Fairfield Girls We are the Fairfield Girls! We wear our hair in curls! We wear our dungarees, Rolled up above our knees! We wear our Fathers' shirts! We wear our Brothers' ties! And when it comes to boys, We take them by surprize! - late fifties hometown jingle Our children won't believe this They'll say it can't be true, No one could have been that dumb! Not in old days or new! "But, yes, my dears, that is the fact, I see no way to hide it, In retrospect,sometimes preferred, and so I won't deride it! The typical day of the Fairfield Girl, was like a Gidget movie! We cared not much for goings on, unless we thought it "groovy" The hair must be at Shoulder length And "Jackie-O" brunettes Won their fellows every time And their Father's bets! Dope? A name for wiseguy boys Sex, a mystery... Violence? Not in our town Our men were heroes, see? Poverty?.... for other folks Or, should it come, genteel Rock and Roll was here to stay! Its icons made us reel! ... ...to be continued... unless you stop me... delighted in your verse ideas... I'd love for you to top me... please leave out obscene/profane... the Fairfield page must shine... but I will publish at this page... the ones that come through fine... with your name and link, of course... or, if you wish, without it... but Fairfield ranks among the best and now no one will doubt it!...~ elle ~ I'd forgotten her, till PBS Special just now ... I sang in chorus and performed as a girl ... music, music, music ... my church choir, rock and roll, Broadway shows-every song or don't bother... some jazz, and somehow Peggy Lee ... I could do Peggy Lee... though not "in front of people, if I valued my life, I learned the hard way. Tonight I learned our birthdays were two days apart. I tested "I'm a woman on Mrs. A___sen because of her Scandinavian name... Mrs. A was horrified and asked me to leave ... bows in our hair in those days, and Steam was for irons and clams. :-) But Peggy Lee's lyrics: "I can make a dress out of a feedbag"...probably inspired "Gunne Saks" gowns for our daughters...the rage in the 80's, or don't leave the house. The song for a teen , expressed a young woman's fears of maturing a well as her mother, then climbed aggressively all over them and mastered it, one notch too much so for me in real life, but honestly. "Wind Beneath my Wings", "He's a Tramp", "Is that all there is?" ..... all highschool roleplaying "favorites". Public Television for neat memory ! Fairfield Girl Style ~ some of it is "in" again...enjoy! Bergdorf Goodman= elegance, still! Victoria's Secret not always a fan, but could not help but smile when their latest store opened in Fairfield, times dooooo change. Naturalizer Shoes Still doing great things for feet without sacrificing style and beauty. Sharon Lavoie Lamb's eBay Store features some of my art,and much more! Tiffany & Company Dare to Dream! Friend Karen Legg's page at eBay Her 4000 sales show the value of serving Beauty on a Budget needs. Neiman Marcus Texas true and cool luxe for all ! Estée Lauder for 40 years, a motive, a spirit, as well as scent and skin care and cosmetic. Our Music Try this link, 1964 Top 100 Hits Try a Search, and you will find Sound files, fast and free for instant nostalgia. Regaining a graceful walk after and accident, "The Girl from Ipanema" helped: The Girl From Ipanema Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto (Writer(s): Jobim/Gimbel/DeMoraes) Tall and tan and young and lovely The girl from Ipanema goes walking And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah When she walks, she's like a samba That swings so cool and sways so gentle That when she passes, each one she passes goes - ooh (Ooh) But I watch her so sadly How can I tell her I love her Yes I would give my heart gladly But each day, when she walks to the sea She looks straight ahead, not at me Tall, (and) tan, (and) young, (and) lovely The girl from Ipanema goes walking And when she passes, I smile - but she doesn't see (doesn't see) (She just doesn't see, she never sees me,...) She was not an individual , but a mystique.....the tune in sweetwithchy minor chords that sound like the words. She would have been polite but disinterested in Heavy Metal, and Heavy Metal, oddly respectful....she was sexy and a natural, a natural woman, and a natural LADY. Not shy, not exhibitionist........ a sort of Botticelli Venus with Savvy..... Keep on the lookout, Guys....she 's back in style and that is a good sign about things. I began the entries about this important part of Fairfield life, then realized that the Music Fan Page would show and share it better. I hope you will agree. Club links and links to audio files, and more! Watch for the fansite links! Many of our favorites are still very active, or memorialized and have been kind enough to create great online existence, so we dream again, and remember......... Official Social Fairfield Girl Guidelines Sixties From memories of:"on becoming eighteen" per column,"Ask Jake", Glamour Magazine, Spring 1965(?) - thumbnail guide to "normal social" develop a nice speaking voice listen contact before visiting thanks after visiting polite relations with elders legal,money,studies,medical in good order "hello/goodbye","please/thank-you","I'm delighted/I'm sorry" romantic life in proportion "most of the time" :-) wardrobe and grooming for grace and appearance ~ impress,do not oppress be able to make a good cup of coffee pay attention to effect your presence has on people, and adjust let your lights shine, but don 't blind others, encourage their lights, too ~ KEYWORDS FOR FURTHER NOTES , HERE AND ELSEWHERE Greenfield Hill organdy mountain laurel,peonies,rambler roses, and memorial day poppies Grange Fair Timothy Dwight, Holy Family, Church Steeples, Windmill little white flowers, notes in knotholes, copperhead, beardy dog, bunnies and woodchucks Churchouse, the elvengown with buglebeads,funnyeights,patriotism,blue plaid lunchbox "playing store" jungle gyms treelore cartwheels mountain laurel possum, pumpkin, ballantine girl, angel in the christmas play saint anthony, me an cookie go for a walk, snowsuits, lambies,clown pajamas tvland......

COMMENT/STORIES, RE: Faifield Days 1947-1966 "SAINT ANTHONOTES", very casual, enjoy and comment: Saint Anthony of Padua was the patron of our school and church in childhood, and I received my childhood sacraments there, my parents were married there, as were Peter and I and Peter John was baptized there, just before his Father left for Viet Nam...a little early, in fact,due to my husband's departure date...it was typical to wait till the three-month age for the infant and mother to be in that first true rosy time after childbirth, but Peter John was baptized on February 20th, a month and a day after his birth on January 19th, and his father off to war on the 24th, and home on December 8th with a jubilant family. A favorite: In spring we sang to Saint Anthony in three languages...English Polish and Latin, and venerated his spirit in processions in white dresses. He was the patron of lost and stolen things, and to this day, if I am underemployed enough to lose a thing, I pray to Saint Anthony and have fun with its safe return, celebrating the neat little path to the heart of the good saint, paved with the flowers and mosses of devotion for all these years. I loved Saint Anthony in a natural way because I am a "part of fortune" Cancer, astrologically. In a chart of the influence of God's stars, the "part of fortune" inclines us , re: money and material things.....Part of Fortune Cancer hates to lose things, loves keepsakes, and is often a natural repository for stuff....banker, gallery owner, and of course, I still have my baby shoes...and am usually good at carefully choosing what to eliminate without danger ...never throw the baby away with the bath water, and still cannot understand how I managed to be widowed at age 34 ..."love is a freedom song" was the motto of the day and enjoying our feminine freedom it was important not to inhibit that of our most-loved others. ........I wish I had been more possessive of the one I loved most on earth ... perhaps it would have saved us the blinding loss. But for twenty years I was able to smile as he returned from his day's work happily, on time and of his own volition....love is a freedom song. But today's quote in my online saint's story newsletter motivated this writing. "Earthly riches are like the reed. Its roots are sunk in the swamp, and its exterior is fair to behold; but inside it is hollow. If a man leans on such a reed, it will snap off and pierce his soul. -St. Anthony of Padua" This concept confused me completely....survival motivates us to prosperity, and the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience made little sense to me. Then the recession of the fifties and my parents' health problems, and there were poor days, and yet my parents sang and laughed and worked in good spirit toward better days...and I thought " "Oh that's what the poverty teaching is for....so we remember to love one another, rich or poor, and inspire one another with good heart so that we may work well toward the return of happier and more prosperous days." It also helps to prevent greed and larceny and other crimes motivated by riches.......and my Father would say at party time that it was probably meant to inspire money gifts to the church ...to loosen our wallets in the direction of collections.... :-) Of course, Mother had "that look" for our Father and Momskirt for us at such remarks ...not helpful....and he would laugh at her consternation and love us all in good humor at such moments. The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist. -Pope St. Gregory the Great So I hope you will accept my apologies and ask questions, comment , and visit again, and in the meantime, be sure to enjoy the many galleries at the site. Old Fairfield friends are most certainly invited to e-mail me esfagan@ellefagan.com, and please accept my best wishes and thanks. ~elle The Notre Dame Girl These times are ones of profound "growing pains" for my Church, and I like to remind myself and others that the headline-making controversies involve a very small part of our Church's spirit and works and celebrations! And our Church rejoices in God's best Justice and resolutions being brought to incidents of difficulties. I rejoice that our evolutions as a species has gotten to the level of development that allows abuses to come to light and be dealt with, rather than the broad-scale social degeneracies that left its victims without a forum or hope for justice. Good Churches, like good Governments, last because they allow for growth and change, for improvements. They can bend, so they do not break. I attended the Twentieth Reunion of the Class of '65 at Notre Dame Catholic H.S., then co-institutional, meaning that the beautiful campus consisted of a central area housing the Chapel, Auditorium, Gym and certain Administrative offices; the Boys' wing flew out from one side and the Girls'wing from the other. My experience of the school was Maria Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music"....a delight! I loved my studies, and Jackie Kennedy made it fun cute and popular to be a fashion-conscious Catholic brunette, and I sang soprano, and enjoyed jumping in at a moment's notice to help with clubs, yearbook, sewing costumes for the performances, doing notes and newsletter, and theater arts...especially one role no one wanted to do...including me...but since Theater make-up was old or glamourous, it was a big chance to prance about in lotttttttsss of mascara, and show off the knees. But I must have done it fairly well, because I was honored to serve at understudy to the Title role of Saint Joan at the Men's University Theater at 17, under one of theater's biggest producers, and so met my husband on campus.....best role I never got paid to play! And when it was done, I was happy to revert to my visual arts and writings and help with a show poster arts project there, too! In those days, The Convent of the Sisters of Notre Dame was located on the University Campus, and their order provided our high school teachers, and devotions were a delight through them, whose founder was Saint Julie Billiart, and her motto: "Ah! Si bon est le Bon Dieu!", or, Oh!How Good is the Good God!". I loved the structure and conservatism of the Franciscans who taught at our Grammar School, but these Sisters of Notre Dame were a little more liberal, and expressed happiness more compatibly with this May-born girl. In 1965, Saint Julie Billiart was not yet canonized, and I was so delighted to find she'd "made the grade", that her profile follows here, with a referencing link: Saint Julia Billiart (also called: Julie Billart, Mary Rose Julia Billiart,Julia of Billiart) Memorial: April 8.......canonized 22June 1969 by Pope Paul VIF Profile:Founder Sisters of Notre Dame - Namurs, Belgium Motto: "Ah! Si Bon Est Le Bon Dieu!" Born: 12 July 1751 at Cuvilly, diocese of Beauvais, department of Oise, Picardy, France as Mary Rose Julia Billiart...took vows at age 14 Crippled:1773, stunned while seated next to her Father, who had been shot at, she remained partially disabled till Miraculously healed June 1, 1804 Ministry: begun before, continued during the French Revolution,with help from friends, began the first convent of Sisters of Notre Dame October 15,1804,first centered at Amiens,but later, Namurs, and established 15 convents by the time of her Death: from natural causes (while praying)April 8,1816, at Namurs, Belgium Patronage: against poverty, bodily ills, impoverishment, poverty, sick people, sickness http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj69.htm

SISOMO! "sight sound and motion" - the class of '65 is going strong and enjoying some of today, while treasuring yesterday so dearly. This video really brings those days into such exciting focus! Click here to enjoy "Fi-yah !" this brilliant 'Blasts from the Past' Flash video! Once you've watched the video play back,you can click on anything and it brings up the history. Enjoy ! Remember ! Wonder! Sing & dance along, it invites ! ...> When the song starts you can also click on "Lyrics" in the lower right, and "full screen" upper left. Find it at..... http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html ..... if clicking here fails to take you there !

related links ~ past and present

About the Site And the Artist
an elle fagan artsite
Back to Wordsite
An Officer and a Gentleman
Town of Fairfield, Connecticut Website
Fairfield University Website
Glamour Magazine Website
Sandra Dee includes links to Bobby Darin and Troy Donahue sites
Gene Pitney my page, links to Official Site,
for Connecticut's R&R Hall of Fame member, includes fan club data, performance dates/ticket info......
yesssss! he's still doing us proud !
Jan & Dean New, since the recent passing of the genius, Jan
Brenda Lee

Artsfriends, divergent and treasured, to start: