A Penny Saved Is A Start . . .
Memoirs of Rocky Neck
by Richard Valentini

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In the late sixties and early seventies, a whole wacky world existed that most of us have never heard of: the workers who kept the summer beaches and parks of Connecticut beautiful. Rich Valentini was at the bottom of that food chain: a campground janitor, outhouse cleaner extraordinaire, garbage can dumper, idiot sticker, and overall gopher for the tasks no one else wanted to do. A Penny Saved is a Start is a coming-of-age memoir that shares the lessons one teenage boy learns on Rocky Neck State Park beach, both good and bad. Growing up, falling in love, getting rejected, and being taught all about life from a succession of fellow workers. All of this is told with the humorous perspective of an adult looking back on the most memorable time of his life. This feel-good book reflects an era long gone, but not so different than today. Establishing your identity as a young adult involved working hard, taking responsibility for your actions, and learning to deal with coworkers…but all without a cell phone, the internet, or social media. It’s a light, enjoyable read for anyone who lived through those times, and for young people who are growing up in a very different world.

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Richard Valentini spent thirty-two years teaching, working mostly with special education students. Today he continues to tutor in math and algebra at the local public school charter academy. He has written many plays and stories over the years for his students, which often revolved around the fun times he spent working at state beaches as a young adult. Every summer when Richard was a boy, his mother took the whole family to the beaches every weekday. As a teenager, Richard was inspired to get a job at the place he loved so much. He ended up spending four summers working at Rocky Neck State Park. He still spends every summer at his cottage in Madison, Connecticut, and visits the beaches there most every day. During the spring, summer, and fall months Richard often takes a train from Boston to Old Saybrook, passing by the beaches and parks of his youth. On one such trip, he was inspired to write down those stories—while he could still remember them all. Richard loves to read and write, including fiction and poetry. His other hobbies are playing tennis and pickle ball. He enjoys the study of history, geography, and social studies: knowing the history of an area, the people, their work, and what they overcame and achieved is important to him. Richard loves to visit beaches to bike, hike, and swim. He belongs to the Middle Mountain Interpretive Hike Educational Program, where he volunteers every Thursday taking students on nature hikes through the Sutter Buttes, a small mountain range nearby his residence in northern California. Those trips remind him of the summers when his mother took him to the beach so long ago, the excursions of his youth. Richard and his wife, Alice, live in Yuba City, California. But they spend most of the months from June through October in Madison, Connecticut at their seasonal beach cottage, enjoying the gentle surf and salt water of Long Island Sound.

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Contributors

Author

Richard Valentini

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