HARWINTON OUTSTANDING CITIZEN
2010 Honoree

LARRY CONNORS

Larry has been a Harwinton resident for most of his life moving from Torrington to Harwinton as a young child. He also lived for a short time in Goshen. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, have made their home together in Harwinton since 1985. They have two grown children, Elizabeth O’Connell of Harwinton and Kathleen Connors of Washington, DC, and two grandchildren, Thomas and Mary O’Connell. He attended Center School, one of Harwinton’s one-room school houses, Harwinton Consolidated School, and graduated from Torrington High School. Mr. Connors received his Bachelors Degree from Central Connecticut State College and his Masters in Economics from Trinity College and taught English and American and World History at Lewis S. Mills High School before spending most of his career at the Torrington Company, retiring in 2003. He enjoys woodworking, playing softball, and being a backyard vegetable gardener.

Larry was chairman of the Historic District Study Committee that conducted extensive research and worked to obtain approval from property owners and by vote of the town to enact the Town of Harwinton Historic District Ordinance enabling the establishment of the two Historic Districts in Harwinton that now also includes Historic Properties.

In earlier years, Larry was involved in town politics and government through the Democratic Town Committee and the Planning Commission where he served as chairman for eight years. He has been active in the Harwinton Lions Club and the Torrington Lodge of Elks where he is a Past Exalted Ruler and current Trustee. He helped rebuild the Harwinton Fire Department building located at the Harwinton Fairgrounds, was active in constructing Project Graduation decorations when his daughters were at Mills, and enjoys contributing wooden craft items to the Harwinton Library craft fairs. He is the current chairman of the Board of Directors of the Harwinton Land Conservation Trust and is a member of the town’s ad hoc Open Space Committee. He volunteers as a member of the Brooker Memorial Facilities Committee and serves as a Corporator at Torrington Savings Bank. He was an active volunteer and was co-chair of the committee overseeing the extensive remodeling project at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church.

Larry noted, “When I came to Harwinton in 1941, it was a wonderful place to live. Today it is greatly changed, but it remains a friendly, safe, successful community. The challenge for our generations is to ensure the future Harwinton retains the character we enjoy by protecting our land and natural resources as well as our democratic beliefs and government”.

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