Monthly Archives: May 2020

10 Things the Pandemic Has Changed for Good (from AARP.org)

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The coronavirus pandemic is a public health emergency and an economic crisis, unprecedented in the disruption of daily life. That makes it something else, too, says Jeffrey Cole, a research professor at the University of Southern California: “Without preparation or permission, we’re participating in the greatest social science experiment of all time.”

The effects of lockdowns, layoffs and massive public measures to contain COVID-19 “will last long after any threat from the virus is gone,” contends Cole, who directs the Center for the Digital Future at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications. “In the future, …

Read the full article by Andy Markowitz and published on AARP.org May 4, 2020 at this link.

Death of Dentist Dr. Donald W. Zapatka Announced

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OLD LYME — Dr. Donald W. Zapatka, 85 the son of Walter and Anna Zapatka (Ziezulewicz) of New Britain, CT. passed away on May 7, 2020 at Bride Brook Health and Rehabilitation Center. Donald graduated from St. Louis Dental School, MO. Following this he served overseas with the United States Army, where he met and married Erna Kempe of Germany. They settled in Old Lyme, CT. He worked for the University of CT, and established a private dental practice in Old Lyme.

Read the full obituary on the Courant at this link.

Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Club Cancel This Year’s Classic Car Show

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This year’s planned Classic Car Show hosted by the Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Club has been cancelled. It has been held contemporaneously with Old Lyme’s Midsummer Festival for the last several years.  Photo by Lyme-Old Lyme Lions

OLD LYME — The Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Club has announced today that their annual Classic Car Show will not be held this year. The Car Show usually takes place at the Bee and Thistle Inn during the Old Lyme Midsummer Festival.

In a message to LymeLine and in statement published on the Club’s Facebook page, Lion Phil Parcak said, “After the cancellation of the Old Lyme Midsummer Festival, it is with deep regret that the Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Classic Car Show will not be held this year.”

He notes that the Car Show and the Pancake Breakfast are the Club’s largest fundraisers and the funds raised from those events are used to fund high school scholarships.

Parcak concludes, “Our Club will get through this and continue to serve the community.”

Death of Professional Artist, Former Old Lyme Resident Virginia Greenleaf Koch Announced

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Virginia Greenleaf Koch

OLD LYME — Professional artist and longtime Old Lyme resident Virginia Greenleaf Koch passed away Thursday, April 16, in Philadelphia, Pa., where she had moved in 2013 to be near family.

A Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achiever, Koch’s work is in many private collections as well as that of the U.S. State Department and has been exhibited in galleries in Washington, DC, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Nantucket, as well as Old Lyme at the Diane Birdsall Gallery.

A childhood resident of Old Lyme, whose mother owned and operated the Bee and Thistle Inn, Koch attended Yale University art school, then resided in Washington, DC, Alexandria, Va., and Nantucket before returning to Old Lyme in 1989, where she was an active community member, friend to many, and popular hostess.

Koch, 94, leaves a son, William Greenough; daughter Deidra Lyngard; grandson Matthew Lyngard; and great-grandchildren Katya Huzau and Roman May.

Her ashes will be interred in the Memorial Garden of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.

One New Confirmed COVID-19 Case Announced in Lyme, Old Lyme Constant at 14

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LYME — Updated 05/11, changes in red. Lyme Selectman John Kiker told LymeLine in an email Friday morning that a second case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Lyme, “according to DPH [Department of Public Health.]”

Kiker added, “They have been unable to provide any details on the second case.”  The first case was a 34-year-old male. We believe the second case is a 76-year-old male, but this has not yet been confirmed.

Old Lyme holds steady at 14 cases plus one fatality, but Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) will release their weekly report this afternoon on cases as at noon today.

Old Lyme’s confirmed cases comprise:

  • a 64-year-old female
  • a 21-year-old female
  • a 27-year-old male,
  • a 53-year-old female
  • a 61-year-old female
  • a 29-year-old female
  • a 40-year-old male
  • a 53-year-old male
  • a 60-year-old female
  • a 48-year-old male
  • a 85-year-old female
  • a 95-year-old female
  • a 20-year-old female
  • a 43-year-old female

The fatality was a 61-year-old female.

Old Lyme First Selectman Timothy Griswold has previously noted that the 21-year-old female with a confirmed case was tested in Florida, but used an Old Lyme address although she does not live here. Because she gave the Old Lyme address, Griswold said that LLHD must report her as an Old Lyme resident.