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Aug 20

Spotlight: Suzanne Testani looks to jump over new hurdles – Greenwich Time

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Photo: Bob Luckey Jr. / Hearst Connecticut Media

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Suzanne Testani, program director the the Greenwich Senior Center, leads an exercise class for seniors at the center in Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Testani will be retiring at the end of August.

Spotlight: Suzanne Testani looks to jump over new hurdles

GREENWICH In October 1997, Suzanne Testani took her young son to work so they could march into the auditorium at the Nathaniel Witherell nursing home on North Street. For an elaborately-planned Halloween costume, she chose to be Lady Godiva, and 8-year-old Alex was her knight in shining armor.

Her son who would eventually be working in Greenwich as a police officer led her into the auditorium with his sword in the air. She entered to a crowd of live-in seniors on her noble steed. She had borrowed a horse for the day.

Although she told her director at the time in advance that she would be bringing in an animal, she didnt say what the animal or the costume would be.

That was one of my bigger moments at Nathaniel Witherell, she said Friday 20 years later sitting in the Greenwich Senior Center conference room.

I needed the horse, she laughed. And I was bareback too I had no saddle. I told the gal I needed (a horse) that was bomb-proof, that wasnt going to spook at electronic doors. She goes, I got just the right horse. He does Civil War reinactments!

He was a little older but he was a good boy, Testani said. Now I have my own horse.

The Senior Centers program coordinator is retiring at the end of the month after spending 32 years working for the Town of Greenwich.

Suzanne Testani is a vibrant part of the programs provided to Greenwich's Seniors. She is able to engage our seniors in athletic activities, educational programs as well as social and cultural events. She always greets people with a warm smile and an abundance of enthusiasm, said First Selectman Peter Tesei.

We will miss her and wish her well as she transitions to the next phase of her life. My personal gratitude (goes) to Suzanne for her thoughtful and helpful guidance during my tenure," he said.

Testanis career began at Nathaniel Witherell in 1985, where she worked for almost 18 years. In 2005, she returned to the town working part-time at the center until she was promoted and the program coordinator position turned full-time.

But although Testani grew up in Fairfield and lived in Stamford and West Haven before putting down roots in Trumbull, her Greenwich presence is undeniable to those who have worked with her and know her.

I was thinking about it this morning, said Deanna Salerno last week, the friendly face that has been greeting everyone who comes into 299 Greenwich Ave. since January 2007.

Salerno sat back in her chair.

Shes always been like family, she said. Like when I first started, she made me feel really comfortable about working here always smiling, always happy. We are always laughing. Im going to miss her terribly.

We became friends, you know, Salerno said.

Testani joked to her husband Jack that she is leaving more than an intangible legacy in town.

Of course when our son (Alex) had the opportunity to get his position as a police officer, it was just another touch of irony, Jack Testani said. Suzanne would say shes leaving some of her DNA behind in the form of our son even though shes leaving.

And the Greenwich police officer, now 27, said if hes doing his job well, he owes it all to her.

She exemplifies the balance in relationship to hard work versus talent, he said last week. Her talents in artistry, interpersonal communication skill and compassion have aged like fine wine... I owe my work ethic and maintenance of my talents to her.

Her husband, though, said that aside from her footprint in Greenwich, Testani has been active in Trumbull on a political level in a way that has always impressed him.

The years have just been one adventure after another with Suzanne, he said. Its basically being married to the Energizer bunny, only with a lot of emotion and intelligence and dedication and honesty and strength.

You know, she is someone that has always worn an incredible amount of hats since the time we first got married, said Testani. Not only is she a wife and a mother, but first she was an appointed official ... (for) Parks and Recreation in 2005, and then she got elected in her own right to the Town Council in 2007 ... and then she got elected to be Vice Chairman of the Republican Town Committee in 2009 which is the equivalent of the RTM in Greenwich, but much smaller.

Now she is a TRTC Finance Committee chairman and serves as Vice Chairman of the Trumbull Board of Education. Her husband serves as TRTC Chairman.

Shes a very exceptional person, he said. I'm very fortunate; I consider her my best friend and my wife.

Jack Testani said that the Senior Center program coordinator also went to get her lifeguarding license at the Greenwich YMCA so that the center wouldnt have to hire a separate lifeguard for its Aquatic classes. She also is a group fitness director, and uses that certification to teach other exercise classes at the center.

Heres a woman in her 40s, he said, going against high school kids. And she beat them all in the freestyle and the butterfly ... I kept telling her to join the Olympics.

Chicky Krois, an employee with the towns Commission on Aging, agreed that Testani truly is one of a kind.

Its going to be hard to replace her, said Krois. Shes generous, shes got a generous personality. Were going to miss her.

And her younger son, William Testani, said her personality, enthusiasm and compassion for other human beings are unparalleled in the world as he knows it.

She was pregnant with me while working at Nathaniel Witherell and I grew up helping her at that nursing home, William Testani said.

He turns 24 Tuesday.

Her drive and passion for helping others in the social work field, he said, is what motivated me to work in the field of social work. And I try to emulate what my mother has brought to the town of Greenwich day in and day out for over 20 years in my own work.

As for where she wants to take it from here, Testani said that at 55 she is ready for a change of pace. She wants to move to California after selling her Trumbull home which she says is easier to keep clean for showing now that the boys have moved out and are both settled.

I would really love to go back to school, get my masters degree as an LCSW and have a private practice, become a marriage and family therapist, she said. Thats what I want to do. There are a lot of people who need help out there.

Ive had the glorious opportunity here in Greenwich to help people, said Testani, but its time for me to reinvent myself, rewire myself and do something different.

E: JTuriano@greenwichtime.com; T: @jturianoGT; IG: @greenwichgreen

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Spotlight: Suzanne Testani looks to jump over new hurdles - Greenwich Time

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