AWHS Class of 1961 Flame Yearbook Available Online

An original copy of Andrew Warde High School's 1961 Flame yearbook is available online at amazon.com. The used copy sells for $20.00. The class held its 50-year reunion last year at the Scandanavian Club in Fairfield.

Class member Don Messer wrote, "The school tour and reunion were a resounding success from all the compliments that were shared. I know watching the faces of people reuniting was something to behold. As the evening progressed, older faces faded away and became younger faces. This to me was amazing."

Click the yearbook photo below to access the amazon.com Web site if you're interested in purchasing the yearbook.

Paul

AWHS Class of 1962 Flame Yearbook Available Online

A reprint of the 1962 Andrew Warde High School Flame yearbook is available at amazon.com. The copy of the original yearbook sells for $79.95 and is currently in stock.

This year marks the 50-year anniversary of the graduation of the Class of 1962 from Andrew Warde High School. If you are a member of the class, please let me know if there will be a reunion this year. Click the image below to link to the amazon.com page.



Paul

AWHS Class of 1957 Flame Yearbook Available Online

Were you a member of the first-ever graduating class from Andrew Warde High School? It's been 55 years since the Class of 1957 graduated from Warde. I'd like to know if you're planning a reunion this year.


Do you still have your yearbook? If not, a reprint of the 1957 Flame yearbook is available at amazon.com. It sells for $79.95 and is currently in stock. Click the image below to link to the amazon site.

 

Paul

AWHS Class of 1982 Flame Yearbook Available Online

Andrew Warde High School's Class of 1982 has scheduled its 30-year reunion, Saturday, August 4, 2012, from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Trumbull Marriott. Contact Keith Anderson at totallook@aol.com for more information.


If you're a member of the class and lost or never purchased your yearbook, you're in luck. A reprint of the 1982 Andrew Warde High School Flame yearbook is available online at amazon.com. The yearbook sells for $79.95 and is in stock. Click the image below to access the amazon site.



Paul

"Summer Breeze" Junior Prom, School Council Elections, & Commencement Exercises Made Front Page of June, 1974, Crimson Crier

The front-page headlines of the Crimson Crier in June of 1974 featured stories on the "Summer Breeze" junior prom, school council elections, and commencement exercises for the Class of 1974. It was the last of six issues of Warde's "Periodical Periodical" for the 1973-74 school year. Click the image below to see the PDF version of the newspaper.


A full complement of 24 Andrew Warde High School Crimson Crier newspapers is available for download at andrewwarde.com. The quality is outstanding, and the text and photographs may even be enlarged if you so desire. Click the link in the right-hand margin to download the issues.

Special thanks to Todd Gukelberger of Vintage Images in Fairfield for formatting each page of every issue from late 1972 through early 1976. Thanks are also extended to Andrew Warde High School 1976 graduate, classmate, and ex-Crimson Crier photographer Andy Horton for lending the issues to us.

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF files, download it for free here. Also, if you have any old copies of the Crimson Crier from 1956 through 1987, I'd like to make them available online.

Please contact me via email.

Paul

Crimson Eagles' Nine Defeated Milford, 2-0, in CIAC Baseball Tournament 51 Years Ago Today

Andrew Warde High School's well-balanced baseball team finished runnerup to Norwalk for the Fairfield County Interscholastic Conference baseball championship in 1961. However, the Crimson Eagles were victorious while Norwalk was eliminated in the opening round of the CIAC Class A championship tournament on this date 51 years ago.

Coach Bob Jackson's Warde squad advanced to the tourney semi-finals with an impressive 2-0 victory over Milford's higher-rated Metropolitan Bridgeport Conference champions as Dick Bernard, who remained unbeaten since the baseball season opened, hurled a two-hit shutout to earn his ninth straight victory in a pitching duel with the Indians' Ricky Grich at Quigley Stadium in West Haven.

The Crimson Eagles, ranked seventh among the eight teams which qualified for the Class A title competition, backed Bernard with a nine-hit attack and tallied single runs in the fourth and sixth innings to defeat the third-ranked Milford team. It was the 17th victory in 21 games for the Fairfield squad, and just the fourth setback in 19 contests for Coach Ray Stoviak's Indians.

Outfielders Mike Siavrakas and Larry Gill connected for two hits each to lead Warde's attack against the veteran Grich, but it was rightfielder Tom Dardina and third baseman Frank Chimelewski who drove in the two runs for the Eagles with extra base hits in the June 12, 1961 contest.

It was a scoreless game until the fourth inning. Grich walked Gill with one out and when Chimelewski hit a grounder down the third base line, both runners were safe when the throw to second base for the attempted force out was too late. One out later, Dardina smacked a double down the left field line to score Gill with Warde's first run.

Tom Cody, Milford's rightfielder, made a fine catch of a long drive by Joe Magdon to open Warde's sxith inning, but Gill singled and Chimelewski bounced a triple off the fence in left-centerfield to bring home the Eagles' second run.

Both of Milford's hits off Bernard were bloop singles by third baseman Art Bungerford in the first and sixth innings. Although both hits were preceded by walks to Vic Nelson, the Indians were unable to capitalize. Warde's second baseman Hank Bahe made a poor throw following Hungarford's first single, but catcher Joe Vige threw out Nelson trying to advance to third base. In the sixth inning, both Nelson and Hungarford were picked off first base on throws by Vige and Bernard.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

Fairfield Board of Education Initiated Action to Replace Washington & Lincoln Schools 50 Years Ago Today

Many students who attended Andrew Warde High School in the late 1950s and early 1960s were products of two of the town's oldest elementary schools, Washington and Lincoln. However, the aging schools were termed "obsolete" by the Fairfield Board of Education by the Spring of 1962.

As a result, 50 years ago this evening --- Friday, June 8, 1962 --- the board initiated action for the construction of a 20-to-24 room elementary school in the North Stratfield area to meet classroom needs and to replace Washington and Lincoln schools.

Joe O'Brien, a 1976 graduate of Andrew Warde High School, was a member of the last kindergarten class at Lincoln School in 1963-64. "I believe it was a tall structure, maybe three stories high, similar to the original Stratfield School before all the additions," wrote O'Brien, whose three older siblings also attended kindergarten at Lincoln School.

"The front door was between the two pine trees on Fairmount. The trees are still there, I think, and were used as goal posts for our pick-up football games later. George O'Brien (older than us and no relation) practiced his field goal kicking there. He was the place kicker for Warde at one time."

O"Brien remembered having Miss Davidson as his kindergarten teacher during half-day sessions which were split between morning and afternoon. After the school closed its doors for the last time, "I believe most of the students ended up at Stratfield or Assumption, or both like me," he recalled. "Assumption had no kindergarten at the time, however."

He added, "Once the school was closed and being prepared for demolition, my brother and I would go down there to smash the windows out with stones. (It was) great fun."


According to the newspaper story 50 years ago, the school board voted to request the Representative Town Meeting to appoint a building committee for the new school, acting on a recommendation by Dr. William J. Edgar, superintendent of schools.

Dr. Edgar said the proposed school in North Stratfield would be located on a 10-acre tract of land purchased by the town seven years earlier off Putting Green and Harvester roads.

He reported that the new school was needed to relieve the "pressures" on Stratfield and Fairfield Woods schools. In addition, it would allow for the closing of Lincoln School on Jackman Avenue and Washington School on Villa Avenue, both of which are old structures and had been earmarked for abandonment as "inefficient for the school program."

Upon completion of the new school in North Stratfield, students living in the southwestern section of the Lincoln School district would attend Stratfield School on Melville Avenue, and students in the North and East sections would attend the new school.

Pupils in the Washington School district would be shifted to Stratfield School, according to Dr. Edgar. Pupils in the North Stratfield area, who were attending either Fairfield Woods or Stratfield schools, would be assigned to the new school.

Dr. Edgar said the target date for the school opening was September in 1964. He pointed out that in order to meet the date, ground would have to be broken by the Summer of 1963.

The necessary machinery for getting a building committee, the appointment of an architect, and preparation of plans would require nearly a year, according to Dr. Edgar.

Truman Chase, director of transportation, assisted in outlining details of the school districts and the location of the school site.

Paul

The photos above show the sixth-grade classes at Lincoln and Washington schools in 1952. Many of the students graduated from Andrew Warde High School six years later.

Two Warde Students Participated in Fairfield Kiwanis Club Luncheon About Proposed Drug Information Center 42 Years Ago Today

A discussion about the establishment of a drug information center by two Andrew Warde High School students and Mr. Charles Abraham, administrative assistant for instruction, took place at the Fairfield Kiwanis Club luncheon meeting in the Fairfield Motor Inn 42 years ago today, Wednesday, June 3, 1970.

The work done at Andrew Warde High School in launching a drive against the use of dangerous drugs and the plans for the drug information center, which was set up in a house on Sanford Street on a 13-week experimental basis, was explained by Mr. Abraham and the two Warde students, Jeannie Tatangelo and Judd Magilnick.

"The Talmud (Jewish book of law and wisdom) says that it takes 40 years to understand something," Magilnick told me by email recently. "My memory of the luncheon is how gracious and friendly our adult hosts were."

Magilnick, who graduated from Yale University in 1974 and is married to Denise Kurtzman Magilnick, added, "I had expected something more like the evil-businessman type I'd seen in the James Bond films. I believe they served some kind of ground beef pie. It tasted good."

At the luncheon 42 years ago, it was emphasized that the aim of the program was not directed at eliminating the pusher, but drying up the demand. Magilnick and Tatangelo said the drive in the schools, including talks to junior high school students, has been focused against the use of heroin and LSD.

They stressed that they want to impress on students that it is not the "in thing" to use drugs, and that it is a social stigma to use drugs. They said they did not condone the use of marijuana or other drugs.

Tartangelo said students begin using drugs for several reasons. "A girl falls in love with a boy who is a user, and she becomes one, too," she said. "Some take drugs because they want to be friends with others who are addicted to the drug habit. Some take it to feel high, and others (use drugs) out of curiosity."

Magilnick had the opportunity to browse this Web site and wrote, "This is a great project you are doing here, particularly because it gives us a chance to honor great teachers and mentors like Coach Tetreau, and to think about simpler times. Thank you and congratulations."

Paul

Andrew Warde High School Drafting Students Won Awards at CCSC 37 Years Ago This Week

Patrick Dizney has been teaching at Warde High School for parts of five decades, and he has no plans to retire any time soon. Some of his drafting students at Andrew Warde High School earned awards for their work at the 1975 Teachers' Spring Convention at Central Connecticut State College in New Britain, according to a newspaper story which was published 37 years ago today. More than 1,500 entries from schools throughout Connecticut were displayed at the fair.

Students from Barlow house, under the guidance of Ted Merrill, received four first place prizes, five second place prizes, and nine third place prizes. The recipients of first place prizes were Dan Provolo (screw drives), Mike Jenkins (industrial design), Joe Macaluso (drilling and tapping), and Ken Catandella (tricycle tractor).

Second place prize awards were given to John Varholak (c-clamp), Rob Scotti (screwdrivers), Bob Diujak (vise), Phil Cerrone (vise), and Pete Talbott (pipe vise). Brad Lockwood won second place for his instant replay system for electronics 30, instructed by Paul Lewis.

Third place awards were given to Joe Hamilton (V-block), Tyler Witco (V-block), John Fraser (chain link), Jim Mamrus (c-clamp), Jerry Barrett (drag strut), Mark Waxman (rocket drafting), Lynn Bensey (vise), Kevin Conway (doctrun system), and Jody Goven (flap link).

"I do remember winning the award, vaguely at this time," recalled Waxman, a 1976 graduate of Warde. "I did have an interest in drafting and architecture, and Ted Merrill's class provided an opportunity to work on that. At one point, I was seriously considering being an architect." Waxman, whose winning project was a Saturn 5, won a number of awards for rockets he constructed and flew.

"I was really into model rocketry back in high school," Waxman admitted. "I was a member of the NAR, (the) National Association of Rocketry. In fact, the leader of the local group, a great guy named G. Harry Stine, ran the local club at the YMCA down in Greenwich, I believe. Harry Stine was the founder of the NAR, as well as a science and science fiction author."

Waxman had praise for his former teacher, too. "I remember Ted as a nice teacher," he said. "We had a lot of very talented artists and draftspeople in class. He was very supportive."

General shop students from Wolcott House, instructed by Dizney, took six second place awards and six third place awards. Second place winners included Kal Nagy, Chris O'Day, John Molner, Richard Linley (a freshman in the middle of the photo above), and Jim Anderson. Third prize winners were Mike Adams, Mike Crittenden, Russ Bertman, and Jeff Becher. Earl Kline received one second prize and two thirds.

Wiley Bowling, the coordinator of the Industrial Arts for the Fairfield Public Schools, said, "We were well represented and did very well. The competition was stiff. Schools such as Stamford always present beautiful work. However, from the results of the judging, it's obvious we have very talented students who do beautiful work, too. We're all very proud of them."

Paul