As a lifelong resident of North Haven, Alice Bessonett has been involved in a number of organizations and volunteered her time to many different efforts to benefit the town she loves.

“I was born and raised in the same house I’m living in now,” says Alice. “My parents grew up here, my grandfather was the owner of Jensen Motors. It’s my life.”

When her daughters, who are now 19 and 23, were younger, she was a Girl Scout leader for each of their troops for about eight years. She also volunteered for the council to help with cookie booths, which led to a job as production manager and web designer at Girl Scouts, which had an office in North Haven at the time. She worked at Girl Scouts for four years, volunteering throughout her time there, as well.

“Girl Scouts is an awesome organization that gives girls the power to believe they can do anything in the world,” says Alice, whose daughters are now pursuing their careers—Sarah wants to be an English teacher and Shannon earned a degree in biotechnology and is a cancer researcher. “Girl Scouts empowers girls to believe more than they sometimes think they can do. I always pushed my girls to believe that and do a little more.”

Alice, whose son Shane is considering a career in special education, stressed that the work she did with her troops was learning-based and they decided to use the money they earned selling cookies to visit a Mennonite dairy farm in Paradise, Pennsylvania. Her daughters enjoyed the trip so much that they requested to return each year for their birthdays, which are both in April.

The Bessonett family spent so many vacations at the farm that they formed a strong bond with the owners, as well as those who work on the farm, including one of Alice’s best friends. Now, every Labor Day weekend, they relieve the owners of their duty and run the bed and breakfast and oversee the farm.

“This is the only time they get time off, but we enjoy it because you know just what you have to do—the cows need to be milked and fed, you have to bottle-feed the babies, and you educate the bed and breakfast guests about farm life,” says Alice. “It’s nice being in the middle of the Amish area, teaching people there are other cultures besides the American electronic culture. You don’t have to take pictures, you don’t have to have a cell phone, you don’t have to be on computer to have fun. It brings everything back to reality and is a reset button.”

Alice values her time recharging as she is a full-time caretaker of her parents and also has worked as a special education teacher at North Haven High School for the past four years, earning her master’s degree last year.

“I’ve always had a passion for special education, especially working with kids with invisible disabilities, like ADHD,” says Alice, who was inspired as a Girl Scout leader and when she was an assistant football coach to her dad with North Haven Youth Football. “There were some kids who were struggling and I wanted to be able to help.”

Alice’s dedication to her students reaches beyond the classroom. She assists a student taking stats for the North Haven High School football team at every home game, has tutored students, and traveled down the East Coast to surprise a student who was competing at a national track meet.

“We wanted to support her so we surprised her and she and I both nearly cried,” says Alice. “My husband and I spent four days going there and back, but we tied in visits to battlefields along the way.”

Alice and her husband, Henry, were not only excited to cheer on Alice’s student, but to see the scene of many real-life battles—they are Revolutionary War re-enactors with the Fifth Connecticut Regiment. After a visit to Sturbridge Village, their interest was piqued.

“After watching the battle, Henry said, ‘I want to shoot a musket’ and I’ve always had an interest in that kind of history,” says Alice. “I wanted to learn to sew and cook like they did then.”

Now, while attending her father’s chemotherapy, Alice hand-sews all of the uniforms the couple wears. She also shares her passion for history and the Revolutionary War with her students.

“With special education, I need to know all genres and all subjects so I can ignite their passions and show them I’m still learning and still researching,” says Alice. “I want to show them there’s never a time we stop learning.”

Alice has a wide variety of passions. In addition to history, she and her husband are also passionate about football and are die-hard Eagles fans. She also enjoys theater and spent a decade volunteering backstage with the North Haven Drama Cooperative at North Haven Middle School.

Alice’s father coached flag football for 25 years and when she was 12, she would make team phone calls for him. She eventually began assisting him on the field as well. When she and Henry were dating, he also volunteered coaching.

“I still walk in to places in town now and kids will say, ‘Hey Coach,’” says Alice.

This past year, she was also asked to help out with the North Haven Volunteer Fire Department West Ridge Company 3’s team for the second annual North Haven Education Foundation Spelling Bee.

“They asked me because my husband is a terrible speller,” says Alice, who noted that Henry is a volunteer fire policeman and a volunteer with the Community Emergency Response Team.