Saying he played a monumental role in the fight to transform the Naugatuck River from dumping ground to scenic spot, the Seymour Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to name its “fish bypass“ project on the river in honor of the late Paul Pawlak, Sr.
The move to honor Pawlak originated from Karen Stanek, a member of the Board of Selectmen.
Several people, most notably Pawlak’s 71-year-old son, Joe, of Watertown, shared stories with the Selectmen about what Seymour meant to Pawlak, who died in February at age 96.
Pawlak’s wife of almost 75 years, Millie, sat with a quiet pride in the first row of the Norma Drummer Room in Town Hall as people recalled her husband’s humble beginnings.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to us, and how much my father would have loved this,” Joe Pawlak said.
Humble Start
Paul Pawlak, Sr. was a coal worker’s son who spent his younger years roaming barefoot around Jacob’s Creek in Montgomery County, PA.
It wasn’t by choice, though. His family sometimes didn’t have money for shoes during the warmer months.
When they came to Seymour and the Naugatuck Valley for a better life, he took a year off from high school in the midst of the Great Depression to keep them afloat — there were seven kids in the family.
Pawlak returned to school and was elected the president of his graduating class. It was the first of many endorsements by his contemporaries.
Armed with just a Seymour High School diploma and a simple desire to the right thing, Pawlak served on the Seymour Board of Selectmen and the Seymour Board of Education.
He was the first chairman of the board of the Naugatuck Valley Health District, and he also served as Seymour First Selectman, the town’s highest elected office.
Environmental Impact
The down-to-earth Democrat represented Seymour for 12 years in the state House of Representatives, where he was an environmentalist before the word was widely used.
In Hartford he was the chairman of the legislature’s Water Resources Committee, playing a key role in creating the state’s Clean Waters Act (a fact cited by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal in a speech after Pawlak’s death).
The act was designed to protect long-abused natural resources such as Naugatuck River, once a horribly polluted waterway, that flows through the heart of Seymour.
The fish bypass project will allow fish swimming in the river to get around the dam.
In addition, Seymour is transforming the area around the dam — and its scenic waterfalls — into something of a centerpiece for downtown. There will be a small park. There will eventually be a river walk, which will firmly connect the river and Seymour’s quaint downtown business district.
He Was An Icon
Long-time Seymour residents like Ann and Frank Conroy talked Tuesday about how the Naugatuck River was coming full circle.
It had been a thing of beauty in Seymour at one time, but was hampered by the pollution brought by the Industrial Revolution.
Now, thanks to trailblazers like Pawlak, it will be a thing of beauty again.
“He knew when things were right, and he acted upon them,” said Joe, his son.
Frank Conroy, a former police officer and First Selectman in the early 1980s, said Pawlak was a mentor.
“If it wasn’t for Paul, I don’t think I would have succeeded,” Conroy said.
He compared Pawlak to Katharine Matthies, the Seymour resident whose charitable work is unparalleled, and to Francis Flaherty, the town’s first police chief.
Attorney Fred Stanek served with Pawlak on the Board of Selectmen. He also counted Pawlak as a mentor.
“Paul Pawlak was a giant. An icon. A pathfinder in our community,” Stanek said.
Pawlak taught younger political officials how to carry themselves and to show respect for the public discourse.
“I learned how important honesty is, how important it is to be ethical, and how important it is to control one’s self, especially in the political and governmental arena,” Stanek said.
First Selectman Kurt Miller said a ribbon-cutting in Pawlak’s honor is tentatively scheduled for September.