USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume III > Part 51
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Rx Rew Jeph Om. Griffin
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versity. He also completed work for his degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Princeton, receiving that degree in 1932.
Before completing his education, Henry L. Shepherd had worked as a journalist, being on the staff of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas from 1923 to 1928. He taught at Texas Christian University during 1927-1928, and he has taught from time to time at Trinity Col- lege and Hillyer College in Hartford. He was economist with the United States Department of Commerce from 1931 to 1933, and with the United States Treasury Department from 1933 to 1935.
Admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1942, Mr. Shepherd has practiced in Hartford since. The firm of Shepherd, Murtha and Mer- ritt has seven members and three associates, as well as a federal tax counsel. It engages in a general practice, including corporation, real property, federal and state taxation and labor law, and related litiga- tion. As a member of the State Bar Association of Connecticut, Mr. Shepherd serves as chairman of its Section on Taxation. He is a mem- ber of the Hartford County Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
In 1935, Mr. Shepherd was in Europe as special treasury agent on monetary problems. He serves on numerous boards of directors, including Metropolitan Fire Assurance Company, the Plume and At- wood Manufacturing Company, Fenn Manufacturing Company, Gabb Special Products Company, Sloate Corporation, LaPointe Industries, Inc., and Fuller Brush Company. In the course of his work as an economist, Mr. Shepherd wrote two books on international finance: "Default and Readjustment of Argentine Debt, 1890-1907," published in 1933, and "Monetary Experience in Belgium" (1936).
Mr. Shepherd was a member of the winning crew in the Newport- Bermuda sailing race in 1946 and has sailed in several other ocean races. He serves on the executive committee of the Grand National Curling Club of America. His other memberships include The Hartford Club, the University Club of Hartford and the Litchfield Country Club.
RT. REVEREND JOSEPH MICHAEL GRIFFIN
Pastor of the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Rose of Lima, in Meriden, since 1947, and a member of the Catholic clergy since 1922, Monsignor Griffin has served as national secretary of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith for ten years, and since 1948 has conducted the Sabbath Program over Radio Station WTIC every Sunday.
He was born in Waterbury, the son of John Griffin and of Ellen
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(Cronin) Griffin. His father was born in County Waterford, Ireland, and his mother in Plymouth, Connecticut. They were the parents of four children.
Monsignor Griffin was educated in St. Patrick's parochial school in Waterbury, graduated from Duggan School and then from Water- bury High School. He studied for the priesthood at Saint Thomas Seminary in Hartford, and at Saint Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York. He was ordained to the priesthood in Hartford on June 10, 1922, by most Rev. John J. Nilan, D.D.
Prefect of Discipline for a year and then teacher of languages at Saint Thomas Seminary, he became rector of the seminary in 1942. It was in 1947 that Monsignor Griffin became permanent rector of Saint Rose of Lima Church in Meriden. He has played an important role in social problems in Connecticut, is a charter member of the Civil Rights Commission of Connecticut, and is serving as head of the Connecticut State Prison Board. Assistant director of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith in the Hartford Diocese in 1922, Monsignor Griffin was made diocesan director in 1934.
Since his accession as pastor of the Church of Saint Rose of Lima of Meriden, of which more is written in the industrial and institutional section of this history, Monsignor Griffin has been active in many civic and community organizations, and his pastorate today numbers some five thousand souls with nearly five hundred children in the parochial school.
JOHN RICHARD FAY
John Richard Fay has practiced law in Norwalk since the begin- ning of his career. He has held office in both the local and the state bar associations, and is currently serving on the bench as judge of the city court.
Born at East Norwalk on November 23, 1909, he is a son of Christopher William and Matilda Theresa (Erickson) Fay. His father was born in South Norwalk on March 4, 1882. He has followed the trade of butcher throughout his career, and is today the oldest man active in that business in the Norwalk area. He has operated his own butcher shop continuously for forty-seven years, and this was the only Norwalk meat market to survive the depression of the 1930S. Christopher W. Fay with his other son, Evanstead D. Fay still actively heads this business, known as the East Norwalk Meat Market. He takes a deep interest in good government and in civic affairs, although he has never been an office-seeker, preferring to work quietly as an
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individual to secure improved conditions and the election of worthy candidates. Matilda Theresa Erickson, whom he married, was born in Norwalk on August 9, 1883, and died November 23, 1952.
John R. Fay attended local public schools, and graduated from Norwalk High School in 1928. Between high school and college, he worked for three years for the Hat Corporation of America, advancing to the position of assistant superintendent of millinery during that period. He left to enter Albright College, where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1934. For his professional train- ing he went to Duke University. There he was a member of one of the most illustrious of graduating classes, that of 1937. Among his classmates were Vice President Richard Nixon, and Charles Rhyne, a president of the American Bar Association. Many of the class were there on scholarship, as there was still a depression, and they could not have attended otherwise.
Receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1937, Mr. Fay was admitted to the bar of his state and began practice at Norwalk in 1938. He has maintained his offices at 94 Washington Street in South Norwalk. He conducts a general practice independently. Active in the Norwalk-Westport-Wilton Bar Association, he served as its presi- dent in 1951; and he was a member of the House of Delegates of the Connecticut Bar Association in 1952-1953. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Duke Bar Association.
Politically a Democrat, Mr. Fay became judge of the city court in 1955, and his term ends December 31, 1960. He was also a justice of the peace for twelve years. He has held the top offices in the local Chamber of Commerce, having been secretary in 1951, vice president from 1953 to 1955, and president during 1955-1956. He was a direc- tor from 1945-1951 and is presently a director. Mr. Fay is president of the Alumni Association of Albright College for the State of Connecticut, is vice president of Treadway Inn, and a member of its board of directors and general council. Treadway Inn is a community project and is owned by the people of Norwalk.
Mr. Fay takes a consistent interest in Masonry. He is a member and past master of his local lodge of Free and Accepted Masons; and is a Thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the consistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and also of Butler Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons in the York Rite. He belongs to Pyramid Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Bridgeport; is past monarch of Monker Grotto; and is also past state president of the Connecticut Grotto Association.
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A communicant of Christ Episcopal Church, Mr. Fay has served as vestryman there since 1944. He was junior warden in 1957, and was senior warden in 1958.
Twice married, John Richard Fay chose as his first wife Helene G. Murray. She was born in Bridgeport on October 4, 1909, and died December 25, 1943. They were married on August 31, 1936, and were the parents of one daughter: Suzanne Helene, born on October 17, 1943, in Norwalk. She attended St. John the Baptist School, an Episcopal institution at Mendham, New Jersey. On September 19, 1952, Mr. Fay married, as his second wife, Agnes Wacha, who was born March 17, 1922. They have two children: Michelle Lorraine, who was born on October 7, 1953, in Norwalk, and is now attending nursery school; and Patricia Matilda, born in that city on November 17, 1957.
PETER H. COMSTOCK
The nation's oldest company specializing in the manufacture of piano keys and actions is the firm of Pratt, Read and Company, Inc. It is located at Ivoryton, which takes its name from the product tradi- tionally relied on by the industry. Its president for some years has been Peter H. Comstock, who has spent more than two decades with the organization.
Mr. Comstock was reared in close proximity to his business, having been born at Ivoryton on August 29, 1917. He is a son of Eliott M. and Marcia (Harwood) Comstock. His father too was born in Ivoryton, and spent his career with the Cheney-Comstock Company, likewise a producer of ivory piano keys in its day. He died in 1926. Miss Harwood, whom he married, survives him. She is the daughter of Benjamin E. Harwood, who some years ago was chairman of the Republican Party organization in the state of Connecticut.
Peter H. Comstock completed his preparatory studies at Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, and was nineteen years of age when he joined the Cheney-Comstock Company. Since that time his career has been centered in the piano-key manufacturing industry. Cheney-Comstock merged with Pratt, Read and Company in January, 1937, only a few months after he had begun his employment, and he has continued steady advancement with the emergent organization. He familiarized himself with various aspects of work in its plant, was later transferred to the office, and was promoted to vice president in 1942. He has been president of the corporation since 1954.
Both the firm and its predecessor were old-time producers of
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ivory keys at a time when all piano keys originated in the elephant's tusk. Since that day, however, the volume of trade in pianos has in- creased many times-and the scheduling of safari to trap the African pachyderm has not been able to keep pace. Also, research has in- troduced plastic products of superior quality, and these today go into the making of most piano keys-although the organ builders have constituted a conservative wing who have insisted on retaining ivory keys. Pratt, Read's letter head and trademark are still distinguished by the presence of a well-tusked elephant.
Besides heading this firm and serving on its board of directors, Peter H. Comstock is a director of the Springfield Wire and Tinsel Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. He also serves on the board of the Middlesex Memorial Hospital at Middletown, Connecticut. His memberships include the New York Yacht Club, the Essex Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America, and the Off Soundings Club. Sailing and boating are almost his exclusive outdoor interests.
On November 30, 1940, at Essex, Connecticut, Peter H. Com- stock married Charlotte Toppin, daughter of Hubert M. and Annie (Cochran) Toppin. Mrs. Comstock is a graduate of Radcliffe College at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The couple are the parents of the fol- lowing children: I. Marcia Ann, who was born on September 16, 1941. 2. Barbara, born March 14, 1943. 3. Constance, born October 15, 1947. 4. Patricia, born March 2, 1950. All of the children were born at the Hartford Hospital. The family attends the Episcopal Church in Essex, where they make their home.
F. KELSO DAVIS
Following his return from military service in World War II, F. Kelso Davis joined Pratt, Read and Company, Inc., of Ivoryton, Connecticut, a firm engaged in the manufacture of piano and organ keyboards, piano actions, helicopter blade blocks, and small tools. Presently he is vice president of Pratt, Read and of its wholly owned subsidiary, The Cornwall Patterson Company of Bridgeport. He is active in church, civic, and club activities in his home community.
Born February 23, 1916, in Hartford, he is a son of the late Colonel J. H. K. and Edith (Brainard) Davis. His father, who died in 1956 was vice president and a director of Connecticut Printers of Hartford for many years and was active in military affairs. His moth- er, the former Edith Hollister Brainard, resides in West Hartford.
F. Kelso Davis graduated from Kent School, Kent, Connecticut in 1934 and from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts in Conn.III-40
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1938 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduation from college he joined the faculty of Kent School where he taught until 1940. From then until February, 1942, he was employed by the Hartford National Bank and Trust Company in various capacities in the commercial and trust departments. Commissioned an ensign in the Navy at that time, he served afloat until May, 1946, when he retired with the rank of lieutenant commander. He served in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pa- cific theaters and participated in the occupation of Japan. Returning from service, he joined Pratt, Read and Company, Inc. and worked in various departments until his appointment as sales manager in 1952. The following year he was given the additional duties of vice president.
Mr. Davis is a member of the Essex Historical Society, the Daunt- less Club of Essex, the Williams Club of New York, and the Hart- ford Club. A sailing enthusiast, he has participated in many ocean races and is a member of the Cruising Club of America, the Off- Soundings Club, Essex Yacht Club, of which he is a past commodore, and the Fenwick Yacht Club. He presently is vice commodore of the Eastern Connecticut Yacht Racing Association. He is a member of the Republican Town Committee in Essex and is co-chairman of the Industrial Section of the Office of Civil Defense. He is a communicant of St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex and serves as a member of the vestry.
On June 10, 1939 F. Kelso Davis married Helen Hewes of Farm- ington, Connecticut, daughter of the late Thomas and Genevieve (Chase) Hewes. Mrs. Davis is a graduate of the Ethel Walker School of Simsbury and of Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York. They have the following children: 1. J. H. Kelso Davis, 2nd, born in Hartford, May 4, 1943 who is presently attending Holderness School, Plymouth, New Hampshire. 2. Philip Hewes, born September 22, 1944, in Hartford. He is a student at Kent School, Kent. 3. Deborah, born at Hartford, January 16, 1946. 4. Jefferson Brainard, born in Hartford September 24, 1950. 5. Helen, also born in Hartford, Au- gust 12, 1958.
GEORGE C. SEELEY
The secretary-treasurer of Pratt, Read and Company, Inc., George C. Seeley of Ivoryton has spent his career in the industry of man- ufacturing piano keys. He was with the Cheney-Comstock Com- pany prior to its merger with the present organization, as an officer; and he has also held other official posts. He is a veteran of World War I, and once served on the staff of Governor Everett Lake.
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Born at Brookline, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1894, he is a son of William Graydon and Maude (Cheney) Seeley. His mother was related to the family which established Cheney-Comstock Com- pany, an old firm in the manufacture of piano keys. George C. Seeley attended Volkmann School in Boston, and on graduating there, entered Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, where he re- ceived his degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1914.
He began his career with the Cheney-Comstock Company, work- ing in its cost department. Leaving in 1917 to join the United States Army, he was commissioned a lieutenant and assigned to the 58th Coast Artillery, serving in that unit with the American Expeditionary Forces in France for about a year. Mr. Seeley resumed his connection with Cheney-Comstock on his return, and was named an officer in the company in 1922. Effective January 1, 1937, the organization merged with Pratt, Read and Company, Inc., under the latter name. He served as secretary and vice president of this concern from 1942 until 1954, when he became secretary-treasurer. Something concerning its manufacturing activities, and the industry generally, is given in the accompanying sketch of Peter H. Comstock, who is president of the firm.
Mr. Seeley is also secretary-treasurer and a director of Cornwall and Patterson and Company of Bridgeport. He was formerly a di- rector of the Middletown Memorial Hospital. In 1922, he served as major on the staff of Governor Everett Lake of Connecticut.
Mr. Seeley's memberships include the Yale Club of New York and Madison Beach Club.
In Chester, Connecticut, on June 4, 1919, George C. Seeley mar- ried Rica Trumbull Harwood, daughter of Benjamin and Letitia Mar- cia (Morris) Harwood. Mrs. Seeley is a graduate of Smith College. The couple have no children.
KENNETH P. WRIGHT
Centerbrook's firm of funeral directors, Robinson and Wright, Inc., is a widely known and respected organization which has served families of lower Middlesex County for over sixty years. Kenneth P. Wright, who is now its president and treasurer, joined the funeral home nearly three decades ago. He is also president of the Deep River Savings Bank, and is a leader in other community or- ganizations.
Born at Deep River on January 12, 1909, he is a son of Raymond
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Warren and Katherine ( Bugbee) Wright, both of whom are deceased. Prior to his death in 1921, Raymond W. Wright was associated with Winthrop J. Prann in the management of a grocery and provision store in Deep River. Mrs. Wright survived her husband until 1954.
Attending local public schools, Kenneth P. Wright graduated from Deep River High School. He chose his profession early in life, and attended the New England Institute of Embalming and Anato- mical Science at Boston, where he graduated in the Class of 1930. He has followed the occupation of funeral directing continuously since that time. In fact he first formed his connection with the present or- ganization in October, 1929, a few months before he had completed his studies. It was founded by Herbert D. Robinson in 1894, and was still operated under his name at the time Mr. Wright came with the firm. Mr. Robinson remained president until his death in 1945. How- ever, the funeral home was incorporated in 1932, and at that time Mr. Wright became vice president and secretary. At the founder's death, he succeeded to the management of the organization and has been president and treasurer since that time. Robinson and Wright, Inc., was first located in what is now the Dr. George Crawford Medi- cal Building at Centerbrook. In 1947 a new and completely modern funeral home was completed in the former Louis Pieretti residence in Centerbrook, which offers an attractive and impressive location for services, and ample accommodations for the operations of the firm.
Since 1942, Mr. Wright has been a director and trustee of the Deep River Savings Bank, and in 1956 he succeeded the late Harry B. Marvin as its president. He was formerly a member of the finance board of the Town of Deep River. For ten years he served as secre- tary of the Rotary Club of Saybrook, and later became president of that club. He is a member of Trinity Lodge No. 43, Free and Accepted Masons, at Deep River. Fond of the out-of-doors, he most enjoys the pastimes of boating and fishing.
At Deep River, on July 4, 1931, Kenneth P. Wright married Welthy Beckwith, daughter of Alva and Angie Jane (Howland) Beckwith. Mrs. Wright is a graduate of Old Saybrook High School and of New Haven Teachers College. For several years she taught school at Essex, Clinton, and Danielson. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wright are communicants of the United Church of Chester. They are the parents of one son, Thomas E. Wright, who was born at Deep River on June 22, 1933. He is a graduate of Deep River High School and the School of Business Administration of Boston University. He is now with the Hart Manufacturing Company of Hartford. Thomas
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E. Wright married Diana W. Ehlers of Middletown, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Ehlers, on June 8, 1957.
PAUL J. MCFARLAND
President and general manager of McFarland and Stample of New Haven, contract carriers in Connecticut and Rhode Island for Ballantine Beer, from 1954 until his death, Mr. McFarland was active in the community and was a member of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce.
He was born in New Haven on November 6, 1922, the son of Joseph G. McFarland and of Kathryn (Collagan) McFarland. His father was born in New Haven in 1898 and was active in the trucking and transportation business for most of his life. He founded the firm of McFarland and Stample around 1920 with his brother-in-law, Mr. Stample, and he remained active in the post of president of the firm until his death in 1954. Mr. McFarland's mother was born in Norwich, in 1898, and she now resides in New Haven.
Mr. McFarland graduated from Randolph Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia, in 1940, and he then attended Villanova Col- lege until entering military service. He was in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946, and was stationed in the Pacific Theater.
Mr. McFarland became associated with McFarland and Stample on his return from military service, becoming secretary of the cor- poration, and he assumed the post of president and general manager on his father's death in 1954. An independent in politics, he was at one time a member of the Kiwanis Club, and he enjoyed social con- nections as a member of the Elks, the Union League Club and the New Haven Country Club. He attended religious worship at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Infant.
Mr. McFarland was married in New Haven on April 23, 1949 to Claire Dennis, born in Fall River, Massachusetts, the daughter of Daniel and of Florence (Noonan) Dennis. Her parents were born in Fall River, and her father is active in insurance work in New Haven. Mrs. McFarland's mother is now deceased. Mrs. McFarland graduated from Hamden High School and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Saint Joseph's College in Hartford. She is active in the Catholic Charity League.
Mr. and Mrs. McFarland had three children, all of whom were born in New Haven: 1. Janice, born on February 13, 1950. 2. Carole, born on September 25, 1951. 3. Aileen, born on December 12, 1955.
Mr. Paul J. McFarland passed away on August 26, 1959.
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MICHAEL SALVATORE FUOCO
President of West Shore Cleaners, Incorporated, of New Haven, since 1956, and associated with the company since 1946, Mr. Fuoco is a member of the National Institute of Dry Cleaning and of the Con- necticut State Association of Dry Cleaners.
Michael Salvatore Fuoco was born in West Haven, Connecticut, on March 13, 1929, son of Salvatore Fuoco and of Gelsomina (Qua- berti) Fuoco. His father was born in Naples, Italy, on May 12, 1889, and came to the United States when he was twenty-four years old. He settled first in New York City, where he became a tailor, moving to Meriden, six years later. He came to West Haven in 1926, es- tablishing his own tailor shop under the name of West Shore Cleaners. He died in 1956. Mr. Fuoco's mother was born in Naples on Septem- ber 15, 1893, and she came to the United States with her husband. She now resides in West Haven. Mr. Fuoco graduated from West Haven High School in 1946, and he served in the United States Army in 1951.
On graduation from high school, Mr. Fuoco became associated with his father in the West Shore Cleaners, and he succeeded as presi- dent of the establishment on his father's death. The company is oper- ated by the family, Mr. Fuoco's mother being secretary, and his bro- ther Dino is vice president, treasurer and general manager of the West Haven plant. The company has recently expanded and now operates a second plant for laundry and dry cleaning on Whalley Avenue in New Haven. Mr. Fuoco's other brothers are also associated with the company.
An independent in politics, Mr. Fuoco is a member of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and the West Haven Junior Chamber of Commerce, and he enjoys social connections as a member of the Elks and of the West Haven Exchange Club. He is a com- municant of the Roman Catholic Church.
CHARLES W. DEEDS
As an industrial executive, Charles W. Deeds has been identified with the management of a number of well-known Connecticut corpora- tions. He recently resigned from the board chairmanship of Niles- Bement-Pond Company, and he remains chairman of the board of Specialty Converters, Inc. He serves on a number of other boards of directors. He has taken a full part in the civic and organizational life of Hartford, and of Farmington, where he makes his home.
Born at Niagara Falls, New York, on August 1I, 1902, he is a
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son of Edward Andrew and Edith ( Walton) Deeds. For his advanced studies he entered Denison University, and graduated there with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1923. There followed two years of study at Harvard University, where he received his degree of Master of Business Administration in 1923.
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