Albert S. Redway Jr. obituary

Middlebury Congregational Church deacon

Albert S. Redway Jr. passed away June 24, 2015, surrounded by his family. He was born Sept. 26, 1929, in New Haven, the son of the late Dorothy Bryant and Albert Redway. His father was a noted industrialist in the state who served as president of the National Manufacturing Association of Connecticut.

Raised in New Haven and Hamden, he served as a volunteer in the mailroom and pharmacy of Yale New Haven Hospital during World War II. He attended secondary school at Westminster School in Simsbury and was elected head prefect (class president) for his senior year. He entered Princeton University and served as assistant business manager of the Daily Princetonian, the university’s daily paper. Graduating in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in history and a commission as a 2nd lieutenant, artillery in the U.S. Army, Al was ordered into active duty. He attended the Artillery School at Fort Sill, Okla. and served with the 37th Infantry Division in Louisiana and the 45th Infantry Division in Korea.

After being deactivated from the service, he entered the training program at the Scovill Manufacturing Company in Waterbury. During his 16 years with the company he served in various manufacturing positions in the general products division and became production control manager of the relay division, which produced miniature relay switches used in military aircraft and missiles. In 1972, he received his master’s degree from the University of Connecticut and switched careers to banking with the Colonial Bank and Trust Company. He served 25 years in the trust division, later known as “private banking” when Bank of Boston acquired the bank. As a vice president he was at one time manager of trust administration and ended his career as the senior fiduciary officer.

Al served as a deacon and superintendent of the Sunday school of the Middlebury Congregational Church, president of the Tribury Rotary Club, chairman of the Woodbury Planning Commission, member of the Woodbury retirement and pension board, a director of Pomperaug Woods, and a coordinator for FISH, the volunteer organization providing transportation to medical appointments for Woodbury residents unable to drive.

He maintained an abiding interest in American history, especially the American Revolutionary War where one of his direct ancestors, Preserved Redway, served in the Continental Army. He was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars as a result of John Redway fighting and suffering from wounds in King Phillips War in 1676.

Al was a life-long fly fisherman and a member of the Walton Fishing Club in Cornwall Bridge, serving as treasurer for 20 years. In his later years he hiked the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut and Massachusetts and climbed in the presidential range of the White Mountains. Al and his wife, Nonnie, frequently traveled west for horseback riding in Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. They participated in the Russell Ride following the trail of the noted artist Charles Russell through the Little Belt Mountains of Montana.

He developed a life-long interest in the Grand Canyon, visiting it four times. During his college years he hiked with his college roommate 30 miles roundtrip from the North Rim to the Colorado River in 120-degree heat. He returned with Nonnie in 1996 at age 67 descending from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon on the famous Grand Canyon mules.

Mr. Redway is survived by his wife, Eleanore (Nonnie) D. Redway; his sister, Nancy Redway Pugsley of Branford, Conn.; his two sons, Albert (Tad ) S. Redway III of Hollis, Maine and James D. Redway of Middlebury, Conn.;, daughter-in-law Elizabeth Bean Redway of Middlebury; grandsons, James Christopher Redway and Jason A.G. Redway, and granddaughter, Holly A. Hazzard of Boston, Mass.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Middlebury Congregational Church, 1242 Middlebury Road, Middlebury, Conn.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 11, at 11 a.m. at the Middlebury Congregational Church.