From the 'Turnback Tuesday' archives: Derby philanthropists

"Turnback Tuesday" features a woman who had a huge impact on the City of Derby, Mrs. Alice (Grout) Wood. Alice and her husband loved Derby and wanted to make a lasting contribution.

In 1901, they announced their gift of a public library to the City of Derby along with a gift of $5,000 for books. The Library - dedicated Dec. 27, 1902 - still has some of these original books in its collection.

[This was first published on Oct. 2, 2018.]

Thanks goes to the Derby Public Library staff for sharing interesting local history each week.

Ansonia Rotary donates dictionaries to Assumption School 3rd graders

Ansonia Rotary Club members John Yeager, left, and Rich Knoll pose recently with students at Assumption School in Ansonia./ Contributed photo 

ANSONIA - Ansonia Rotary Club members John Yeager and Rich Knoll handed out personal dictionaries to Karen Clayton’s third grade class at Assumption School this week, completing the club’s annual contribution to local education. 

The club purchased dictionaries for all 200 of Ansonia’s third graders.  
Assumption staff and students welcomed the gift. They located the longest word in the English language in the books and attempted to pronounce it.  

The distribution of dictionaries at Assumption followed distributions at Mead and Prendergast elementary schools in the previous weeks. The effort was organized by Rotary Club member and Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone and Club President Lori Veillette. 

The annual purchase and distribution is part of the Ansonia Rotary Club’s Community Services program.  
The Ansonia Rotary Club meets for lunch weekly at Crave Restaurant. For more information, go to www.ansoniarotary.org, or call 203-888-1101.

This is a press release from Ansonia Rotary Club.