Saturday, January 28, 2023
Valley Courier Person of the Week
Valley Courier
Paula Webster: The Trick Worked
Published July 13, 2022 08:30 a.m.Paula Webster explains that she was tricked into quilting. A friend from her knitting group who also quilted made her an offer straight out of The Godfather: an offer she could not refuse.
Valley Courier
Michael Adams: Road Runner
Published June 29, 2022 08:30 a.m.Mike Adams already has a first and Chester Rotary’s Four on the Fourth road race has not even been run yet. Mike was the first Chester resident to sign up for the 44th annual race this year. Though many road races now measure distances in kilometers, Chester calculates distance, as it always has, in miles.
Valley Courier
Paul Fazzino, Sr.: Fire Fighter and Now Grand Marshal
Published June 22, 2022 08:30 a.m.You know what they say: location, location, location. And that, Paul Fazzino, Sr., says, explains his early enthusiasm for firefighting. He grew up “almost next door” to the fire house in Ivoryton.
Valley Courier
Dick Mather: A Grave Situation
Published June 15, 2022 08:30 a.m.A grave situation demands a grave solution. No surprise, this is a story about graves, specifically the oldest graves in the River View Cemetery in Essex.
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Ed Hemmann: Thanks for the Memories
Published June 08, 2022 08:30 a.m.Ed Hemmann is a war veteran, not of Afghanistan, not of Iraq, not of Vietnam or Korea, but of a war that increasingly few people living today have firsthand memories of: World War II.
Valley Courier
Gail Capezzone: Buddying Up
Published June 01, 2022 08:30 a.m.Gail Capezzone has a helpful hint for the correct spelling of her last name.
Valley Courier
Maddie Kayser: Taking Over at the Whistle Stop
Published May 25, 2022 08:30 a.m.Ask Maddie Kayser what she has learned since taking over the Whistle Stop Café in Deep River last January from her mother Hedy Watrous; it’s not cooking, it’s not restaurant management.
Valley Courier
Kevin Lam: Banding Together
Published May 18, 2022 08:30 a.m.Kevin Lam conducts bands. But Kevin, instrumental music director at Valley Regional High School (VRHS) and group lessons teacher at John Winthrop Middle School, had never conducted a band the size of the Ukraine Benefit Ensemble, the group he recently led. The large group performed as a part of the spring concert at the high school.
Valley Courier
Libby Stacia: Everyone Needs to Be Heard
Published May 11, 2022 08:30 a.m.“You talk about everything at a bar. You sit at a bar, everyone always wants a beer, there’s no pressure to sell, they’re coming to you,” she says.
Valley Courier
Vicki Miorelli: Call Her Captain
Published May 04, 2022 08:30 a.m.This could be a Final Jeopardy question, and Vickie Miorelli would know the answer
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Dick Shriver: Firsthand Knowledge of Ukraine
Published April 27, 2022 08:30 a.m.Dick Shriver has something to say about Ukraine, and not just because he listens to news reports. Dick and his wife Barbara lived for seven years from 1995 to 2002 in Lviv, one of Ukraine’s major cities in the west of the country near the Polish border.
Valley Courier
Angela Jones: Squirrel It Away
Published April 20, 2022 08:30 a.m.Angela Jones will not be wearing a squirrel costume on Chester’s upcoming Squirrel Days, Friday to Sunday, April 29 to May 1.
Valley Courier
Dennis Powers: Over the Bounding Main
Published April 13, 2022 08:30 a.m.Dennis Powers has been sailing for more than six decades, but at the upcoming Connecticut Spring Boat Show at Safe Harbor Essex Island on Friday to Sunday, April 29 to May 1, he will be on dry land.
Valley Courier
Leslie Quarrier: Sing for Joy
Published April 06, 2022 08:30 a.m.Predicting the future is always risky business but if all goes according to plan, on Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m., Leslie Quarrier will be singing at Con Brio’s Spring Concert.
Valley Courier
Don Perreault: Pursuing the Past
Published March 30, 2022 08:30 a.m.It’s the crumpled sales slip stuffed in a wallet; the candy wrapper left in a pocket; the old birthday card found in the stack of wrapping paper.
Valley Courier
Pamela Dumas Serfes: Life in Balance
Published March 23, 2022 08:30 a.m.Pamela Dumas Serfes made a decision that many people think about but far fewer do: she quit a prestigious, well-paying job without having a concrete employment plan for the future.
Valley Courier
Susan Dee: New Head of Essex Board of Trade
Published March 16, 2022 08:30 a.m.Susan Dee has her own way to telling another person’s age. If someone hears her last name and then makes a comment about the late actress Sandra Dee, Susan has the information she needs.
Valley Courier
Janet R. Stone: Rock On
Published March 09, 2022 08:30 a.m.Janet R. Stone couldn’t have a more appropriate last name. Janet, who lives in Deep River, is a geologist.
Valley Courier
Rick Ruzzo: It Started with a Saxophone
Published March 02, 2022 08:30 a.m.It’s not on the list of romantic gifts, but Rick Ruzzo decided to marry his wife Linda after she gave him a saxophone for his birthday.
Valley Courier
Aaron Page: Home Is Where the Heart Is
Published Feb. 23, 2022 08:30 a.m.When Aaron Page said that last fall that he was going to take over as the new president of the Chester Elementary School PTO, he often got an unexpected and skeptical response.
Valley Courier
Emily Weeks: Talking About Art
Published Feb. 16, 2022 08:30 a.m.Have you seen Emily Weeks walking around Essex? She walks a total of 2 ½ hours a day, an hour and a half in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. Her outfits change, but she says big black sunglasses are a constant.
Valley Courier
Chelbi Wade: Let’s Hear it for South Main
Published Feb. 09, 2022 08:30 a.m.People always ask. Chelbi Wade always explains. It’s about her first name. Where did it come from? Is that what her parents named her or has she created it? And how do you pronounce it?
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Adam Kerop: Where’s the Fire?
Published Feb. 02, 2022 08:30 a.m.Many youngsters say they want to be firefighters. Most do something else. Not Adam Kerop.
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Matthew Carroll: Dogged Determination
Published Jan. 26, 2022 08:30 a.m.Harry Plaut, of Old Lyme, is the chief control officer for the three towns.
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Charlene Janecek: Chester’s New First Selectwoman
Published Jan. 19, 2022 08:30 a.m.You can call her first selectwoman, but Charlene Janacek says most people in Chester just call out, “Hey, Charlene.”
Valley Courier
Ellen Madere: It’s Just Stuff
Published Jan. 12, 2022 08:30 a.m.It’s a vicious cycle: Make the New Year’s resolution, break the New Year’s resolution.
Valley Courier
Delcie McGrath: Furnishing the Future
Published Jan. 05, 2022 08:30 a.m.International news can seem remote but the connections to a far more local world are very real. Just ask Delcie McGrath. Delcie has been part of a team working on refugee resettlement this area.
Valley Courier
Sybil Higgins: Meet the Lady Behind the License Plate
Published Dec. 22, 2021 08:30 a.m.Her first name is obvious if you see her license plate: it reads Sybil J, for Sybil Joyce, but there’s a lot more than a license plate to say about Sybil Higgins.
Valley Courier
Jonathan Steele: Lighting the Night
Published Dec. 15, 2021 08:30 a.m.Jonathan Steele calls himself the tree whisperer. It’s not because he talks to the greenery, but because he is the person who hangs the Christmas lights on the tops of trees on the Ivoryton Green for Illuminations, the annual holiday light show sponsored by the Ivoryton Alliance.
Valley Courier
Todd Ellison: No Business Like Show Business
Published Dec. 08, 2021 08:30 a.m.Vito Corleone said it, as fans of the Godfather will remember: Every man has but one destiny. If so, Todd Ellison’s destiny was clear from the start. He grew up on Melody Lane in Ivoryton. So? He is an internationally acclaimed conductor, composer, music director, and vocal arranger.