Paul Lewis Still Busy Conducting Essex Steam Train 30 Years After Leaving Andrew Warde High School

ESSEX --- Paul Lewis seemed genuinely thrilled that somebody recognized him from his teaching days at Andrew Warde High School. The conductor of the Essex Steam Train left the Fairfield secondary school in 1980, and he still regrets his decision to this day.

"I should never have left Warde," Lewis admitted to me during the scenic steam train ride along the Connecticut River Valley this afternoon. "The kids in Fairfield were eager to learn and wanted to learn." Lewis began his teaching career at Warde in 1962, but he left the school 18 years later to teach at a high school in Hartford.


The one constant, however, remains his love of trains. "I started here in 1971 when the Valley Railroad first opened, and I've been here ever since," said Lewis, who now lives in Haddam. "It became my summer job when I was teaching at Warde," he pointed out.

"I have fond memories of Warde," continued Lewis, pictured above at the left standing next to this typist and his railroad cars. "I taught electronics there, and I enjoyed everything about Andrew Warde and Fairfield in general." Here is my interview with him at the Essex train station.


Paul Lewis at the Essex Railroad by PaulWXman

Lewis recalled fondly the model railroad club he started at Warde. "We had quite a few students in it," he remembered, "but then when I moved venues and came here to work for a while, I guess the club didn't continue without me. Then I went to Hartford for 18 years."

Lewis instantly recalled several teachers with whom he enjoyed working, and he respected the late Kenneth Petersen, Warde's headmaster, William Boggs, and Ken Tavares. "I retired 10 years ago from teaching," he said. "I miss the kids and miss everything I did, because I really loved teaching, but we're back in love with our trains again."

While we're here, why not take a short ride on the Essex Steam Train? You'll see first-hand why Paul Lewis is still enjoying trains. The following videos I took today. Here comes the train now.

"All aboard!"

If you ever have the opportunity to take a ride aboard the Essex Stream Train, make sure to say hello to conductor Paul Lewis. He'll be thrilled to know you're a product of Andrew Warde High School.
Paul

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Andrew Warde High School's Class of 1959 Holds "Fantastic" 50-Year Reunion Last Saturday at Tashua Knolls in Trumbull

Former Fairfield Police Captain Bob Comers, one of the co-chairs of the Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 50-year reunion, called the event "fantastic." He and his wife, Mickie, greeted the guests of honor at the golden anniversary celebration, which took place this past Saturday, August 22, from 6 to 11 p.m. at Tashua Knolls in Trumbull.

"The reunion was fantastic," Comers told me in person this morning over breakfast at Duchess Restaurant in Fairfield. He said 118 people attended, including 80 classmates, pictured below at Tashua Knolls. "I can't single out one particular highlight," he admitted. "The entire night was spectacular."

Comers, a 43-year veteran who retired from the Fairfield police department January 31 of this year, said the night was nostalgic for those who called Warde home a half-century ago. "As guests arrived, they were photographed next to a 1957 T-Bird and a 51 Ford," he added.

"The dinner was delicious and the service was great," continued Comers, pictured in the middle of the back row below as the reunion committee prepared for the festivities. "The DJ did a wonderful job keeping the dance floor busy with our kind of music. This was a five hour event which went by in a flash."

The 50-year reunion attracted people nationwide. "Classmates came from all over the country," he pointed out. "(They came from) Hawaii, California, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York."

Comers, whose class attended Roger Ludlowe High School as freshmen in 1955-56, entered Warde as a sophomore when the Melville Avenue high school opened in September of 1956. He said many of his classmates haven't changed over the last 50 years.

"It was great to see them look so well," he said. "Many of them we recognized immediately. The night was filled with laughter while sharing memorable stories."

Congratulations to the Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 for a wonderful and successful 50-year reunion.

Paul

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Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 Holding 50-Year Reunion This Saturday Evening

The Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 is holding its 50-year reunion this Saturday evening, August 22.The event will take place at Tashua Knolls in Trumbull. The reunion committee created a Web site which includes a welcome page, information on classmates, photo albums, the details of the reunion, a memorial, a guest book, and a contact form. Click the image below to access the Web page.

Former Fairfield Police Captain Bob Comers, who retired after 43 years of service to our community this January, and his wife, Mickey, are co-chairs of the reunion.

The Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 was the third graduating class at Warde, and the last group with roots to Roger Ludlowe High School. The classmates attended Ludlowe High School during their freshman year before moving into the new high school on Melville Avenue in the Fall of 1956.

Good luck to the Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959.

Paul

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Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

Andrew Warde High School's Classes of 1981 and 1982 Held Successful Reunion Last Weekend

Andrew Warde High School's classes of 1981 and 1982 held a successful joint reunion last Saturday evening, August 15, at the Trumbull Marriott. That's the word from Pete Bravo, a member of the Class of '81.

"It was a lot fun," Bravo told me via email earlier this week. "For a lot of us, the best part was hanging out and taking pics with grammar school friends." The gathering featured an open bar, pasta and carving stations, and a disc jockey. Bravo estimated that about 100 people attended.

As for holding a combined reunion with two successive graduating classes, Bravo thinks it was a good idea. "Having the two classes was pretty good," he admitted. "The turnout for '82 was not that great, and neither was ours. But the two (classes) together made for a decent turnout (overall)."

Bravo, a 24-year veteran officer with the Fairfield Police Department and happily married father of three, said one of the highlights of the evening was a slide show which he created and trivia from 1981 and 1982. "All in all, it was a great time. We had people come from as far as California."

"Both classes have remained very close, and that's the main reason for the combined reunion," said Dawn Anderson Graham of the Class of 1981. "The reason we had the reunion on an odd year is that people from the two classes haven’t seen each other for over 27 years, and we were ready to do something about it and just got it going!"

Congratulations to the Andrew Warde High School classes of 1981 and 1982!

Paul

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Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

Andrew Warde High School's Legendary Football Coach Fern Tetreau Teamed With His Son From Ludlowe in East-West All Star Game in 1970

It was time to get acquainted on the football field, relatively speaking, for a coach named Fern and a quarterback named Mike as the West high school football all stars opened training camp at the University of Bridgeport for the 13th annual Nutmeg Bowl, according to a story which appeared in the Bridgeport Post 39 years ago today, Monday, August 17, 1970.

Aside from being the first such father and son duo in the history of Connecticut's midsummer classic, the game also marked the first time Andrew Warde High School's legendary coach, Fern Tetreau, was on the same side as his son, Roger Ludlowe High School's outstanding quarterback, Mike, about to enter Princeton in the Fall of 1970.

The head coach of the West had seen his talented offspring in action before, sometimes much to his own dismay, but he was never more than an objective observer and tutor. Mike directed the Flying Tigers' offense his junior and senior years, during which time Ludlowe compiled a glossy 17-3 record and two satisfying victories over cross-town rival Warde.

Fern, a standout halfback during his playing days at Springfield College, where he captained the Chiefs' 1948 squad, ironically began his high school coaching career at Ludlowe before moving to Warde when the Melville Avenue high school opened in the Fall of 1956. Strangely enough, both father and son agreed that it was better the way things ultimately worked out.

"It is a novelty playing for my dad," Mike said before the 1970 all-star game. "However, I'm glad that I didn't have to for three years. He doesn't push any harder or make it any easier because I'm his son. Some coaches would have the tendency to be tougher just to show the team they mean business. Fortunately, everything has worked out fine for myself and the team."

Fern, whose 9-1 Ludlowe team of 1954 and unbeaten 9-0 Warde combine of 1959, won state titles, reflected that it was good that Mike performed on the other side of town.

"Of course I'm delighted to have Mike here (as his all-star quarterback), but I think it was in his best interests that he played under Emil Taft (the Ludlowe coach after whom the field is named)," stated Fern. "It's hard to choose your son over another boy, especially if he is better."

Emil was Fern's close friend and teammate at Springfield, and when the elder Tetreau left Ludlowe, Taft succeeded him as the Tigers' football coach. "Emil did a fine job with Mike," said Fern at the time. "He taught him to play quarterback. All I did was encourage him to play and supply him with footballs around the house."

The chances for Fern to see his son play were limited, since he was coaching the Crimson Eagles. "If we had a Friday afternoon game or a postponed game on Monday, I'd watch him," admitted Fern, who recently celebrated his 88th birthday and 60th wedding anniversary and is pictured at the left. "Then there was the Ludlowe-Warde game."

"Dad helped me since he could offer an objective point of view," stated Mike, now a successful real estate agent and Fairfield Pop Warner football coach. "Everyone has rotten days, and I'm glad he wasn't (my) coach because it's good to get a non-emotional point of view. Besides, you have to go home sooner or later."

What about the annual game between Warde and Ludlowe? Mike, the president of Ludowe's 1970 senior class, said, "It was a big game for me personally, but as a team we had bigger games."

Warde, which finished 5-5 the previous campaign, won the respect of Mike and the Tigers' gridders even after a 40-8 defeat. "They came to play, and they really hit hard," said Mike, who was a four-year trackman in the 440 and broad jump and two-year basketball player. He finished with 42 touchdown passes, including 20 his senior year.

Now, nearly 40 years later, Mike is still at the top of his class. The William Raveis Real Estate Company announced this past Friday that Mike earned the Excellence in Customer Service Award for May. This award recognizes Mike and his team for their dedicated effort and exceptional commitment to meeting client's objectives. This is the second time this year the Tetreau Real Estate Group has been awarded this honor.

Paul

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Parents for Physical Fitness Launched Fundraising Drive to Help Restore Freshmen and Jayvee Sports at Warde and Ludlowe 37 Years Ago This Week

The recent article which recalled the lobby by coaches, teachers, parents, and students to restore freshmen and jayvee sports at Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools 37 years ago elicited a response from one of our readers.

One Warde alumnus wrote that 1972 "was the year of the 'Save Our Sports' walk that began on the Andrew Warde campus and went across town to the Roger Ludlowe campus before winding its way back to Warde. Walkers obtained pledges in an effort to raise money to aid in the restoration of the sports programs destined to be cut following the million dollar budget cut in May 1972."

Coincidentally, an article appeared in the Bridgeport Post on this date --- Saturday, August 12, 1972 --- about the group Parents for Physical Fitness, which was about to launch a fundraising drive to help reinstate the athletic program which was eliminated due to the $1 million budget cut.

The prime effort to raise $30,000, according to the group, would be a 'March to Save our Sports' on Labor Day weekend, according to Mrs. Dudley Grape, chairman of the group, and Fern Tetreau, Warde's illustrious first football coach who won a state championship 50 years ago this Fall.

The march was planned to start at Warde and follow a 10-mile course through the center of Fairfield and back to Warde. Townspeople, merchants, and all interested persons were asked to contribute by making a donation or sponsoring a child in the march.

In preparation for the march for sports, Parents for Physical Fitness scheduled a meeting for Thursday evening, August 17, 1972, at 8 p.m. in the Andrew Warde High School auditorium. All interested people, including teens, townspeople, alumni, parents, children, and organizations were urged to attend the meeting, at which time details of the march would be outlined.

Did you participate in the 'Save our Sports' march in 1972? What do you remember about the efforts of Parents for Physical Fitness? I'd like to know. I welcome your comments and memories.

Paul

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Parents, Coaches, Teachers, and Students Lobbied for the Return of Freshmen and Jayvee Sports at Warde in a Special Meeting 37 Years Ago Today

Strong support for the restoration of freshmen and junior varsity sports at Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools was voiced at a special meeting of the Fairfield Board of Education at Warde on this date, Monday, August 7, 1972, according to a story which appeared in the Bridgeport Post the following day.

While proponents for the restoration did not specify any sum of money, school officials reported that about $30,000 had been cut from the athletic programs, due to the $1 million cut made in the May 25 referendum.

Mrs. Dudley Grape, a leader in the drive to restore the programs, offered several reasons for the move. She said, "For the least amount of money, we will be affecting the most amount of students. We firmly believe that physical education and competitive sports are an integral part of athletic achievement.

"We feel the extra-curricular sports program stimulates school spirit and involves countless boys and girls in spectator roles as well as those actively participating. We also involve our bands and cheerleaders. We are deeply concerned that once we eliminate this sports program, it will take several years to reinstate it at its present level."

Charles J. O'Leary, board chairman, told the gathering, most of whom appeared to favor the reinstatement request, that it is not necessary to prove to the board the desirability of restoring the athletuic program which had to be curtailed as a result of the budget cut, since the programs were part of the original budget.

Mrs. Grape told the board that 623 parents of freshmen and sophomore students had signed cards asking for the restoration of the program, along with signatures of 672 students affected. She said the referendum cut was a serious blow.

"Already too few children are able to participate. We need more coaches, more teams, more opportunity for all boys and girls interested in learning physical skills on a competitive basis. She argued that the varsity programs may be affected and school spirit endangered.

A warning that the two Fairfield high schools would have to withdraw from the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference within a two-year period if the freshmen and jayvee programs were eliminated was sounded by the late Warde football coach Bill Davis and Ludlowe football coach Emil Taft.

They both said that the training the students received in pre-varsity sports was important to prevent injuries on a varsity level. Without this competition, too many players would be hurt in varsity competition.

Fern Tetreau, Warde's first football coach and one of the gentleman after whom the school field is named, said the physical and mental development of students was important. Sports, he said, serve to help students turn away from the bottle and drugs, he said.

The late Fred Klee, a teacher and track coach at Warde, suggested that parents take a "broader and deeper persepective of the problem facing us all, that you direct this zeal and employ your powers of organization to reverse this ominous trend toward inferior education."

He asked, "Would you be quite content to let matters rest in the school system at large as long as sports alone were taken care of? Would you be satisfield to see your schools still crippled by the other effects of this massive $1 million cut?

"It is not enough to meet our children's physical needs while denying them those conditions designed to impove the skills and thought processes so vital to their future," Mr. Klee said.

Paul

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Andrew Warde High School Class of 1976 Alumnus to Guest on Popular Local Radio Show "At the Ritz!" This Saturday, August 8, at 3 p.m. on WVOF

This Saturday, August 8, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM, Tony Procaccini, a 1976 Andrew Warde High School alumnus and president of the class's 30-year reunion committee, will be one of three guests on the popular radio show "At The Ritz!" The program, now in its 12th year, is hosted by Bridgeport historian Jeffrey C. Williams and is broadcast from Fairfield University at WVOF 88.5 FM.

Procaccini will be joined by Bridgeport's legendary baritone Benny Rae, with whom Procaccini worked for twelve years, and author Lou Miano of New York City. Procaccini and Rae are pictured working together below.

After having performed as a teenager with Louis Prima and Keely Smith in the late 1940s, Park City native Benny Rae thrilled local crowds for decades. In his prime, Rae was unquestionably one of the area's most talented musicians, and is still known affectionately as the "Little Louis Prima." On November 5, 2007, he was honored with the proclamation of "Benny Rae Day" at Bridgeport's City Hall Annex. He influenced many local musicians who still admire him and remember him fondly.

Queens resident Lou Miano, seen below, is the author of the definitive biography of crooner Russ Columbo: Russ Columbo: The Amazing Life and Mysterious Death of a Hollywood Singing Legend (Silver Tone Publications, 2001). The Philadelphia-born Columbo was a rival of Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee until his tragic early death in 1934, at the age of 26.

In addition to being an outstanding musician, composer and singer, he was a star of radio and movies, a respected band-leader, and earned the nickname of “the Romeo of radio." Miano’s most recent work, due out in 2010, is a biography on none other than Louis Prima, Benny Rae's mentor.

During his years as Benny Rae's pianist, starting at the age of 15, Fairfield native Tony Procaccini became an aficionado and astute performer of the Great American Songbook. At the same time, he began his own study of the music, movies and life of Frank Sinatra. He now lectures on “Ole Blue Eyes,” and is considered a bona fide Sinatra historian.

Since January 2006, Procaccini is Music Director of Saint Patrick's Church, Bridgeport, and conducts the annual outdoor Christmas Carol Sing-Along at Saint Margaret's Shrine (also in Bridgeport), an event growing in stature and importance every year.

Rae, Miano, Procaccini and Williams will discuss historical and musical aspects of Columbo and Prima, Rae's direct experience with the New Orleans-born trumpeter-bandleader, and the years of collaboration between Rae and Procaccini in "Benny Rae Plus Three," an ensemble some have called "the last of the little big bands."

Musical selections of Columbo, Prima and a recent live performance of Benny Rae accompanied by Tony Procaccini will be heard during the broadcast.

For those interested in the history of Bridgeport, Jeffrey Williams hosts a weekly series called "Bridgeport By The Sea," a nostalgic look at the Park City's illustrious past. This segment airs on the same station Saturdays from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, and ties in with the 2009 calendar by the same name produced by Williams.

For more information on “At The Ritz!” visit www.attheritz.org.

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

Former Andrew Warde High School Teacher Paul Lewis' Passion for Railroads Steers Him to Position as Road Foreman at Nostalgic Essex Steam Train

Former Andrew Warde High School teacher Paul Lewis never took a vacation after the last day of school every June. That's because the respected drafting teacher's affinity for railroads kept him busy as the Summer engineer aboard the Essex Steam Train in Connecticut. After a highly-successful career of running the steam engine, the Trumbull resident is the road foreman for engines today.

"I've had a lifelong love of railroads and am fortunate to have my passion be my work," said Lewis, pictured at the left. "My job includes instructing train crews in their duties and assisting them in developing railroad skills."

The Essex Steam Train, one of the most popular vacation destinations in the state, is operated by the Valley Railroad Company. As a tourist excursion, the train passes through some of the most beautiful country in the state, including forests and streams, beautiful vistas, nostalgic towns, and some gorgeous views of the Connecticut River.

Lewis' drafting students at Warde were routinely recognized for their work. In fact, several of his proteges captured awards at the 1975 Teachers' Spring Convention at Central Connecticut State College in New Britain. More than 1,500 entries from schools throughout Connecticut were displayed at the fair.

While teaching at Warde, he was once the advisor to the Model Engineers Club. The club constructed an HO model railroad layout in a storage area in his classroom as a group project.

Today, though, he absolutely loves his work in Essex. "I work with a great group of dedicated people and value helping them become safe and efficient, professional railroaders," admitted Lewis, who was featured in an article about the steam train which appeared in the Bridgeport Post 34 years ago today.

That's the same philosophy he had when teaching and helping his students at Andrew Warde High School. Be sure to say hello to Mr. Lewis if you and your family venture to Essex and take a ride aboard the steam train this Summer. I know you'll enjoy the experience, and I'm sure he'd be happy to see you.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".