Ben Guerra Still Going Strong

Time has not slowed Ben Guerra. The former Spanish teacher at Andrew Warde High School is now 89 years young and serves as an usher every Sunday afternoon at St. Pius X Parish in Fairfield.

Mr. Guerra taught at Andrew Warde High School from 1958 until 1979, deciding to retire before Warde consolidated with Roger Ludlowe High School to form Fairfield High School at the Melville Avenue campus.

"Oh, they were the best years of my life," he told me this morning by telephone from his Fairfield home where he lives with his wife, Margaret. "I loved it. I always liked to work with kids and teenagers."

Mr. Guerra, who was born in New York but moved with his Mother to Cuba at the age of two, returned to the United States when he was 27. Originally, he was a teacher in the Bridgeport school system, working with special education students at Longfellow School. He later moved to Harding High School before arriving at Warde.

"They called from Fairfield, and they asked me if I'd like to teach the high school classes at Warde," he told me. He began teaching at Andrew Warde shortly after the school opened in 1956, and it quickly became a second home for him for the next 21 years.

He was the school's director of activities, which meant he had to schedule all the club activities and assign faculty advisers. Lest one think that was too much responsibility, he quickly added, "I loved it." In addition, he and his wife were pioneers at Warde, too.

"My wife and I were the first teachers to take the students to the University of Salamanca (in Spain). I did it for at least five years." He was also the first state president of the Council for Exceptional Children, which he called "a tremendous honor."

Mr. Guerra met his wife while they both taught on Staten Island in New York. Later, they taught together in Madison, Connecticut. Margaret became a teacher at Oldfield School in Fairfield while Ben taught at Andrew Warde.

Ben Guerra is one of the most well-respected, dignified, and honorable gentleman this typist has ever met. We exchange handshakes and good wishes each Sunday at church. I continue to admire Ben Guerra for the outstanding educator he was and the wonderful gentleman he is.

Paul

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