Alpha M. Ballard (Claus)

ALPHA M. BALLARD. "Al." Danbury, Conn. "I cannot check my girlish blush, My color comes and goes; I redden to my fingertips, And sometimes to my nose." Alpha is always willing to help in any situation whatever. She has a habit of turning a deep carmine-at times.

Taught at:  Ridgefield Public Schools:  Center/ East Ridge School, Veterans Park School 

.   Center / East Ridge School with Ridgefield High School  winVeterans' Park School

   Alpha was born on July 30, 1903 in Danbury. The Ballard family had many connections to Danbury’s hatting industry.  Alpha’s mother, Edith, was a hat trimmer before her marriage to Emerson W. Ballard.  Edith’s father, Stanley Young, worked as a hatter and her husband, Emerson was a hatter at various times during his life. In 1910 he is a finisher in a hat factory.  Finishers were considered craftsman and journey men – working at piece rates for the factory owner.  In 1923 he is working at the Division Street Grocery Store, and the family is living at 35 Division Street.  In 1925 he is again listed as a hatter and they are still living on Division Street  Alpha’s mother, Edith, died on January 30, 1925 and is buried in Kenosia Cemetery, the old cemetery across from the “new” St. Peter’s Cemetery on Kenosia Avenue in Danbury. 

After graduation from Danbury’s State Normal School in 1924, Alpha is listed in the Hartford City directories for 1925-1926 as employed at Miss Wheeler’s Open Air School as a teacher and is boarding at 262 Ann St. in Harford. Beginning in 1928, she is living at 80 West Wooster St. with her family and teaching in Ridgefield. Her future husband’s family lived nearby. 

  By 1930, Alpha's father, Emerson, has married  Lucy P. Camper. She is working as a clerk in the grocery store Emerson now owns on Cherry Street.  Lucy died on January 11, 1955 and Emerson died on February 14, 1961.  Both are buried in Kenosia Cemetery.

IN 1931, Alpha and the Ballard  family are living at 5 Cherry St.and she is still teaching in Ridgefield. 

Alpha marries Frederick Charles Claus in 1947. He was born in Ridgefield, on November 25, 1903. In 1948 they are living on Westville Avenue and Frederick is working for the H. McLachlan Hat Factory. They lived at several addresses in Danbury throughout the following years.  By 1958 they are living at 7 Meadowbrook Road and Frederick is listed as an attendant at Fairfield State Hospital (also known as Fairfield Hills Hospital) a state psychiatric hospital which operated from 1931 to 1995 in Newtown. Alpha probably worked at Center/East Ridge School in Ridgefield before Veterans' Park School was built in 1955.  A 1964 Danbury city directory lists Alpha as teaching at Veterans Park School. By 1982 she has retired.

Frederick passed away on November 13, 1966. Alpha continued to live at Meadowbrook Road until she died on December 6,1997.  Both are buried in Wooster Cemetery, which is located near WCSU’s main campus.