News

Donald Craig Gilbert, 91

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Donald Craig Gilbert of New Canaan, CT, passed away July 13, 2024, at home with his wife by his side. Don, whose working life started in the Marine Corps and ended on Madison Avenue, was 91. He flew fighter jets in the 1950s, worked for ad giant J. Walter Thompson in the 1960s, and ran his own Manhattan consulting and executive search firm for 40 years, specializing in advertising agencies and marketing companies. He was a pilot, sailor, skier, avid reader and a collector of art. Don was born in New York City on Jan.

Now & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: The Zumbach’s Building

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. In 1967 the building at the corner of Pine and Grove was listed as owned by Railroad Avenue Corporation and then New Canaan Development. 

It remained under this ownership until July 1988 when the owners were listed as New Canaan Lumber Company. The corner was home to a few businesses prior to Zumbach’s and Pine Street Concessions.  Pine Grove Wines was operated by Charles Homer and is pictured in the same location as Zumbachs in the photo above. Mr. Homer, a Stamford native, was a plumber for 20 years prior to owning the wine store and was a volunteer fireman in Stamford. He sold the business to Robert and Aurelia McKenna in 1986, and died at the age of 62 in Florida on Dec.

New Canaan Police Deparmtent

Arrest Warrant: Local Man Harassed by Ex

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Police last week arrested a 34-year-old New Canaan woman by warrant and charged her with second-degree harassment. The woman, who is the ex-girlfriend of the victim, has repeatedly harassed the victim through social media platforms, emails, texts, and calls, court documents show. 

Early this June, the victim said his ex-fiancee and mother to their children notified him that his ex-girlfriend had commented under a photo of him on Facebook. The comment said, “Wondering if his ex-wife posted this – he’s a cocky jerk and i am vindictive/scheming a final vengeance! He’s also a rat.” The comment was dated two weeks before the date the victim was made aware of it, court documents show. 

Police confirmed that the account and profile picture from which the comment came matched that of the ex-girlfriend and that further investigation of the profile showed more pictures of her and descriptions of her educational history which matched the ex-girlfriend’s known education, according to a police affidavit. The following day, police responded to the front desk of NCPD to speak to the victim regarding harassment, according to the arrest warrant application filed by New Canaan Police and signed in July by the prosecuting attorney and state Superior Court Judge Robert.

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Raechelle Freeman, 80

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Raechelle Freeman—remembered locally as Shelley Dinan, a career speech pathologist and special education teacher for New Canaan Public Schools—died peacefully Sunday at Stamford Hospital, family by her side, following a courageous two-and-a-half year battle with myelofibrosis. She was 80. Born Raechelle Sandra Ashbaugh on Nov. 15, 1943 in Neptune, N.J., she was the daughter of Ivan and Bernice Blum Ashbaugh. 

Energetic, smart, irreverent and fun, she grew up on the Jersey Shore in Belmar with her little sister, Karen, graduating from Manasquan High School. Through her education and professional work, Shelley soon began migrating north toward New Canaan.