Alumni celebrate Gilbert’s Homecoming Weekend

WINSTED — Achievements by graduates were honored as The Gilbert School held its Distinguished Alumni award ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 15.The event, part of the school’s yearly Homecoming Weekend, recognized graduates who, through the years, have had noteworthy civic endeavors and exceptional personal or professional achievements. Tom Botticelli, president of the W.L. Gilbert Trust Corporation, welcomed alumni at the beginning of the ceremony.“Welcome home,” Botticelli said. “Homecoming is a special day here that gives everyone a chance to get together with old friends and remember old times. The Gilbert School is much more than a building. Many of you actually never went to school in this building. Gilbert is in reality its faculty, staff and, most importantly, the students that went to the school for over a hundred years. And hopefully we will operate for another 100 years and have another 100 homecomings.”The school, founded in 1895, was originally located on Park Place East.The current building, located on Williams Avenue, was built in 1959. The original Gilbert School building is now owned by Northwestern Connecticut Community College.The first award, The Gilbert Heritage Award, was given to former teacher and coach Jim Fortuna.Fortuna taught business education at the high school starting in 1952 until retiring in 1986. He was also the coach for the football team from 1952 until 1961.Fortuna started Winsted Midget and Junior Midget football programs in 1969.While he is not a graduate of Gilbert, he was given both the award and an honorary Gilbert School diploma.His son, Joseph, a 1982 graduate of Gilbert, introduced his father.“He is a committed member of so many civic organizations in the community. They all make up a big part of Dad’s life,” Joseph Fortuna said. “Over the years, we realized that football is the backdrop. Football is nothing more than an extension of the classroom. The objective of our father, whether they stepped into room 206 or stepped onto the football field, was education and character. There was never a victory, a season or a win that came close to the satisfaction that my father feels where he recounts stories of students succeeding when the odds were stacked against them, or a student going on to a successful career and taking the time to call or visit because my dad was pushing them so hard to succeed.”Jim Fortuna had fond memories on his time at Gilbert and the importance of sports in education.“In 1952, I made one of the best decisions ever,” Jim Fortuna said. “I chose to accept a job here at The Gilbert School. Many years ago, there were times I thought I never receive a high school diploma. It was the time of the great depression and college was out of reach for many of my generation. I certainly would’ve been a high school dropout if it would not have been for sports. Sports in high school was the reason why I was highly motivated by the programs.”Magdalena Kruk, who graduated from Gilbert in 1995, received the Young Achievement Award.Kruk arrived with her family from Poland in 1993 and enrolled that year as a junior at Gilbert. She did not know how to speak English when she came to America.Kruk eventually graduated from Northwestern Connecticut Community College in 2000 and Central Connecticut State University.Today, Kruk teaches French and Spanish at Suffield High School.“The Gilbert School gave me the foundation, dedication and the guidance that I needed so much,” Kruk said. “Eighteen years ago I had come to this country. I had great teachers, people and staff members. They were always there with any help that I might have needed at the time. I was really excited coming to school and the members of the faculty is what I remember as being so special.”Daniel Smith, who graduated from Gilbert in 1952, received the Distinguished Professional Achievement award.After he graduated from Gilbert, Smith served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War as a medic, operating room technician and swimming instructor.When he returned home from the Army, Smith saved a resident’s life during the Winsted flood of 1955 when he jumped into a river and pulled a man out of it.He attended Springfield College and graduated in 1960.Smith was involved in the civil rights movement and became the executive director of a federal anti-poverty program in Lowdnes County, Ala.From there, Smith moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for several years in the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity.During that time, Smith developed neighborhood health centers throughout the country.In 1972, he designed and developed the nationwide Area Health Education program in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health. Smith served as the program’s chief and national director.Later, he served as the director of Subsaharan African Programs and ended his governmental career by serving as the special projects director in the Office of Health Resources and Services Administration.After a long career in government, Smith retired in 1994. He then became the head usher of the Washington National Cathedral, where he worked until 2002.Smith, who spent many years in Washington, D.C., did not shy away from politics in his speech at the award ceremony.“On Sept. 14, 2001, President [George W. Bush] came to [the Cathedral] to give a major speech,” Smith said. “I noticed that he was nervous when I was walking him to a seat. He turned and our eyes locked. I said to him ‘Mr. Bush, the American people are with you.’ And he thanked me. I did that regardless that I was not a supporter of him. I respected the name and the office. I think it’s unfortunate that from day one, that this current president, President Obama, does not get the same kind of respect.”Arnold “Arne” Grandel, who graduated from Gilbert in 1982, received the Outstanding Community Service Award.After he graduated from Gilbert, Grandel became an AIDS educator.Grandel has presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City about HIV and AIDS prevention and education.He has traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress to support funding AIDS research and health programs.Grandel has also helped develop and launch a halfway house for HIV and Hepatitis C clients in New Hampshire.“Wow, 34 years years after walking through the doors of Gilbert and I am finally popular in high school,” Grandel said. “If we rewind back to September 1982, there would be a skinny brown-haired boy walking into the school all excited with the hopes of the future. Then he found out, ‘wow, I don’t really fit in here.’ I didn’t play sports, I was in the band, I was a dancer, I was starring in my own 1970s Glee. I learned over the years that it’s not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you that makes you what you are today. I found sanctuary in the band room. Here at Gilbert School I always had the faculty on my side and that’s how I got through my high school years.”Finally, Daniel Jones, who graduated in 1983, received the Outstanding Achievement in Athletics award.Jones played defensive end on the football team and earned a spot on the All-Pequot Conference Team in his senior year.He also played center on the basketball team and was a catcher on the baseball team.Jones now is an assistant coach in football and basketball at Gilbert.“An award like this does not come from one individual, I have had a lot of help along the way,” Jones said. “My mother and father never missed a game or a practice, they are even helping me when I am coaching. The great thing about coaching at Gilbert is we get to give back. The memories that I have here from the school are all about the coaches. They were great role models for me and they taught me everything to know to be an upstanding individual.”

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