Dedication of portrait at Derby courthouse brings back fond memories

The Hon. Joseph P. Flynn unveils his portrait Tuesday during a ceremony at Derby Superior Court. At left is the artist, Ansonia resident Nicole Salva. Flynn's wife, Marilyn, is at his side. 

DERBY - I started feeling nostalgic Tuesday afternoon as I sat in Courtroom B at Derby Superior Court waiting for the start of a ceremony celebrating the Honorable Joseph P. Flynn, a lifelong Ansonia resident. He is a retired Chief Judge of the state Appellate Court.

I guess I'm dating myself here but the event brought back memories of my many years working in the newsroom of the former Evening Sentinel newspaper in Ansonia. 
For those unfamiliar, the Sentinel was the go-to paper for Valley residents who wanted to know what was happening in their community. We published six days a week. On the seventh day we rested!

The Sentinel was closed on Christmas Eve, 1992. More than 70 employees got pink slips that day. I'm sure they would have preferred coal in their stockings. I was fortunate that I wasn't there that day. I had resigned seven months earlier.

Seeing so many Valley lawyers gather Tuesday in one room to honor Flynn, "a Valley guy," as colleagues described him, sent me back to a different time and place. Was life simpler then? It sure feels like it now.

I became acquainted with many members of the Valley Bar Association through my job, not because I had "issues" that would have required legal representation.

I won't name the lawyers who greeted me yesterday, but you know who you are! And it was truly a pleasure to see you, even if memories of the '80s made me feel a bit old. 

It was in that decade that Flynn was instrumental in getting the courthouse for the Ansonia/Milford Judicial District built on Elizabeth Street.  
I can remember when court was held in Ansonia City Hall in what is now the aldermanic chambers. And I also remember people who had a date with the judge lining the staircase leading to the second floor courtroom waiting their turn. 

Greg Stamos speaks
at Tuesday's ceremony.

Fast forward to Tuesday and Flynn, 75, was surrounded by his family and Valley colleagues who packed Courtroom B for the hour-long ceremony presided over by The Hon. Frank A. Iannotti.
Ansonia lawyer Gregory J. Stamos spoke of Flynn's lifelong commitment to the Valley community in both his professional and personal life. 
Flynn is a son of the late editor of The Evening Sentinel, Charles Flynn, who died in 1969.  
The Valley United Way's annual Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award has been presented since 1971 to recognize dedicated service to the community. Stamos said it is "the most prestigious award given in the Valley."

Flynn offered a special thank you to his fellow Valley Bar Association members. He joked that his father "detested lawyers as a group."

And as for the portrait that will hang in the courthouse? Flynn said with a smile that artist Nicole Salva of Ansonia "did an amazing job with what she had to work with."

There were several guest speakers at the ceremony. Please click here to read all about it in a story by my friend, New Haven Register correspondent extraordinaire Jean Falbo-Sosnovich. 

Flynn chats with the press after the ceremony. 

The heartfelt recognition from friends and colleagues of Flynn's dedication to the Valley and the state was much-deserved. I wish him all the best in his retirement.