Dr. Philip R. Pitruzello, superintendent of schools, gave the Memorial Day address on the Community Center porch flanked by a color guard and a firing squad, the June 6, 1963, Press reported.
“The church, the school, the civil government, veterans organizations, and the ladies auxiliaries,” he said, “all combine to impress upon youth and society that a price, indeed high, has been paid for all that we enjoy.”
Voters supported the Board of Finance by a margin of three to one in the referendum on the school budget. With a 65% turnout, it was the largest referendum in the town’s history, as well as the most decisive, and it approved the board’s decision to cut $100,000 in the 1963-64 school budget. It was the third successive year in which large reductions were made by the finance board in the school budgets.
Varian Fry, Ridgefield author, was honored by the International Rescue Committee at its 30th anniversary luncheon at the Overseas Press Club in New York City. Fry was cited for his heroic activities in 1940-42, when he headed a dangerous mission in Vichy, France, to rescue anti-Nazi leaders who were marked for extinction by the Gestapo. Fry, a journalist, built the “underground railway” that would take them to freedom from headquarters in Marseilles. The mission succeeded in saving 1,500 prominent people who had been marked for death by the Nazis, including Giuseppe Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Hannah Arendt, Wanda Landowska, Hans Habe, André Masson, and Jacques Lipchitz.
The Ridgefield Playhouse on Prospect Street featured Billy Budd followed later in the week by The Ugly American. The Danbury Drive-In offered Damaged Goods, “the tender and tragic story of teenage love and parental neglect,” starring Dolores Faith.
David Evans, Ridgefield High School Student Council president, presided at the high school annual student awards assembly. Bif Nash received the Nutmeg Boys State recognition from First Selectman Leo F. Carroll, and Judy Byram received the Laurel Girls State prize from the American Legion Auxiliary. Principal Harold Healy gave the Sons of the American Revolution Citizenship award to Evans, and Mary Meeker received the Daughters of the American Revolution award. Dale Tulipani, Mary Venus, Beatrice Seeman, Lynn Bacchiochi, Jeanne Besse, Terri Carboni, Carol Franks, Sandra and Sheila Mulvaney, Toni Frulla, and Jayanne Sheehan each received National Red Cross Nursing awards. Chemistry teacher James Menosek presented George Leeman with the American Chemical Society award. Fred Grossfeld received the mathematics award from Hope Gilchrist, chairman of the mathematics department. Michael Ryba received the Rotary Highest Academic Award as the top-ranking student in the senior class.
Forty-one students graduated from St. Mary School, including Marilou Serfilippi, Paula Marconi, Dorothy Carboni, Katherine Casagrande, Pamela Bennett, Joseph Hahn, Dennis Moylan, Brian Sullivan, Walter Valentine, and James Corrie.
The confirmation class of the Congregational Church included Theodore and Margaret Nash, Tom Hill, Wendy Ochsner, Nancy Gasparino, Amy Saville, and Karen Hoerner.