Monagan, John S.

Monagan: an attorney, a member of Congress from Connecticut. He was a friend of sculptor Naum Gabo. Gabo was born in in Briansk, Russia in 1890 and died 1977.

John Stephen Monagan was born Dec. 23, 1911, in Waterbury, Conn. He received his early education at Driggs, St. Mary's and Crosby high schools in Waterbury. After receiving his Bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1933, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1937. In 1938 he was admitted to the Connecticut bar and joined his uncle's law practice in Waterbury that same year. Mr. Monagan held numerous significant commercial and political positions, including president of the Waterbury Board of Alderman, 1940-1943; mayor of Waterbury, 1943-1948; member of the board of directors of the Waterbury Savings Bank; and delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1944, 1948, 1960, 1964, and 1968. He was elected Democratic representative from the fifth district of Connecticut to the U.S. Congress and served in that capacity from Jan. 1959 to Jan. 1973. After failing to win reelection to the House of Representatives in 1972, he resumed the practice of law as senior resident partner in the firm of Whitman & Ransom. His many publications include Horace: priest of the poor (1985), The grand panjandrum (1988), A pleasant institution (2002), and The master and the congressman (2003). He was marrried to the former Rosemary Brady and together they had three daughters and two sons. John S. Monagan died on Oct. 23, 2005 at his home in Washington, D.C.

Anthony Dymoke Powell was born on December 21, 1905, in London, England, the only child of Philip Lionel William Powell of the Welch regiment and Maud Mary Wells-Dymoke. Powell was educated at New Beacon preparatory school, Eton College, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a third in history in 1926. That same year he joined the publishing firm of Duckworth & Co., where one of his tasks was to read unsolicited manuscripts. Powell's first novel 'Afternoon men' was published by Duckworth in 1931, followed by 'Venusburg' (1932), 'From a view to a death' (1933), and 'Agents and patients' (1936). Having left Duckworth in 1935, Powell was employed as a script writer for Warner Brothers of Great Britain during 1936. His fifth novel, 'What's become of Waring', appeared in 1939. Powell's literary career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Welch Regiment, 1939-1941 and the intelligence corps, 1941-1945. Before returning to fiction, Powell ventured into biography with the publication of 'John Aubrey and his friends' in 1948. This was followed the next year by his edition of Aubrey's 'Brief lives and other selected writings'. In 1951 'A question of upbringing', the first volume of the monumental roman fleuve, 'A dance to the music of time', appeared. Originally projected for only a few volumes the work was not completed until the publication of the twelfth novel, 'Hearing secret harmonies', in 1975. Powell's last work of fiction, 'The fisher king', was published in 1986. Non-fiction works include 'To keep the ball rolling': four volumes of memoirs (1976-1982); 'Miscellaneous verdicts' (1990) and 'Under review' (1991): collections of essays and reviews written while on the staffs of 'The Times literary supplement', 'Punch', and the 'Daily telegraph'; three volumes of 'Journals' (1995-1997); and 'A writer's notebook' published posthumously in 2000 (written ca. 1930). Powell was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 'At Lady Molly's' in 1958 and the W. H. Smith Award for 'Temporary kings' in 1974. He was named CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1956 and made a Companion of Honour in 1988. Powell married Lady Violet Georgiana Pakenham, third daughter of the fifth earl of Longford, on Dec. 1, 1934. They had two sons, Tristram and John. Anthony Dymoke Powell died at his home, The Chantry, near Frome, Somerset, on March 28, 2000.

Dan Breen, Irish freedom fighter, was born on Aug. 11, 1894 at the Grange near Donohill in County Tipperary. In 1908, at the age of 14, he left school and worked as a laborer and railroad worker. From 1918 to 1921, he commanded the Irish Republican Army's famous "Flying Column" against British troops and Black-and-Tan auxiliaries. Breen again fought on the IRA side in the Irish Civil War that followed the 1922 peace treaty with Britain against the forces of the Irish Free State. He was captured in 1923. While in prison, he was elected as the representative for Tipperary in the new Irish Parliament. Breen resided in the United States for a short period during the twenties and thirties. He married Brigid Malone in 1921. They had a son, Donal, and a daughter, Granya. He retired from a long and active public life in 1965. Dan Breen died at the age of 75 on Dec. 27, 1969.

John Stephen Monagan was born Dec. 23, 1911, in Waterbury, Conn. He received his early education at Driggs, St. Mary's and Crosby high schools in Waterbury. After receiving his Bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1933, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1937. In 1938 he was admitted to the Connecticut bar and joined his uncle's law practice in Waterbury that same year. Mr. Monagan held numerous significant commercial and political positions, including president of the Waterbury Board of Alderman, 1940-1943; mayor of Waterbury, 1943-1948; member of the board of directors of the Waterbury Savings Bank; and delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1944, 1948, 1960, 1964, and 1968. He was elected Democratic representative from the fifth district of Connecticut to the U.S. Congress and served in that capacity from Jan. 1959 to Jan. 1973. After failing to win reelection to the House of Representatives in 1972, he resumed the practice of law as senior resident partner in the firm of Whitman & Ransom. His many publications include Horace: priest of the poor (1985), The grand panjandrum (1988), A pleasant institution (2002), and The master and the congressman (2003). He was marrried to the former Rosemary Brady and together they had three daughters and two sons. John S. Monagan died on Oct. 23, 2005 at his home in Washington, D.C.