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New Canaan There & Then: Chester B. “Chet” Hansen, a Ringside Seat to The Greatest War

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 

The opening scene of the 1970 Academy Award-winning movie “Patton” is one of the most iconic in cinema history. 

Screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola brilliantly cobbled together various statements of U.S. General George S. Patton Jr. into one fiery and profane speech to his beloved troops, with the immortal first lines spoken in front of a giant American flag:
“At ease, men. Now I want you to remember . . . that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country .

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New Canaan There & Then: A Cold Case—The Tragic Murder of Mary Mount

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
As any connoisseur of true crime mysteries knows, a cold case is an unsolved criminal investigation, typically involving a violent crime like murder or a missing person, that is no longer actively pursued by authorities due to a lack of evidence or leads. Unfortunately, the biggest cold case in New Canaan history has remained unsolved for 57 years. On May 27, 1969, 10-year-old Mary Katherine Mount was abducted from Kiwanis Park in broad daylight. She and her 12-year-old brother had walked there in the afternoon from their house on Willowbrook Road; the brother last saw his pink-clad sister alone in the park, where she was playing with a cat. Authorities initiated a frantic, massive search for the young girl in New Canaan, including a number of local volunteers, as her parents Dr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Mount awaited a possible call for ransom, a call that tragically never came.

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New Canaan There & Then: George Washington, the First Purple Heart and the Sergeant from Town

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
It’s the oldest military decoration in American history. It was created and designed by none other than George Washington. One of the first three recipients of the honor was awarded it for gallantry exhibited in the battle that won the Revolutionary War for the nascent United States. And that honoree – who received it in person from General Washington – was from New Canaan. Does local history get any more noteworthy than that?

New Canaan There & Then

New Canaan There & Then: Philip Johnson and Country Living in New Canaan

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
Philip Cortelyou Johnson had a mischievous, even wicked sense of humor. He once referred to Frank Lloyd Wright, his sometimes friend and forever rival, as “the greatest architect of the 19th century.”

Ordinary civilians were also fair game for Johnson. On one memorable occasion he encountered a tour group visiting his Glass House (from “who-knows-where”), a member of which told Johnson she was impressed but in no uncertain terms “would she ever want to live there.” Johnson responded by saying, “Madam . . .

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New Canaan There & Then: ‘Live from New Canaan, It’s Paul Simon and Harry Connick Jr.!’

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
Let’s be honest. No one would ever mistake the New Canaan High School Auditorium for Carnegie Hall. Yet at 4 pm on Sunday, September 29th, 2013, the venue was transformed for one magical night when music legends Paul Simon and Harry Connick put on a concert, a concert that proved to be a major historic event even for a 282-year-old town. The idea for the performance came from the late Pat Stoddard, a New Canaan citizen-stalwart and one of the founders of Staying Put in New Canaan, a much-admired nonprofit organization that assists local seniors in continuing to live in their own homes in town. Stoddard suggested that while the benefit proceeds would support Staying Put, the concert itself should be dedicated to honor New Canaan’s first responders (Fire, Police, EMT and CERT personnel).