Sally Carr and Larry Hannafin

What’s your relationship to this Town?
We have been lifelong residents of Norfolk nearly all of our lives except when Sally was away at school
and I was serving four years in the U.S. Navy Before we were married I got her to agree that we would always.. Before we were married I got her to agree that we would always
live in Norfolk (hopefully together).

How did you come here?
Sally and I were both born in Norfolk. Sally’s mother, Julia Holleran Carr, was also born hereas were Sally’s
grandparents and great-grandparents. Her great, great grandparents arrived in Norfolk during the Irish famine in the 1840s.
Larry’s father, Lester Hannafin, arrived in Norfolk after his father (Laurence Hannafin) retired from a baseball career in the 1920s. Larry’s grandfather settled in Norfolk where he lived with his wife, Katherine, for the remainder of his life. Sally is a true native and she claims I’m questionable.

What do you do here?
Sally has had three careers in her lifetime. Her first career was that of an elementary school teacher.
She taught at the old Norfolk Center School and Botelle Elementary School. She taught grades two through 6 over the years. After her career as a teacher she joined a brand new technology company located in Norfolk, Optimum Resources, Inc., as Director of Public Relations and Marketing. The company, founded by author Richard Hefter; sas one of the first software companies in America. They were awarded the best educational software company in America by the Software Publishers Association of America. After Optimum Resources left Norfolk, Sally became an antique dealer and remains so today.

Larry’s main career was in real estate. He started his career as an examiner for the Connecticut Real
Estate Commission and retired 28 years later as its Executive Director. Upon leaving the state he started
a consulting business and was called upon many times to appear in court as an expert witness in
real estate cases. In addition, he spent several years as a lobbyist in Connecticut. Despite my age I am
still operating Hannafin Consulting.

What’s the best part of your work?
When it’s Miller time.

How have you seen the town change over the years?
Now here is where Sally and Larry disagree. Larry feels that the town has changed very little in the many years he has lived here. As an example, we still do not have any fast food restaurants, no four lane highways and the town is composed mostly of single-family residences with only a handful of commercial buildings.

On the other hand, Sally will tell you we have less than what was once here. When Sally was growing up
there were five grocery stores, five restaurants, four or five package stores, a General Electric factory that
made starters for florescent lights, a car dealership (Dodd’s Garage), three gas stations, two barbershops,
a lumberyard.

What do you like best about Norfolk? Least?

By and far the best things about Norfolk far outweigh the negatives. First of all, we have a wonderful
community of caring, generous people who make the town work. They care about those who are ill,
those in need and those that have had something bad in their lives occur. They always stand ready to
assist and they do. We have one of the finest libraries in the state, Tobey Pond to use in the summer months, three state parks (Haystack Mountain, Dennis Hill and Campbell Falls) and many other fine features that make our town so special. It is difficult to think of things not favorable but a couple of things come to mind.
We would hope that those using our highways would be more considerate and not throw trash out of their cars and, in addition we need traffic passing through our town proceed at a slower pace.

What are your favorite seasons and where are some of you favorite places in town? Why?
We love all the seasons. However, Larry’s favorite is when the grass turns green and he can be out on a
golf course – any golf course. When Larry is out hitting golf balls you are sure to find Sally hitting all of the antique shops she can find.

What do you hope for the future of Norfolk?
We would hope that Norfolk continues to be the town where we raised our three children, where we do not have to worry about the safety of our children whether they are walking to a friend’s house or riding a bike to the ballfield. We can sleep peacefully without worrying about someone breaking into our home (except for an occasional bear) and we all treat each other with respect and courtesy, regardless of religious or political beliefs.

Anything else you want to add?
Just a thank you, Mike, for putting this series of articles together so we get to know some of our neighbors better.