Frank Fay was a reporter for the Norwalk Hour for 50 years. I first met him in my second year as a Spanish teacher in Room 105A at Norwalk High School. That year, Lewis E. Dunlap was appointed the principal after problems that arose at the school. His job was to establish order. I believed in his approach and touted the school’s potential and virtues. I helped him to develop a new motto, Norwalk High School Home of Pride Intensified.
Mr. Dunlap, as he was called, invited me, a teacher, to become the official Norwalk High School non-paid Public Relations Director of the school. I was thrilled. My first assignment was to organize the June graduation including supervising the press.
Francis X. Fay Jr. was the long time and revered education reporter of The Hour at the time. As the graduation pomp and circumstance was about to begin, I was busy directing the media. There was Frank, a little twinkle in his eye and prepared to report the most unique and touching stories from the graduates as he had for so long. I introduced myself and told him where he and the press would be seated for the ceremony. It did not go over well.
This began a 44-year love affair with Francis X. Fay Jr. Ten years my elder, he taught me so much about attention to detail. “When you write a press release, Sue,” he would declare, “remember all the answers to who, what, where, when and why.” This regard for detail has been a part of my work first with the schools, then as a consultant and an author ever since….
