Gilbert Trust awards nearly $70,000 in scholarships

WINSTED — At its annual scholarship awards event Monday evening, June 13, The W.L. Gilbert Trust Corporation awarded almost $70,000 in higher education assistance to 59 Gilbert School seniors and alumni.More than 170 award recipients, parents, board members, faculty and staff attended the trust-sponsored awards event in the school auditorium, followed by a coffee and dessert reception. The Gilbert Jazz Combo provided pre-event entertainment.The Gilbert Trust, the non-profit organization that supports the town’s semi-private high school, holds more than $1.5 million in endowed scholarships and other named funds, many of which have been in existence since the early 1900s. The funds were established by graduates, local businesses and other friends of the school and are awarded each year to deserving applicants.One of the highlights of the evening was when trust President Tom Botticelli presented graduating senior Mallory Rotondo with the Phyllis C. Locascio Scholarship. The $10,000 higher-education award, renewable for a total of up to four years, was made possible last year by a generous bequest from the late Ms. Locascio of Winsted. Mallory is the daughter of Cathy and James Rotondo, the director of public works for the town of Winchester. Mallory is headed this fall to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

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CORNWALL — At the recommendation of the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department, on Jan. 20 the Board of Selectmen voted to move forward with the purchase of two new trucks.

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Robin Lee Roy

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SALISBURY — Marjorie A. Vreeland, 98, passed away peacefully at Noble Horizons, on Jan. 10, 2026.She was surrounded by her two loving children, Richard and Nancy.She was born in Bronxville, New York,on Aug. 9, 1927, to Alice (Meyer) and Joseph Casey, both of whom were deceased by the time she was 14. She attended public schools in the area and graduated from Eastchester High School in Tuckahoe and, in 1946 she graduated from The Wood School of Business in New York City.

At 19 years old, she married Everett W. Vreeland of White Plains, New York and for a few years they lived in Ithaca, New York, where Everett was studying to become a veterinarian at Cornell. After a short stint in Coos Bay, Oregon (Mike couldn’t stand the cloudy, rainy weather!) they moved back east to Middletown, Connecticut for three years where Dr. Vreeland worked for Dr. Pieper’s veterinary practice.In Aug. of 1955, Dr. and Mrs. Vreeland moved to North Kent, Connecticut with their children and started Dr. Vreeland’s Veterinary practice. In Sept. of 1968 Marjorie, or “Mike” as she wished to be called, took a “part-time job” at the South Kent School.She retired from South Kent 23 years later on Sept. 1, 1991.Aside from office help and bookkeeping she was secretary to the Headmaster and also taught Public Speaking and Typing.In other times she worked as an assistant to the Town Clerk in Kent, an office worker and receptionist at Ewald Instruments Corp. and as a volunteer at the Kent Library.

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