A Bunch of Bankers

This happy-looking group of people is actually a sort of Who’s Who of Ridgefield’s business community during the last half of the 20th Century.

The photograph by Clarence “Korky” Korker was taken in July 1975 at the Silver Spring Country Club and shows a gathering of the directors and corporators of the Ridgefield Savings Bank (now Fairfield County Bank).

From left, starting with those in front and going back, sort of in rows: Town Clerk Ruth Hurzeler, bank Chairman Carleton A. Scofield, President Charles Coles, and May Piser (bank treasurer?); Octavius “Tabby” Carboni, Robert A. Lee (bow tie), Abraham Morelli Sr., and Judge Hjalmar Anderson of Redding; D. Harvey Valden (no tie), Dr. Philip L. Martin, and Judge Reed F. Shields; N. Donald Edwards, Robert Wilder, unidentified, Walter E. Evans (in dark shirt), former first selectman J. Mortimer Woodcock, and Ralph B. Crouchley; Paul S. McNamara (shaded glasses), Judge Joseph H. Donnelly, Lawrence W. Hoyt Jr., and Edwin B. Allan (shaded glasses).

Incidentally, Paul McNamara is one of only two people in this picture still living (the other is Larry Hoyt; we don’t know about the status of “unidentified.”) 

McNamara just retired last July after 31 years as chairman of the board of the bank. According to a press release at the time, “Mr. McNamara has seen the bank grow from 2 to 17 branches and from $98 million in assets to $1.5 billion.  Capital has grown from $8 million to $200 million over his tenure. He orchestrated the Ridgefield and Fairfield County Savings Bank merger along with the bank’s expansion into insurance with the Carnall Insurance acquisition (Fairfield County Bank Insurance Services today) and the introduction of investments with the launch of Fairfield County Financial Services.”

In May 2019 he and his wife, Dewey, are slated to receive the Ridgefield Library’s “Hope H. Swenson Visionary Award.” Said the library: “As chairman of Fairfield County Bank since 1987, McNamara spearheaded over $1 million in donations to local organizations annually. Throughout his long career he has been instrumental in creating economic growth and opportunity in this area and beyond through the development and support of individuals, local entrepreneurs and businesses.”

Ralph B. Crouchley: 

Mentor of Boys

Ralph Crouchley was a man who worked in international commerce but came back to his hometown and, as one man influenced by him as a boy said, “He was a father figure for many kids. As a result of the respect kids had for him, a number of boys turned out well — where they might have had teenage problems.” 

Crouchley was the director of the Ridgefield Boys Club during a period when it went from a small operation in an old house to a modern, well-equipped building on Governor Street, before it became the Boys and Girls Club.

Born here in 1904, the son of a selectman and grandson of a first selectman, Ralph Bishop   Crouchley graduated from the private Ridgefield Boys School and Colgate University, and studied at Harvard Business School before joining the Corn Products Refining Company. 

In 1930, with no knowledge of Spanish, he was sent to Mexico to open and operate a factory. He learned the language and succeeded at establishing and running the factory, but by 1936, travel was taking a toll on his family life and he decided to return with his wife and children to his hometown to run his father’s paint and auto store on Main Street. 

In 1942, the Boys Club had been closed for several months because of personal and financial problems. Francis D. Martin approached Crouchley and asked him if he’d be interested in reopening the club. He was. 

Crouchley began as the part-time director, but the job soon became full time. 

The club back then was located in the old rooming house about where the Fairfield County Bank drive-in is now on Governor Street. However, interest in the club under Crouchley’s leadership soon increased enough that money was raised to build a modern clubhouse farther east on Governor Street, site of the present building.

His influence on two generations of young men of the community was almost legendary, and he won much praise and many awards for his work. 

He retired in 1969, but continued many other community interests. Over the years he was a president of the Ridgefield Volunteer Fire Department, member of the Board of Assessors, served on the Ration Board in World War II and was disaster chairman for the Red Cross, became the town’s first zoning enforcement officer, was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club, and was named an incorporator of the Ridgefield Savings Bank. 

He died in 1981 at the age of 76.

Crouchley’s name  lives today in the fond memories of many ex-boys for whom he was a mentor. It’s also recalled each year in the Ralph B. Crouchley Boys and Girls Club scholarship,  awarded at Ridgefield High School.