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Inez Godburn
Mar 05, 2024
NORTH CANAAN — Inez (Delaini) Godburn passed away peacefully on March 4, 2024, at Geer Nursing Home after a brief illness, with her children at her side. She was 101.
Inez was the widow of John E. (“Jack”) Godburn, Sr., who died in 2009.
Her family was her life: Inez had seven brothers and sisters, 10 children, 15 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Inez’s parents were born in Italy, her father Domenico in 1870 and her mother Genoveffa (Perotti) in 1880. They came to America through Ellis Island in the early 1900s.
The youngest in her family, Inez was born Dec. 2, 1922, in East Canaan. Her older brothers and sisters, Egilio (Gene), Lena, Louise, Italio, Enrico, Andrew and Mary, all predeceased her.
As a child, Inez attended the East Canaan school on Route 44 at Furnace Hill Road. She always remembered the unplowed winter roads of the 1920s and 1930s and how the children would hope for tire or wagon tracks in the snow to assist their long, cold walk to school. She also attended Canaan Center School.
In the 1940s, Inez worked at The Conley Inn in Torrington (later The Yankee Pedlar). She also worked in later years at Johnny’s and Charlie’s restaurants in Canaan, and at the Colonial Theatre.
Renowned as a cook, Inez learned from her mother how to make many dishes from scratch. She recalled how her mother would behead, pluck, stuff, roast and baste a chicken every week for Sunday dinner.
Inez made wonderful lasagna, gnocchi and ravioli, plus stews, roasts, soups, salads, breads, Yorkshire puddings and much else. Mealtimes were ample and memorable. Her spaghetti sauce was so popular it was marketed. Mangia bene!
When her children were growing up on West Main Street in North Canaan in the 1960s, Inez and Jack were very involved in school activities, and Jack was scoutmaster of Troop 22. The backyard pool was a beacon for neighborhood kids, and there were many picnics.
Later the family lived in East Canaan near Inez’s childhood home where they had fruit trees, grapes, greenhouses and a fledgling flower business, and later a florist shop in Canaan.
With the kids grown, Inez made a long-planned trip to Italy with her eldest child, Michele, where she visited Rome and met Delaini relatives. She was predeceased by Michele and her grandson Scott, both of Havelock, North Carolina.
Inez is survived by nine children: Joseph and his wife, Sandy, of Plainville; John, Jr., and his wife, Claudia, of Torrington; Mark of Norfolk; David and his wife, Jill, of North Canaan; Michael and his wife, Gale, of Torrington; Kevin of North Canaan; Deborah of Richlands, North Carolina; Donna and her husband, Joe, of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts; and Brian and his wife, Eileen, of Oakdale.
The funeral will be Saturday, March 9, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Church in North Canaan, where Inez was a lifelong communicant, and where she volunteered with fundraising and the church’s annual summer barbecue well into her 90s. There are no prior calling hours.
Burial will follow the service in the Delaini family plot at the Cobble Road cemetery in Salisbury. Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home in North Canaan is in charge of arrangements.
A reception catered by Freund’s Farm will follow around noon or 12:30 p.m. at the Bitterman Center in North Canaan.
The family wishes to thank the nursing staff and aides on Harmony Lane (3rd floor) at Geer, the Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Litchfield County, and St. Joseph’s Church. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to any of these groups in Inez’s name.
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Yehyun Kim/CTMirror.org
Nuvance Health, which owns four hospitals in Connecticut and three in New York, will merge with Northwell Health to form a larger regional health system across two states.
Together, the companies will own 28 hospitals and more than 1,000 sites of care and employ 14,500 providers.
“By joining forces with Northwell Health, we are taking a giant leap forward in our shared mission to enhance the quality, accessibility and equity of the health care we provide to our communities,” said Dr. John M. Murphy, president and CEO of Nuvance Health. “This agreement enables us to make significant improvements to health outcomes for community hospitals and to deliver unparalleled care and drive positive change in the health care landscape.”
In Connecticut, Nuvance owns Danbury Hospital, Norwalk Hospital, Sharon Hospital and New Milford Hospital.
Northwell, based in New Hyde Park, New York, owns 20 hospitals.
“This partnership opens a new and exciting chapter for Northwell and Nuvance and provides an incredible opportunity to enhance both health systems and take patient care and services to an even higher level,” said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health. “We have similar missions in providing high-quality care for patients in the communities we serve.”
The deal is still subject to a certificate of need process for state approval in Connecticut and New York, and must also be approved by the Federal Trade Commission. Amy Forni, a spokeswoman for Nuvance, said certificate of need applications are expected to be filed in the coming months.
Nuvance and Northwell officials said the merger will bring greater access to primary, specialty and hospital care through a diverse network of providers. “Northwell will make significant investments in Nuvance Health, helping it continue to evolve as a high-quality and comprehensive health care system,” they said in a statement.
Leaders of both companies said they hoped the merger would create a broader workforce pipeline and expand medical innovation across their facilities.
“Together, both organizations would have the ability to make significant improvements to health outcomes and address health disparities across the communities they serve,” they wrote in a statement. “As nonprofit organizations, Northwell and Nuvance Health would also continue to provide care to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay.”
The Journal occasionally will offer articles from CTMirror.org, a source of nonprofit journalism and a partner with The Lakeville Journal.
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Story Syndicate
John Hoffman, a Millerton resident, has been nominated for his film “The Barber of Little Rock,” which he co-directed with Christine Turner, in the Best Documentary Short Film category at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards.
Distributed by The New Yorker and produced by Story Syndicate Production in association with 59th & Prairie, Better World Projects, and Peralta Pictures, “The Barber of Little Rock” explores the efforts of Arkansas local hero Arlo Washington, who opened a barbershop at 19 years old and, with a mission to close the racial inequality gap in his community, went on to found the Washington Barber College as well as People Trust Community Federal Credit Union. Washington’s goal is aiding his primarily Black neighborhood, which has historically been underserved by more prominent banking institutions.
Hoffman appeared at The Moviehouse in Millerton for a special screening of the short film Friday, Feb. 23, which played along with the four competing nominees: “Nai Nai & Wài Pó” (Grandma & Grandma), a humorous portrait by Sean Wang of his maternal and paternal Taiwanese grandmothers who share one home in Los Angeles, California; “The ABCs of Book Banning,” which features interviews with Florida school children discussing the books that have been removed from their libraries; “The Island Inbetween” which documents life on Kinman, an island governed by Taiwan and located across a bay from Mainland China; and “The Last Repair Shop,” about the lives of four dedicated craftspeople who repair the musical instruments for public school children in Los Angeles.
“The Barber of Little Rock” received the Jenni Berebitsky Legacy Award at the 2023 Indy Shorts International Film Festival and was nominated at the eighth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
At the talk, Hoffman explained that one of the most potent experiences in filming the documentary was seeing firsthand the financial and racial divide in Little Rock, illustrated by Interstate 630, which acts as a barrier between white affluence and Black poverty in the city. The interstate resulted from the signing of the Federal Highway Act by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, then the most extensive public works program in America. In the documentary, Scott Green calls the fallout from the I-630 “not a wealth gap, but a wealth chasm.” Green is the nephew of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, the first African American students permitted to enroll at Little Rock Central High School.
People Trust, the only Black-owned Community Development Financial Institution in Arkansas, is attempting to bridge that chasm by supporting the emergence of minority-owned businesses in the community, including helping graduates of Washington’s barber college forge a path toward establishing their own shops and salons and providing emergency grants for Little Rock residents experiencing the strains of houselessness or searching for a new start following incarceration. The average People Trust loan is $5,000 for businesses and $1,000 for individuals.
As Washington says in the documentary short, “Once [Little Rock residents] can put funds here, and deposits, then we’re not going to put money outside of this community, we’re going to put money back into the community.”
“Once this catches on, it becomes a threat,” Green replies. “Because it can inspire others to think that they can become free. This is about being free.”
The 96th Oscars will be held Sunday, March 10, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be televised live on ABC.
“The Barber of Little Rock” is available to watch on www.newyorker.com and The New Yorker’s YouTube channel.
John HoffmanAlexander Wilburn
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Inside Troutbeck's kitchen
Feb 28, 2024
Courtesy of Troutbeck
About growing up in Carmel, New York, Troutbeck’s executive chef Vincent Gilberti said he was fortunate to have a lot of family close by, and time together was always centered around food.
His grandparents in White Plains always made sure to have a supply of cured meats, olives, cheeses and crusty bread during their weekend visits. But it wasn’t until his family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was 16 that his passion for food really began. It was there that he joined the German Club, whose partnership with Johnson & Wales University first introduced him to cooking.
During high school, Gilberti also worked at a Greek restaurant as a host, dishwasher and line cook. The appeal, he said, was the sense of camaraderie with the fellow line cooks and the friends he made that he couldn’t have met in high school. He valued what it took for all these people to come together to create a meal.
“As a kid, you don’t think about all the moving parts,” Gilberti said. “As I got older and worked in the restaurant, I had a better understanding of the total experience the restaurant provides — it’s not just the food, it’s not just the atmosphere, it’s everything coming together to create a complete experience.”
After high school, Gilberti attended the French Culinary Institution in Manhattan. He chose the accelerated program because although he got a lot out of school, he knew the real learning took place on the job. After graduating, he worked at Keith McNally’s Pulino’s for three years until leaving to be a part of the opening team at Dover in Brooklyn, where he worked his way up from line cook to sous chef.
From there, Gilberti joined his mentor, Walker Stern, at the restaurant Battersby, for what Gilberti described as the highlight of his career so far: “It was a very special moment for me to work hand in hand with Walker. In most restaurants, you don’t have that direct relationship with the chef. It greatly expanded my horizons and really helped me push the limits with my skills.”
Next was Michelin-starred Clinton Hill restaurant The Finch, where Gilberti joined chef Gabe McMackin. McMackin was also establishing himself at Troutbeck and eventually invited Gilberti to make the join him there as the chef de cuisine.
“I respected and admired Gabe and his philosophy, so I obliged and came to Troutbeck,” said Gilberti. After a brief sojourn at contemporary Italian restaurant SPQR in San Francisco, Gilberti was invited back to Troutbeck to be its executive chef.
Anna Martucci: What, besides your working relationship with chef McMackin, attracted you to Troutbeck?
Vincent Gilberti: The property is extremely special and has a deep-rooted history, and I saw the opportunity that it held. I really admired and respected the owners and their mission and goals and what they wanted to accomplish. They are very much a part of and active in the community here. Not everyone chooses to run their business trying to support the businesses around them, but that is very important to Troutbeck. I also knew it was a great opportunity to learn I had never been a chef for a hotel before and had to quickly learn the ways of navigating weddings and banquets.
AM: In what ways do you use your role as chef to connect to the Hudson Valley community?
VG: In every possible way I can, I try to work with as many local farmers, purveyors and producers as possible. I can’t say that I’m sourcing everything from the Hudson Valley, because I do have to rely on outside sources, but as much as possible, that is the goal. The other goal, which is in the Troutbeck mission statement, is zero waste. I try to use every little thing that I can out of everything we acquire.
AM: Why is connecting to the community important to you?
VG: I’m always thinking about how I can meet other individuals, like-minded or not, in this community and how I can support them in ways that are beneficial for everyone. I want to see every business in this community succeed. We can all work together to make the Hudson Valley what it is. Together we can attract people to this area to experience what we have to offer. I want to help make people realize how special this community is and reflect on the people that are here and make them feel special.
AM: What would you say your specialty is?
VG: People always ask me that, but it’s not about one specific thing for me — I have a lot to bring to the table. I will say, however, that one thing that I’m very passionate about is pasta. It was a passion created at Pulino’s and finessed at Battersby with Walker Stern — he is a savant.
Here at Troutbeck, we will sometimes have three to four different pasta dishes on the menu depending what is happening that week. We are thinking about doing a community-night dinner of pasta dishes, in a way trying to create my Sundays at grandma’s with a beautiful salad, antipasto, housemade bread, and a few pasta options. We have the reputation of being expensive, and there is a cost associated with trying to use local businesses, but I also want to be accessible to people who don’t necessarily want to spend $50 on an entree. We want it to be high quality but still affordable, because the mission of Troutbeck is to be inclusive of the community.
AM: How has the Hudson Valley farm-to-table food scene grown and changed during your lifetime?
VG: Growing up, the farm-to-table establishment wasn’t a thing. In the ‘90s, people were more concerned with quantity over quality. I’ve seen a significant shift of people being more cognizant of what they are eating. They want to know where the steelhead trout is from — is it farmed or is it wild-caught? I see that as the biggest shift, but there is a high cost in that. I see my job as making farm-to-table food be inclusive because I want people in the community to feel comfortable coming here and enjoying what we have to offer.
AM: What would you like to see more of in the agricultural community in this area?
VG: We already have an establishment of great local farms — I’d love to see more of them so we can continue to support the community. I have this opportunity to work with all these people who are just as excited about food as I am. Continuing to build relationships with local farms and the community and sharing it with the guests that come through the door — that is what I am most excited about.
AM: What do you love most about this area?
VG: I really like being away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It’s nice to be surrounded by nature, it’s nice to be able to go out on hikes. In my personal time, I love to forage and try to make something out of things I find that people wouldn’t normally eat. Come May, you will find morels and ramps all over the Troutbeck property. And I like to cook for my friends.
AM: What do you most appreciate about working at Troutbeck?
VG: The people. It takes an army to do what we are doing here. And I think, across the board in every department we have, everyone has a mutual respect for one another. At any given moment I can call on someone and they will be there for me. It has become a second family for me. I feel special to work with a group of individuals who support one another and have each other’s backs. This article is about Troutbeck and Vinny, but it is so much more than that. I couldn’t do this without the people in the kitchen who support me. There are so many people that it takes to make this happen for everyone and I really just admire them all and I can’t thank them enough. I’m grateful to have every single person on this property.
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