What was my last summer at Topsmead and how was it memorable?

This is a hard question to answer because there was no clear-cut end to my time at Topsmead. In fact, the Friends of Topsmead has enabled me to feel connected to the property even in my old age. Miss Edith in her will, gave my parents lifetime access to their home at Topsmead. She was very good to her employees that way. But for me, it’s kind of sad to think of the last years I lived at Topsmead because the main house was empty.

My last full summer as a child would have been in 1946 when I was 9 years old. After that my summer “Topsmead time” was limited to our two-week glorious summer vacations and weekends. This was because my mother opened a luncheonette in Waterbury with her sister, so we town with her. However, my dad commuted to work at Topsmead during the summer. In 1962, my mother retired from her business and Miss Edith completely refurbished our house at Topsmead because my mom was coming back.

By then I had graduated from college and was employed in full-time positions. From 1962 to 1968 I worked in Torrington, so I spent my summers living at Topsmead with Mom and Dad. Then I was transferred to Indiana, and Mom and Dad continued to spend summers at Topsmead until 1995 when Mother entered a convalescent home due to an illness.

I returned to Connecticut in 1976 and in 1980 I bought my parents’ house in Waterbury. My Dad passed away in 1999 and my mom, in 2001 but up until then the house at Topsmead was their “vacation home” and a beautiful diversion during their senior years. I typically continued to spend my vacation time with my parents at Topsmead up until they passed.

I turned our house over to the state in June 2001. My memories of the last years at Topsmead are bittersweet. My brother Jackie, who was my Topsmead companion, passed away in 1977. The ladies were gone too, and the property opened as a State Forest. So Topsmead felt different than it had during its glory days. But memories of the beauty, the bountiful garden, and the wonderful people who made Topsmead so special remain and continue to give me great joy.

Bob Orintas
Son of John Orintas (John was Edith Morton Chase's chauffeur, 1925-1972)