Good times for Charlie

Stamford centenarian and community leader celebrates triple-digit birthday

By Peter Healy

Charlie Guinta has been a citizen of the year, man of the year and an outstanding volunteer. He garnered a slew of other awards from Stamford groups and clubs over the decades.

Charlie recently attained something more precious than a plaque, a trophy or a proclamation. That is the privilege of having three candles that formed a “100” on his birthday cake.

About 70 Guinta family members and friends celebrated Charlie’s centennial on Sunday Jan. 14 at the Italian Center in Stamford. He turned 100 on Dec. 15, which Mayor Caroline Simmons proclaimed Charles Guinta Day last month.

Charlie’s second oldest son, Stephen, read the mayor’s proclamation to the crowd at the Italian Center. “I, Caroline Simmons, ….. congratulate Charles Guinta as he celebrates his 100th birthday, (and) express our grateful appreciation for his contribution to our community, and wish him much health and happiness,” Stephen, who lives in Florida, read from the mayor’s statement.

Tom Guinta, Charlie’s youngest son, came from his home in South Carolina, to attend the party. Tom’s classmate at the former Stamford Catholic High School, Tony Pavia, traveled to the party from his Florida residence. Two pages from Tony’s book about Stamford GIs in World War II, “An American Town Goes To War” (Turner Publishing Company 1995), are about Charlie and his time on the battlefield in the Pacific island of Iwo Jima.

Charlie graduated from Stamford High School in 1941 and enlisted in the Army after one semester at the University of Connecticut.

He was a member of the Army Signal Corps during the siege of Iwo Jima, a 36-day battle in which tens of thousands of Japanese and American soldiers died in February and March of 1945. Charlie witnessed the iconic raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima that marked the U.S victory in one of the war’s bloodiest battles.

Charlie was part of the Greatest Generation of Americans who were born between 1901 and 1924. Many of them endured the Great Depression in the 1930s and fought in World War II.

“No one epitomizes the Greatest Generation more than Charlie Guinta,” Pavia, who had been principal at Trinity Catholic, Stamford and New Canaan high schools, said at the party.

Pavia described Charlie Guinta as a humble man who “did nothing special except serve my country,” Pavia quoted Charlie as saying.

Charlie gave that statement to journalist and author Jack Cavanaugh of Stamford in September 2022 when Charlie was 98 years old. Cavanaugh, who was at Charlie’s 100th birthday party, wrote an article that year for the Stamford Advocate about Charlie’s visit in April 2022 to Normandy, the site of the D-Day Invasion of France in 1944.

Two of Charlie’s three sons and their wives accompanied Charlie on the D-Day trip. His oldest son, David Charles Guinta, passed away in October at age 75. David’s sons, David G. and Ben Guinta, were at the party, along with some of Charlie’s great-grandchildren. Charlie’s wife, Jane Larson Guinta, passed away many years ago. They have three grandchildren.

Charlie’s youngest brother, 94-year-old Richard “Stubby” Gunita, led the crowd in singing a Guinta family version of “Happy Birthday,” with staggered notes, long pauses and other changes to the classic tune.

Stubby and his wife Frances live in the Guinta family’s original home in Glenbrook. The parents of the four Guinta brothers were deaf. Their father, Sandy Guinta, was deaf and mute. Their mother could not hear but could speak. Charlie learned sign language at age 6 and helped his parents communicate with their four sons. The fourth brother, Bob Guinta, died in a snow skiing accident many years ago.

Charlie’s other brother, 97-year-old Sandy Guinta, also attended the celebration with his wife Jessie and his son. Sandy worked at the Stamford Advocate as a compositor for 55 years and now resides in Arizona. Sandy used sign language to communicate with deaf compositors at the newspaper. His father had been a Linotype operator at the Stamford Advocate for 40 years.

Charlie, who worked for the former Waldenbooks company for 40 years, has some newspaper experience, too.

He was sports editor for the Stamford High School newspaper, the Siren. Charlie also reported on football and baseball games for the Stamford Advocate as an unpaid hobby.

Charlie’s love for literacy continued throughout his life. Mr. Guinta served on the board of directors of the Ferguson Library and its foundation.

The chief executive officer of the Ferguson Library, Alice Knapp, presented Charlie with a plaque that says, “Charles and Jane Guinta Reading Room.” Ms. Knapp said the room will be a new amenity at the library.

Rounding out Charlie’s biography, he married Jane in February 1946. Mr. Guinta got a degree from Pace University and started working as an accountant at Waldenbooks, whose headquarters used to be in Stamford.

He retired in 1990 and had been a senior vice president and chief financial officer at the former book retail chain.

Charlie was busy with community activities before and after he left full-time work. The Fred Robbins Post No. 42 of the Jewish War Veterans chose him as Stamford’s Citizen of the Year in 1992. The State Street Debating Society named him Man of the Year in 1989.

Among his many accolades, Charlie received the humanitarian award from the Stamford Red Cross, the Outstanding Volunteer award from the Rehabilitation Center, the President’s Award from the Stamford United Way and the Pastor’s Award from St. Gabriel’s Roman Catholic Church.

In their spare time, he and Jane played tennis at Newfield Swim Club and at the Italian Center. Charlie also was a Little League baseball coach for his sons and their teams. A fan of the Big Band era, Charlie attended swing band concerts on the boardwalk at Playland amusement park in Rye, N.Y., while in his early 80s.

After a hip injury shut down his tennis game, Charlie started swimming laps at age 90 at the Tully Center. He was a life member of the Senior Men’s Association of Stamford and drove himself to the group’s weekly meetings until he no longer could drive.

He recently left his longtime home in the Newfield neighborhood of Stamford and moved to the Residence on Summer Street assisted living facility. A couple of Residence staff members attended Charlie’s party along with Nancy McKee, Charlie’s close friend who lives at the Residence.

As a testament to his longevity, a poster on the wall at the party stated that a first-class postage stamp cost 2 cents in 1923. Gasoline sold for 14 cents a gallon and Calvin Coolidge was president. Popular songs that year were “Yes. We Have No Bananas” by Billy Jones and “Down Hearted Blues” by Bessie Smith.

Charlie entered a very exclusive club last month. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 101,000 Americans are age 100 or older and comprise 0.03 percent of the country’s overall population of 336 million people.

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