the direct eBay link to this mausoleum offer.)
“You should write about all the automobile accidents in Westport,” an “06880” reader wrote.
Why? I wondered. They happen with such regularity, they’re just a fact of life here.
Covering car crashes would be like blogging that “the sun rose in the east today,” or “a new women’s store opened on Main Street.”
But Wednesday’s 3-car accident grabbed my attention.
2 of the 3 cars involved in Wednesday's accident. The other vehicle was just as mangled. (Photo by Dave Matlow)
It was early afternoon. Skies were clear. The stretch of Main Street in front of Willowbrook Cemetery is straight and well-paved.
Yet somehow the driver of a Ford Taurus managed to smash into both a Pontiac and Mercedes. The Taurus driver had to be extricated.
All 3 vehicles were totaled.
Readers of WestportNow.com, which first reported the crash, weighed in. One suggested speed was a factor. Another figured cell phones.
I’m guessing both.
Is there any place in Westport that’s so important to get to that we have to drive like madmen (and women)?
Is there any reason for racing through every light and stop sign; tailgating every guy (and gal) ahead of us, and doing it all while yapping into a device glued with one hand next to our ear?
Driving past cemeteries is fine. Ending up in one because some other Westporter (or New Yorker) thinks the world revolves around him (or her) is not.
I’m always amazed when parents bitch about the poor driving habits of teenagers. Kids don’t grow up in vacuums. They take their cues from everyone around them.
And they don’t start at 16. That baby strapped in the car seat watches — and wants to mimic — everything you do.
A bumper sticker says: “Shut Up And Drive.”
Amen.
Do it at a normal rate of speed, too.
If not for me and you, do it for our kids.
And yours.
Photographer Dave Matlow captures the aftermath of Wednesday's crash -- on a clear day, along a very straight stretch of the road.
Posted in Places, Police, Westport life
Tagged distracted driving, Westport drivers, Willowbrook Cemetery
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