Bon Jour from Paris: A Day in the Life of Flat Stanley-Whitman

Bonjour, I have been vacationing with my friends, Jane and Jag Dalal, in Paris where we have visited many sights. I am sending you some pictures, so you can see of the places we’ve been.

Paris is a beautiful city—the capitol of France—and it’s divided in the middle by the Seine River. The first day we walked down the famous street called Champs-Elysees which is full of shops and little cafes where people stop and have coffee in the afternoon. This street takes you to “L’arc de Triomphe” which is a huge arch built by Napoleon to celebrate his military successes. Unfortunately for Napoleon, it was not finished until 1836, long after his rule of France ended.

We also saw the Eiffel Tower, and did you know that the elevators for this giant steel structure were built by Otis Elevator in Farmington? The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris, but when it was built for the World’s Fair in 1889, Parisians hated it and thought it was ugly.

We spent half a day at the Louvre Museum and got to see the “Mona Lisa” and some beautiful paintings and sculptures. My favorite section was the antiquities area where we saw writing and sculptures from 3,000 years ago done by the Egyptians! The museum is so big that people get lost in it.

Have you heard of Notre Dame Cathedral? This huge church dates back some 800 years and has wonderful large gargoyles on the top. (They look like a cross between an animal and the devil with a horn!) We visited Notre Dame on Sunday, so we got to participate in the church service and heard the organ played. Our last day we decided to take the train out of Paris (people take subways and trains everywhere) to the town of Versailles and visit the Versailles Palace which was the home for France’s Kings and the nobility. It is a huge estate with several gardens, a lake, pastures for sheep and horses, and the palace itself is splendid with paintings and sculptures of Roman gods throughout. The palace was really a city where the French court and all the families lived, so it was a busy, busy place.

Well we are ending our trip to France, and I think Flat Stanley is no longer so flat! We enjoyed wonderful food, wine, breads and cheeses, and of course, French pastries!

We are going to Copenhagen in Denmark next, so for now I will say goodbye as the French do.
Au revoir,
Flat Stanley-Whitman (FSW)

Thank You, Alma Bailey Taylor King

Alma Bailey Taylor King. That’s a long name. When she died last year at the age of 94, she left a long legacy.

Mrs. King was a Farmington resident and retired teacher who had outlived both of her husbands and two sons. Having no one to leave her money to, she bequeathed $1.6 million to the Farmington school district and to the Farmington Village Green and Library Association, a nonprofit corporation that owns and manages the Farmington and Barney Libraries, Stanley-Whitman House museum, Memento Mori Cemetery and the Village Green.

It’s important to note that the gift was not donated directly to the FVGLA or the school district. It will be kept in two separate trusts and administered according to the terms in her will—for the FVGLA through a board of trustees; for the school district, possibly another board—who will make recommendations to the trustees.

As a result, this money is not directly available to the FVGLA or its endowment fund, from which Stanley-Whitman House, the libraries, and several other entities receive direct support.

If you are considering including a bequest in your will to a charitable organization, such as the FVGLA—designating a percentage or amount that directly benefits that entity is a way of showing your true love for that unique organization, giving back to your community, and sets an example for others.

Please use the bequest wording below for Stanley-Whitman House, or change it to reflect the Farmington or Barney Libraries, the cemetery or Village green according to your desires:

"I give, devise and bequeath to Stanley-Whitman House, a part of the Farmington Village Green and Library Association, Farmington, Connecticut, USA, a nonprofit corporation existing under the laws of the State of Connecticut, ____percent (%) of my residuary estate, OR the sum of $__________, OR all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, to be used for its general objectives and purposes."

Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Trustees of the FVGLA