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‘A Day of Profound Sadness’: Town Officials Report Passing of Steve Benko

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Steve Benko, a lifelong New Canaan resident known to local families through five decades as head of the town Recreation Department, died overnight, officials said Saturday. A former chief of New Canaan Fire Co.,#1, he died “after a very courageous, but mercifully short, battle with cancer,” the organization’s president, Rob Mallozzi, said in an email to Fire Company members. “His family was by his side.”

“It is a day of profound sadness to our Fire Department and Company and our entire town,” Mallozzi said. “Please keep the Benko family in your prayers.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan issued this statement Saturday: “New Canaan lost one of its most dedicated and long-serving Town employees Friday night when Steve Benko passed away at Stamford Hospital surrounded by his family after a short battle with cancer. Steve served 50 years as Recreation Director of the Town of New Canaan and was a mentor and friend to generations of youth, Town employees, Fire Co.

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Christmas Eve Caroling at God’s Acre Scheduled To Return This Year

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One year after Christmas Eve caroling at God’s Acre was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cherished local tradition is on track to return, organizers say. Scheduled to start around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 24—attendees typically start to gather around 6 p.m.—the 105-year-old tradition is “one of those quintessential New Canaan events that you want to be there to experience,” said Leo Karl III, one of a group of town residents who help organize the caroling. “There is no better season than the Christmas holidays to experience and share a sense of community, and this caroling event has been one of those wonderful opportunities to do just that,” Karl told NewCanaanite.com. “And this year it will feel just that much more special because we were not able to do it last year.”

In 2020, public health-related restrictions on large gatherings prompted organizers to cancel the caroling.

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‘He Was Like a Beacon’: New Canaanites Remember the Late Cam Hutchins

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Among the many words that Whitney Williams uses to describe her friend, the late Cam Hutchins—humble, gifted, creative, solid, thoughtful, unpretentious, honest and diplomatic—is “mischievous.”

Once on a cold day during a boys soccer game, Hutchins snapped a picture of Williams as she sat bundled up in the stands in “one of those sleeping bag coats,” she recalled, with “a terrible hat on” and “screaming” with other parents while cheering on their sons, “just looking awful.”

“He took a picture of me, in particular, looking horrible,” Williams recalled with a laugh. “And every now and then, out of nowhere, this photo would just appear on my phone. He would just send it for no reason whatsoever. And I would just be like, ‘Oh my god.’ It was just his way of saying, ‘Hey, I’m just thinking about you.’ But he’s not going to send a nice picture. He’s going to send a horrible picture.”

Earlier this month, as Williams went with friends and family to visit Hutchins in hospice and say goodbye, she recalled through tears, “I said to him, ‘Cam, still the absolute worst picture I’ve ever seen of me.’ ”

”And he said, ‘I had to take a thousand pictures of you before I got a bad one.’ And I thought: That’s just so Cam.

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New Canaan’s Mysogland Family Honored by STAR Inc.

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New Canaan’s Ernie Mysogland describes his adult special needs daughter Jassinia as “a true sweetheart” who models his wife of 50-plus years, Susie, in her kindness. For more than 20 years, Jassinia through an area nonprofit organization with deep ties to New Canaan has worked as a bagger at the Food Emporium on Elm Street, now Acme. 

Because the Mysoglands had such a large family—11 kids—and Jassinia’s brothers and sisters brought home so many friends, she came to know all kinds of people, according to her dad. “Those people got the idea that if Jassinia was going to work at the grocery store and she was going to bag groceries, they would try to get in her lane,” Ernie Mysogland recalled Monday night, standing near his wife and daughter and addressing more than 100 STAR Inc. staff members, clients and families gathered at the organization’s Norwalk headquarters for its 67th annual meeting. “And they would say, ‘Hi Jassinia,’ and she would say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ And Jassinia, unfortunately, would let a lot of family secrets out. People would say, ‘Jassinia, how are you?

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Did You Hear … ?

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The New Canaan Building Department on Tuesday received an after-the-fact application from the owner of 1541 Oenoke Ridge Road who had completed an estimated $150,000 kitchen remodel without obtaining a permit. The work included installation of new cabinets, countertops and appliances, moving a sink, running a propane line and reconfiguring lighting. ***

New Canaan Police at 11:26 p.m. Monday cited a 20-year-old Norwalk man for possession of less than .5 ounces of marijuana after stopping him on East Avenue for driving with a defective brake light. ***

New Canaan High School graduate Curt Casali went 3-for-4 Thursday for the Cincinnati Reds in the team’s 5-0 win over Miami. In 16 at-bats this season, New Canaan’s first MLB player is hitting .375 with an OPS of .938.