Norwalk High School
Alumni Association
Norwalk, CT

Alumni newsletter honors NHS grad who made his mark

Hour Senior Staff Writer

NORWALK — The latest issue of the Norwalk High School Alumni Association newsletter has arrived in the mail and its cover features a tribute to the late John V. D'Amato, Class of 1945.

D'Amato was a founding member of the organization in 1994 and had held responsible positions in all aspects of its activities, including chairmanship of its Wall of Honor Selection Committee for two years and the chairmanship of the Scholarship Committee until shortly before his July 19 death.

The tribute notes his intensive involvement as a founder of the Norwalk Old Timers Athletic Association and his stint as toastmaster for several award dinners. And it points to his work for the Laurel Athletic Club where he was instrumental in saving the club by moving it to North Avenue when its location on Chestnut Street was losing magnetism, a move that has proven fortuitous. D'Amato was elected president of the club an unprecedented eight times.

The newsletter also notes the passing of the high school's oldest known alumni, Marguerite A. Pennington, Class of 1920, who died earlier this year in her 105th year. She had last visited Norwalk a couple of years ago from her Chicago area home where she lived independently, but near relatives until very near the end of her life. The occasion was the funeral of a dear relative, Alfred Canevari, the late outstanding NHS athlete and in adulthood the longtime chairman of the Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission.

The honor of the being the oldest member of the NHS alumni had previously been held jointly by Gladys Beach Carpenter, Class of 1918, and Anne Walsh, Class of 1920, who both died in April of 2005 at 104. All three had been honorary members of the association as are all centenarians.

The newsletter contains pictures of the recent picnic at Cranbury Park which drew a record 175 members, a list of upcoming class reunions, announcements relating to the new NHS Principal Lenny Mecca and the upcoming Wall of Honor dinner Oct. 7 in Continental Manor for which Heidi Shreiner Godleski, Class of 1961, is overall chairman. Ticket chairman is NHSAA Vice President Barbara O'Connor, Class of 1971, and program advertising manager is NHSAA Corresponding Secretary Carol Hamilton, Class of 1970. Tickets at $50 for the prime rib affair may be obtained by calling O'Connor at (203) 451-0395 or (203) 380-4771, while advertisements or booster lines in the program may be purchased by calling Hamilton at (203) 846-3684.

The newsletter notes the new name of the NHS National Honor Society Chapter honoring the memory of Kevin M. Eidt, Class of 1996, an outstanding graduate who died prematurely of a congenital heart illness as a freshman at Boston College.

Also noted is the newly hung portraits in the NHS upper library of servicemen killed in World War II, through the efforts of recent graduate Andrew Knopp and Patrick Shaughnessy of the history department. Mention is made, too, of the honors achieved by Patrick D. Spinola, Class of 1957, retired NHS athletic director and swimming coach, and Ray Barry, retired NHS softball and basketball coach, who were both inducted this June into the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) Hall of Fame.

The newsletter, which has been compiled and written by Michael E. Errico for several years since its initiation by Donald Mahon, Class of 1950, (since removed to Florida), contains a message from NHSAA President Glenn A. Iannaccone, Class of 1971.

He suggests each class purchase a full-page advertisement in the Wall of Honor program booklet, especially if a classmate is an honoree.

This can be made easier, he notes, by clicking on the association Web site (www.norwalkhs.org), clicking on the NHSAA Forms link and following instructions. All proceeds from the dinner are placed in the NHSAA Scholarship Foundation.

The newsletter was in the mail before the disastrous fire of a few days ago which destroyed the NHS Bears Marching Band's musical equipment shed at the Andrews Field offsite facility.

Talk has already begun among alumni leaders about how the association can aid in the recovery from the setback.

Membership in the NHSAA is $10 per year, which brings the four newsletters plus a standing invitation to three free social events each year — the spring social, the summer picnic and the Christmas party. Dues may be mailed to NHSAA, P.O. Box 493, Norwalk, 06852-0493.

Email: NHSAA@hotmail.com