'A Lifetime of Memories' -- A Memorial To Greenwich Selectman Dave Theis

‘Nothing is ever lost if it is remembered. (Dave) left us a lifetime of memories.’

That it is how state Rep. Fred Camillo memorialized his close friend and fellow Republican, Greenwich Selectman Dave Theis on Saturday. Camillo honored Theis during the public memorial service that drew several hundred of friends, colleagues, co-workers, residents and politicians from both sides of the aisle, to Christ Church Greenwich. It was standing room only in the central Greenwich church where the service was led by pastor Rev. Dr. James B. Lemler.

If there was a central theme to the memorial, it was reflected by several friends and colleagues talked about Theis’ lifelong acts of kindness, commitment, compassion and thoughtfulness, patriotism, athletic competitiveness, along with “his full-body laugh.”

The 65-year-old Theis unexpectedly passed away Dec. 23 after he collapsed during a workout at a local gym. A private service was held Dec. 30 at the Diamond Hill Methodist Church. The Greenwich Board of Selectmen, on which Theis served for five years, dedicated their Jan. 8 meeting to him and held a public memorial. The lifelong Greenwich resident is survived by his long-time partner Kerrin Coyle and his sisters Ginny and Nancy.

Camillo spoke of Theis’s commitment to the Greenwich Old Timers Athletic Association that provides scholarships to student athletes. He served 13 years as a board member and 12 years as chair of the annual dinner benefit that draw hundreds of supporters. “Those are Cal Ripken, Lou Gherig and Joe DiMaggio statistics,” said Camillo who also recalled the pair spent many a night at the former Horseneck Tavern, after Republican Town Committee meetings. “I remember all of his acts of kindness — how he made us laugh, how he lived and how he loved,” Camillo added.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) recalled how the pair met 35 years ago at the Greenwich YMCA where both men used to lap-swim in the small, narrow lanes of the Y’s old pool. Blumenthal said Theis was someone whose path you didn’t want to cross while swimming, even though “he apologized when he bumped into you.”

“I think the sea of faces here reminds us of what was most important about Dave. He loved people and cared so deeply about people,” Blumenthal said.

Louis Hipp III recalled meeting Theis when they were students back in the early 1960s at the former Central Junior High School. Hipp, a transplant from North Carolina at the time, said he never forgot trying to assimilate into Greenwich. After two weeks of attending the school, “Dave came up to me at lunch and asked me I would like to join him at the table with his friends,” Hipp recalled. Hipp regaled the assemblage with a story of trying to decipher the Italian lunch lingo of hoagies, subs and wedges jammed with Italian delicacies he never heard of.

“Dave liked to tell this story but he always cracked up with laughter … when he got to me with my peanut butter and banana sandwich … or date nut bread and cream cheese sandwiches — crusts cut off,” Hipp said.

Hipp said that Theis’s simple act of kindness for inclusion led to a decades-long friendship.

Greenwich Post newspaper editor Ken Borsuk said Theis’s camaraderie with his fellow selectmen “was the envy of this state. … working for the good Greenwich.He was someone always there to help others … he had boundless optimism.”

During the eulogies given it was announced that there’s an effort to rename the Route 1 Mianus River Bridge in Theis’s memory — the bridge that every Memorial Day he would help install lines of American flags in honor of the country’s fallen heroes. In honor of Theis’s support of the Boys Scouts, it also was announced that the Greenwich Boy Scout Council will establish a scholarship in his name that will allow a deserving Scout to attend summer camp at Camp Seton.

The service concluded with the playing of taps followed by a bagpiper playing ‘Amazing Grace.’ The congregation exited the church into the frigid air. Beneath a giant flag pointed towards the cloudless, azure sky from the Greenwich Fire Department Ladder 1 truck, the Greenwich Police Department Honor Guard folded the Town of Greenwich flag. The flag, which was signed by several current and former town officials at the Jan. 8 Town Hall service, was presented to Coyle. A reception followed in the church hall.

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Related stories:

• Greenwich Selectman Dave Theis Passes Away
• Memorial Service Set for Greenwich Selectman David Theis
• A Tribute to Greenwich’s Fallen Selectman

Photo: 1.) Ginny Theis, in red coat, Kerrin Coyle. 2.) Greenwich Fire Department Ladder Truck 1 flies the American flag outside Christ Church Greenwich. 3.) Honor guards from Greenwich Police, the Cos Cob Fire Department and Greenwich Emergency Medical Service. 4.) Ginny Theis and Kerrin Coyle, Selectman Drew Marzullo and Jill Tesei with First Seletman Peter Tesei. 5.) Kerrin Coyle holds the Town of Greenwich flag as Selectman Drew Marzullo looks on. 6.) Photo of a young Dave Theis from his memorial service program. Credit: Barbara Heins.