Elections Prove a Time to Remember Dave Theis

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By Bill Slocum
Contributing Editor

Photo by John Ferris Robben.
Photo by John Ferris Robben.

As he ran for town selectman, Republican John Toner noted one subject coming up whenever he talked to voters: His predecessor, the late David Theis.

“His name comes up constantly,” Toner notes. “People always say they’re glad I’m in office, but that he was a great man. Everyone admired him.”

This was the first town election since 2009 without Theis, a three-term Republican selectman who passed away suddenly last December from a heart attack. Yet Theis remained ever-present during the campaign, his name invoked at debates and in speeches as an example of selfless public service and bipartisanship.

Democrat Drew Marzullo, elected to the three-member Board of Selectmen in 2009 with Theis, agrees Theis’s legacy looms large.

“There’s no one like him,” Marzullo says. “His loss is still being felt, and not just in the confines of Town Hall. He was involved in so many communities and volunteer activities, everyone knew who he was.”

During the weeks leading to Tuesday’s election, there were plenty of reminders of Theis’s impact. The Glenville Volunteer Fire Company gave out its first annual David N. Theis Award recognizing community service, to state Rep. Livvy Floren, late last month. In the Selectmen’s office at Town Hall, a large portrait photograph of Theis greets visitors as they enter.

“There are a lot of people making sure that he is not forgotten,” says Kerrin Coyle, Theis’ longtime partner.

Coyle appeared at several campaign stops this election cycle with Toner and Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei, with whom she notes David enjoyed a warm, brotherly relationship. For Christmas, 2014, a holiday Theis would not live to see, he had matching down jackets made specially for himself, Tesei, and Marzullo, who together constituted the entire Greenwich board of selectmen. Black and quilted, each has the town seal over one side of the breast and the words “Team Greenwich” over the other. Tesei and Marzullo have theirs, and Coyle wears Theis’s.

“Peter Tesei and I, every couple of months, will look at each other and say, ‘Dave would have loved this,’” Marzullo recalls. “Technically, Dave and I were opponents in every election, but it was never like that for us. We had an agreement from Day One, no matter what happens, we’re going to have fun, and we did.”

For Coyle, the elections have been a “bittersweet” time of remembrance and good wishes, along with the hope that somewhere, Theis feels the love from his old community.

As the crowning mark of Theis’s legacy, Coyle points to the bridge that spans the Mianus River along the Post Road, which Theis lived near for years and worked to ensure was lined with American flags. Formerly the Mianus River Bridge, it became last August the Honorable David N. Theis Memorial Bridge.

“He would say that bridge is the connector for Greenwich, because it connects Cos Cob and Riverside,” she recalled. “In that same way, Dave was always the connector. He always made sure he took care of what your problems were by putting you in touch with the right person.”

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