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Rino Manoni, 93, native of town
Rino Manoni of Danbury, a Ridgefield native, died at the Pope John Paul II Center for Health Care on Thursday, June 10, 2004. He was 93 years old.
Mr. Manoni was born in Ridgefield on March 25, 1912, son of the late Augusto and Esther Franceschini Manoni. He moved to Italy as a child and at the age of 15 returned to this area and had lived in the Georgetown, Ridgefield and Danbury area since.
He had worked for many years a the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Co. in Georgetown and later worked at and retired from The Norco Manufacturing Company on Route 7.
He was an avid horseman.
He is survived by a sister, Aurora Benincasa, and a brother, Eddie Manoni, both of Danbury, and several nieces and nephews, including Lucille Boles and Jerry Manone of Tennessee and James Manone of Danbury.
His brother, Jerry Manone, died in 1992.
Private funeral services will be held at the convenience of the family.
The Green Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Antonio Marino, 72, retired cobbler
Antonio Marino of Haviland Road, a retired cobbler, died on Tuesday, April 6, 2004, at Danbury Hospital. He was 72 years old and husband of Cristina Piacquadio Marino.
Mr. Marino was born in Colle Sannita, Italy, on May 10, 1931, son of Angelo and Libera Iapuzzuto Marino. He emigrated to the United States in 1955, first settling in the Bronx, N.Y. and later living Yonkers. He moved from Yonkers to Ridgefield 13 years ago.
Mr. Marino was a cobbler by trade and had owned and operated his own business in Pelham, N.Y., before his retirement 12 years ago.
For relaxation, he enjoyed carpentry and gardening.
Besides his wife of 46 years, Mr. Marino is survived by two sons, Angelo Marino and his wife Renee and Anthony C. Marino and his wife Diane; and six grandchildren, Anthony, Jaclyn, Dominic, Kristina, Sydney and Brigitte.
Services took place on Saturday in St. Mary’s Church.
Entombment was in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven, Hawthorne, N.Y.
The Kane Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Ruth McCarthy, owned ad firm
Ruth L. McCarthy of Ridgefield, an advertising agency owner and a former Wiltonian, died on Monday, April 12, 2004. She was 79
She was born in Bridgeport on March 3, 1925, daughter of Charles and Louise (Evans) McCarthy.
Ms. McCarthy graduated from Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y., and attained her master’s degree from the University of Bridgeport, with a concentration in French.
She had worked as a creative director in the advertising industry, working for Wilson, Haight and Welch; and Ruthrauff and Ryan Advertising in New York City. She then went on to form her own company, Ruth L. McCarthy Associates, in Greenwich. She received the prestigious advertising excellence “Plum Award.”
Along with her late brother and sister-in-law, John J. McCarthy and his wife, Jane, Ms. McCarthy was a principal benefactor of the John J. McCarthy Observatory at New Milford High School.
She is survived her nephew, Robert J. McCarthy and his wife, Carol McCarthy of New Milford; great-nieces Bronwyn McCarthy and her fiancé, Andrew Leone of Wilton, and Meghan McCarthy of Charlotte, N.C.; her niece, Barbara L. O’Connor and her husband Timothy O’Connor of Warren; great-nieces Kathryn Elliott and her husband, Donald of South Windsor; Karen Kravec and her husband, Steven of Newtown; and great-nephew Timothy O’Connor and his wife, Kimberly of Potomac, Md.: great-great-nephews John and Brendan Elliott of South Windsor and great-great-nieces Grace and Katie O’Connor of Potomac, Md. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her brother, John J. McCarthy and his wife, Jane McCarthy.
A Mass of Christian Burial will take place today, Thursday, April 15, at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Grace Church, Route 202, Bantam. Burial will follow in Our Lady of Grace Cemetery, Bantam.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to: The McCarthy Family Foundation, Wachovia Securities, c/o Brian Magee, PO Box 650, Danbury, CT 06810.
Green Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Gail McMillan, native of England
Gail McMillan, a resident of Ridgefield, died on Saturday, April 17, 2004 at Danbury Hospital. She was 51 years old.
Gail was a native of England and had resided in the United States since October 1998 with her husband, David McMillan, who was on an international assignment with IBM.
She loved life and nothing pleased her more than the company of family and friends who were drawn to her warmth, friendliness and very generous nature, the family said. Gail was also a keen yoga enthusiast and member of a local book club.
Besides her husband, Gail is survived by two sons, Michael and Richard Connell from a previous marriage, and one grandson, Thomas Connell, all of England.
Friends may call at Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street on Thursday, April 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. A family service and burial will take place in Hampshire, England, on Tuesday, May 4. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Gail McMillan’s memory may be made to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, 12 Charter Oak Place, Hartford, CT 06106. Telephone 860-240-7620.
William Mennis, retired manager
William E. Mennis, 77, of 640 Danbury Road, a retired merchandising manager, died on Saturday, July 17, 2004, at Danbury Hospital. He was the husband of the late Jeanne Dolan Mennis, who died in September 2001.
Mr. Mennis was born in the Bronx, N.Y., Sept. 13, 1926, a son of the late James and Evelyn Dillon Mennis. Raised in Mount Vernon, N.Y., he attended Mount St. Michael’s in the Bronx and received his bachelor of arts degree from Fordham University.
A World War II U.S. Navy veteran, Mr. Mennis was a retired merchandising manager for the former Mercantile Stores of New York, N.Y., a position he held from 1950 until his retirement in 1985.
He moved from Stamford to Ridgefield six years ago and was a past member of St. Maurice Parish and a present member of St. Mary’s Parish of Ridgefield.
An avid New York Yankee fan, Mr. Mennis enjoyed golfing and sports in general.
He is survived by three sons, Robert A. Mennis of Southbury, James J. Mennis and his wife Patricia of Watertown, and Peter F. Mennis and his wife Pamela of Norwich, N.Y.; a brother, John Mennis and his wife Patricia of Milford; two sisters, Sister Jane Mennis O.S.U. of New Rochelle, N.Y., and Sister Dorothy Mennis r.c of Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; three grandchildren, Rachel Mennis, Benjamin Mennis and Timothy Mennis; and two nieces and one nephew Claire, Gregory and Heather-lyn Mennis.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday in St. Mary’s Church. Burial followed in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, N.Y.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Home School Association of Southbury Training School, Southbury, CT 06488.
Hilda Monti, popular town worker
Hilda Nagot Monti of Ridgefield, a longtime and well-liked town hall employee and a community volunteer, died on Saturday evening, June 19, 2004, at the Laurel Ridge Nursing and Skilled Care Center on Danbury Road. She was 71 years old and the wife of Salvatore C. Monti.
Mrs. Monti “has seen it all,” The Press once said. “She has calmed red-faced citizens screaming about parking tickets, stamped out payroll forms for every town employee from first selectman to summer lifeguard, whipped through pages of tax records for panicked auditors and Realtors during billing seasons — and done it all with a calming smile.”
She was the administrator in the selectmen’s office under two first selectmen, Sue Manning and Abe Morelli, and was named Town Employee of the Year in 1993.
Mrs. Monti was born in Stamford on Oct. 1, 1932, a daughter of Charles and Ellen Doyle Nagot. She grew up in New Canaan, attended schools there and graduated from New Canaan High School in the Class of 1950. She attended the Washington School for Secretaries in Manhattan and the Merrill School of Business of Stamford.
Before she was married 49 years ago, Mrs. Monti was employed by the United Way of Fairfield County and the Schick Corporation of Stamford. The Montis came to Ridgefield in 1958, and lived on Peaceable Ridge. After their family had grown, she and her husband, a well-known Realtor, moved to Casagmo.
Mrs. Monti went to work for the town in 1972 as a part-time clerk under then tax collector Alice P. Besse. She became a full-time employee in the office in 1977 and moved to the finance department in 1980.
In 1991, she became the selectmen’s administrative assistant under First Selectman Sue Manning.
“When you ask her for her job description,” Mrs. Manning once said of Mrs. Monti, “she always includes the phrase ‘and anything that’s asked of me.’ And that’s how she views her job.”
As the selectmen’s administrator, Mrs. Monti was the first person everyone from the governor to complaining taxpayers reached when they called the office. Often, the work was hectic, but Mrs. Monti said in a 1993 interview she considered that part of the job. “Once you’ve raised four kids, you can do anything,” she said. “Doing that, you do learn: There are always emergencies.”
In a 1999 interview, she said that “it never ceases to amaze me the questions people have and the things they call the selectmen’s office to find out. Some of them are funny and some of them are sad, but it’s really human nature at its best.”
Just the day before, she said at the time, “we got one woman who called and wanted to know what would be the process to rescind the ‘pooper scooper’ ordinance, and we got one woman who said [the ordinance] was fantastic and to tell Mr. Morelli she would definitely vote for him in November.”
In 2001, with a change of administrations, Mrs. Monti returned to the tax collector’s office. Mary Hart Foyt, who had been a young clerk with her in 1972, was now the tax collector. This week, Mrs. Foyt recalled that Town Treasurer Maureen Kiernan used to call Mrs. Monti “the oracle” because “she had such a broad range of knowledge. She had a phenomenal mind, a phenomenal memory.”
Mrs. Foyt also pointed out that Mrs. Monti “always had a smile.”
Mrs. Monti continued working at the tax collector’s office until April of this year.
Over the years Mrs. Monti was active in many community organizations, including the PTAs at Veterans Park School, Barlow Mountain School, the East Ridge Junior High School, and Ridgefield High School. She was also a former Girl Scout leader, and an instructor of religious education at St. Mary’s Parish. She was a longtime member of the Ridgefield Woman’s Club, and was active in the club’s “Are You Okay” program of calling senior citizens each morning. Back in the 1960s she and her husband were founders of the Ridgefield Jaycees and the Jaycee Wives.
Her daughter, Sally Proto, said that her mother loved Ridgefield and had no plans to leave the town. “She was one of the few people who always wanted to spend her retirement in Ridgefield,” she said.
A week before Mrs. Monti’s death, her daughter Priscilla Pellenberg, a TV journalist in Virginia, interviewed her mother about her life. Asked her favorite thing about working in the town hall, Mrs. Monti replied, “All the nice people I worked with — and all the wonderful people who came in.”
What did she like least about it? “The grouchy customers.”
Her proudest accomplishment? “My four daughters.”
Her wish for everyone she loved? “Perfect health.”
Her only regret? “That I will not be able to watch my youngest grandchild, Charlie, grow up.”
Besides her husband, Mrs. Monti is survived by her four daughters: Sally Proto and her husband Michael of West Chester, Pa., Diane Monti-Catania and her husband Dr. Joseph Catania of Bridgewater, Andrea Lavery and her husband Robert of West Hartford, and Priscilla Monti Pellenberg and her husband Wayne of Virginia Beach, Va.; two sisters, Eileen Apy of New Canaan and Judith Kimbell and her husband William of Fairfield; and five grandchildren, Brendan Lavery, Siobhan Lavery, Joseph Catania, Andrew Catania and Charles Pellenberg.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Wednesday in St. Mary’s Church
Burial was in St. Mary’s Cemetery.
Donations in her name may be to Elizabeth House, The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury, 2 West Street, Danbury, CT 06810 or to Rotary Park for Children with Special Needs, The Ridgefield Rotary Club, P.O. Box 41, Ridgefield, CT 06877.
The Kane Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Martha Morgan, mother, volunteer
Martha Elizabeth Morgan, a Ridgefielder for more than 50 years and a volunteer with youth groups and church, died Friday, May 21, 2004, after a long illness. She was 79 years old and the wife of John P. Morgan.
Mrs. Morgan grew up in Dunmore, Pa., where she was born on June 6, 1924. She and her husband met at work in Scranton after the war, and the couple was married in September 1948. Three years later, they moved to Ridgefield, one of the first families to buy a home in Bert Ison’s new Washington Park Estates off Branchville Road.
After her children were grown, Mrs. Morgan went to work for Monaplastics in Branchville as a secretary, and then worked for many years in technical support at Demetron Research Corporation in Danbury, manufacturers of dental equipment. There, she often assisted Asian-born workers with learning English.
“She was a lovely person,” said her husband of 55 years. “Whenever she could, she would help people. Everyone who knew her loved her. ”
Over the years Mrs. Morgan had volunteered with the Veterans Park PTA, often chaperoning field trips, and was a Girl Scout leader. She had also been active in the First Congregational Church, serving as a deaconess. The Morgans had been members of the church’s Couples Club in the 1950s.
Besides her husband, Mrs. Morgan is survived by three children: Janet Edmonds and her husband Charley of Davis, Calif., Suzanne Morgan of Salem, Mass., and John P. Morgan Jr. and his wife Christine of Ijamsville, Md.; four grandsons, Brendan Edmonds of San Diego, Calif., and Alex, Tucker and Jack Morgan of Ijamsville; and two sisters, Catherine Williams of Dunmore, and Lois Eiden of Wallington, N.J.
A grandson, Dylan Morgan, died before her.
Services will be private.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association, 90 East Ridge, Ridgefield 06877.
The Kane Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
