Mrs. Elizabeth Bigelow Ballard died at 88 in her home, Graeloe, on Main Street, the June 18, 1964 Press reported. She bequeathed her property on Main Street to the town for use as a public park. One of the conditions of the bequest was that the house in which she lived be torn down. Mrs. Ballard, née Bigelow, was survived by two daughters, Mrs. James Doubleday of West Mountain and Mrs. Raymond Cerf of Kansas. Services took place at the Riverside Church in New York City and she was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery. Mrs. Ballard had been a member of the Ridgefield Garden Club since 1914, shortly after its establishment. She was keenly interested in horticulture and maintained a large garden on the Gilbert Street side of her property. Mrs. Ballard was also one of the founders of the Ridgefield Boys Club and was its chairman for many years. In 1960 she was honored with the National Boys Club’s Keystone Award. Mr. Ballard, who died in 1937, had been the founder of the Merchants Fire Assurance Corporation in New York. In addition to Graeloe, the Ballards maintained a home at 778 Park Avenue.
New York Channel 5 interviewed Police Chief James J. Brady on Route 35 at the Connecticut/New York state line concerning the problem of Connecticut teenagers buying liquor in New York and bringing it “over the line” to Connecticut. The program focused on the longstanding feud between Connecticut and New York about the drinking age and the problems it created in towns near the state line. State Police Commissioner Leo Mulcahy was also interviewed at the State Police barracks on East Ridge (now the Ridgefield Police station).
One hundred twenty-nine seniors, the largest graduating class in the 48-year history of Ridgefield High School, attended commencement ceremonies outside the East Ridge high school. George Leeman, class president, played Rhapsody in Blue as a piano solo. Miss Deborah Bernstein sang No Man Is An Island. Dr. Harold Healy was the high school principal at the time.
The commencement spirit was perhaps summarized by the class speaker, Miss Judith Linda Byram. Her topic, My Other Selves, looked beyond the school and community to the problems of countries and races and indicated a growing need for international understanding and co-operation. Her speech was often uncomplimentary to the United States. One excerpt from the entitled My Name Is Tania read: My name is Tania. I am from a high school in Moscow. I ask you Americans how can you even attempt to solve the problems of the world when you cannot your own national problems? You ask for peace, yet your country is in the middle of a racial struggle. You are in South East Asia where we believe you are discouraging people from exercising self-determination…”
Some of the members of the class of 1964 that old timers might remember were Gary Beaudine, Jerome Bryers, Mary Ellen Carboni, Paul Carboni, Gary Cassavechia, Don Chandler, Suzanne Corrie, Mary Jo Croce, Bob Degan, Al Dodson, Pleasie Drake, Karen Elliott, Dee Etheridge, Judy Ettinger, Dave Hodson, Rick Hunt, George Jacobsen, Margaret Ellen Jay, Krystyn Kaczorowska, Sue Kirtley, Phil Knoche, Brian Mackenzie, Richard Martin, Richard McGlynn, Doug McKenzie, Jerry Mugavero, Bob Mulvaney, Sharon Mulvaney, Bif Phillipson, Harry Pierandri, Van Michael Joseph Piri, Ray Phelan, Pam Rice, Sandra Ridolfi, Gary Rossini, Bruce Robertson, Julius Santini, Robert Santini, Bob Simonsons, Brian Sirine, Jeff Theiss, Laurel Ann Toohey, Alan Tiburzi, Steve Venus, Lizabeth Tramer, Jim Watson, Dave Welch, Larry Zar and Chet Zawacki.
St. Mary’s School graduated 40 pupils including Charles Knoche, Eileen Mulvaney, Dorothea Egan, Alan Brown, Steve Archambault, Sheila Hoelscher, Elizabeth Mulvaney, Robert Petrini, Kevin Rowe, Helen Pierandri, Sherry Bedini, Francine Carboni, Linda Marconi, Susan Morris, Bob Brown, Nancy Gaeta, Eileen McAleer, Maria Montesi, Peter Baggott, Peter Franceschini, Thomas Santini, James Tarsi, Joseph Tulipani and Ethel Parent.
The Ridgefield Playhouse on Prospect Street featured The Pink Panther starring David Niven and Peter Sellers.