Community Conversation with the Board of Education Tuesday at Westport Library

The Westport Board of Education encourages community members to join them on Tuesday November 15 from 12:00PM-1:30PM at Brooks Place in the Westport Library for a community conversation on any topics related to our schools.  Esteemed former RTM moderator, Velma Heller, will facilitate the conversation.  Community members are encouraged to attend and to raise topics of importance to them as the Board of Education returns to their practices prior to the pandemic of actively seeking feedback from community members in an open public forum.

Phyllis Silverberg, 87, Died; “She loved Westport and all she found there.”

Phyllis Silverberg loved living in Westport. When her husband Mort left Xerox to start a new job at Pitney Bowes in 1985, they relocated from Rochester, New York and have been continually delighted by the area ever since. They rapidly built a large circle of new friends. Phyllis loved living close to her sister Arlene Suchotliff and her family. She swapped her career as an elementary school teacher for a one as a corporate research librarian at Gartner group. She was an intelligent woman with technical skills far ahead of her time, and ability to search online databases long before Google was legendary. Her calendar was always filled: talks at Westport Public Library, theater performances to attend from NYC to New Haven, bridge and mah-jongg games, dinner dates with friends. They went to the beach and traveled the world. She was brilliant and independent. She loved Westport and all she found there.

Phyllis died on November 10 at age 87 from complications of pneumonia. She leaves behind her husband of 69 years, Mort Silverberg; her two daughters Lynn McDonald and Judy Ross; and three grandchildren, Ben Ross, Tyler Ross and Amy McDonald. Services were held privately. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Westport Public Library.

Mimi Dimeling Girard, 84, Died; Former Westport Teacher

Madeline (Mimi) Dimeling Girard, age 84, recently of Long Island, NY, passed away on 9/13/2022.

Mimi was born on 6/21/1938, a day she insisted meant that summer could start. This is probably how her fervent interest in plants started.

Mimi met Lucien Girard III at Penn State University where they both earned Master's degrees. They were married on September 1st, 1962 in Westport, CT where Mimi was employed as a teacher. They then started a world tour, with destinations including Morocco, Ghana, and quite a few states in the US, with longer stints in Evergreen, CO and Royal Oak, MD.

Hugs and Kisses was the first, a small puppy that Mimi tried to keep quiet while grocery shopping. There are many other tales of dog exploits including one slapstick encounter Bradshaw had with a trailing dishwasher rack hooked in his dog collar.

The chapter on Ghana, has far too many excellent stories to tell, and includes her teaching, supporting local organizations and families, designing functional kitchens that were adopted in future builds, and pushing the local wicker man with her latest grand designs.

In Royal Oak, Mimi and Lu settled down to a different type of travel - Galapagos, cross Atlantic sailing, along with the occasional kayak during the DFR with the hoards that invaded. Mimi continued to be a terror on the tennis court along with organizing the Christmas parade in St. Michaels.

Throughout these stories weaves a tangle of different plants including an oleander the dog ate (both survived), working with botanists in Ghana to find the latest catch of a rare bloom, and helping revive wayward orchids in MD.

Mimi is survived by her brother George, her two sisters Dee and Carol; two sons, Peter and his wife, Michele, of CO, and Matthew and his wife, Andrea, of NY; and five wonderful grandchildren.

Services will be held at Crown Crest Cemetery in Clearfield, PA on November 19th at 10am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Easton Garden club or to your local Red Cross.

“I am humbled by your support” says Judge Lisa Wexler

Letter to the Editor:

Dear Westport and Weston Voters,

Thank you for your resounding vote of confidence in me during this election. I am humbled by your support, and very happy to be re-elected as your Probate Judge for the next four years.

As you may know, the position places me in the most intimate of family situations, when people are often at their most vulnerable.  I do my best to remember that each and every day.

Part of my mission is to educate the public about the law. If you would like to subscribe to my Probate Court newsletter, please let me know at lwexler@ctprobate.gov. The newsletter contains a calendar of my local speaking engagements as well.

Please feel free to reach out to me anytime. 

Judge Lisa Wexler