The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Brilliant’ professor, social justice crusader
Clayton Hewitt dies at 92, taught generations
MIDDLETOWN — Clayton Hewitt, an “amazingly intelligent and brilliant” 56year Middletown educator revered for his life-changing efforts in teaching and counseling four generations of students, died recently at 92, and “The number of people coming out of the woodwork with remembrances, it’s just astounding,” his daughter said.
Visually impaired from birth, Hewitt, who eventually enjoyed professor emeritus status at Middlesex Community College, could not get a driver’s license. Still, he managed to get around with the kindness of friends, said his daughter, Julia Hewitt.
He also worked at Woodrow Wilson middle and high schools for many years.
“He invested great time and energy in his schoolwork, even building a small shack in his parents’ backyard so he could study undistracted,” Julia Hewitt wrote in his obituary. “While at Woodrow Wilson High School, a teacher took him aside one day to ask what college he’d be attending. Blindsided, he reported no such plan: ‘I hope you’ll reconsider,’ the teacher replied. ‘You have what it takes.’”
Hewitt had no aspirations for higher education, Julia Hewitt said, although eventually her father was first in the family to earn a degree. After graduating, he worked at the Russell Co. in Middletown, producing ladder tape for Venetian blinds.
“How boring is that for anybody, especially someone with an active mind?” his daughter said.
He and his best friend began contemplating university and made a pact to attend what was then Central Connecticut State College in New Britain, where Hewitt majored in social science. He went on to earn a master’s degree in government and certificate of advanced studies in liberal arts at Wesleyan University.
“From 1970 to 1992, he was a full-time professor of sociology, mortifying his children by teaching a section of human sexuality, as well as several easier-tomention classes,” according to his obituary.
Hewitt eventually became secretary of the NAACP and a huge proponent of equality and racial justice. Later, he was a part-time city police officer.
“People reminded me of the fact that, at the height of civil rights tension in the ’60s, that he, with his counseling and academic background, taught sensitivity training” to members of the police force, his daughter said.
On a lark, Julia Hewitt recently recorded a 20-minute talk with her father, something she’s grateful to have had the foresight to do.
“Dad was talking about socialism and capitalism. It was this phenomenal conversation,” she said. “He just knew so, so much. He really believed income inequality was the root of all this systemic racism.
“He followed politics and national
events very, very, very, very closely and was outraged by most of what’s happening in this country today,” added his daughter. “I retired in large part to get to hang out with Dad more often. Not because he needed me, but because I wanted to be with him. He was such good company.”
Clayton Hewitt “had this ability to believe in others’ potential even when they didn’t necessarily see in themselves. ‘I see this glimmer of possibility in you,’” Julia Hewitt said her father would tell students.
“I’ve always viewed him as one of the most amazingly intelligent and brilliant people I’ve ever met,” she said.
Hewitt, who died on May 23, also was a prolific writer of letters to the editor published in the Middletown Press, writing about politics, assisted death, transparency in government, poverty and transgender rights.
Common Council Minority Leader Phil Pessina, a retired Middletown deputy police chief, counted Hewitt as a good friend. The two met when Pessina was the community policing coordinator.
When Pessina joined the force in the late 1970s, Hewitt was his first big supporter, he said.
The councilman cherishes a photograph he was given by the family of himself, Hewitt and his now 30-year-old grandson Clayton, a “beautiful picture. I look back and say, ‘Time really does go by.’
“He will be remembered most for his community involvement, his dedication to Middletown, and education. He was a great friend and a wonderful person,” Pessina said.
Peter Caprioglio, a colleague of Clayton Hewitt’s who also retired from teaching at Middlesex Community College, was friends with him for 30 years.
“He was a really good man. Very intelligent, very sharp,” Caprioglio said. “He was always working harder than everybody.”
Hewitt showed up at the college every day at 7 a.m., Caprioglio said. “He spent a lot of time doing research. He did more than what was expected of him. That’s why he always had a lot of students who wanted to come to his classes.”
Caprioglio said his colleague would spend hours counseling students, talking through their problems. “He really liked getting into that idea that a teacher should not only be teaching his course, but also helping his students.
“He was a real buddy — a real friend,” he added.
Woodrow Wilson Middle School history teacher and basketball coach John Geary was a student of Hewitt’s from 1966 to 1967. When he arrived at the school years later as a teacher, Geary was given his desk. He had it for 43 years.
“At times, I had to protect it from the administration,” he said with a laugh. “It was on the loading dock to be shipped out,” and he had to save it, Geary recalled. He later had the professor while a student at Middlesex.
Richard Lenoce, director of the MxCC Center for New Media, sent a note to the family. He and another professor were the new “kids” on the faculty. “He was so welcoming, and, every week, we’d always make a point to meet and chat. He’d always greet me with a big smile — a handshake and a hand on my shoulder, and we’d chat away about teaching and students and life.”
Lenoce’s students “raved” about Hewitt’s death and dying class, he said.
“He counseled many of our students who were going through difficult times around issues of death and suicide. We had a student who did commit suicide, and he was wonderful in providing support to both faculty and students,” Lenoce said.
The family encourages others to join them in honoring Hewitt’s life.
“Write a letter to the editor. Vote. Plant a garden. Work for peace and social justice. Support your public schools. Tell others you believe in their potential. Find a cause that matters to you, and fight for it,” his daughter wrote in his obituary.