Linda Davies of Ramapoo Hill Road, who was born and educated
here and taught in the town's schools for nearly a half century,
died Sunday, Feb. 13, at a nursing home in Mansfield. She was 90.
As a 20-year-old in 1930, Miss Davies began instructing first
through fourth graders at the two-room Branchville Schoolhouse,
which still stands along Old Branchville Road. She went on to
teach for 42 years. "Even after her retirement, she came
back and served as a substitute for a number of years, said
schools personnel director Paul Hazel. "What a delightful
thing that is.
Margaret Linda Davies was born here the day before Christmas in
1909, a daughter of William and Jane Tait Davies. She attended
Ridgefield schools and graduated from Ridgefield High School in
1928.
Miss Davies could recall many details of what life in the village
was like long before Main Street was even paved. She knew the
people and places well, and had a collection of early photos of
the town. She "maintained a vast knowledge of the history
and people of Ridgefield, a family member said.
Miss Davies studied in the teaching program at Danbury Normal
School, now Western Connecticut University, for two years and
began teaching at Branchville School. By the 1950s, she was
taking fifth grade at Veterans Park and when she retired in 1972,
was a social studies teacher at East Ridge Junior High School.
Over the years she continued her studies, received a bachelor's
degree from Teachers College at Columbia University in 1939 and a
master's degree there two years later. She did advanced graduate
studies at New York University, Eastern Connecticut State
College, UConn, and Fairfield University. She was certified to
teach social studies in junior and senior high schools.
"The processes of child development are extremely
complex," she told a Press interviewer in 1955. "And in
the background of each step in improvement must be study and
evaluation of all the factors in the child's environment. One of
the greatest sources of satisfaction to the teacher is in nothing
this improvement and realizing that she or he, through study and
evaluation, has had an opportunity to be of some assistance in
helping the child to make these gains, whether they be social,
emotional, educational, or other."
In retirement, she was active in many organizations, including
the Sunshine Society, the OWLS, the Friends of the Library, and
the Keeler Tavern, where she was a cashier for David's Shelf, the
gift shop, for many years. She belonged to the old Ridgefield
Grange and was a longtime member of the Connecticut Teachers
Association.
Miss Davies was active in the First Congregational Church where
she was a member of the Women's Fellowship. "She was a very
dynamic and practical lady, said Dotty Hall, a fellow church
member. "She had good sense and she always had the right
answers.
For seven years, she aided the Ridgefield Archives Committee in
its efforts to identify thousands of old Joseph Hartmann
photographs of the town and its people from early in the century.
"She knew everything, said Kay Ables of the Archives
Committee. "She knew all the people all the stories. She had
all this information in her head.
Miss Davies was always interest in politics. In 1978, she was
selected as a senior intern to serve in the U.S Congress in
Washington, D.C., as a representative from the Fifth
Congressional District.
She was also an avid traveler and in her younger years, was an
active bowler.