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THE HARTFORD COURANT SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2016 W3
HOMETOWN HEROES: Good Neighbors
“Today you’re a hero, tomorrow you’re nobody. [Crocheting for children is]
my contribution to life. I want to know that I did something good.”
Millie Chase
‘IT’S ALL FOR THE CHILDREN’
West Hartford Woman, 90, Crochets Blankets For Young Hospital Patients
CHASE CROCHETS in her home at the
Hoffman SummerWood Community
By KRISTIN STOLLER BRAD HORRIGAN | BHORRIGAN@COURANT.COM
kstoller@courant.com MILLIE CHASE, 90, of West Hartford, crochets blankets for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and UConn Health.
W EST HARTFORD — Millie Though it takes her between six and 10 realize that some things just disappear very SummerWood.
Chase deems herself a true weeks to make one blanket, Chase said she quietly. You just have to go along with it. I’m “She’s just always giving and always
New Yorker. loves making them for the children. a character and I’ll just go along with it.”
Raised in the Bronx, the wanting to help and give to others,” Hastings
90-year-old said she doesn’t insult anybody “It gives me pleasure because it’s Despite her arthritis, Chase never stops, said. “That really means a lot.”
and doesn’t yell at anybody, but she makes a something I know I can do and I don’t mind said Ellen Hastings, SummerWood’s
lot of noise, especially where she lives at the it. I’ve got to be careful because my fingers program coordinator for activities. Chase Chase said she doesn’t want to be praised
Hoffman SummerWood Community. get stiff and I got to rest them,” Chase said. recently donated a few of her blankets to be or to meet the families who receive her
“I’ll stop, I’ll rest and I’ll do it again. And auctioned off at a fundraiser for the blankets; she just wants the children to be
At 5 feet tall — she gleefully calls herself then [my aide] Irma yells at me.” American Heart Association, Hastings said. healthy.
“a chicken” — Chase stands next to the pile
of bright wool blankets she crochets and Crocheting is a lost art, Chase said. She called Chase a quintessential New “Today you’re a hero, tomorrow you’re
donates to the Connecticut Children’s “I say in the next 50 years, this will be Yorker who is not afraid to speak her mind nobody,” Chase said. “That’s my
Medical Center and UConn Health every gone,” she said. “I’ve lived long enough to and brings a love of life and quirkiness to contribution to life. I want to know that I did
year. something good.”
“I do it because I want to do it,” Chase
said. “It’s all for the children.”
Chase said she’s always been crocheting
or knitting. As a child in the late 1930s, she
said she would make her own clothes and
took pleasure in cutting patterns and making
dresses.
“Those years, that’s what we did,” Chase
said. “Today, you don’t sew. You go into the
department store and buy what you want.
When I was growing up, we sewed to have
the different clothes.”
In the summertime, she said, she learned
how to knit from classes held through the
public schools, and it was a skill she took
into adulthood. She said her youngest
daughter has about 60 sweaters she made
her over the years.
“I like to make a difference. When someone is in distress, someone has to
do the job. I like being that person.”
Nick Webster
‘JAMES BOND’ RESCUE ON A LAKE
A Day After His Father Dies, Woodstock Firefighter Saves Pair Endangered By Runaway Boat
By STEPHEN SINGER
ssinger@courant.com
W OODSTOCK — A day after MARK MIRKO | MMIRKO@COURANT.COM
Woodstock volunteer
firefighter Nick Webster LT. NICK WEBSTER, a volunteer with the Bungay Fire Brigade in Woodstock, holds a photograph of his father, who died Aug. 16, 2015, of
rushed to his dying father, a heart attack. A day later, Webster corralled an out-of-control boat on a lake and rescued a father and son from the water.
he raced to an eastern Connecticut lake
where he rescued a man and his son and said, “We’ve got to do this now.” the best I could, unfortunately without a of guy,” Chandler said.
struggling to stay afloat after a boating The leap Webster took from the first boat good outcome.” “With his father passing just 12 to 14 hours
accident.
to the unoccupied boat circling the Webster said his father, also a volunteer earlier,” Chandler said, it almost seemed as if
Webster, 31, who is now a lieutenant in the youngster “was pretty amazing, to say the firefighter, was his best friend. They hunted Webster wanted to do something, without
Bungay Fire Brigade, headed to Lake least,” Chandler said. He compared it to a and fished together and teamed up on regard to his own safety.
Bunggee in Woodstock Aug. 17 in response James Bond move. ambulance runs.
to an emergency call from the Quinebaug Charles Kelleher, associate director of
Valley Emergency Communications. Just a day earlier, Webster had responded “He was a huge goofball with a great Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communica-
to another emergency call — this one at the sense of humor,” he said. tions, said he doesn’t know Webster, but his
His recollection of the incident is “kind of home of his stepmother and father, Ron response to the emergency “speaks a lot to his
blurry,” Webster said recently, because it all Webster, around the corner from his own Even though his father had died just a day dedication as a volunteer.”
happened so quickly. Still, some images house. “I got dressed as fast as I could and earlier, Webster said he didn’t think twice
remain. got over there as fast as I could,” he said. about going to the emergency call at the lake. Webster, who is engaged to be married,
has taken a test to be a full-time firefighter in
When Webster arrived at the lake, he saw He found his father unconscious on the “It’s all volunteer, so you go if you’re Mansfield and is waiting to be accepted as
a boy, about 9 years old, in the water with a bedroom floor; he had suffered a heart attack. available,” he said. an electrical lineman journeyman. He said
tow rope wrapped around his torso and Webster began CPR, but other responding he’s not good at putting different parts of his
neck and an out-of-control motor boat firefighters pronounced his father dead at the Chandler, who has known Ron and Nick life in compartments, separating work from
circling him at a high rate of speed. The scene. Ron Webster was 52. Webster for years, said Nick’s immediate play or community activities from his job.
child’s father, who had been tubing with his response to the situation at the lake — which
son, also was in the water. “I knew what was going on, but it didn’t he could have handed off because he was in “I like to make a difference,” he said.
hit me until a few hours later,” Nick Webster mourning — is typical for him. “When someone is in distress, someone has
“People were screaming, freaking out on said. “I was obviously emotional, but I did to do the job. I like being that person.”
shore,” said Roy Chandler, chief of the “Am I surprised he did it? No, Nick’s
Bungay Fire Brigade. always been a kind of daring, go-getter kind
Webster used a privately owned boat to
get to the other vessel on the lake. He pulled
up next to the runaway boat and leaped into
it, taking the controls and directing it away
from the man and boy, who otherwise might
have been struck and seriously injured.
“I shut it down at that point,” Webster
said.
The father, from Enfield, and his son were
pulled from the lake by other firefighters.
The man was uninjured and the youngster
was treated at a hospital, Webster said.
It’s “very hard to relive that day,” said the
father, who asked to remain anonymous. “It
was a very, very scary situation with my
son’s life in serious jeopardy and my life in
serious jeopardy, and other people put
themselves in harm’s way” to rescue them.
Webster, a former Army private and now
a crew foreman for a tree service company,
displays on a wall at his home a plaque
bearing a “lifesaving award” from the
Bungay Fire Brigade. He’s credited with
“heroic efforts” in the rescue. Two others
involved in the rescue also were honored,
Chandler said.
The fire chief said the boat’s operator had
lost control as the fast-moving vessel hit a
rope, and he was flung into the water. He
recalled that the Woodstock fire boat had
not yet arrived when Webster radioed him
HOMETOWN HEROES: Good Neighbors
“Today you’re a hero, tomorrow you’re nobody. [Crocheting for children is]
my contribution to life. I want to know that I did something good.”
Millie Chase
‘IT’S ALL FOR THE CHILDREN’
West Hartford Woman, 90, Crochets Blankets For Young Hospital Patients
CHASE CROCHETS in her home at the
Hoffman SummerWood Community
By KRISTIN STOLLER BRAD HORRIGAN | BHORRIGAN@COURANT.COM
kstoller@courant.com MILLIE CHASE, 90, of West Hartford, crochets blankets for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and UConn Health.
W EST HARTFORD — Millie Though it takes her between six and 10 realize that some things just disappear very SummerWood.
Chase deems herself a true weeks to make one blanket, Chase said she quietly. You just have to go along with it. I’m “She’s just always giving and always
New Yorker. loves making them for the children. a character and I’ll just go along with it.”
Raised in the Bronx, the wanting to help and give to others,” Hastings
90-year-old said she doesn’t insult anybody “It gives me pleasure because it’s Despite her arthritis, Chase never stops, said. “That really means a lot.”
and doesn’t yell at anybody, but she makes a something I know I can do and I don’t mind said Ellen Hastings, SummerWood’s
lot of noise, especially where she lives at the it. I’ve got to be careful because my fingers program coordinator for activities. Chase Chase said she doesn’t want to be praised
Hoffman SummerWood Community. get stiff and I got to rest them,” Chase said. recently donated a few of her blankets to be or to meet the families who receive her
“I’ll stop, I’ll rest and I’ll do it again. And auctioned off at a fundraiser for the blankets; she just wants the children to be
At 5 feet tall — she gleefully calls herself then [my aide] Irma yells at me.” American Heart Association, Hastings said. healthy.
“a chicken” — Chase stands next to the pile
of bright wool blankets she crochets and Crocheting is a lost art, Chase said. She called Chase a quintessential New “Today you’re a hero, tomorrow you’re
donates to the Connecticut Children’s “I say in the next 50 years, this will be Yorker who is not afraid to speak her mind nobody,” Chase said. “That’s my
Medical Center and UConn Health every gone,” she said. “I’ve lived long enough to and brings a love of life and quirkiness to contribution to life. I want to know that I did
year. something good.”
“I do it because I want to do it,” Chase
said. “It’s all for the children.”
Chase said she’s always been crocheting
or knitting. As a child in the late 1930s, she
said she would make her own clothes and
took pleasure in cutting patterns and making
dresses.
“Those years, that’s what we did,” Chase
said. “Today, you don’t sew. You go into the
department store and buy what you want.
When I was growing up, we sewed to have
the different clothes.”
In the summertime, she said, she learned
how to knit from classes held through the
public schools, and it was a skill she took
into adulthood. She said her youngest
daughter has about 60 sweaters she made
her over the years.
“I like to make a difference. When someone is in distress, someone has to
do the job. I like being that person.”
Nick Webster
‘JAMES BOND’ RESCUE ON A LAKE
A Day After His Father Dies, Woodstock Firefighter Saves Pair Endangered By Runaway Boat
By STEPHEN SINGER
ssinger@courant.com
W OODSTOCK — A day after MARK MIRKO | MMIRKO@COURANT.COM
Woodstock volunteer
firefighter Nick Webster LT. NICK WEBSTER, a volunteer with the Bungay Fire Brigade in Woodstock, holds a photograph of his father, who died Aug. 16, 2015, of
rushed to his dying father, a heart attack. A day later, Webster corralled an out-of-control boat on a lake and rescued a father and son from the water.
he raced to an eastern Connecticut lake
where he rescued a man and his son and said, “We’ve got to do this now.” the best I could, unfortunately without a of guy,” Chandler said.
struggling to stay afloat after a boating The leap Webster took from the first boat good outcome.” “With his father passing just 12 to 14 hours
accident.
to the unoccupied boat circling the Webster said his father, also a volunteer earlier,” Chandler said, it almost seemed as if
Webster, 31, who is now a lieutenant in the youngster “was pretty amazing, to say the firefighter, was his best friend. They hunted Webster wanted to do something, without
Bungay Fire Brigade, headed to Lake least,” Chandler said. He compared it to a and fished together and teamed up on regard to his own safety.
Bunggee in Woodstock Aug. 17 in response James Bond move. ambulance runs.
to an emergency call from the Quinebaug Charles Kelleher, associate director of
Valley Emergency Communications. Just a day earlier, Webster had responded “He was a huge goofball with a great Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communica-
to another emergency call — this one at the sense of humor,” he said. tions, said he doesn’t know Webster, but his
His recollection of the incident is “kind of home of his stepmother and father, Ron response to the emergency “speaks a lot to his
blurry,” Webster said recently, because it all Webster, around the corner from his own Even though his father had died just a day dedication as a volunteer.”
happened so quickly. Still, some images house. “I got dressed as fast as I could and earlier, Webster said he didn’t think twice
remain. got over there as fast as I could,” he said. about going to the emergency call at the lake. Webster, who is engaged to be married,
has taken a test to be a full-time firefighter in
When Webster arrived at the lake, he saw He found his father unconscious on the “It’s all volunteer, so you go if you’re Mansfield and is waiting to be accepted as
a boy, about 9 years old, in the water with a bedroom floor; he had suffered a heart attack. available,” he said. an electrical lineman journeyman. He said
tow rope wrapped around his torso and Webster began CPR, but other responding he’s not good at putting different parts of his
neck and an out-of-control motor boat firefighters pronounced his father dead at the Chandler, who has known Ron and Nick life in compartments, separating work from
circling him at a high rate of speed. The scene. Ron Webster was 52. Webster for years, said Nick’s immediate play or community activities from his job.
child’s father, who had been tubing with his response to the situation at the lake — which
son, also was in the water. “I knew what was going on, but it didn’t he could have handed off because he was in “I like to make a difference,” he said.
hit me until a few hours later,” Nick Webster mourning — is typical for him. “When someone is in distress, someone has
“People were screaming, freaking out on said. “I was obviously emotional, but I did to do the job. I like being that person.”
shore,” said Roy Chandler, chief of the “Am I surprised he did it? No, Nick’s
Bungay Fire Brigade. always been a kind of daring, go-getter kind
Webster used a privately owned boat to
get to the other vessel on the lake. He pulled
up next to the runaway boat and leaped into
it, taking the controls and directing it away
from the man and boy, who otherwise might
have been struck and seriously injured.
“I shut it down at that point,” Webster
said.
The father, from Enfield, and his son were
pulled from the lake by other firefighters.
The man was uninjured and the youngster
was treated at a hospital, Webster said.
It’s “very hard to relive that day,” said the
father, who asked to remain anonymous. “It
was a very, very scary situation with my
son’s life in serious jeopardy and my life in
serious jeopardy, and other people put
themselves in harm’s way” to rescue them.
Webster, a former Army private and now
a crew foreman for a tree service company,
displays on a wall at his home a plaque
bearing a “lifesaving award” from the
Bungay Fire Brigade. He’s credited with
“heroic efforts” in the rescue. Two others
involved in the rescue also were honored,
Chandler said.
The fire chief said the boat’s operator had
lost control as the fast-moving vessel hit a
rope, and he was flung into the water. He
recalled that the Woodstock fire boat had
not yet arrived when Webster radioed him
