Richard Jeynes is a lifelong resident of Woodbridge.  He graduated from Amity High School in 1960 and West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1964.  He received his MA and Sixth year from Southern Connecticut State College.  He taught history for 41 years in Milford.  His interests in Woodbridge history was enhanced through friendship with older lifelong Woodbridge residents in the 1940s and 1950s.  One of those residents was Elmer Little.

 

            Another was Dorothy (Dot) Sperry Sutfin, a descendent of the first Woodbridge resident, Richard Sperry.  Mrs. Sutfin taught Richard Jeynes in 4th grade. (1951) at Center School. In 2002 he was elected to the Amity Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2016 to Southern Connecticut Diamond Club Hall of Fame.  This fall he completed his 53rd year of coaching including 40 years of baseball and 13 years of Cross-country both at the college level (Yale and Bridgeport Universities) and high school level (Milford High Scholl). Richard presently serves on the boards of the Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society and the Woodbridge Land Trust.

 

            Richard has been associated with the First Church of Christ, Woodbridge, since birth in 1942.  He and his brother David were brought up in the church. His family has been associated with the church for 110 years as his aunt Lois taught in the Northwest one room school at that time 110 years ago.  His Parents lived in Woodbridge starting in 1934. His dad, Mark Raleigh, was chairman of the Ecclesiastical Society from 1948-1953.  It was during that time that George Milne was hired as minister of the church (1952-1979) and the Parish House was built (1952). Richard’s mother, Evelyn, was the first secretary the church ever hired (1952).