Picture Enfield - Then And Now

ENFIELD, CT — For today's foray into Enfield history, which will be a bit different than our normal presentation, we return to the pages of John Zirolli's delightful book of Enfield photos and stories, entitled I Took a Little Trip to My Hometown. Inside is this photo of longtime Police Chief Walter Skower, taken around 1983.

Skower began his career in Enfield in 1948 as an auxiliary officer; 10 years later, he was named chief of the department, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1990. At the time he stepped down, his 32-year tenure at the helm was believed to be the longest term by a chief since the Connecticut Police Chiefs' Association began keeping records in 1934.

Among his accomplishments were the introduction of the town's free community ambulance service, the Juvenile Review Board, the Enfield Police Explorers Post and the Toys For Joy drive. He was replaced as chief by Herbert Foy, and passed away March 27, 1992 at age 72.

Foy was succeeded by Ron Marcotte in 1994, then Carl Sferrazza took over as chief at the end of 2005. Upon Sferrazza's retirement in March 2018, former Connecticut State Police Commander Alaric Fox became the new chief.

Fox was kind enough to recreate the pose of Chief Skower for the Now portion of this column.

Last week's trivia answer:
Last week's trivia question was, "Who was the first sports personality from Enfield to receive the prestigious Gold Key Award from the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance?" The answer: hockey great Craig Janney, a charter member of the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. He received the award at the 74th Gold Key Dinner in 2015, becoming the first Enfield recipient since the organization's inception in 1939. Cookie Bromage, legendary Enfield High School field hockey coach for more than 50 years, will receive a Gold Key at the 79th dinner, which is currently slated for May 2, 2021.

This week's trivia question:
What future Enfield High School vice principal played on the undefeated 1948 Raider football team? Post the answer in the comments section below, or on the Enfield Patch Facebook page, or on the You're Probably From Enfield If Facebook page, or by emailing me directly at tim.jensen@patch.com, or by smoke signal or carrier pigeon. The first person to correctly answer the question without blatantly Googling, copying and pasting the answer will be acknowledged the following week.

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