FFH 13

WORKING AT
FAIRFIELD HILLS HOSPITAL
IN NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT.

Jerry Haffke Remembers:

"Scrapbook"

Part XIII

I Thought This Memorial-Page Would Be A Proper Place
To Put A Few Of My Own Pictures, Since I Met My Wife, Donna,
As A Co-Worker At Our Beloved Fairfield Hills Hospital...

Also Pictures of James 'Jimmy' Fowler
and Carl Atwood

Here I am in the US Army.
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, August 1964.
I just finished eight weeks of AIT there and am ready
to ship out for Fort Knox, Kentucky.
It is beastly hot in Mark Twain country....

In the US Army, Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, 1964

	A final "Good Bye" shot showing my good friend from Ft. Leonard Wood. He was a "good old" Alabama boy who was very happy to have been re-assigned to a post in Alabama--close to home. He used to crack-up when I said: "root beer" with my heavy German accent and taught me how to say it right, with a southern drawl...

Here I am in 1968 and living in an apartment in Mrs. LaFrance' house with Thelma and new-born Kenny. Mrs. La France R.N. was my relief- shift supervisor in Greenwich House. We needed an apartment desperately and Pete Wagner knew Art King who was Mrs. La France's friend and it was through Art King's intervention that Mrs. La France rented the up-stairs apartment to us. She was a wonderful person, as supervisor as well as our landlord.	My best German friend who is responsible for me coming to Danbury, Ct. and eventually to Fairfield Hills Hospital, with his nice Pia on West Street in Danbury Easter 1966. He also worked at FHH from 1963 to 1969. In the background is his infamous "Metropolitan" car.
The entrance lobby of Plymouth Hall in 1963. I took this picture then while waiting for Jimmy Fowler to usher us into the weekly movie performance.	Pete Wagner and I are invited by Mrs. Henningsen to a picnic at Candlewood Lake, New Fairfield, Ct. This picture was taken in July 1963. Pete is third on the left. I'm not in the picture because I'm the person who took it. The lady left front worked at FHH and so did the other two ladies on the right.
Picnic in back-yard at 2 Wall Rd, Newtown with Bob Totten, Joyce Conolly (FFH Personnel office), Alexander Oliver, and me.	My first wife Thelma's mother holding Kenny with John Kilpatrick looking on. I am on the right and Thelma's sister Lisa is on the far left. Picture was taken at John's house on 2 Wall Road, Newtown,-just off Church Hill Road where I rented the first floor apartment from him. Above us lived Mrs. Joyce Conolly with her three girls. Joyce worked at FHH in "Personnel" at Newtown Hall. Picture was taken in 1969.
Bill Lawlor, a good friend, in front of Norwalk-Hall in 1971 with his Dodge "Dart"	John's House in Newtown, Wall Road, where we lived. Picture taken in May 1969

Thelma Oliver-Haffke, my first wife, in 1967. This is how I always want to remember her. She was beautiful, intelligent and a musical prodigy before she became involved with the late 1960's "drug- culture" which gradually destroyed a beautiful soul and our marriage...	Happy Days in 1969 Thelma and Kenny
Thelma and Kenny 1969 Wall Road, Newtown, Ct.	Here is Thelma after our divorce probably in the early to mid-1970's.....doing what eventually destroyed her mind.
My first brand new car was a 1968 Toyota "Crown," which had just come out and was highly praised by one of the car magazines which I had read on Kent House 2A as a trainee there in 1967. It even came with it's own "tool kit" which wasn't a bad idea, because you definitely needed it. The "Crown" was their luxury model and it was built like a tank....but NOBODY including "Baron Motors" in Brookfield, where I had bought it, could fix it's many engine problems. I traded it in for a 1966 Toyota "Land Cruiser" at Baron Motors in 1969....	Model image that looks exactly like my used 1966 Toyota "Land Cruiser" which WAS a tank and drove like one. You had to be sturdy and tough to drive it or ride in it, bouncing around like on a carnival ride...And with gas-mileage around 7 miles to the gallon, you had to be rich even in those days of 49 cent gas. And it had only three gears! Even though this "tank" made me feel very "macho," my first wife Thelma and "financial considerations" made me go back to "Baron Motors" and their cheap looking sales-shack with only a one-stall repair station and trade it in for a much more civilized Toyota Corona Mark II "Station Wagon" in 1970.
Pete Wagner's house at 22 Hickok Ave. in Bethel, Ct. which he bought in 1967. View is from the back. In front left, is a house where I rented an apartment from 1975 to 1976.	My son Kenny getting driving lessons in my 1970 Toyota Corona Mark II January, 1973

My Corona Mark II Station Wagon in 1972 with my son Kenny. This car was quite nice and good on gas. I used to take it to "Fritz's Gulf Station" in Botsford next to "The Pines" and the hot dog stand. He did all the maintenance superbly well, but advised me to get a Plymouth "Valiant," which he praised as a sweet American car which was reliable and anybody could work on it....	Jerry (Holger) Haffke In 1973
My son Kenny with a friend visiting from Berlin, Germany at the Cochran House parking lot in 1974 Sitting on my beloved "Valiant".. That's when cars where still made out of steel...	With my son Kenny on the hood of my "Valiant" at Rosewood Ave. in Waterbury, Ct. 1974.
Kenny in the pool at Gloria Stock's house in Bethel, Ct. where her mother took care of him from 1973 to 1975 Gloria was a friend and co-worker with me on Cochran House 2A	Kenny and I in 1973. We are visiting Gale Lincoln.
Pete Wagner worked at the back-parking lot of Danbury Hospital in the 1970's. This is the ticket booth with entrance and exit to Hospital Avenue. This booth got knocked over with him in it by a truck and he hurt his back severely, resulting in many back- surgeries without much help. I spent a lot of time there visiting Pete.

Christmas 1969 at Wall Road, Newtown, Ct.

Christmas 1969 at Wall Road, Newtown, Ct.

Kenny 1973 at Gale Lincoln's driveway.

My father with his German Army dog
1941 in Schwerin/Warthe
where I was born.

Kenny at Tom Thumb Nursery School in 1974? in Bethel, Ct.

Here is my old friend James "Jimmy" Fowler in 2008.
He is retired from FFH since about 1978 and lives in
Newberry, SC since his retirement. Jimmy and I had
many "spiritual" adventures together at the Divine Light Mission
of Guru Maharaji and also later with the Jesus People at the
Saint Joseph's Church in Danbury, Ct. This all goes back to
1973 and 1974. I have known him and been friends with him
since 1963 when I started working at Fairfield Hills Hospital.
This pictures shows him in front of his pictures display at
the Columbia, SC Veteran's Hospital where he does volunteer work.
When I knew Jimmy, he looked more like the picture of him in his
US Army uniform on the bottom right. In those days, he was also
the FFH chapter 99 CSEA union rep. with Carl Atwood.
I have mentioned him many times in my story and am so very
happy to have received this picture with a Christmas card
from Jimmy just a few days ago (12-17-2008).

Carl Atwood and Jimmy Fowler in around 1967	Jimmy Fowler in 1967
Jimmy Fowler in 1978 at his retirement from FFH	Jimmy Fowler and my son Kenny in 1974 in back of Palace Theater, Main Street, Danbury

Jimmy Fowler and Kenny, Christmas 1977
at my condo Juniper Rd. in Bethel, Ct.

Kenny, Jimmy and my future wife Donna, 1977

Continue My Pictures on Page XIIIa

So many memories....
There is a heartache following me!

In Memory of our Beloved Abby

Return to Part I
Working at Fairfield Hills(State) Hospital - How I came to Fairfield Hills Hospital - Summation of my
immigration story - Arlington, Virginia and Washington, DC - Meeting Pete in Danbury, Connecticut - Mrs. Morrell's
Guest House - Working at Danbury Hospital - Hearing about Fairfield Hills Hospital - Getting a job there - Mrs. Adams
and Mrs. Schwaller - Central Linen Room - A Listing of Former Employees at FHH--People I Knew and Loved -

Picture Pages:

Part X
Picture Page courtesy of Beryl Carr
with pictures of Beryl Carr, Cliff Kearnan, Paula from the pharmacy, Florence Brown, Ms. Raeford R.N.,
Dover Seawright, Dr. Didios, Dr. Seanado, Tommy Ferrell, Andres Vaga, Flo Erickson, Carol Lockwood,
Lynn Wilson, Mary D'Agusta and many more employees.

Part XI
Various Pictures and Historical Articles from a Pamphlet
Issued to FHH Employees in 1983

Part XII
This Page Is Dedicated To The Loving Memory
Of Our Friend And Co-Worker At Fairfield Hills Hospital,
Evelyn M. Brown
With A Collection Of Pictures Sent To Me
By Her Loving Granddaughter Penny Lee. Group Photo From The Early-To Mid- 1970's
Probably Taken In Cochran House Basement O.T. Room.
Far Left Standing Is William "Billy" Lawlor, Center-Table Is Charlie Gallagher,
Second From Right, Standing, Is Kay Hodgman....
All The Others I Know And Worked With, But I Don't Remember Their Names.
Also Pictures of Dino Lopez, Georgia Lasorco, Kay Barkasy-Colgan and Frances DeManuel.

Part XIII
I Thought This Memorial-Page Would Be A Proper Place
To Put A Few Of My Own Pictures, Since
I Met My Wife, Donna, As A Co-Worker
At Our Beloved Fairfield Hills Hospital as well as my first wife Thelma
...Also Pictures
of Steve Hirst, Pete Wagner, John Kilpatrick, Bill Lawlor,
Jerry Haffke.

Part XIIIa
Pictures of Shirley Pavone, Rita Morton, Drs. Sonido
and Aurora Alcantara with Shirley Pavone.

Part XIIIb
So Many People, So Many Memories...
Fairfield Hills Hospital
In August 2008
A Dream Abandoned and Destroyed!
Pictures Were Taken And Sent To Me By James Divita.
For so many of us this will be a sad journey to what once was almost home...

Part XIIIc
More Pictures from James Divita
taken in February 2009

Return to Index Page
of "A Gnostic Childhood"