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08/16/2017 08:30 AMThe news that Amazon.com is taking over the former Pratt & Whitney site has had the town talking since it was revealed. Recently, former Pratt & Whitney employee Bill Richards found original pictures from the early days of the business and will donate them to the Town of North Haven.
“With that, I figured the timing would be right,” Bill says about donating the pictures after the Amazon announcement.
As a former employee of Pratt & Whitney, Bill says the business was “booming” back in the day, and that everyone working there was always busy and paid very well.
“It was a family-type business where you could have your mother and father working there, you could have your sister working in another branch…so it was a lot of families back in day…that we had working,” Bill says.
Bill recalls when the business would have get-togethers for the families of the employees, mentioning the aircraft club that would run events and organize trips. He also remembers the baseball field that the business had on-site, and when the business would run Christmas shows for kids at the auditorium in the old high school.
“Back in that day with the high employment level…when they were really booming, could have been around 7,000 people up there,” Bill says about the employment level of Pratt & Whitney.
He says that the number of people employed, and the high level of business activity, probably contributed to people buying more houses and spending more money in town, which brought the town up to where it is today.
Bill says he acquired the pictures from a gentleman who used to be in management and ran the aircraft club. He spays he held onto them because of how important the company was to the town.
First Selectman Michael Freda says the originals will be donated to the North Haven Historical Society, and reprints of the pictures will be made, framed, and hung up in Town Hall.
Bill also used to work part-time for the town’s Parks & Recreation Department, helping take care of the cemeteries, and says it was good working with that department.
He has been involved in other groups and organization around town, one of them being scouts. Bill says the North Haven Congregational Church had a scout group that he was a part of when he was a kid, and remembers camping out in the area of the Town Green near the current site of the gazebo.
When his son came out of Cub Scouts, he says that he and another individual restarted the Boy Scout troop, and ran it for many years. He recalled some of the projects his troop participated in over the years, such as building a shot put field, and says that one of the two bridges on the Peter’s Rock trail was built by his troop. Bill enjoys following the successes of the kids his troop helped develop.
“It benefited the town greatly, and it’s rewarding to see where all these kids have gone and ended up today,” Bill says, “A lot of them really ended up in excellent jobs, really excellent jobs.”
Bill, his wife Pat, and other members of his family used to help with the North Haven Fair in the agricultural area, which include flowers, vegetables, and baking. Bill says he thinks the fair still has the wooden and glass cases that baking goods are put in, which he says he built along with his father.
While the agricultural area is still a central part of the fair, Bill says the fair, as with all things, has changed.
“Back in that day, I think you had more people that were more excited going in and seeing the exhibits than going into just the amusement rides,” Bill says.
Bill has dedicated a lot of time to the ski slopes. He’d take his scouts out for ski weekends, and Bill and his family were also active with the North Haven Ski Club, for which he served treasurer. Bill says it was nice to go out as a family through the club.
Bill acknowledges he was involved with a lot of volunteer work over the years, and says he hopes a lot of other people out there will volunteer their time as well.
“It’s good, you still think about it, and you have ideas that you can relate to people,” Bill says, “I can relate to people, and I still like to do some things.”
Now retired, Bill likes his gardening and yard work, and the summer concert series on the Town Green on Tuesdays.
“It’s a chance for everybody to come out, enjoy themselves, meet their friends,” Bill says of the concerts.
He also says “you never know who you’re going to run into,” noting that he’s seen people who also used to work at Pratt & Whitney.
“The only bad problem is when you come to September, what am I going to do on Tuesday nights?” Bill asks, laughing.