Eleanor Burdick: 

Help and Understanding

“It was Miss Burdick who opened my eyes to the world of poetry, took the monotony out of grammar, and awakened me to the value of literary creativity,” Grant Drake, a former student, wrote of Eleanor Burdick when the Ridgefield High School English teacher retired in 1963.  Burdick had taught at the school for 43 years, longer than almost any staff member in the school’s century of existence.

Eleanor Larissa Burdick was born in Massachusetts in 1897 and grew up in the town of Monson. She attended Colby College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1920. 

That year, she came to Ridgefield to teach at the old Hamilton High School on Bailey Avenue. Over her 43-year career, she taught English, history and math, chaired the English Department, directed the Drama Club, and inspired innumerable students. Back in the days when the senior class each year took a trip to Washington, D.C., Burdick organized the journey and went on many of them. 

Her career spanned the tenures of nine superintendents, one of whom, Philip Pitruzzello, said of her: “That such power and humanity reside in one person is reserved to the few; that Eleanor Burdick chose to teach youth is a magnificent expression of God-given talents.” 

After her retirement, she returned to her native Massachusetts, where she was active in church work. She died in 1979 at the age of 81.

The staff of the Class of 1955 yearbook dedicated that year’s Caudatowan to Burdick, citing her “indefatigable help to our class and friendly understanding of our problems.”

The dedication added, “During her teaching years at Ridgefield High School, she has become a symbol of guidance to all. In her association with the students, she has never failed in her patience and encouragement to everyone.”

That same year, The Ridgefield Press also paid tribute to her, observing  “Her chief satisfaction in teaching is derived from the young people themselves. The idea of helping them get a start and the satisfaction of seeing them accomplish something are her chief pleasures in teaching.”

Clifford A. Holleran:
Beloved Principal

For 36 years,  Kip Holleran was principal of Ridgefield High School and over all that time, he could knew each and every student by name. 

“Whenever a graduate would return to the halls of his secondary school learning, he or she would first stop at Mr. Holleran’s office, not because he had to, but  because he wanted to,” The Ridgefield Press said in an editorial about the principal. 

Born in 1895,  Clifford Ambrose Holleran grew up in Watertown, Conn., and graduated from Bucknell in 1920. A year later, he was hired as both a principal and a teacher at Hamilton High School, the original Ridgefield High School, then located on Bailey Avenue. 

The late Dick Venus, town historian, told this story of Holleran’s first day in a classroom in Ridgefield: 

“He wanted the names of each of his pupils. He asked that each one arise and give his or her last name as they were called on. 

“My brother Joe sat in one of the front seats and when Mr. Holleran pointed to him, Joe dutifully arose and said his name was Venus. The new principal blinked at the rather unusual name and then called on the next student, who declared his name was Romeo (probably Fred Romeo). 

“With that, Mr. Holleran called a halt to the proceedings as he had a feeling that he was being taken advantage of. In a loud voice, he said, ‘Some of you think you are pretty smart but if the next one who gets up tells me his name is Juliet, there will be trouble.’ 

“When the two boys were able to prove that their names were actually Venus and Romeo, Mr. Holleran had a big laugh over it.”

In his early years, he spent more time teaching than principaling — he taught geometry, trigonometry, science, chemistry, physics, and mechanical drawing. 

When he arrived at the school, there were no organized athletic teams, and he created baseball and basketball squads. For 20 years, he coached both, transporting them to out-of-town games, running magazine drives to pay for them, and sometimes winning championships.

Occasionally he’d even referee the games — because of his reputation for fairness, opposing teams didn't mind. 

After World War II, when the school grew large enough to hire an athletic director to take over, football was finally added and Holleran became a full-time principal — and twice was acting superintendent of schools.

“Mr. Holleran [was] a very kindly man,”  Elsa Hartmann, longtime teacher of history and German at RHS, recalled in 1983. “Even so, he was a strict disciplinarian and woe betide any student who got out of line. 

“On one occasion he heard a noise in the hallway and opened the door to see what was going on. Jim Sullivan had been sent to a window at the rear of the hall to clap the chalk dust out of some blackboard erasers. Lawrence Brundage opened a door at the other  end of the hallway and Jim promptly threw an eraser at him. Of course, the eraser was returned with gusto and soon the air was flying erasers. 

“As the door between the two combatants opened, a balding head appeared and caught the full force of an airborne eraser. When Jim saw what he had done, he clambered out the window and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.”

Holleran retired in 1957, but like many educators of the first half of the 20th Century, he lived here, was active in the non-school community, and remained so in retirement. 

He was a founder and the first president of the Rotary Club, served on the Ration Board during the war, and was a director of the Boys Club for 14 years. He loved golf, and his favorite partner was Tabby Carboni. 

In 1947, he married his longtime sweetheart, Grace C. White, after her retirement following 44 years of teaching here. She died in 1963 at the age of 79, he in 1971, age 78. 

Dr. William Allee:
‘Father’ of Ridgefield High

Few individuals have affected the quality of Ridgefield schools a century ago as much as William Hanford Allee, a name all but forgotten today, but renowned and respected early in the 20th Century. 

“Dr. Allee may properly be called the father of Ridgefield High School,” The Ridgefield Press said at his death in April 1927. “He saw the need of such an institution in town. Although he met with strong opposition, he well knew the justice of the cause. Patiently he worked and finally triumphed.” 

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Allee was born in 1872, graduated from Brooklyn Polytech and Columbia Medical School, and opened a practice in Wilton around 1905. He and his wife, Laura Curie Allee, came to town in 1906, buying the former Hurlbutt place still standing at Main and Market Streets. 

Dr. Allee was elected to the school board in 1912, serving many years. “He was the guiding hand that created and developed the Hamilton High School (Ridgefield High’s original name) and saw it gradually advance into one of the best small town high schools in the state,” The Press said.

He also led the effort to secure land on East Ridge for a new grammar school and ball field – the Benjamin Franklin Grammar School later became Ridgefield High School. 

He was a true activist for education. 

“When we came to Ridgefield, the town did not provide free textbooks for school children,” his wife, later Laura Curie Allee Shields, wrote in her autobiography, “Memories.” “One day, one of his patients, a poor widow with five or six children, came to see him to ask if something could be done about free books, as it was simply impossible for her to buy books for all her children, either new or second hand. 

“Doctor went to see our town attorney, Judge Light, who, by the way, was a good suffragist, and he told him that Connecticut had two suffrage laws giving votes to women, one on all school questions and the other on libraries.” (This was eight years before the 19th Amendment was ratified.)

Allee decided to employ the little-used right of women to vote on school issues, but also learned that the previous time it was exercised, Ridgefield town officials had “lost” a voting list that contained names of women who officially wanted to be able to vote.

“Dr. Allee spoke before our Equal Franchise League and agitated the question with every woman with whom  he came in contact. Two hundred and six women gave their names to him to be made voters. Doctor made the list in duplicate.” The list was submitted to the town’s registrars of voters and they accepted it.

“The day came for the registrars to meet, and the women went to the town hall to be made voters. Doctor was there, and I will never forget the amazement and confusion of the men that so many women came up to the scratch. The men fumbled around at their desks and whispered and conferred with each other, and finally we were told that the list had been mislaid. 

“Doctor was all ready for them and handed in the duplicate list.” Because the original of the list had been properly received and acknowledged, they were forced to accept the copy.

“Cheers went up. The room was full, as well as the hall outside.  Well, we were all ‘made’ and I assure you it was a sacred rite.” 

A  town meeting Oct. 10, 1912, included, down on the bottom of the agenda, the question of free text books. The meeting began at 3:30 in a packed, standing-room-only town hall — about half of the attendees were women. However, most of those women had family obligations and “the men arranged it that the school business came up last. At 5 o’clock we were still there. Many mothers felt they ought to go home, but didn’t. It was almost 6 before the school business was reached. 

“Dr. Allee moved that the vote be taken by roll call, which was passed. Some women whose names were down toward the end of the list, went home and came back; some whose names came first, voted and then left to take care of the homes of those down at the end of the list. 

“Of course we won. I think if we had ever needed any more convincing arguments for woman suffrage, we had them that day.” 

“Memories” also describes how Dr. Allee went around, drumming up money to buy the East Ridge land for the new grammar school, part of the package that included creating Hamilton High School. Education advocates had agreed to buy the property to help convince the voters to build the town’s first modern school. 

Allee approached book publisher E.P. Dutton of High Ridge for a contribution, explaining the need for a modern school in Ridgefield. 

“Mr. Dutton was most enthusiastic and sympathetic, and he turned to Doctor and said, ‘Suppose we take it to the Lord.’ Doctor told me he knelt down by the couch and made a most beautiful prayer for direction and wisdom. Rising from his knees, he went to his desk and made out a check for $1,000 and, giving it to Doctor, told him, ‘Here, my boy, go to it!” ($1,000 then was worth nearly $25,000 in today’s dollars.) 

“Dr. Allee never rested, but day after day he went to see people from house to house until he had the whole $16,000” needed for the land. The town approved the schools project and both the grammar school and high school opened in 1915. And it was Dr. Allee who suggested the names for both; Hamilton and Franklin were two of his heroes from history.

Though a physician, Allee helped establish and was first president of the Fairfield County Farm Bureau. He was an official of the local, regional and state organizations of the Congregational Church, and his special interest was in youth groups. 

“His love of justice and fair play led him to champion many causes of importance in church and community,” The Press said.

Dr. Allee was 55 when he died in 1927.