The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bank promotes Diane Arnold to president & CEO
ESSEX — The board of directors of Essex Savings Bank has promoted Diane Arnold, the bank’s former senior vice president and chief lending officer, to president and CEO.
Arnold, who started her new position on Aug. 1, began her banking career in 1983 and she worked in a variety of departments at two different banks before joining Essex Savings Bank in 2002. During her 19 years at the bank, she has been particularly influential in developing the commercial loan portfolio and in mentoring many individuals, according to a press release.
Arnold has been involved in a number of community organizations for many years and in 2017, she received a Women of Fire Award, recognizing key female leaders in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors.
Cruise line boasts a few firsts
GUILFORD — American Cruise Lines, Inc., which has its headquarters in Guilford, announced the day before the Labor Day weekend that its newest riverboat was to embark on the small-ship line’s longest Mississippi River cruise — 22 days.
Hurricane Ida resulted in the embarkment site being moved to Natchez, Miss., from New Orleans, for the 175-passenger riverboat, American Melody. It is what the company called its “second new modern riverboat this year,” with two more expected in 2022. American Cruise Lines said it introduced its modern series in 2018, with American Songboat, “the 1st modern riverboat in the U.S.A.”
The company staked claim to being “the first cruise line to resume cruising in the U.S. earlier this year on March 13.”
Change acquires Meadowbrook Manor
MIDDLETOWN — Change Inc., a Connecticut provider of non-medical home care and behavioral health services, announced that it recently acquired Meadowbrook Manor, a residential care home for 25 individuals in Essex.
Derrick Gibbs, owner of ChangeInc, said, “We are excited by the opportunity to combine our years of experience in home care and behavioral health services to an established operation.”
This is the fourth acquisition in the last three years for Change Inc. and the third residential care home, the announcement said.
Free sandwiches for ‘heroes’
CROMWELL — D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches in Cross Roads Plaza donated sandwiches and chips to the Cromwell Police Department and Water’s Edge Center for Health and Rehabilitation earlier this summer through the sandwich shop chain’s “Every DAy Heroes” program.
The shop sought out “community heroes” and delivered to them free sandwiches as a sign of appreciation, a company announcement said. From the start of the program last year until early this summer, D’Angelo shops across New England donated 8,450 sandwiches and bags of chips to 178 organizations.
Dragons and cats and frogs, oh my!
CLINTON — Dragons, cats and frogs have been “spotted” this summer at Henry Carter Hull Library, where the reading program theme this season has been Tails & Tales. Young artists made the magical creatures or dragons with help from educator and artist Kristin Cafferty at “Splash Into Art,” a library recap of the event said, lauding the children’s creativity.
Rising second-sixth graders made cat creations with the help of the artist.
A state wildlife biologist from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection took part in a reading of “The Frightened Frog.”
For information, call 860-6692342 or visit hchlibrary.org.
‘It’s Billy’s Birthday’ book reading
MIDDLETOWN — Growing up in Middletown and Portland in the 1980s and 1990s, Derrick Chester wrote music and short stories, rapped and break danced, and performed in many plays and the Children’s Circus at Oddfellows Playhouse, according to a press release.
Today he lives in Atlanta, has his own small business, acts in community theater, and participates as an extra in films like “Coming to America 2.” He has just published his first book, “It’s Billy’s Birthday,” a picture book for young children. The book has a Black perspective on a classic childhood fear, that grownups will forget a birthday.
Chester is coming to Middletown to read the book at the Russell Library Story Hour Friday at 10:30 a.m. on the South Green during the weekly farmers’ market. To register, visit russelllibrary.
Later this month, Chester will return to Middletown via Zoom as the guest reader for Middletown’s Parents of Preschoolers evening Story Time. The Middletown Racial Justice Coalition is a co-sponsor supporting the purchase of books for families.