Jankura memorial slated for March 20
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Plans have been announced for a memorial for retired Southington High School Art teacher Cheryl A. Jankura, who died last weekend at the age of 63.

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The memorial will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, at the New Britain Museum of American Art. According to organizers, a reception will follow.

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The museum is located at 56 Lexington St. in New Britain. For directions or more information on the museum, click here. For more information on the memorial, please e-mail us at shsalum@gmail.com.

Tracy Dionne-Giersz,

Class of 1993, turns 36 today!

and

Tara (Ferguson) Berk,

Class of 1994, turns 35 today!

Retired Art teacher Cheryl Jankura dies

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Cheryl A. Jankura, a retired Southington High School art teacher whose name for 23 years was synonymous with the school’s photography program, died this morning after a battle with cancer. She was 63 years old.
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Ms. Jankura (known affectionately by her students as “Miss J”) was a 36-year veteran of the Southington school system, teaching visual arts at the elementary level from 1969 until moving to SHS in 1982. She taught a variety of art courses through the years, including the art portion of the Theater Arts program and the photography classes that she transformed into one of the school’s most popular electives. She retired in 2005.
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Prior to her recent illness, a group of Ms. Jankura’s former students had been organizing the design of a perennial garden honoring her years at Southington High School.

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Details of funeral arrangements were unavailable as of Saturday afternoon.
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To share your memories of Ms. Jankura, please click on Comments below or visit our Facebook page (which can be accessed by clicking on the link in our Links sidebar).

Karen Cavanaugh, Class of 1984,

and a teacher in the

SHS Special Education Department,
turns 45 today!

DOM D'ANGELO,

SHS COACHING ICON,

DIES AT 87
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Legendary Southington High School football coach and athletic director Dominic D'Angelo has died at the age of 87. To view his obituary, please click here.
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You are encouraged to visit our Facebook page (see the link in the sidebar) or click Comments below to share your memories of Coach D'Angelo.

We offer Valentine's Day birthday wishes to

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Carole Alberti,

Retired chairperson of the SHS English Department

and

Kim Horton, Class of 1988!

Nicole (Vieira) Biernat,

Class of 1995, turns 34 today!

and

Lisa Dunlap,
Class of 1994, turns 35 today!

This Won't Count Toward

Your Final Grade:
The ALUMNI Quick Quiz ANSWER

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Last week we asked which one of the three teachers named did not pass away while still teaching at Southington High School.

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The answer:

JOHN WISNER

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Both English Department chairman Arthur Payne and Industrial Arts teacher Ken Conrad were still teaching when they died. Mr. Payne had been an English teacher at SHS for 20 years when he died of a heart attack at the age of 51 in April 1979. Mr. Conrad had been at SHS for 15 years when he died at 44 in April 1987. Mr. Wisner, a veteran Art teacher and former department chairman, retired in 1994. He died two years later at the age of 70.

Tom Graves,

Class of 1994, turns 36 today!

Roll up your sleeve, it's time
for a belated birthday blood drive

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No doubt some of you Southington High alumni did volunteer work at one time or another for the former Southington Red Cross. Some of the town's most notable civic leaders started their careers in community service with the old Red Cross chapter, led by executive director Betty Kroher.

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If you remember your time with the Red Cross or simply recall what an icon Mrs. Kroher became when she ran the Red Cross, roll up your sleeve and head out to the blood drive held in her honor later this month.

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St. Dominic Church, located at 1050 Flanders Rd., will host the 5th Annual Betty Kroher Birthday Blood Drive from 1:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb 23. The drive, run by the American Red Cross, was postponed from the fall.
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The blood drive pays homage each year to Kroher around the time of her October birthday. She was the first and only executive director of the former Southington Red Cross, serving from 1964 until the chapter was disbanded in 1992. She has been associated with the Red Cross since the late 1950s and continues in her 80s to volunteer for organizations including the Calvanese Foundation. In 2009 she was presented with the first Southington Humanitarian Award, which was subsequently renamed in her honor. The first recipient of the Betty Kroher Humanitarian Spirit Award will be selected in the fall at the sixth annual drive.
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For more information or to receive drive updates, join the Annual Betty Kroher Birthday Blood Drive page on Facebook by clicking here. To schedule an appointment or to inquire about donation requirements, call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or visit http://www.ctredcross.org/.

Melissa St. Onge,

Class of 1995, turns 34 today!

This Won't Count Toward

Your Final Grade:

The ALUMNI Quick Quiz

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Which one of the following teachers did not pass away

while still on the faculty at Southington High School?

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A. Art teacher JOHN WISNER

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B. Industrial Arts teacher KEN CONRAD

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C. English teacher ARTHUR PAYNE

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Put your two cents in by clicking Comments below. Answer will be revealed next week.

Did You Know...

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Fifty years ago this month, Lewis High School graduate Robert Foley became the first clerk

of the Bristol Superior Court?

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In 1960, Bob Foley was in the midst of his seventh term as Southington's town clerk. With the new courthouse opening in downtown Bristol, Mr. Foley set his sights on what he would admit years later was simply job security. One of the most popular and respected local civic leaders of his time, he knew the whim of the voters could cast you out of office - and out of a job - in any election. (That was, after all, how he was first elected town clerk in 1946, besting incumbent Herman Muus.) So with a family to support, he sought the clerk's post at GA #17, which was part of the new court system that made obsolete municipal courts effective in January 1961.

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Foley was succeeded as town clerk by Joseph A. DePaolo, whose job as local judge had been eliminated when the municipal court was abolished. DePaolo, a 1926 Lewis High grad, died in office four years later (and is the namesake of one of Southington's middle schools.) He was succeeded by his wife, Juanine DePaolo, who held the job for 27 years and became a community icon.

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Despite his popularity and connections in local and state political circles, Mr. Foley never again held public office after stepping down as town clerk. He left the Bristol court in 1978 when he accepted a similar post in New Haven, the job from which he would retire in 1989. He died in 2005 at the age of 85.

Todd Gwiazdowski,

Class of 1994, turns 36 today!

Daniella (Roy) Achim,

Class of 1994, turns 35 today!

Polansky takes suspended sentence, probation
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Former Southington superintendent of schools Harvey B. Polansky, charged last year with sexual assault and breach of peace as the superintendent in Milford, has taken a 30-day suspended sentence and six months of probation after accepting a plea deal yesterday.
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To view the story on the deal in today's New Haven Register, click here.

Karyn Fortier, Class of 1997,

turns 31 today!

The Alumni Connect! is Twittering...

Find us @SouthingtonAlum

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Get updates on our postings, upcoming contests, reunion information and other news by following us on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/SouthingtonAlum

Susan Laude, Class of 1965,

turns 64 today!

Amy Blumenreder, Class of 1994,

turns 35 today!