Roger Ludlowe High School Concert Marred by "Sour Notes" From a Few Andrew Warde High School Band Members on This Date in 1971

In a scene reminiscent of a favorite sitcom, a "sort of" musical dissent from afar marred the hour-long Roger Ludlowe High School band concert at Sturges Green 38 years ago this evening. The Ludlowe band, under the direction of Frank Furman, entertained a gathering of about 300 music lovers.

Further investigation discovered that four "musicians" had stationed themselves across the street from the Wednesday evening, June 9, 1971 concert and sounded out with "sour notes" from their "brass." The interfering musicians were identified by police as being members of the Andrew Warde High School band, which had originally been slated to participate in the program.

Fairfield Lieutenant Henry Smith made short work of the impromptu harrassment and confiscated the students' musical equipment --- a saxophone, two trumpets, and a trombone. The instruments were taken to police headquarters where they were later turned over to the boys' parents.

No charges were filed against the four students whose names were not made available, but it was reported that disciplinary action might be taken by school authorities. The disturbance was an offshoot of the withdrawal of the Warde band from the concert, which originally was to be presented by the Warde and Ludlowe bands.

Michael German (pictured at the left), the Warde band director, withdrew the band from the concert at a rehearsal two nights before the event after some members of his unit had applauded a fellow bandsman who quit the rehearsal after questioning the direction of the two bands by Mr. Furman from Ludlowe.

Mr. German was one of the spectators at the musical presentation, and he was given an ovation after leading the Ludlowe musicians through two selections. A somewhat prophetic headline in the next day's edition of The Bridgeport Post stated, "Warde Bandsmen Interrupt Briefly Fairfield Ludlowe Performance."

Paul

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Andrew Warde High School Class of 1978 Holding Annual Get-Together July 12th at Captain's Cove

The Andrew Warde High School Class of 1978 will hold its annual get-together Sunday, July 12, at 1:00 p.m. at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport. Food and drinks will be available, and a band is scheduled between 3 and 7 p.m.

The class decided to get together informally before its 30-year reunion a few years ago, and the annual event has become a tradition ever since. More information can be found on the class Web site by clicking the image below.

There is no cover charge for the event, and classmates are encouraged to drop by to meet old and new friends on the deck overlooking the water.

The class Web site includes photo albums, a guest book, stories from classmates, a message board, memorials to deceased classmates, a list of missing classmates, and a contact page.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

AWHS Student Draftsmen Won Awards at State Teachers' Convention at CCSC 34 Years Ago

Please note: This is the 300th post since this Web site launched in May of 2006. I appreciate your thoughtful comments. If you have old "film," photos, or stories to share from your days at Andrew Warde High School, please contact me. Thank you.

Andrew Warde High School drafting students 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 34 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 Patrick 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

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

Andrew Warde High School Class of 1964 Holding 45-Year Reunion on July 11 in Milford

Andrew Warde High School's Class of 1964 is holding a 45-year reunion on Saturday, July 11, at Aldario's, 240 Naugatuck Avenue in Milford, from 7 to 11 p.m.

The event will feature a cash bar and a sit-down dinner. A disc jockey will play popular oldies from the early-to-mid 1960s. Casual dress attire is requested.

Tickets are $50 per person if ordered by May 31, $60 by June 15, and $70 by June 30. If you'd like to purchase tickets or know the whereabouts of any missing classmates, please contact Gloria Lockwood Evans at 255-6893 or lucyethel39@yahoo.com.

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 'Dishonored' the Names & Historical Significance of Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe & Alumni of Both Schools

I need to vent. After hearing from Lisa Grant, a direct descendant of Andrew Warde, and Tony Tylutki, a 1973 graduate of Andrew Warde High School, it's time I got something off my chest.

The Fairfield Board of Education made a tremendous mistake by not naming both public high schools in honor of Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe when it decided to reopen a second high school at the Ludlowe site on Unquowa Road in 2004. It was a slap in the face to two of Fairfield's most historic figures and generations of graduates from both schools.

I was a Board of Education representative on the Roger Ludlowe Middle School PTA executive board when my son attended sixth-grade, and it didn't take long to realize that more often than not the board will screw up any issue which needs to be resolved.

Redistricting? Leave it to the board to cave in to the parents and change the boundaries time and time again just to placate a few zealous parents. School names? Naturally, the board acquiesced to a handful of "newbies" who wanted "equality" in town. The "esteemed" members originally voted in favor of naming the high schools Fairfield East and Fairfield South five years ago. After an outrage from longtime residents, the board voted to change the names again!

"Too bad the town didn't revert back to the old school names like (the) Andrew Warde High School Crimson Eagles," wrote Tylutki in the Guest Book. "Fairfield Warde and Fairfield Ludlowe sound terrible, and (the new name) is a dishonor to the names of Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe."

I couldn't agree more. After reading about the life of Andrew Warde, courtesy of the painstaking research of descendent Lisa Grant, the Board of Education blew it. How many of today's high school students have any idea that their schools --- Fairfield Warde and Fairfield Ludlowe --- are named after two of Fairfield's most illustrious and historic figures?

I was the public address announcer at the Fairfield Warde girls' lacrosse home games and senior night for the boys' lacrosse team this Spring, and I can't tell you how insulted I was when I referred to the school as 'Fairfield Warde.' It seemed ridiculous. Fairfield Warde? No, you don't understand. This is Andrew Warde High School!

The Board of Education had a golden opportunity to celebrate the rich histories of Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools by reverting to the original names when a second high school reopened in 2004. They didn't do it. That is an insult to all of the graduates of Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe and, more important, the legacy of both men, too.

Shame on the Fairfield Board of Education.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".

Direct Descendent of Andrew Warde Shares Her Love for History as a Local Volunteer

Lisa Lynn Wilson Grant enjoys sharing her affinity for history as a local volunteer with several organizations. That shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, considering she is a direct descendent of Andrew Warde.

The man after whom our high school was named was the ninth great grandfather of Grant, a 1981 graduate of Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk. Although she's never been inside Warde High School, she remembers playing against the Crimson Eagles while she was a member of the Senators' field hockey and tennis teams.

Today, Lisa Grant is a member of the Rowayton Historical Society, chairs the Roton Point History Committee, and serves as volunteer coordinator for Shakespeare-on-the-Sound in Rowayton and Greenwich. Oh, and don't forget her tireless research on the life of Andrew Warde and his descendents. She's looking forward to a Roton Point history event in four weeks.

"We will have our History Day June 28th with a great film which truly brings the history to life, together with postcards and ephemera all about when Roton Point was an amusement park," she told me via email. "I am also working on an amusement park postcard history book with Arcadia Press on that topic."

Grant is also involved with another event to promote the history of Rowayton later this year. "Our Rowayton Historical Society is having a 'Rowayton History Day' on September 12th," she said. "I'm putting together a car show for it, and there will be cemetery tours. We will have our newly renovated museum open for that, plus our 50th anniversary book, Historic Rowayton, will be making its appearance."

Grant said she has documented her lineage to Andrew Warde, and she will share it with the Fairfield History Museum. "They have not met a descendent of Andrew Warde before, so I want to pull together all of this information," she pointed out. She will present the information to the Fairfield Historical Society.

Andrew Warde was born in Homersfield in Suffolk County, England in 1597. He was one of the founders of Wethersfield and Stamford, Connecticut. The inscription on his tombstone states that he was "an honored citizen of Fairfield, Conn. where he died in 1659." It further reads, "Member of a comission graunted to sev'al p'sons to governe the people att] Conecticott by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay under John Winthrop Jr. Governor 1635~1636."

Andrew Warde married Hester (or Esther) Sherman February 1, 1618 (or 1619) in Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut. She was born April 1, 1606 in Dedam, Essex, England, and died February 28, 1665 (or 1666) in Fairfield. Their 10 children were Abigail, Edmund, William, Anne, Mary (who married John Burr), John, Sarah (who married Nathaniel Burr), Andrew, Samuel, and Esther.

Lisa is also a direct descendent of Andrew Warde, Jr., the eighth of the ten children born to Andrew and Hester. Andrew, Jr. was born in 1645. Take a look at the lineage below:

I think Mr. James Coyne, the headmaster of Warde, would be interested in knowing that a direct descendent of the man after whom his school is named is living in the area. By chance, I happened to read her message in the Guest Book, and I contacted Lisa immediately.

She will be a guest on News 12 Connecticut's Education Notebook in the near future. I hope to meet her by then.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".