Southbury Training School Interactive Map
Earl Bean in front of state capital.
In 1948, my Grandfather, Earl Bean was dating a lady named Margaret Volage. Margaret was head chef for Cottage 14 at Southbury Training School. Earl and Margaret would later marry and he eventually took a job at STS working as an aide up on the Farm and then to Cottage 22 in 1953. A couple of years later, Earl got a job driving the laundry truck for the school. Earl then became president of the first labor union at STS called the AFL-CIO.
My mother, Barbara Bean began to visit her father and stepmother Margaret at STS in 1953 when she was 10 years old. My mom had good experiences during those summer visits and enjoyed getting to know the residents of STS.
My mom and dad were High School Sweethearts, raised on "different sides of the track" in Northfield, VT. Barbara became Mrs. Charles Pollard in 1959. Chuck finished up his 4 year commitment to the U.S. Navy in 1962. My parents moved to Connecticut in 1962 so that Chuck could look for work at STS with the assistance of my Grandpa Bean. Chuck was hired as an aide at Cottage 22 and eventually became the charge. My dad was affectionately known as "Pop Charles" by the residents. At the same time, Barb was hired as a secretary for the Cottage Life office located in the administration building (known as the "Ad Building"). My folks were offered an apartment on grounds and moved into Crawford Hall.
Looking for a change, Barb decided to leave her Cottage Life position to begin working with the babies in Cottage 7A. Barb was also happy to finally be working 2nd shift, the same shift as Chuck.
Chuck Pollard driving the tractor for Santa's hayride.
In 1965, Barb left STS to take a job at New Milford Hospital, which meant they could no longer live on grounds. The Pollards relocated to nearby Oxford, CT.
In 1966, Chuck was hired to the NIP unit (Neurologically Impaired Program) where he helped to administer day to day care for the severely disabled. In 1968 he was hired to the Recreation Department where he would work until 1988. Working for "Rec" was an ideal position for my dad. He was able to have full-on interaction with the campus, residents, parents and staff of STS. From day to day, Chuck would be called on to assemble playground equipment, drive box trucks to NYC to retrieve donations, drive buses for special events, cook for residents during summer vacations at Camp Harkness in New London, CT, clean pools, mow lawns, show movies on Friday nights at Roselle School, wrap presents for the residents at Christmas time, help construct and transport large scale art for holiday dances in the parking lot of The Gate House, install and remove snow fence for the annual Roaring Twenties antique car show, assemble the motorized Christmas Village display, to run the presses at the print shop for the STS paper "The Town Crier" while the pressmen were on vacation, help with fishing derby's at Lake Stibbs, mentor and chaperone for the Special Olympics and sometimes to simply make sure that all the buildings were all locked down on Friday nights. His key ring was something to behold!
Barb and Chuck Pollard.
My mother became very ill with a kidney infection in 1970 and began dialysis treatment at Yale New Haven Hospital. On August 31, 1970 she received a kidney transplant. I was born on July 27, 1972. She was the first woman at Yale to deliver a baby after having received a transplant. In the fall of 1972, my Grandparents Earl and Margaret retired from STS and moved to Florida.
Chuck became assistant fire chief of the volunteer fire department at STS and was again offered housing on grounds. We moved to PV 16 in Personnel Village in 1973.
Barbara returned to work at STS in 1975. She was employed by the research department, again in the Ad building. She worked in this position until the department was closed in 1980. She then transferred to the dietary department working as a personal assistant/secretary in the dietary building. In 1992, she returned once more to the Ad building as secretary to the director of support services. As my college bills began to mount, she also began working weekends on second and third shift as the switchboard operator. She officially retired in 1997 after 22 years of service at STS.
In 1989, Chuck took a job as the Director of Transportation. He officially retired in 1992 after 30 years of service at STS.