Tag Archives: Yvonne O’Kane

COVID-19 Roundup: ReBooked; Star Cakes And STAR; Marina And Dump Rules; More

Posted on April 25, 2020 | 10 comments

One of the highlights of the Westport Library year is its Booked for the Evening fundraiser. One of the other highlights is the announcement of the star.

Past honorees include Tom Brokaw, E. L. Doctorow, Calvin Trillin, Wendy Wasserstein, Pete Hamill, Martin Scorsese, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Will Shortz, Patti Smith,  Jon Meacham, Nile Rodgers, Lynsey Addario, Alan Alda, Justin Paul, and Frederic Chu.

This year’s Booked for the Evening is a two-fer: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, Pulitzer-prize winning authors of “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement.”

Unfortunately, the spring event has been postponed. A new date has not been announced. Library officials reassure their many fans: It will be rebooked, for some evening!

Le Rouge Aartisan Chocolates announces its newest creation — and a new chance to make a difference.

For every ⭐️Star Cake⭐️ ordered this Mother’s Day season, owner and ace chocolatier Aarti Khosla will donate another cake to a “star mom” fighting the COVID-19 pandemic on the front lines. Click here to order, for curbside pickup or delivery.

New rules went into effect today at the transfer station.

Everyone must wear a mask. The number of vehicles entering the facility will be limited and monitored. During high traffic days (Saturdays, Mondays), cars must queue in a single line on the Sherwood Island Connector.

Transfer station personnel cannot assist residents with the removal or disposal of solid waste from vehicles. Do not bring bulky items that require assistance.

During the pandemic, all fees and collection of refuse tickets will be waived.

Social distancing is strictly enforced. Every other parking space is blocked off.

Just think: Every Saturday morning before COVID, this was the center of Westport social life.

(Photo/Michael Calise; hat tip Dick Lowenstein)

Compo Beach is closed to vehicular traffic. But anyone with a boat slip at the Ned Dimes Marina will be mailed a temporary allowing entrance to the marina Lot. Town officials emphasize: This is only to provide access to boats!

This Thursday (April 30, 9 a.m.) the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce sponsors a free networking event with 1st Selectman Jim Marpe. Click here to register, and find out how the town is coping with the coronavirus.

Yvonne O’Kane is a great friend to STAR Lighting the Way. During the pandemic, she’s led Zoom art and garden classes for participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

One was on flower arranging; she’ll follow up soon with a virtual tour of her gardens. Also ahead: preparing simple yet elegant hors d’oeuvres. Yesterday’s class was on rock decorating.

They all look beautiful. But I’m partial to the one that says “06880.”

Ilene Strizver writes: “I have moved locally and have furniture to donate. Goodwill does not take furniture at this time, and all consignment shops are closed. Do any readers know where to donate, possibly with pickup, during the virus? I’d hate to trash everything, and would rather not post on Facebook.”

Ideas? Click “Comments” below.

Not Ilene’s furniture.

Shoreline Pharmacy — the “old-fashioned” drugstore near the Southport line — closed yesterday. Owners Phil and Karen Hein opened near Shake Shack 3 years ago.

Staples High School junior Chloe Ashton won 2nd place in State Senator Will Haskell’s essay contest. He invited students to write essays describing what they’d focus on, if they were elected to public office. Chloe focused on changes to the Electoral College.

Haskell planned to visit schools and present citations to the winners. With schools closed indefinitely, he’s posting a video on social media, and writing each winner a personalized note.

And finally … thanks, Josh Groban. You raise me — and everyone else — up!

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Posted in Beach, Environment, Library, Local business, Local politics, Organizations, People

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Unsung Hero #85

Posted on February 13, 2019 | 13 comments

Yvonne O’Kane’s dog barked frantically at 1 a.m. last month. She woke up, looked in the back of her Old Hill area home for deer, then took him outside to do his duty.

A few hours later, her husband went outside. Yvonne’s Mercedes convertible was gone.

The police arrived within 3 minutes. A great officer, Rachel Baron  — “lovely, compassionate and professional” — took the information. She described the work of crime gangs in Waterbury and Newark.

Because Yvonne’s checkbook and credit cards had been in the car, the officer told her to call her bank and card companies to freeze her accounts.

That morning, Yvonne headed to the police station to provide more information. Detective Phil Restieri was “awesome,” she says.

Detective Phil Restieri

He already had information: Her car had crossed the George Washington Bridge at 4 a.m. Someone had tried to use her credit card at Starbucks and McDonald’s in Newark. He gave her more advice on how to handle her lost items, and deal with her insurance company.

Phil told her that her car might be headed for a container ship. He was working with law enforcement contacts on the docks. “Everyone was already alerted,” Yvonne says.

Phil was calm, and reassuring. “His diligence and confidence gave me confidence,” Yvonne says.

Whenever she checked in, he had time for her. He — and the department — “really stayed on the case,” she adds. “No one ever made me feel like an idiot.”

After 3 weeks, Phil called. Yvonne’s car had been found, on the side of a Newark street.

He explained that stolen cars are often left on roadsides — or moved from garage to garage — until an order comes in from operatives for that particular make or model.

But Phil’s work was not done. He told Yvonne that he’d already arranged to have her vehicle towed to a safe place.

Yvonne got Westport Center Services to bring the car back from New Jersey. They delivered it to a service center in Bridgeport.

Yvonne was hesitant to go there at night. She worried there might be a weapon in the car. So — long after his shift was over — Phil met her in Bridgeport.

“It was awesome to have a police officer there,” Yvonne says. “He couldn’t have been nicer. And he said if I needed anything else, to just call.”

Phil Restieri — and all his colleagues at the Westport Police Department — are Yvonne O’Kane’s Unsung Heroes.

But here’s the thing: This is the kind of thing they do all day, every day.  We don’t hear about stories like this, unless they impact us. Or unless someone like Yvonne tells us.

So: If you’ve got a Westport Police Unsung Heroes story to share, click “Comments” below.

(Want to nominate your own Unsung Hero? Email dwoog@optonline.net) 

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The O’Kane Family’s “Life On Mar’s”

Posted on March 23, 2017 | 5 comments

For the first 10 years after moving to Kings Highway North, Yvonne and Neil O’Kane did not do much in the way of renovations.

They were busy with their careers. They were raising 3 kids. Besides, they liked the 1908 house in one of Westport’s most historic neighborhoods.

The small rooms were cozy. The Mexican tile in the kitchen reminded them of their years in Arizona. The house was home.

But 4 years ago they put in a pool. They terraced their yard. That added a grade, which didn’t look right. They started thinking about other changes.

The year before, Yvonne had met Mar Jennings. Now, as she visited his home during the Westport Historical Society’s Holiday House Tour, she asked the designer/stager/lifestyle expert/author/TV host for the name of a project manager to help plan a few renovations to her exterior, kitchen and bathroom. Mar said he’d take a look himself.

He stayed for 6 hours.

Mar Jennings at the O’Kanes’ house.

Yvonne — who is trained as an architect — felt something click. When Mar suggested doing the renovation as a makeover TV show, she got even more excited.

Neil agreed. But, he said, we won’t use our names. And though the house could appear on air, the family wouldn’t.

The next 18 months were, Yvonne says, “a magical fit of parts and pieces.”

The O’Kanes lived in their house throughout the renovation project.

The outside, kitchen and one bathroom were done. Then came beams, new doors and windows, insulation, new clapboard and a cedar roof.

The family room needed work, so that was next.

They added a deck off the master bedroom, then redid the bedroom itself.

After that were the kids’ bathrooms, and their son Teddy’s bedroom.

Dormers and library work opened up more space.

Dormer work added space in the bedrooms.

They turned an unused downstairs room into Yvonne’s studio. They added a laundry room.

When they were done, the only part of the house that remained untouched was the dining room.

It was as long and involved a project as it sounds. The O’Kanes were without a kitchen for 6 months, and a bedroom for 9. For a while they all lived together downstairs.

They loved it.

Neil, Caroline, Alexandra, Teddy and Yvonne O’Kane. (Photo/Carolinei O’Kane/Mercilie Chiarelli)

“It was a great experience,” Yvonne says, sitting in the sun-splashed living room, surrounded by furniture she and Mar found everywhere from Lillian August to Goodwill. (They shopped locally for nearly every item, and repurposed much of what was already in the house.)

The family grew closer during the adventure. As part of the TV show they went on a trapeze and to Six Flags. (It did not take long for Neil’s desire for anonymity to go out the newly designed window.)

“Mar was amazing overseeing the project,” Yvonne says. “He kept it running brilliantly.”

She was no slouch herself. And during it she even got her real estate license.

The exterior, at the end of a long driveway on Kings Highway North.

You might expect that in a project like this, everything that could go wrong, would.

Nope. There were very few surprises. And expect for a bit of structural work, all the surprises they encountered were good ones.

For example, workers discovered a hidden staircase. Mar and Yvonne promptly included it in their plans.

“We were a great fit,” she says. They named themselves “MY Team.” For Mar and Yvonne — get it?!

“I love every inch of this home,” Yvonne says. “The space works really, really well. We live in every room. The insulation is great. The kitchen is fantastic. Everyone has space, but we’re still together.”

Yvonne O’Kane loves her new kitchen. The family congregates there, she says.

Teddy — a Staples freshman — is still at home. Caroline — who lived through the renovation — is now a Fordham University freshman. Alexandra is a senior at Georgetown.

The TV show — said to be the first complete home makeover series filmed in Connecticut — took place while the house was still being renovated. Crews filmed Mar and Yvonne collaborating, shopping, and laughing together.

The first episode aired on ABC’s WTNH in New Haven. Twelve more followed, through last June. Despite competition from football and baseball games, the show earned excellent ratings.

Now it’s ready for prime time — that is, Amazon Prime.

You won’t forget the name. It’s called “Life on Mar’s.”

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Posted in Media, Organizations, People, Real estate

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