Joe Pepin, ACE founder, dies at 85
Created Danbury’s Alternative Center for Excellence
“All he cared about was helping the kids.”
Dorothy Pepin, daughter of Joe Pepin, founder of Danbury’s Alternative Center for Excellence alternative high school
When one of his students wanted to quit school, Joe Pepin invited him to live with his family for a few weeks. He picked up his students if they missed the bus and once drove to Florida to bring back students who had quit school and hitchhiked south.
His commitment to his students was shown in the way he listened and made them believe in themselves, said his family, friends, colleagues and a former student.
“All he cared about was helping the kids,” said his daughter, Dorothy Pepin, who he also convinced to stay in school. “He always said as long as you get a high school diploma, you can get a job.”
Joe Pepin, the founding principal of Danbury’s alternative high school, the Alternative Center for Excellence, died
Jan. 14 at 85. He taught math, on top of running ACE, earning Teacher of the Year in 1996.
“I don't think the school would have survived without him,” said Mike Chapman, who taught at ACE with Pepin, joining in the third year of the school. “He was the person that we needed back then to get us through those early years.”
He taught at Danbury High School before ACE and served on community groups, including Danbury Common Council, Exchange Club of Danbury, Catholic War Veterans Post and Beaver Brook Volunteer Fire Company, among others, according to his obituary. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and taught in Port
Jervis, N.Y. for three years before coming to Danbury. He earned numerous awards for teaching and community service.
“He was a real Danburian, looked out for the community, had a lot of public service,” Mayor Dean Esposito said.
His family plans to bury him Wednesday with the ACE jacket he received when he retired in 1997, his daughter said.
“He wore that proudly forever,” she said.
He and his wife, Alice (Nickerson) Pepin, were married for 63 years. They had five children, nine grandchildren, four greatgrandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Debbie Newman, his daughter, said many former students have told her they wouldn’t have graduated high school if not for him.
He instilled hard work into his students and wouldn’t accept laziness, she said.
“He listened and he cared, but he also expected a lot of you,” Newman said. “He didn't take excuses.”
‘Very caring and compassionate’
A former paperboy for The News-Times, Joe Pepin attended St. Peter School of Danbury and graduated from Danbury High School in 1954. To pay for college, he became the “Upsy-Daisy Man,” selling ice cream from 1953-57 with his brother and friend out of motorcycles purchased from the Bridgeport Police Department.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from UConn and his master’s degree from Western Connecticut State University.
He wanted to be a physical education teacher at first, but couldn’t find a job, so he attended Fairfield University to get a degree in math instead.
“There was never any doubt that he was going to be a teacher because he just loved kids, loved teaching,” Dorothy Pepin said. “No matter what he was doing in life, he was teaching.”
He ran food stands at the Great Danbury State Fair, enlisting students and kids from his neighborhood to help. He played basketball at St. Peter’s Church and supported UConn women and men’s basketball.
His father was a Danbury Hatter, so Joe Pepin always sported a hat, whether it be a baseball cap or his “famous” red Irish hat, Dorothy Pepin said. He bought a Dr. Seuss, cowboy or other hat every year to auction off at the Exchange Club of Danbury’s annual fundraiser to benefit Family and Children’s Aid in Danbury.
“He’d be like, ‘People, come on now, you can do better than this,’ ” Dorothy Pepin said. “For a $5, $10 hat,
he got hundreds of dollars for this silly hat.”
Al Mead, his friend who he recruited to the Exchange Club of Danbury, recalled golfing, watching Danbury Westerners games and going to Saratoga to see the horse races together. He said Joe Pepin was someone who “wanted to help the world.”
“He was always supportive of the underdog,” Mead said.
His grandson, Brad Newman, described him as “very caring and compassionate.” Debbie Newman recalled her dad taking her siblings skiing and bringing her to golf, a sport he loved.
He dressed as Santa Claus every year on Christmas Eve, having his children and
grandchildren sit on his lap and giving them a present after singing Christmas carols, Dorothy Pepin said.
Forming ACE
After the race riots at Danbury High School in the 1970s, the city decided to create an alternative high school that could better support the individual needs of students who face challenges or trauma that prevents them from succeeding at the traditional high school. The school opened in 1977.
Dorothy Pepin said her dad spearheaded this effort. He wanted to the school have fewer than 100 students because “he wanted it to be a close-knit family,” she said.
One of his former students, Melissa Lasky, said he achieved that. She knows this well because she returned to ACE to teach English. She was inspired to become a teacher because of Pepin and the other educators at ACE.
“I was going through a rough time in my life,” said Lasky, who graduated from ACE in 1998 and has taught there for eight years. “It was hard to motivate myself and see a positive future, and Joe Pepin and other teachers here helped me to see that, that I should believe in myself and I could do great things if I tried”
He instilled within the school the philosophies that remain today, said John Webber, the principal of ACE.
“Joe created a home for students who needed a home,” he said.
The principal gravitated toward students who needed extra support, said Glenda Armstrong, a science teacher at ACE who worked with Pepin for over 20 years. He believed “there's no such thing as ‘can't’ when it came to kids being successful,” she said.
Twice a week, staff met to discuss what each student did well and what resources kids had to help them do better, she said. He was the first educator she knew who looked at the “whole student,” she said.
“We recognized here probably before the greater educational world that kids cannot leave their outside of school life when they come through the door,” Armstrong said.
Pepin required students to be interviewed and get letters of recommendation to attend ACE. He met with students parents or guardians, too.
“He wanted to know your family situation, your story so he could help you,” said Dorothy Pepin.
He selected classes where students could learn about life skills, such as budgeting and how to use a checkbook, his daughter said. Students had internships and could earn a credit by going on camping trips.
He started the annual Thanksgiving dinner where students serve the community and continued to attend after retirement.
The student who Pepin invited into his home graduated from Danbury High School, Dorothy Pepin said. He knocked on Joe Pepin’s door years later to thank him. The student, who had gone into the military, gotten married and had three kids, said he “wouldn’t be the man he was” without the teacher, she said.
“He had incredible insight into people,” Chapman said. “His ability to reach out to quiet kids, unassuming kids who most people paid no attention to ... he was so good at that, and he made them feel special.”