On Feb. 21, Russell Fowler of Noank retired from his longtime employment as Superintendent of the Noank Water Company, at a dinner held in his honor at the Noank Fire District Hall. We'll miss his friendly smile and familiar pickup truck which appeared at water emergency scenes day or night. We'll miss seeing him in front yards at midnight with helpers where there was 6 inches of snow on the ground in freezing cold weather as they tried to locate the underground shutoff valve for a house that had two feet of water in the basement. We'll miss the man who did his best to assure we drank clean water for many years and fire hydrants didn't stay out of service for long. We'll miss the man who stood up in annual meetings with a strong New England twang in his voice and entertained us with the past year's Water Department activities.

And, as if U.S. Army retired Sergeant Fowler wasn't busy enough with water, he was our mainstay and chief military organizer for Noank's annual Memorial Day Parade and Honors remembrance program, one of the nation's very oldest annual events. And so for Russ Fowler, bravo, and thank you for what you did for all of us.

Edward R. Johnson

Noank