By Clark Judge
(May 28, 2025) — Shortly after Lou Annino, Sr. passed away this month at the age of 95, I ran into a friend in town and asked if he’d heard the news. When he said he hadn’t, I told him a little about Annino and how he was a bedrock member of Killingworth who made this community what it is today. To my surprise, he confessed he didn’t know of him and asked what he’d done.
He should’ve asked Charlie Smith.
“He did everything,” said Annino’s long-time friend. “He was a pillar.”
He wasn’t exaggerating.
He was the town sanitarian … alternate director of health … member of the town’s advisory council for civil preparedness … a town constable … member of the water pollution control commission … a selectman … member of the board of finance, the capital projection committee, the cable TV advisory council, the town office building committee, the public health agency, board of assessment appeals …
I think you get the idea.
“He was a professional volunteer,” said Smith.
Annino will be honored Thursday, May 29, 2025 at a memorial service at Killingworth’s St. Lawrence Church at 10:30 a.m., and an overflow crowd is expected. Some may have stories. Most will have memories. And all will mourn the passing of a community giant. It is not often that a public figure is as loved as much as he is respected, but Lou Annino Sr. was both – with those who knew him here to recall what they remember most.
TOM LENZ, Killingworth Town Historian.
“Lou Annino Sr. was a pillar of Killingworth for decades. He was a selectman when I was on the Planning and Zoning Commission. I could always go to Lou for advice and counsel about an issue in Killingworth. I always got a common sense, unbiased opinion. More than that, Lou was just fun to be around; kind, good-natured, and a sense of humor. Our town is a better place because of him.”
MARY ROBBENHAAR-FRETZ, Family Friend.
“What I remember about Lou was that he was very involved with the town as a selectman and with Little League baseball while always working full time. Family was also very important. One was always welcomed with open arms into his family’s home and treated like one of the seven kids! I do remember spending some wonderful summer days at a beach cottage the family rented on Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island, as well as the Anninos always coming to our family’s neighborhood picnic every Fourth of July. All I can say is that Lou represented the best attributes of our small town, always giving selflessly of his valuable time and energy for the greater good of our community.”
FRED DUDEK, Lifelong Friend and Neighbor
“A volunteer dedicated to the betterment of Killingworth — that’s the first thought of many that comes to mind regarding Lou Annino Sr. He was a veteran, town sanitarian, selectman and coach who was involved in many other volunteer efforts over his many years in Killingworth. I remember fondly the Sunday morning Mass in the elementary school during the early days of the mission church of St. Lawrence. Led by Lou, the Annino family would file into the ‘all-purpose room,’ and they – as well as other large families – would fill up the front rows. I served many years with Lou on the Board of Selectmen, and more than anything I remember his statement on large expenditures or contentious issues: ’Let the people decide.’ I used that knowledge in my political career and will never forget……’Let the people decide.’ “
CHARLIE SMITH, Neighbor and Friend.
“My fondest remembrance of Lou, Sr. came when we had a chat about expanding the Killingworth Library. Lou was running for selectman, and I was doing the planning for a new library. The building housing the library was not adequate, as the town population was expanding. As a former one room schoolhouse that had inadequate shelf space and was located on the traffic cycle, the Library Association needed a new home. Lou said not to worry. When he was elected, he would work to make “Our New Library’ a reality. And he fulfilled his promise when elected.”
PAT MILLER, Colleague and Grateful Friend.
“I first met Lou in 1978 when I was a newly licensed pharmacist hired into my first job out of pharmacy school at the Killingworth Pharmacy. Lou was named to the CT Commission of Pharmacy the year before (1977), and I have the distinct honor of having his signature on my original pharmacy license, which is framed in my office. How lucky was I to find myself working in ‘his’ town! On his many visits, he was always willing to share his experience, offer encouragement, flash his warm smile and wink as he left, always making me feel grateful that I’d been visited by a sage like Lou. As so many of us, I am better for knowing such an extraordinary man and mentor.
MATT ALBRECHT, Son of Former First Selectman Rick Albrecht.
“I didn’t know him quite as well as my Dad, but he stands out as one of the pillars of Killingworth — someone who drove his roots into the town and did a great job raising his family. It’s one of those families that’s well known, has done a lot for our town and, like most families of that generation, did a lot that no one knows about, heard of or realized because they were quiet about their work. It’s one of the few families that I consider a backbone of this town, and he was the building block – an integral part of the community who quite literally helped build what is around us all.”
DON VENUTI, Family Friend.
“All I can say is that he was awesome for years and, when we were doing the sand-and-gravel (business), he was always 100 percent behind us. (His children and I) all grew up together … Louie and Alicia, Gina and Andy. We were good friends for years, right to the end. He was so outstanding that if he ever ran for First Selectman … which he never did …he would have won. Trust me, he would’ve gotten more votes than the First Selectman. All you have to know about Lou is that if you had a problem with something and needed it fixed, you saw Lou.”
DAVE LEVASSEUR, Friend and Colleague
“Lou was my Second Selectman when I was the First for six years in the late ‘90s, and we always got along great. One off my favorite memories was when we sat down one day and were talking about something people still talk about to this day — and that’s some new folks … when they walk into town … immediately want the town to change to look like where they came from. Then, they inevitably move from town five to ten years after they enacted those changes, and we’re stuck with them. Lou used to refer to them as ‘daffodils.’ He said that’s because they come up for a few seasons, and then they disappear. And that’s Lou. He called it like he saw it. He had a big heart, but a great brain, too, and he used it frequently.”
JIM LALLY, Lifelong Friend and Devotee
“He was a straight shooter who was bipartisan. When we first came to town, I had some questions about building a new house on our property, and everyone had been giving me a hard time. But then Lou came along, and it was like a breath of fresh air. He was a blue-chip guy, salt-of-the-earth, who explained to me … though not in words … what makes this town go: It was the volunteers. He was number one with volunteerism, doing just about everything. Sanitarian, building inspector, this and that. Then, I got to know the family – Andy with the Land Trust and Gina at Town Hall – and everyone was so forthcoming with goodness. Later in life, I didn’t get to talk to him much because he stayed mostly at home, but I talked to his daughter one day and said, ‘Give me a Lou Annino story.’ So she said, ‘He told us he was going to take his car in for service one day. But when he came home, he’d bought a brand new one.’ “ That was Lou. He was a character and for many years was … and always will be … a great friend.”
Photos provided by Alicia Annino.
