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11/01/2023 09:06 AMWhere’s Tony? You never know where Tony Carrano will appear next.
That’s because of the many different ways he participates in civic affairs in Essex.
He is such an effective volunteer, in fact, that he was named one of this year’s 15 recipients of the Beacon Award. The award is given annually by Shore Publishing (of which this newspaper is a part) to exceptional citizens whose work has made a significant difference in their communities.
“I was very humbled when you heard what some of those other people had done,” Tony says.
Here are some hints for spotting Tony: Look for him during the gardening season wearing a yellow T-shirt as a member of the Ancient Order of Essex Weeders, who maintain traffic islands at the entrance to town. When the weeds have stopped growing, the group still meets weekly for breakfast.
On Sundays, you can find Tony in the choir at Our Lady of Sorrows Church or singing solo as the cantor.
One night a week, he sings with Con Brio, the choral group that will present its Christmas concert on Dec. 9 and 10. Tony is both a past president and a past treasurer of the organization.
He also sings in a barbershop quartet, the Hilltop Four. Tony admits that while a quartet has four members, sometimes the group has five singers. It’s not a counting problem, just a precaution so they are covered if someone cannot make a performance.
On Monday and Thursday mornings, Tony is at rehearsals for the New Horizon Band of the Community Music School. The band is part of a national New Horizons organization focusing on providing performance opportunities for older musicians. For many years, he played the baritone horn but several years ago switched to trombone. In addition, Tony often picks up band members who no longer drive to bring them to rehearsal.
Trombone is not the only instrument Tony plays. He also plays the fife in the Colonial Navy of Fall River fife and drum corps. He once played in an Essex Group, Sailing Masters of 1812, but instead joined the Massachusetts group when the Sailing Masters rehearsals conflicted with choral rehearsals.
He says he has contemplated retiring from fife playing. “Old fingers just don’t work that well,” he says. “But then they call up and I go.”
He also plays a classic folk instrument, the tin whistle.
Tony is a driver and dispatcher for FISH, the acronym for Friends in Service Here, which drives people to medical appointments. He is a poll worker for elections; he has volunteered to work on collection days for the local blood bank.
Do you believe he has any time left for a part-time job? He does. He delivers for Nutmeg Pharmacy.
In his full-time career, from which he retired in 1999 after some 30 years, Tony was a math teacher in the Region 4 school system. He started teaching at 21 years old and his first few years were spent instructing younger students, but his later career was at Valley Regional High School.
“I was so close to the high school students in age at the start,” he explains of those early years.
Tony did not start out as a math wiz. At the parochial elementary school in Bridgeport he attended, he was having trouble with fractions. His teacher told he him couldn’t be an altar boy if he didn’t learn how to do them.
To help him along, she gave him 100 extra fraction exercises every night. By the time he got to college at Southern Connecticut State University, instead of a reluctant fraction student, Tony was a committed math major.
Proficient though he is in fractions, Tony admits he still thinks about what it would be like if the United States adopted the metric system for everyday use.
“There are no fractions,” he points out.
While he was at Valley Regional, Tony was one of the chaperones for activities including overnight hikes for the Outdoor Club. He was for many years a skier, both downhill and cross-country as well as a snowshoer. He did cross-country until last winter when he took a very bad fall on an unfamiliar and steep trail.
“I thought I broke my arm,” he recalls. “I didn’t but I think I might be done with that now.”
Keeping all his activities going, Tony admits, takes some organization and planning.
“You have to be more disciplined and organized,” he says.
“It can be stressful.”
Nonetheless, he keeps on.
“The joy in volunteering is to see the smile on people’s faces,” he says.
And there is one more thing: He has said yes for so long, it is challenging to change. He recalls a recent program of the Knights of Columbus, of which he is a past president, when someone had to go over to New London to pick up dinners. Tony volunteered to do it.
“I have a hard time saying no,” he admits.