article about Lou Saracco - Fairfield College Preparatory School

The Magazine for Fairfield College Preparatory School • Summer 2009Uncle Lou – We’ll Miss You!Saracco Retires after 50 YearsPrep Today 1

Uncle Lou – We’ll Miss You!Saracco Retires after 50 YearsBy John W. SzablewiczOn the afternoon of Sunday, June6th, Commencement Exerciseswere held for the Class of 2009of Fairfield College Preparatory School.During the proceedings, school President,the Rev. John J. Hanwell, S.J. brought theassembled crowd to its feet in a standingovation with a tribute to Louis A. Saracco,faculty member extraordinaire, who wasretiring after an unprecedented fifty yearsof service to the school.It is only fitting thatwe spend a little timewalking down memorylane to learn a littlemore about Lou Saraccoand to recount some ofthe many contributionsthat he has made to theFairfield Prep community.Louis Alfred Saracco wasborn on October 16, 1930 in aManhattan hospital, the youngestof four sons of an Italian-American familyliving in the Bronx. As of this writingLou’s three brothers are all alive andwell at ages 94, 91 and 79 respectively.Lou’s father passed away at age 88, whilehis mother survived her husband byanother decade. (There must have beensomething in that New York City water!)Young Louis was raised in the Bronx,where he attended P.S. 90, a coed publicschool. He graduated with the Classof 1948 from the then all-male DeWittClinton High. Lou’s first experience inJesuit education came with his enrollmentat Fordham University, where he majoredin Political Science. After graduation in1952 he went on to Fordham Law School,receiving his LLB in 1955. Lou is quick topoint out that throughout his educationhe worked after school to pay the tuition;first as an usher in a movie theater, then ina photo-finishing company, a position heheld for ten years.After passing the bar examinationon the first attempt in New York andConnecticut, Lou moved to Fairfieldin 1956 at the urging of his cousinSalvatore Genuario, who asidefrom practicing lawwas active in local politics. For a whileLouis worked as a clerk at the CommonPleas court, and then the Superior Court.Sometime during that first year as anattorney Lou entertained the idea thathe might want to go into teaching. So,he enrolled in a master of educationprogram at Fairfield University. Hereceived his degree in the spring of1959, at which time he interviewed for aposition at the Prep.Louis A. Saracco began teachingWestern Civilization at Prep in the fallof 1959 with a starting salary of $3,000.His first new car was an orange 1959VW Beetle. For the next few decadesLou became a dedicated VW fan, latermoving up to the Karmann Ghia model,of which he owned first a red, then anorange convertible. It was that orangeGhia that made Prep history when it wasmysteriously placed in front of the doorson the patio of McAuliffe Hall by a smallgroup of still unidentified seniors!Pictured hereas the newestlay memberof the faculty,brought in toteach WesternCivilizationin 1959.So it was that Lou began histeaching career at Fairfield Prep. But,his contributions to the school soontranscended the classroom. In 1964,for example, Lou became the officialmoderator of the all-male PrepCheerleading Squad.It was then that he introduced hisfamous “ah-bey!” chant, which heliberally borrowed from the famous NewYork disc jockey, Murray “the K” Kaufman.It was also in 1964 that Prep was firstorganized into academic departments.2 Prep TodayAt the 2009Baccalaurate Mass

The first department chair of socialstudies was Robert Sylvester, but a fewyears subsequently he joined the Prepadministration and Lou was appointedhis replacement. In that position overthe next fifteen years or so, Lou went onto bring great changes and interestingpersonalities to the department. Healways seemed to be ahead of the curvewhen it came to curriculum revision. Itwas Lou who hired Bruce Jaffe, DaveDriscoll and John Szablewicz, and withthose additions came new courses inAmerican studies, Asian studies and thesocial sciences.Lou, owing to his expertise in law,created his own elective in ConstitutionalGovernment. The course becameextremely popular in part because ofLou’s imaginative adaptation to hisclassroom of the public televisionprogram called “The Constitution: ADelicate Balance.” In his course Louassigned mock roles for his students inkeeping with the system employed in theseries. The course served as a role modelfor others of its kind. It is safe to saythat over the years, hundreds of futureattorneys, and a number of judges, firstdeveloped a love of the law while takingLou’s course. By the way, Lou continuedactive legal practice as a hobby of sortsuntil reaching the age of seventy. Many aPrep teacher has sought Lou’s legal adviceover the decades.In 1970 Prep hired its first womanteacher, Mrs. Betty Kachmar to beginan official Fine Arts department. Louand Betty quickly became great friends,owing in part to their common love ofart. From its inception up to this veryday, Lou Saracco has been a strong andvocal supporter of the arts at the school.In fact, Lou for many years blended hislove of art and history with a fascinatinghistory of art course. But, courses aside,one only has to make a brief visit to Lou’shome near Fairfield Beach to realize hispassion for art. The home is practicallya museum in itself and is filled withSave the Date!Fairfield Prep will host aCelebration Dinner in honor ofLou Saracco’s 50 years of serviceon November 7. Proceeds from thedinner will help support the LouSarracco Endowed Scholarshipfund. A committee of alumni havebeen assembled to organize theevent. Watch for details to come.Uncle Lou dancing with Mrs. Sandy Beyerly, Directorof Library & Media Services, at the Spring Event.paintings and artifacts acquired duringLou’s many travels around the world.Furthermore, Lou has been an avidpatron of Prep plays, concerts and artshows. Additionally, he is an activemember of the Metropolitan Museum ofArt and MOMA in New York City, and theYale and Bruce museums in Connecticut.Finally, Lou has always been a lover ofclassical music and the opera. He hasbeen a member of the Metropolitan Operafor over twenty-five years and attendsmany performances there annually.Over the years many Prep teachers andContinued on page 4Prep Today 3

…he is the embodiment of Ignatian valuesand the true spirit of “Men for Others.”There is no better example of this than thefact that Lou has established a scholarshipfor Prep students and that it is his will thathis estate be donated to the school.Lou Saracco RetiresContinued from page 3students have been invited guests of“Uncle Lou” to these performances.Louis Saracco has thus served asfriend, colleague, and mentor to countlessmembers of the Prep community. As ateacher hired and nurtured by Lou sincemy arrival at Prep in 1971, it has been adistinct honor and privilege working withhim these many years. I must now repeata little of what I said about Lou at thefaculty dinner in his honor earlier thismonth. It has to do with the three thingsthat Lou has stressed to us as teachers ofhistory and social studies:1. Teaching is an art, not a science. Asartists we can learn from the masters,but we need to be true to ourselves andour own style as we attempt to paintour masterpiece. As Lou told me manytimes, “Be yourself!”2. To be a good teacher you need to reallyknow your subject matter. But learningthe subject should not be based solelyon book learning. Lou demonstratedto all of us the need to travel and learnfrom experience.3. Teaching should be fun. Lou alwayssaid that a teacher who does notthoroughly enjoy being in theclassroom has chosen the wrongprofession. Certainly, working withLouis all these years has been funfor all of us in the social studiesdepartment. His humor, wit andsensitivity have been indeliblyimprinted on us all.It should be clear by now thatLouis A. Saracco is Fairfield Prep’sreal “Renaissance Man.” Beyond that,however, he is the embodiment ofIgnatian values and the true spirit of“Men for Others.” There is no betterexample of this than the fact that Louhas established a scholarship for Prepstudents and that it is his will that hisestate be donated to the school. I knowthat I speak for the history department,the Prep administration and staff, andthe thousands upon thousands of Lou’sformer students and friends when I say aheartfelt: Thanks Lou for everything thatyou do and have done for Fairfield Prep.May you have a long, happy, and fulfillingretirement!By John Szablewicz, Prepsocial studies teacher for38 years.Louis Saracco has served asfriend, colleague, andmentor to countlessmembers of the Prepcommunity.4 Prep aTodayAs Indiana Jones on Halloween