The following was written by 30th reunion committee president Tony Procaccini in response to the entry on former Andrew Warde High School headmaster Robert Genualdi.When we started our senior year, back in the fall of 1975, I told my father that a person named Robert Genualdi was our new school headmaster. Well, lo and behold, my dad told me that Genualdi was a long-time client of his.
My father, Joseph Procaccini, who still lives in Fairfield with my mother, was Genualdi's piano tuner. He clued me in on his prowess as a string bassist and Genualdi's son's career as a concert violinist. (Ironically, I played string bass in Band my first two years at Warde,
so we had that idiosynchrasy in common.)
While making the end-of-day announcements for the PAC our senior year ("Tony Pro with the afternoon announcements..."), I had frequent contact with Genualdi and all the others in the Main Office, so he got to know me pretty well at that time.
Now, we fast-forward 5 years into the future... In the 1980-81 season, Mr. Genualdi began his first year with the Bridgeport Youth Orchestra, and I was his manager for that year. It was a good experience working for him, and the high school connection plus the orchestra stint (only one year for me) cemented a friendship that has lasted to this day. Mr. Genualdi would eventually stay with the organization for 25 years, and built a one-orchestra program into a
program of four, from entry level to advanced. To my advantage, he was also one of several music professionals who gave me referrals for music teaching positions upon my graduation from the University of Bridgeport.
When I contacted him this year to ask for his attendance at our thirty year reunion, he remembered me instantly, was glad to hear from me after a significant interval without contact and accepted our offer immediately. I think we're lucky that he and other teachers were
willing to attend and they enjoyed seeing us and re-connecting with so many former students.
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