For the past several weeks a small delegation of Hartford
Public High School alumni have been meeting at Casa Loma Restaurant
on Wethersfield Avenue to discuss ways of securing funds to help
with the accreditation situation at the school.
"One of the goals this Booster Club hopes to accomplish
is to bring the school library into compliance with the mandate
from the accreditation committee. We are all very proud of the
HPHS's traditions and are very anxious to see them alive once
again," said Gail Hilliard, a 1956 HPHS graduate.
The school is in need of books, tapes, and video computer software.
The new booster club is working to make the public and private
sectors of the Greater Hartford area aware of the seriousness
of the situation at HPHS.
The new alumni group is very proud of the many HPHS alumni who
are and were leaders in Hartford and throughout the country.
Among the school's most distinguished graduates are Dr. Edward
Gallaudett 1851, President of Gallaudett College, Charles Gross
1864, President of the Wadsworth Atheneum, Dr. William Henny
1870, first HPHS graduate to be mayor of Hartford (there have
been 11), William Gillette, 1873, actor and builder of Gillette
Castle, Henry Roberts, 1873, Governor of Connecticut, Mun Yew
Chung 1878, Secretary and Charge d'Affairs of the Chinese Legation,
Washington D.C., Reverend Clarence Barbour, 1884, President of
Brown University, Frederick Fitzgerald, 1885, U.S. Counsel, Cognac,
France, Robert Huntington, 1885, President of Connecticut General
Insurance, Ethelbert Moore, 1885, President of Stanley Works,
Robert Glazier, 1887, President of Society for Savings, Louis
Bulter, 1889, President of Travelers Insurance Company, General
Sherwood Cheney, 1892, military aide to President Coolidge, Dr.
Matilda Calder, President of Ginling College, China, Morgan Brainard,
1896, President of Aetna Life Insurance Company, William Maltbie,
1897, Chief Justice of Connecticut Supreme Court, Thomas Hewes,
1906, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, William Mortensen,
1922, Director of the Bushnell Memorial, and Robert Killian,
1937, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut.
Hartford Public alumni Robert and Gail Hilliard are the co-chairs
of the Library committee. Anyone interested in making a donation
can send a check to "HPHS Library Fund," c/o Hartford
Public High School Alumni Booster Club, 13 Vanderbilt Road, West
Hartford, Connecticut 06119.
"I am very grateful for the many contributions of prayer,
time and work the Hartford community and the HPHS staff has made
to help the school reach our goal," said HPHS Principal
Joseph Wall.
The HPHS Booster Club is planning a benefit dinner-dance featuring
the Fabulous Galaxies on Saturday, October 31, from 7 pm to 1
am, at the Downtown Holiday Inn (Crown Plaza). Tickets are $55
per person. Anyone interested in attending can contact Joan Foisey
Whitman (HPHS '56) at 688-1771.
