Chester J. Karwoski: “Chet”. Class of 1966, Pulaski High School, New Britain, Connecticut

Chester (“Chet”) Karwoski graduated in my class of 1966 from Pulaski High School. For those of you who may not know Chet, he was not only a brilliant student, but had an unforgettable dry wit, by implication occasionally suggesting to me: Bill, don’t take your studies too seriously; after all, it’s only school. How right and sane you were, Chet. Why the hell didn’t I follow your example in school?

I remember Chet very well since I went through thirteen years of school with him, starting at Stanley Elementary School, then onto Nathan Hale Junior High School, and finally to Pulaski High School. Chester lived around the corner from our house on Hillcrest Avenue in New Britain, behind Central Connecticut State University (then known as Teachers College of Connecticut, or TCC). He was taller than me (no big feat since I am only 5’9″ tall), had blonde hair, and usually wore his hair short, in a sort of crewcut, the style back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Chet excelled in academics throughout school, especially in mathematics and science, as I recall. In fact, what I envied most of all about Chet was academics came very easy to him, unlike me, who had to grind away five hours every night doing homework after practicing the accordion for an hour to appease my dad: talk about tough love.

I remember Chet hanging around with the Biltmore “gang”, including Bobby Tinnick. I have a faint memory of Chet and Bobby making something with their chemistry sets, probably mischief…LOL! Or maybe it was just me making mischief with my chemistry set and projecting it onto them: if so, I apologize, fellas, but Alzheimer’s does funny things to one’s memory.

I also seem to recall Chet being a bicyclist, taking 50 mile trips down to the coast of Connecticut from New Britain. I can still see him on an English bike wearing a backpack, or wearing a beret. And I still have these mental images of him sitting in front of me in one of my math classes at Pulaski, quipping some humorous, dry remark during an otherwise very boring lecture. Could anyone count the number of times we dozed off in Partin’s, Coggins’, and Domijan’s classes? Yes: Chester could…LOL. I can imagine him taking out his slide rule and saying with authority, “infinity raised to the nth power!”

Chester was always kind and willing to assist the less brilliant, like me, when I was confounded by a homework problem. I appreciated his help, and have never forgotten his generosity. Thanks, Chester, for taking pity on poor, helpless “shadrunes” like me.

Besides his intelligence, dry wit, kindness, and friendliness, what I also admired about Chet was that he was sort of a nonconformist back then before it became fashionable to be such: you know, before we tuned in, turned on, and dropped out, so to speak. Particularly in high school, that took confidence in one’s abilities and courage to be one’s own person when everyone then in the groupie era of the mid 1960s wanted so desperately to be part of the “in crowd”, to which I was never admitted at Pulaski. But, quite honestly, it never bothered me not being a member of the clique at Pulaski since, as Groucho Marx once observed, I would never want to belong to a group that would have me as a member anyway. I do have some standards, however few in number they may be.

Consequently, I am not surprised, and very pleased, to hear that Chester has had a very rewarding and fulfilling life. He is married to a lovely woman named Gail, and currently lives in Georgia. Incidentally, his cousin is Sue Symecko, who also graduated in our class of 1966. Sue was a very pretty and friendly cheerleader at Pulaski, and I will never forget her singing “Heat Wave” on class day.

Chester is now a retired professor from the University of Georgia. I believe he was a Professor in the Psychology Department in Athens because, while googling his name, I saw a listing of a number of publications that he has written on neurophysiology in various academic journals. Currently he is listed as the owner of Oconee Minerals in Watkinsville, Georgia, a private company categorized under Rock and Stone Specimens. Hopefully Chet has struck it rich finding precious, valuable, and collectible stones.

Unfortunately, Chet will not be making it to the reunion since he has a commitment to travel to Colorado next week; however, we thank him for saying hello, and hope he travels north soon so we can all welcome him home. And we also hope that he provides much more detail on his life so that we can share it with all of you.

Chet, if you ever read this blog posting, I want you to know that you are always welcome to stay at our humble home here in Berlin when you travel north. Hope you like cats: we have six…LOL.

Love, respect, and best wishes,
Bill