PERSONALITIES: South Windsor volunteer builds on the past

Mar. 11—SOUTH WINDSOR — At 80 years old, Joan Walsh has spent nearly 75% of her life thus far giving back to her community — being on the PTA, volunteering with the local historical society, serving as a town constable.

Walsh didn't start in South Windsor, though.

JOAN WALSH

Who she is: Town constable, member of South Windsor Historical Society.

Hometown: South Windsor. Grew up in Rocky Hill.

Achievements: Worked to help restore Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse as a museum; active volunteer in town.

Quote: "You've got to pay back living, bringing up your family in a town. ... We stayed here for a reason."

Born in West Hartford, she and her father moved to Rocky Hill after her mother died.

"I was 4 1/2 , and two years later my dad remarried and we moved to Rocky Hill," Walsh said. "My high school was in Wethersfield because our town didn't have a high school."

While in school, Walsh would play softball, ride her bike around town, and work on the school newspaper.

She started working at her first job while in high school.

"I worked at a bank," she said. "I was trained at Hartford National. Then I switched just before we got married. I went to Charter Oak Bank."

She married her high school sweetheart, Warren "Red" Walsh, in 1961, moved to South Windsor, and has been married for 62 years.

"Who I married made a big difference," Walsh said. "They say how (men) treat their mothers, is how their wife gets treated. Well, I get treated very nicely. He still will open doors for me when we're getting in the car."

She said she left the banking business after she became pregnant with their first son.

"We had three children within four or five years, all sons," she said. She would eventually have four.

She said she started getting involved with the local PTA before her children were even old enough to go to school, starting a bowling league to raise money for the schools.

Walsh eventually was elected president of the PTA, she said, a post she held for one term.

"During that time we raised a lot of money," she said. "When the other schools in town found out about the bowling alley, getting a league, two or three others called me and I set the same up for them."

It was in 1998, she said, when she started getting involved with the South Windsor Historical Society.

She said the group was actively recruiting new members to move forward with the society's plan to turn the Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse into a museum.

The schoolhouse dates to 1862, she said, and was the last of about a dozen area schoolhouses that didn't get converted into a house or was torn down.

"The historical society used it for meetings and then the town offered it," she said. "We paid a dollar for it. June Lanza and Mike Lanza added on to the building a bathroom and a kitchen. We set it up through the town to have a museum and tours."

Walsh said she became treasurer of the historical society. With the assistance of a $20,000 gift and fundraising, nearly $40,000 was raised to renovate the building and prepare it for tours.

"Even though it was a town building, we still had to go through all the commissions, which June Lanza did. I went with her and get it approved. When it was approved, it was because we wanted to have a museum downstairs," she said.

The museum opened, and tours were introduced in 2001, she said, noting it has become a rite of passage for every third grader in the school system to take a filed trip to the old schoolhouse.

During the pandemic, Walsh said, she opened up the museum for tours for families during the summer.

In December, every year for 15 years, she said, she has been Mrs. Claus at the schoolhouse.

"This year we had 400 adults and 96 children," she said.

"That was our best year. People come because their kids don't want to go to the mall. They'd rather come to the schoolhouse. This year we've got the Easter Bunny coming."

The historical society holds events at the senior center and at Wood Memorial Library on Main Street, she said.

"We do programs," she said. "We split the programs with them. We pay half the fee for the speaker. We have a small charge for admission and we split that between us."

She said they bring in local people who have in-depth knowledge of town history.

"I never knew how much history we have just down on Main Street," Walsh said. "It's all over."

Currently, she said, the historical society is working on fundraising through a brick walk, where people can buy a brick with their names engraved on it that will be placed on the sidewalk leading up to the schoolhouse, which is currently under repair due to drainage issues.

"We're going to take out the entire brick walk," Walsh said. "We're going to lay the proper foundation for it and take care of the drainage problem."

Another act of civil service to the town that Walsh participates in is being a town constable, which is an elected position.

She said she started doing it to keep busy after her youngest son, Rob, died.

"We raised four children here in town," she said. "We're in our fourth home and want to give back."

Though she had stepped down from working with the historical society, she said she recently returned, volunteering with fundraising efforts with the goal to keep the schoolhouse going, and was re-elected as a town constable.

"I feel I've got two more years that I can do it," she said. "We don't go door to door with that, by the way. Only occasionally we have to, and I haven't had anybody that's been rude. They feel comfortable because they're dealing with a resident.

"You've got to pay back living, bringing up your family in a town," she said. "We stayed here for a reason. I've seen a great deal of growth."

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