Former Fairfield Police Captain Bob Comers is eagerly looking forward to his 50-year high school reunion. The Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 product and his wife, Mickie, are co-chairs of the event, which is scheduled August 22, from 6 to 11 p.m. at Tashua Knolls in Trumbull.Comers was a member of the third graduating class at Andrew Warde High School, pictured at its 40-year reunion below, and the last class at Warde with roots to Roger Ludlowe High School. The 43-year police department veteran attended Ludlowe during his freshman year in 1955-56, but found himself at the sparkling new public high school on Melville Avenue at the start of his sophomore year in the Fall of 1956.
"Both my wife, Mickie, and I did attend Ludlowe as freshmen," he wrote to me via email. "We went double sessions. Freshmen and sophomores went in the afternoon, (and) it was dark when we left school. Seniors and juniors went in the morning." Ludlowe, which was then located in what is now Tomlinson Middle School, was terribly overcrowded, and that led to the opening of Warde on the other side of town.
Fellow classmate Jane Servadio, who is also helping with the reunion, doesn't have fond memories of her freshman year at Roger Ludlowe. "Actually, I think that was the worst year of my life," she wrote via email. "I was in the afternoon shift at Ludlowe and got home after dark every day! It was really miserable. I was really glad to get to Warde even though the school wasn't actually finished when we started."
"We were excited about going to a new school," admitted Comers (pictured in the 1959 Flame yearbook at left), who retired from the Fairfield police department January 31 of this year. "It wasn't finished when we got there, but it didn't seem to interfere with us going to class. It was great to be in a brand new school. I don't know if the Ludlowe kids were envious or not, but I imagine they were.
"What I remember most was how big and spread out the new building was compared to Ludlowe. You had to really hustle to get from one class to another."
Servadio added that portions of the school weren't completed when Warde opened in 1956. "The gym wasn't finished," she pointed out. "The same for the cafeteria. Wiring was sticking out of all the walls in the halls."
As for the budding rivalry between the young Crimson Eagles and the established Flying Tigers? "The rivalry was friendly as I recall but somewhat intense," said Comers. "If there was any animosity, there wasn't much that I recall."
He and his wife, the former Mickie Buchino (pictured in the 1959 Flame yearbook at left), actually knew each other in high school, but it wasn't until fate brought them together many years later that they eventually married. "Mickie and I were classmates and we did know each other," he wrote.
"I thought she was very special, and I had a crush on her in high school. I was too shy to say anything to her, so we never dated or anything like that. She had a boyfriend whom she married after she graduated."
Many years later, after Mickie's husband passed away, Comers accidentally crossed paths with his high school crush. "We met at the Trumbull Mall," he continued. "She was working evenings at 'Glamour Shots,' and I went there to get a gift certificate for one of my daughter's friends," he said.
"She just happened to have brought her yearbook to work that day and was showing it to her co-workers. When I walked in she told them, 'See that guy? I went to school with him and here is his picture.' She then came up and spoke to me. I then learned of her husband's passing."
Comers went to the mall and saw her a second time. "We talked, and I spent her coffee break with her. We started dating, and slowly our friendship grew and turned into love for one another. We will have been married nine years this June. I am glad I got over my shyness. We are very happy, and she makes my life wonderful." They have five children and nine grandchildren between the two of them.
Mickie Buchino Sutay-Comers has four grandsons, ages 19, 14, 12 and 11, and one granddaughter, eight. "On June 9, 1959, while everyone was practicing for graduation, I was in Hartford taking my State Board Exam for hairdressing," she wrote. "On July 1, 2009, I will celebrate 50 years as a employeed stylist. Bob and I are sharing a wonderful life," she continued. "We have become quite a team. He's a great guy. Thank you, fate!"
Needless to say, many of their former classmates were happy for both of them at the last reunion ten years ago. "Our last reunion was our 40th," he pointed out. "It was held at Penfield II in Fairfield. Mickie and I were engaged at the time, and it sure turned some heads when we showed up together. Everyone congratulated us and was very happy for us."
Comers said both he and his wife stay in touch with a few former classmates. He also shares the sentiments of the Andrew Warde High School alumni. "I still have a sense of loyalty to Warde, but I wish they had changed the name back to Andrew Warde and brought back the original mascot," he wrote. "Ludlowe could have done the same."
For more information about the Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959 50-year reunion, visit the class homepage at http://www.andrewwarde50threunion.myevent.com, or contact Bob Comers at rcomers@optonline.net.
Best wishes to the Andrew Warde High School Class of 1959! May they have a wonderful 50-year reunion.
Paul
Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.
Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.
Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".
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