At 91 years old, Larry Untermeyer is still very much the international jet-setting man-about-town he was back in his days as an original “mad man” in the heady golden era of Manhattan’s advertising scene. A 58-year resident of Westport, Larry moved here with wife, Nikki, and raised two children. He is known to most about Westport as the gentleman with the camera—a second career born out of a hobby from his advertising days. The adopted son of the celebrated poet, Louis Untermeyer, Larry’s life reads like an adventure novel: He’s been on the stage, served in the Army during the Korean War both entertaining troops and as a special service agent, worked as a producer in television, radio, motion pictures and documentaries. He continues his world travels—58 countries and counting– including, recently, a photo-safari to Africa.  

“Being cooped up is hardest for me. I feel like a caged lion but I think we’re all handling it. The town is handling it. It’s a great town, by the way, I wouldn’t have lived anywhere else and I could have. I stayed here because of the beautiful town and great people.  

I could go crazy if I wanted to but I don’t want to. I do wish I was a few years younger to be running around. I have another great-grandchild on the way in August, in Germany. My first great grandchild—Luna—is 1 ½. I wanted to go to Germany and Italy this year, but that’s all blown up now. Of course, I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again. I’m here waiting to see if I can travel. I still take pictures from my window—a lot of them. And I have a lot of pictures to organize, so I’m pretty busy here.

I am very fearful about the fact that I don’t think this country will be the same again. I think we are in for terrible times for the next generation. It will depend on the next president. If it’s Trump for another four years I wouldn’t want to be here, he is a horrible man who has done horrible things. I have no respect for anyone in the Congress, even Democrats, who didn’t scream enough and didn’t do enough to fight. The little TV that I watch is so full of disinformation that it’s disheartening. I am afraid this country is going to be a dictatorship soon –it’s all being made up as they go along and nobody stops them. 

For now, I’ll stay in my house and behave. I can do it. I get angry but I can do it. When the weather turns better, I’ll be on the porch. Of course, there’s a number of things I worry about– I can’t get cleaners in or house maintenance done.  But hey, if my yard grows to be a big field, I might have to plant oats and alfalfa. When I was young, I grew up on a farm in upstate New York so I’m very familiar with that sort of thing. I just remind myself, I have a beautiful house, and a beautiful property. I still have a few dollars in the bank. I’m luckier than 99% of the people in the world. 

I was aware of COVID in January because of what was happening in China. In February, we were in Costa Rica on winter break and things started getting serious. Our airline sent out an email saying like that they were shutting down flights from certain places. In that moment I knew we had to get home right away. 

We’ve lived in Westport six and half years, and I have seven-year-old twins who are in second grade at Kings Highway. I’m always grateful that I have kids but especially now because they give me direction during the day. We wake up, we have breakfast, we get ready for school, just like we would on a regular day. Then we have stuff to get through — reading, writing math, word work, science, Spanish.  

I don’t live in a big house so everybody’s home. And that’s great because we like each other. But you know, all day now I’m mom and teacher and wife and I need to exercise and need to make meals for everybody and still need to clean the house and take care of myself and it’s just nonstop. Of course, when you have young kids when you’re in the throes of it, you feel like you’re not tearing your hair out. But I try and remind myself that this has been amazing family time because I think my most common complaint about life before quarantine, especially in Westport, was just how intense it is with playdates and practices and activities at homework and school and it’s very busy all the time. I don’t remember it being like that when I was kid. I remember being honestly a little bit more like this where we had family dinners every night and we watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune together every night.  

Nobody’s been sick I’m super thankful for that and super grateful that we’ve all been healthy. If this is the worst of it than I made out okay. People like my parents who are elderly and in their 80s, they’re just home and they can’t go anywhere and they can’t go to the supermarket. They can’t see anybody and we can’t see them and they have nothing but time on their hands and that I think must be tricky  

Their biggest question really is when do we get to go back to school? I tell them I wish I knew, but I don’t have any answers. I don’t think that they grasp how big it really is. They do understand that it’s not normal.  The day that they closed school, my daughter’s teacher filled each child’s backpack with books and activities and homework and gave them like, two hours to go to the library and get whatever books they wanted out, and take home anything that they want to take home.  

I emailed our principal and both of my kid’s teachers that night, after I’d gone through the packets that they put together for the kids. I was amazed at the organization of it, the amount of information in it. I felt the next day we were going to hit the ground running with the schoolwork they gave to us. I commend them on that because they had very little time– they had hours to put that all together.  

Their classrooms have been left exactly the way they were when they left that day. Those classrooms are just frozen in time. I don’t think they’ll go back to school this year, but even if they get like one day or two before June 12 just to have some closure on the year– I feel like that would go a long way, especially for my daughter who is always excited about the last day of school, but comes home in tears because it’s so hard for her to say goodbye to her teachers.  

The town is really special and they’ve done an amazing job. Our numbers [of cases] have obviously gone up but I don’t think they’ve gone up in huge increments. I think that is a testament to how serious Westport took it from the beginning. You know, there’s that infamous party where it stemmed from, which was controversial. But I said, and I stand by it: I think that that party ultimately saved lives because if it hadn’t been for that party, and if it hadn’t been for that person getting sick from that party, we would have been dealing with it two weeks later. More people would have gotten sick and more people would have died. Westport got it right in a crazy, unheard of situation. It’s tricky in the US, because of how we live our lives–obviously we move from state to state, and we like our freedoms so I can’t say that it’s been handled as well across the board across the country. But I do feel like in Westport, they did it right. 

My hope is that this summer has a semblance of normalcy like that we can swim in a swimming pool and we can go to the beach and my kids might go to a camp and we can go see my family in Cape Cod and visit our family in the UK, which I don’t think we’ll be able to. I just hope life returns to normal a little bit by then, whatever that looks like.  

I don’t know what this looks like next school year because until they have a vaccine, I don’t think this completely goes away and then if they have a vaccine, some people might opt not to get it, so I think we’ll always– until they have a vaccine– be kind of playing that whack a mole game where you’re just squashing the hotspots as they pop up. In the fall as we transition into flu season again will we have to transition back to homeschooling? Maybe. And I just don’t know what that long term looks like. I’m not afraid of it. I don’t really have any fears. I just obviously don’t want to get sick first of all. 

I was terrified in the beginning, like when that email came out that schools were closing because Westport had its first positive case I broke down into tears and was terrified. I called my mom in tears, and said, I no longer know how to keep my children safe from diseases, from guns– any of it. I follow all the rules and I still can’t do it. But I don’t feel that way anymore. I wear a mask when I go in the grocery store. The kids haven’t really left the house. We wash our hands like maniacs, but we were always supposed to be doing that. And we just stay away from people right now. That’s the best we can do. 

I don’t know what the future looks like. I just hope that come summer that things are a little bit put back together so that we can start having fun again. We’re doing the best that we can. And I know everybody is. We remain hopeful and optimistic and follow the rules so that this will soon be behind us. I hope we can go back to living life the way that– I don’t even want to say go back to living it how we did before because this dial down this has been nice–but just so that we can resume some sense of normalcy.  

Navida Greifenberger has lived in Westport with her husband and almost-9-year-old daughter for 8 years. She is the founder of the Facebook Group Westport Coronavirus Info, a page that provides information to members about all aspects of the pandemic here in town. 

“I have a nine-year-old– almost nine-year-old– and have been busy with homeschooling. I wanted to be part of this project because I felt it would be nice for my daughter because she’s raised in Westport. I thought it would be nice for her to have her family at the History Museum.  

Between homeschooling, and making masks and managing the Facebook group I set up, I’ve been keeping very busy. The days are flying by. 

On Westport Coronavirus Info people discuss basically anything related to how it’s affecting the town, their lives. Social distancing was a major topic. There’s lots and lots of people seeking information on testing and where to get tested and how to get tested. Lots of people are looking at just the numbers and there is a fear factor. 

More recently, which is really sad, we’re seeing more posts of people who actually have loved ones who are sick and seeking donors for plasma donations. And then other assistance from people who have loved ones in hospitals, and they’re seeking PPE equipment. Today we had someone asking for wipes and bleach from Norwalk hospital. It’s really just a bulletin board that people are coming for help, to air their concerns, to find out information, because everything’s changing all the time. Yes, I’ve definitely seen some trends around what things are being posted as time has gone by.  

What I miss is going outside and not being able to work anymore. I do a little bit of freelance work, working with small companies helping them with their marketing and operational type issues. It’s definitely reduced the amount of work I have. I have a lot less work than I had previously. I initially provided some advice to my clients from ways in which they could take their business more online, but now they’re all just hunkering down trying to get through this. And I’ve just accepted that I’m not going to be working much through this period. I’m one of the lucky ones who doesn’t rely on my particular income to pay the bills, so I’m not too worried about it in the short term. 

I do like to see my friends fairly regularly and not being able to see them has been a big blow. I’ve been doing everything and anything to stay in touch with people. Zoom, and the Houseparty [app] that I’ve never even heard of before but mostly Google Hangouts, FaceTime, you know, anything and everything that anybody wants to use to get connected.  

I think people are understandably very worried, and you see a lot of fear and uncertainty. And I think that’s just the same as it is all over the country and all over the world. I think the one thing about this community– I’m sure it’s in other communities too– but I really did notice in this community, is that immediately as soon as things became apparent that the community had been affected, you immediately saw people stepping up and wanting to find ways to help and reaching out to people and setting up various types of support mechanisms. I’m always amazed by that in Westport. I think that whenever there’s any kind of untoward happening, everybody steps up and tries to find ways to help everybody else. 

I think in my personal life, I’ve experienced a lot of different environments and a lot of change so change doesn’t frighten me, change of circumstances doesn’t worry me. I’ve also gone through some strange experiences. I don’t really want to go into them in detail, but I’ve experienced bomb blasts and you know, listened to bomb blasts as a child and having missiles flying over my head. And I feel like those sorts of experiences kind of make you feel that when in times of crisis, you know that you’ll probably get through and you just look for ways to move forward. I think I’m more of the mindset of “okay– this has happened, and now what do we do about it?” rather than just getting into panic about it. 

My greatest hope is that it’s going to be over as soon as possible without too much disruption, which I think is everybody’s hope. And my greatest fear is just how much havoc it’s going to wreak and how long lasting of an impact is going to have. Is it that we just have to bear the brunt of it for a few months and then everything goes back to normal and the economy recovers and, people go back to their lives? Or is this just going to be a cycle that goes on for a longer period that leaves devastation in terms of unemployment and people losing their livelihood and people dying? And that’s my biggest fear is that this goes on for a lot longer than we’re hoping. “ 

I am the Editor for CTBites, Your Guide To Great Food in CT. As you can imagine, the playing field has changed. My job has shifted from a profitable business reporting on the restaurant industry in CT to a not-for profit fundraising and support platform called  Food For The Front Lines. It started when I helped Founder Nicole Straight launch Food For The Front Lines Go Fund Me to raise money for local CT restaurants to deliver food to first responders and healthcare workers. To date, we have raised almost $30,000.  

As this started, I was concerned at first as few seemed to be heeding the advice of our local officials, but saw a change two weeks in. In launching the Food For The Front Lines program, I’ve been blown away by the level of community support, kindness, and generosity. 

I regularly check in on my out of work friends, people I know are struggling, and those who are afraid. I’m not worried about the economy or that the world will get back on its feet, because it will. My greatest fear is for my family living in Manhattan. I view this as a wake-up call. If you look at the silver lining in this global pandemic, several things become clear. Pollution is vastly improved, families are spending time with each other, and people have started to realize that Trump is a farce of a president. My hope is that people remember what they have learned in this time of crisis. 

Stephanie Szostak, her husband and two boys, aged 17 and 13 have lived in Westport for seven years. Stephanie is an actress who recently wrapped up the second season of her show A Million Little Things on ABC. 

“Having just wrapped a show, normally I would be probably auditioning for new stuff now but obviously all productions everywhere have stopped. As an actor these periods of unemployment and waiting are something we are familiar with so I’ve decided to treat it like that—as regular waiting. I’ve had to deal with not being in control before—waiting for callbacks for example. It’s good to treat this as sort of an “off-season” like athletes and to take the opportunity to do things to be a better performer, like creating and journaling which I am attempting to do.

Sometimes, I can’t believe the volatility of my state of mind. There are days where I’m positive or functioning and just being able to take day to day and focusing on what’s in my control. I focus on just feelin  and acting slow and just being where I am–where my two feet are. And things are ok when things are like that. It’s not that I am being oblivious but I’ve limited watching news to once a day. 

There are other days when I can’t quiet my mind and that’s saying a lot because and I’ m a meditator. I meditate 2x a day. I guess we are never really in control but this is more challenging than in regular times. Your own mind can be an obstacle—thinking about the future and the pain all around. 

Other obstacles are the news, being four people in one house, together all the time. I gain energy from moments alone, and that is challenged now. It goes without saying, though, that it’s a blessing to be together with our loved ones. We say thank god we are together, and that we like as well as love each other.  

 
My husband is a financial planner who normally goes into city two to three times a week. Like everyone he works from home all the time now and he is actually working a lot, and is in touch with a lot of clients just hearing them out about and what they need. It’s interesting because you can hear from his side of the conversation that theirs state of mind range. He’ll go from one person who is optimistic and to another going through a nightmare as well people who were dealing with illness already and then this crisis has happened. Of course, it affects him but thank goodness for technology so he can stay connected to co-workers because for him going to office was important. It’s important to feel the energy of other people around you.  

One saving grace as a family has been the puppy we adopted in February. He has been such a gift.  He’s given us moments of joy and love and togetherness around him. The other day, I was lying on the ground with the puppy with my 17 year old—a tender moment that wouldn’t have happened normally. 

We’ve also drawn a lot of resilience from our kids. Kids are incredible because they are in the moment always. My younger son has a group FaceTime talk with his friends they all check in and it’s so sweet. They talk about school, have homework groups—they help each other.  

Most of all, I’m amazed at the leadership in the town and the communication we’ve been getting from very early on—it really makes a difference. I feel like that as a community we’ve really come together and everyone is respecting what needs to happen. Most of the time, people have good intentions. I believe in the good of people but some people take a little bit longer to figure thing out, to get with the program. I don’t think that’s ill-intended so I believe we have to be careful with social media with pointing fingers, denouncing or accusing. We need to talk to people directly, email if we need to say something or see something. We need to have accountability for what we say and not hide behind a screen. 

Social distancing is weighing on us all, but it will be long, so we must remember to be gentle in the way we act with one another. We need to get ahead of the mental and emotional issues that will surely arise. Awareness is everything. If we are made aware then we can step into the world with that awareness.” 

Sheri Rabiner Gordon is a member of Westport’s Board of Finance. 

“I spend my days helping everyone get their work done, keeping the house together and endless meals! I check in on friends and family and am continuing my work on Board of Finance. It’s taken some time to adjust to virtual-only meetings.