History
25 YEARS AGO: Three attend Last Man’s Club dinner

Mar 27, 2008

Only three of the surviving members of the Last Man’s Club attended their 45th annual dinner at the Ice House on Danbury Road, the March 24, 1983 Press reported.

The three World War I veterans who attended were Harry E. Hull, the former first selectman, Thomas F. Shaughnessy and Edward Unwin. Unable to attend were former state police commissioner, John C. Kelly of Wilton Road, and Henry Palau.

Those whose destiny or whereabouts was unknown were John Hubbard, Roy Blake, Duncan Campbell and Frederick Fisher.

Of the original 31 members those who had died were Harvey B. Lown, Harry Menzies, Robert R. Keeler, William T. Peatt, Sereno T. Jacob, Edward Minnerly, Giovanni S. Morganti, Gustave Rux, Joseph Mazza, Ernest Brunetti, Rudolph Marconi, Henry Cummings, Julius Tulipani, Fred Minnerly, Silvestro Lavatori, Paminado Costanzi, John Crowley, George Miller, William Johnson, Curtis Leighton, Harry Terpeny, George Bloomer and Robert Richardson.

In keeping with the tradition established at the first dinner at the Kane Inn, now Bernard’s, the three men drank a toast to their departed comrades. The tradition of having the silver plates of the deceased members turned over at the dinner table had not been followed in recent years. According to club rules all surviving members were required to attend unless physical, financial or geographical constraints made it impossible. The last surviving member was permitted to hold the last diner “according to his own circumstances.”

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Discounted water tests, new water saving devices, hydrology information, demonstrations on wells, films and a “water tasting party” were among the activities at the town’s first “Water Awareness Day.”

Bart and Kathy Keaveny, owners of Marty Motors on Danbury Road, added the Ugly Duckling Rent-A-Car service to their car sales and service business. A car from the “duck fleet” could be rented for $12.95 per day plus 12 cents a mile.

Radio Shack advertised a price reduction, from $2,295 to $1,795, on its professional two-disk Model III TRS-80 computer. The computer had a 12” high resolution monochrome monitor, an attached typewriter style keyboard, a 48,000 character memory, two built-in disk drives for 368,000 bytes of storage and a parallel printer interface.

Brunetti’s Market in the Bissell Building, where Gail’s restaurant operated before the  fire, offered top round London broil for $2.99 a pound, baby beef liver for 59 cents a pound and beef short ribs for $1.39 a pound. Ancona’s top round London broil and their eye round roasts were $2.59 a pound. Iceberg lettuce was 59 cent a head and ham steaks were $1.99 a pound.

A five-bedroom home with a patio and heated pool next to the golf course was offered for $159,000. A four-bedroom two-story home at the end of a cul-de-sac on Woodchuck Lane was advertised for $142,000 and a carriage house four blocks from the village was for rent at $650 per month.