Lifetime Learners Students Celebrate Their Ancestors at an Unusual Halloween event

Thirty-two Lifetime Learners students enrolled in three levels of Genealogy classes at Norwalk Community College were invited to honor their ancestors at a party Monday, borrowing some traditions from the original Halloween and Mexican Day of the Dead holidays.

Several students and speakers wore costumes that paid homage to an ancestor, a family member, or a family tradition. The NCC classroom was decorated with maps, globes, quilts, and vintage newspapers, and a sheet cake with flags of the world was served.

One of the featured speakers was Rita Phillips (née Rondel) of Rowayton, a second-year Genealogy student who is known locally for her involvement with the Girl Scouts, for her art and quilting, and for her work with environmental groups, including the Norwalk Land Trust. Ms. Phillips' most famous ancestor was Frederick Rondel (1826-1892), whose historical claims to fame are not only his paintings, but his having been Winslow Homer's only painting teacher.

Ms. Phillips told her classmates, “There must be a creativity gene that all of my great-great-grandfather’s offspring inherited. My parents never had time to answer my questions about my ancestors so it was up to me to find the stories myself."

Find she did. Ms. Phillips found several dozen newspaper articles that mentioned her famous ancestor, mostly for his paintings, his pupils, and his legacy. That included a 2015 article that was written in praise of his painting “Statue of Liberty Celebration,” which was exhibited that year in Tequesta, Florida.

There were also articles in the 1970s when his paintings were displayed with those of other Adirondack artists, artists whose work was said to popularize the area as a destination for people interested in communing with nature.

Through other newspaper stories, she learned about the classes he taught at the National Academy of Design in NYC: the Priory School in Pelham Manor, NY; at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, and at Yale University.

She also shared an obituary for Frederick’s daughter Rosa Ongley, another artist of note.

Ms. Phillips hopes to uncover the ending to a New York Times story about how her ancestor’s prized possessions were sold from a warehouse where they were stored, for a fraction of what they were worth.

While searching Google, she found a self-portrait of her ancestor, and was struck by how much a brother and one of her son’s resemble him.

Ms. Phillips chose a mature Minnie Mouse costume for the celebration. She and her husband Frank, were both born and raised in Los Angeles. They visited Disneyland many times in its early days, and took their children to Disneyland, Disneyworld and Euro Disney. In 1955 her father-in-law worked for one of the construction companies that built the lake for the Mark Twain side-wheeler in Frontier Land and the levee for the elevated railroad around the park.

"Genealogy and Computers" as well as 40 other one-day two-hour; daytime courses that meet up to 8 weeks at NCC, will resume in the spring for students who are 50 and older. For information or to receive a free detailed course catalog phone 203-857-3330 or see www.lifetimelearners.org.

First photo: LLI facilitator Janeen Bjork with featured speaker Rita Phillips of Rowayton, a Genealogy student who has been in the news herself for her 40 years of volunteer work in Norwalk and Rowayton. (Photo credit: Bernie Weiss Photography)

Second photo: Lifetime Learners in a courtyard at NCC during Monday’s Halloween event.

Left to right: Front row, Arlene Clanny of Stamford, Carolyn Wakeman and Karen Iaco of Norwalk, and Mary Ann West of Westport.

Second row: Donna Gauthier of Darien, Lisa D’Alton of Stamford, class assistant Sara Zagrodzky of Darien and Katy Rahe of Darien.

Third row: Rita Phillips of Norwalk, Jackie Barchilon of Westport, Pat Marro-Ormsby of Stamford and Carol Wilder Tamme of Darien.

Back row, Janeen Bjork of Greenwich, Pamela Strohm of Norwalk, Michael Schary of Trumbull, Jack Murray of New Canaan, Doug Sutton of Norwalk and Norm Glover of Bridgeport. (Photo credit: Bernie Weiss Photography)