
Photo by Bill Bittar
Courtney Sissick, of Shelton, holds a Wiffle Ball bat and ball she received with the first Jim Carey Memorial Scholarship. To the right is Parks and Recreation Director Ronald Herrick Jr.
SHELTON — The late Jim Carey devoted his life to mentoring young people through his job as a teacher at Trumbull High School, his 50 years-plus years as playground director for the Shelton’s Parks and Recreation Department, and his hall of fame officiating career in football and softball.
Now his legacy lives on through the Jim Carey Memorial Scholarship that his family started in his honor to help Shelton summer recreation employees pay for college.
Courtney Sissick, 21, of Shelton, who will be a senior this fall studying elementary education at Eastern Connecticut State University, is the first winner of the $1,000 scholarship.
“It’s the best thing ever,” Sissick said after meeting Carey’s three daughters during a short ceremony at Shelton Community Center recently.
“I never won an award before, so it’s a great honor. From what everyone is saying, Jim Carey was a great guy. He was active in the community and just a great role model.”
Lynn Chamberland, who started the scholarship with her sisters Judy Ahearn and Ann Seitter after their father died last year at age 90, said Sissick’s essay stood out because “it came from the heart.” Sissick is going into teaching like Carey did.
“Education was very important to my father,” Seitter said.
Sissick has been a summer camp counselor for children ages 6 to 14 for three years.

Photo by Bill Bittar
A short ceremony was held to award the first Jim Carey Memorial Scholarship to Courtney Sissick at Shelton Community Center Aug. 2. From left is, Assistant Playground Director Debra McGlone, Judy Ahearn, Ann Seitter, Courtney Sissick, Lynn Chamberland, Parks and Recreation Director Ronald Herrick Jr. and Playground Director Michelle Sedlock.
“I love being with the kids and making their summer as fun as it can be and it’s a great thing for preparing me to teach,” she said. “Just building friendships with the kids is awesome.”
In addition to the scholarship, Sissick received a new Wiffle Ball bat and ball from the Shelton-based Wiffle Ball company.
Parks and Recreation Director Ronald Herrick Jr. said Carey used to go to the Wiffle Ball company in the city and buy a season’s worth of bats and balls from the loading dock for the summer season every year.
“He loved the kids and he loved the supervisors,” said Herrick, who first worked with Carey as assistant director in the 1980s.
“You can go through the town and you’d be surprised how many people worked in the program and knew Jim Carey. He was here almost every day. He touched a lot of lives.”
Carey’s daughters plan to award the scholarship for 10 years after his death, when their father would have turned 100.
Chamberland said her family asked for donations to the Jim Carey Scholarship in lieu of flowers after their father died, saying they raised enough money to fund it for the first three years.
Carey’s family will contribute the rest of the money themselves.
“It was very nice of people,” Chamberland said. “We appreciate everyone’s donations.”
A Legend In The Valley
Ahearn said Carey was an amazing father who loved the children in the program.
“He was a legend in the Valley,” she said. “We were up at the playgrounds as kids. That was our summer. The supervisors were role models for us growing up.”
Seitter said her father would buy sports equipment and games like Monopoly and Battleship every April, then review job applications and interview and select the counselors for each park.
Carey led a summer orientation and organized all the events for camp days that ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“He hired the busses for the field trips, taking kids to the movies, swimming and to play mini-golf,” Seitter said.
She said Carey would lead a staff meeting at a park every morning, then supervise the parks throughout the day.
“He showed up at each one at least once a day,” she said. “In its heyday there were 14 parks. There are six this year.”
Carey would also organize a car wash to raise money for the kids to have an end of season pizza party.
Chamberland said her father was humble and would not have asked for the memorial scholarship, though he would be thrilled to help young park staffers pay for college.
“He’s looking down on us with a big smile on his face,” she said.