Windham resident celebrates milestone 102nd birthday

By Ed Pierce

As a child growing up in the West End of Boston, Concetta “Connie” Parisi always thought her birthday was March 21. It was something that her mother told her but later in life she learned her birthday was really March 22 as she was born at home and her birth certificate wasn’t filed with the city clerk right away. Nevertheless, over the weekend of March 21-22 this year, Connie Parisi of Windham celebrated her 102nd birthday with more than 50 family members on hand to wish her well.

Concetta 'Connie' Parisi of Windham turned
102 last weekend and celebrated at a birthday
party attended by more than 50 members of
her family. She loves to crochet and sing
and playing the game Rummikub.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

Born Concetta Mary Tricomi in 1924, she had six brothers and attended Girls High and Latin School in Boston. She was an average student in school and was a member of the Biology Club and led an exercise class during recess. But it was in Chorus class where she developed a love for music that continues to this day.

In the school chorus, students would sing songs written by Sibelius, Mozart, and Ravel and upon her graduation in 1942, she was asked to be a special student at the Conservatory of Music in Boston. There Connie spent an entire year singing opera and decided to go to a new school that offered contemporary music and she also sang at church.

A neighbor named Hayes Gordon was appearing in a show at the Shubert Theater on Broadway called “Finian’s Rainbow” and offered Connie a singing position in the show’s chorus in New York at $100 a week.

“He said ‘Just send me a postcard and I’ll meet you’ but I never did because I knew my mother and father would not approve and I didn’t want to be confined to the theater,” she said. “I was an outdoors person and liked to sail, swim and horseback ride. So, I never told my parents.”

Connie’s mother was an orphan who had come to America from Italy at the age of 9. Her father was also an Italian immigrant and eloped with her mother at 19. They settled in Brooklyn, New York but later moved to Boston, where they raised seven children, six boys and one girl, Connie.

With World War II raging, Connie did what she could to assist, knitting navy blue children’s sweaters for children in England. Her brother Joseph was exempt from the draft because he was married and had children. Her brother Benjamin went to Hawaii to build aircraft for the war. Her brother Salvatore joined the Merchant Marines and died when the oil tanker he was on was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Her brother Tony joined the Navy and served in the Philippines. Her brother John also joined the Navy and served in Europe. Her brother Vincent was too young for World War II but at 18 was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Korea.

During the war years, Connie sang in the choir at Saint Joseph’s Church in Boston and performed at Fort Devens, the Navy Marine Hospital, and for other smaller military units.

When she was 22 years old, Connie’s brother Ben took her by trolley to her uncle's wake. There she met Sarro, the father of concert pianist Mary Ramirez.

“He invited me to visit. She played songs that I liked to sing and songs that she could play. She also wrote music,” Connie said. “Every Sunday, Ben would take me to visit, and we would practice music together. We would gather and sing. It was the first time I met her, and she was always good to me.”

During a rehearsal, Mary introduced Connie to Michael Parisi, a student at the Boston University School of Law. The couple dated for three years before he proposed to her on Dec. 19, 1948 in front of her father and mother.

“At that time, I was singing at different places,” she said. “I sang at a hotel near Copley Square. It was a small hotel near Copley Plaza. I decided to have my wedding reception there. We got married on Sept. 5, 1949. The wedding ceremony was at Saint Joseph's Church in the West End.”

Michael and Connie were blessed with five children Paul, who is now deceased; Elizabeth; Mary; Carol; and Lillian. Michael had a long career as an attorney and they raised their family in Everett, Massachusetts and would vacation at Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire.

She stayed at home to raise the children but eventually returned to work.

“After a while I went back to work as a key punch operator,” Connie said. “I took many Civil Service tests and worked my way up to a secretary. The last job I worked for was the Department of Education in Quincy, Massachusetts and retired at 66.”

In 2013, Connie moved to Brightview Senior Living in Danvers, Massachusetts where she entertained others with her repertoire of musical scores and performing six concerts there. Her husband Michael died in 2017.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Connie moved to Windham where she lives with her daughter Mary and her husband Roger by Little Sebago Lake. She reads, crochets and likes playing Rummikub.

For her birthday, Connie loved being close to her family on her special day which included a visit from her daughter-in-law Judy, her son Paul’s widow.

As she ate a piece of birthday cake, someone asked her what it felt like to be 102 years old.

“All I have to say is I made it,” she said. <     

WHS graduate dazzles in leading role in new Broadway musical

By Ed Pierce

Robyn Hurder is a shining example of someone who has worked hard to achieve her dreams and is now dazzling audiences in a starring turn in a hit Broadway musical in New York City.

Robyn Hurder, a 2000 graduate of Windham High School,
is the star of the new musical "Smash" which debuted on
Broadway in April. She started taking dancing lessons at
a young age and expressed a desire to appear on Broadway
stages as a young girl.
PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY AND PAUL KOLNIK   

Growing up in Windham, Hurder leads the cast of the new musical “Smash” that opened at the Imperial Theatre on April 10. It’s a role that secures her place in Broadway history after years of performing in the cast of 22 Broadway shows and receiving a Tony Award nomination in 2020 for her part in “Moulin Rouge.”

Hurder graduated in 2000 from Windham High School and is a former member of the Windham Chamber Singers and studied dance at the Maine State Ballet.

Her mother enrolled Robyn at age 7 in a dance studio in Scarborough. She says that she liked the tap and ballet lessons there but by age 8, she wanted out to spend time playing with her friends from school. Robyn’s mother was adamant that she continue her training in dance, and when the dance studio added jazz dance that spring, her interest in choreography intensified.

When she saw the musical “CATS,” Hurder says she figured out her life’s path.

“I’m that girl – who saw ‘CATS’ and said, ‘I’m gonna do that for a living.” she told Dance Magazine in 2020.

Dr. Richard Nickerson, the director of the Windham Chamber Singers, said Hurder was a special talent.

“There are some students that, from the moment you meet them, you know they are destined for greatness,” Nickerson said. “Robyn was one of those students I knew that she could do whatever she set her mind to.”

He said that Robyn was no different in high school than she is now and that's one of the things that makes her unique.

“She is as genuine a person as you will ever meet,” Nickerson said. “She has a positive energy about her that lights up a room. She always worked incredibly hard yet never complained. She is the kind of person that everyone wants to be around because she always makes you feel like a better person. I remember her singing voice, but what really sticks out in my memory is her laugh. She truly loves life.”

According to Nickerson, while Robyn is what he calls a triple threat for acting, singing, dancing, he believes that her greatest strength is her personality.

“She works in an industry that is extremely competitive, yet has remained positive,” he said. “That's not to say that she hasn't had struggles. She hasn't let those struggles define her. It has been inspirational to watch her hard work be rewarded.”

RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools Chris Howell had Hurder as a student when he taught Biology at Windham High School.

“She was a fantastic student who worked really hard in my class to be successful in mastering the content,” he said. “It has been exciting to follow her career over the years and see how far she has gone with her talents.”

After graduating from WHS, Hurder attended the University of New Hampshire for two years before moving to New York City and auditioning for Broadway shows. In 2003, she landed a part in a national tour of “Starlight Express” and her professional career was off and running.

She was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in 2005. That was followed in order by parts in productions of “Spamalot,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Chicago,” “Grease,” and “A Chorus Line.” During a tour of “A Chorus Line” Hurder married her castmate and Broadway actor Clyde Alves.

By 2010, Hurder was a veteran performer and appeared in 12 more productions over the next decade before originating the role of Nini in “Moulin Rouge” at the Al Hirschfield Theatre on Broadway in 2020. That performance earned Hurder her first Tony Award nomination for Best featured Actress in a Broadway Musical.

In her next role, she won a Chita Rivera Award for Dance and Choreography as Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway Show when she appeared as Neil Diamond’s second wife, Marcia Murphey, in “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” in 2023.

She’s also appeared in dramatic roles on television in such shows as “The Equalizer” and “Fosse/Verdon” and been interviewed on “CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley,” “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” and “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Now she is currently starring as Ivy Lynn, who plays actress Marilyn Monroe in the new Broadway show “'Smash.”

The Broadway musical “Smash” with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman is based on the 2012-2013 NBC television series “Smash” created by Theresa Rebeck. It includes songs from the TV series and original songs written for this new production. Like the television series, the musical follows the creation of a musical about the life of actress Marilyn Monroe.

Nickerson and his wife saw “Smash” last week and he said it is outstanding.

“Robyn's performance was unlike anything I've seen,” he said. “Her performance filled me with an enormous amount of pride.” <