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NORWALK NEWS, Thursday, March 5, 19929BusinessThese women work in the homeas contractorsBy PHYLLIS CODLINGFor those times when the best man for the job is a woman, the Handy Maams are ready to go to work on household repairs or improvements.Judith Wade of Norwalk and Theresa Carlson of Bridgeport are skilled in painting, wallpapering, installing ceramic tile, plastering and minor electrical and plumbing repairs.Wade, 63, learned wallpapering and remode lingjobs as a child, working with her father on their Stamford home.“I can remember doing wallpapering back when we never heard of pre-pasted paper,” she said. “Now the wallpapers arevinyl-coated and pre-pasted. Why, it’s likeI’ve died and gone to heaven. Or Disney World.”Wadegotinvolvedinthebusinessofreno-vationastheowneroftheformerFireplaceShop in Stamford. “People would say, Sure, I want a fireplace, but can you make my garage into a playroom, or can you enclose my porch?’“So I got into doingcontracting work, and I found out that I liked it better than working in an office,” she said.Carlson, 33, a struggling artist specializing in acrylic impressionism who has studied with Westport artist Ann Cher-now, learned housepainting a few years ago while working for another woman in the business. She later worked for companies owned and staffed by men.“I started getting resentful because they’d be mak ingmore money than me andI’d be leading jobs,” she said, adding thatthe men often made as much as $4 per hour more.Sixmonthsago.Carlsonthrewinthedrop cloth and decided to work for Wade. “She’d been hounding me to come work with her for a few years and then she got into an accident, so I finally said, let’s go for it.”The accident occurred last year, when Wade was struck by a car in Norwalk and suffered a broken shoulder and other injuries.the floors. And they fixed the kitchen table when the leg fell off.“WearenottheMerryMaids,”Wadesaid, “but the nicest part of having us come is if the table breaks or if the faucet breaks, we can fix it.”“Yeah, wecanhandleanything,Carlsonagreed. She added that they also clean up after their own mess.“A lot of men, when you get them inside, they don’t clean up after themselves. I wasix months agoCarlson threw in the dropclothand decided to work for Wade.Donahue and Pozner will be keynoters at GNCCTalk-show host Phil Donahue and Vladimir Pozner, a Soviet political commentator, will be the keynote speakers at the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner meeting on March 19. The annual meeting - the Chamber’s 103rd - will be held from 6-10 p.m. at the Continental Manor,112 Main Street.The “Pozner Donahue” one-hour weekly news and current events program is carried in 54 broadcasting markets inthe United States.The format Pozner and Donahue developed for the show is based,in part,ontheir successful appearances together on television and radio.Each week, topics of national and worldwide interest are ex-amined by the co-hosts, newsmakers and other guests.Pozner and Donahue met via satellite on December29,1985- long beforeglasnostbecame a household word — when they co-hosted the first “citizens’summit” linking a So viet studio audience in Leningrad with an American audience in Seattle. Two similar events followed, and in 1987 they were honored by the Better World Society with a GlobalCommunicationsAward for the programs.Both have written best-selling autobiographies. “Donahue, My Own Story” by PhilDonahue Company (Simon Schuster) was published in 1979, and PozneFs “Parting with Illusions” (The Atlantic Monthly Press and Avon Books) was published in1990.Pozner has been a frequent guest on Nightline. During the recent failed coup in the then-Soviet Union, Pozner was an almost daily commentator on U.S. network television from Moscow. Prior to that, hehad resigned from the Soviet state-run television organization because he opposed directives banning criticism of the policies of Mikhail S. Gorbachev.Donahue has been the host of the “Donahue” show for 24 years. He’s also been the host of a number of prime-time specials.Credited with pio-“I was riding my motorcycle, a SuzukiGT380, and a 90-year-old man hit me inan intersection,” she said with a laugh. “You should have seen the headlines.”Wade found she could no longer do heavylifting, so being able to hire Carlson was a blessing. “Working alone was gettinghard on me. I didn’t like working in anempty house. And she’s one of the finest plasterers I’ve ever known.”During a recent job in a Fairfield home,Carlson had the opportunity to use herplastering skill when they removed an old stovepipe from a kitchen wall.Wade said the Fairfieldjob was unusual. Theownerwasamaninhis70sandunable to care for himself or to take care of the housecleaning, so a lot of work had to be done just to prepare the inside ofthe house for paint.Because they had been hired to pain t theentire interior, the women ended up washing all of the man’s clothes before they returned them to the finished closets; they alsodidseveral loadsofdishes and cleanedDonahueneering the audi-ence-participation talk show, Donahue and the show have been awarded 20 Emmys, and he hasbeen honored withthe George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award. Hehas been a contributor to ABC’s The Last Word and NBC’s Today Show, and in 1984 he comoderated the Democratic presidential debate with Ted Koppel.The chamber event will begin with a reception followed by dinner and —the program. Newofficers and direc-tors will be intro-doingit all the time, it was driving me nuts --they leaveitforthehouse wives,’’shesaid. “We’ll pullout their vacuum andclean up.”“Or if the house is empty we’ll bring our Shopvac,” Wade said. “We leave it better than we find it. I don’t know, I guess it’s a woman’s instinct.”The Handy Maams made renovations to a 200-year-old house in Darien, w ith Carlson repairing buckling ceilings. The pair also has built shower stalls and replaced portions of rotted-out floors.Wade said their average time on a job is one week, although they often do one-or two-day jobs and have worked as long as a month on a project. As for their rates, “We have to figure what has to be done and how long we’ll be there,” she said. “But we’re very competitive. If we give you a quote, we know we will be $ 100-$300 less than anyone else.“We’re not lookingtoget rich quick; we’re perfectly willing to get rich, but well do it slowly.”lt;»peanuts’ are recyclableduced and an Outstanding Business Award will be presented. U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4), Mayor Frank Esposito, and area elected officials are expected to attend.Members of the dinner committee are chairman James Gardella of Norwalk Cove Marina, Frank Rosenberry of The C.R. Gibson Company, Ann Davin of Pep-peridge Farm, Mark Hanny of IBM, John McBennett of Perkin-Elmer, Joseph Pas-sero of KJafTs, Samuel Stowell of Pitney Bowes Credit Corporation, Dottie Washington of Norden Systems and CatherineWrenn ofUnited States Surgical Corporation.callthechamberat866-2521.As part ofa national recyclingeffort, Mail Boxes Etc. in Norwalk is serving as a col-lectioncenterforplasticloose-fill--thepuffsof plastic foam used as packing material. Residents are encouraged to deposit clean, good-as-new, foam loose-fill “peanuts” there rather than discarding them. Peanuts may be white or colored and shaped like figure S’s, discs, or other forms.According to company spokespersonGreg Bryson, consumers can call 800-828-2214 for nationwide recycling locationsand request free literature about loose-fill and the environment.Because there may be times when thestoragespaceisfull,Brysonsuggestsphon-ing the Norwalk Mail Boxes Etc. at 847-6166 before droppingoff the loose-fill. MailBoxesEtc.Centerswillreusematerial.Anysurplus will be picked up by the loose-fillconverter or manufacturer for reuse and recycling.“Wewillassumeresponsibilityforstoringthe donated loose-fill and preventing it from being scattered as litter or otherwise damaging the environment,” Bryson said.Plastic loose-fill, properly called expanded polystyrene (EPS), is one of the most cost-efficient packaging materials available. Providing better protection forfragileitems,it’slightweight,easy to work with, and keeps handling costs down, according to Mail Boxes Etc.Thecollectionprogramisanationaleffort launched by the company and the Plastic Loose-Fill Producers’ Council, consisting of Dow Chemical, Free-Flow Packaging Corporation, Inter-Pac, Ring Can, and Storopack.VV hile Theresa Carlson plasters the bathroomludith Wade installs a faucet in the kitchen of a Fairfield home. —Photos hy Li: Miragliu
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Norwalk News
Norwalk, Connecticut, US
Thu, Mar 05, 1992
Page 9
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KY, USA 11 Oct 2020
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