5 questions with… Patty “Miss Patty” Terranova, M-D Preschool Exec. Secretary and Volunteer Extraordinaire

Anyone who’s ever walked through the front doors of Miller-Driscoll’s Early Learning Center preschool with paperwork in hand, a question about registration, or a child perhaps having a meltdown because they woke up on the wrong side of Monday knows who Miss Patty is. 

With her warm and infectious smile, her sweet disposition and her enclave of eclectic amphibian figures, MD ELC Executive Secretary Patty Terranova has held down the front desk (minus a few Post-It Notes) at Miller-Driscoll’s ELC/Preschool Services for the last 27 years. 

Feeling it was long overdue, Lesley Kirschner caught up with this longtime Wilton resident, president of the Columbiettes at Our Lady of Fatima Church, and gal Friday to all things Ambler Farm. They laughed, cried and tried to recall whether the Wilton Center gazebo on the Town Green had ever been adorned with twinkling lights. To the people behind SeeClickFix, please mark this as of utmost importance. 

1. If Wilton were a postcard and you could choose just three emblematic hometown images what would they be? 

Patty Terranova: Well, Ambler Farm definitely, since I volunteer there so much. I think the red barn with the sun setting… that’s my happy place. 

The gazebo in town because that’s the town center and people congregate there. There’s functions that happen there — the winter festival, the tree lighting. 

And then I think the third place would be Bradley Park (entrance on Oak Ledge Ln.). It’s a small park. We used to do a lot of mountain biking there as a family. It’s a little winding but there’s some really nice trails. 

2. Parenting little ones (and teenagers) can sometimes feel like trying to wrestle a surly porcupine down a wooden roller coaster while maybe balancing a stack of porcelain plates on your head. As someone who sees a lot of parents and kids come through the doors at Miller-Driscoll and as a parent yourself, what is the one thing you try to remember when you get stuck with a quill, so to speak? 

Terranova: I think you need to keep your composure. You need to keep your values. 

I’ve often gone over to parents when their child is having a meltdown and they’re having to stand there and be firm and I tell them, “you’re doing the right thing.” 

You have to be in charge and they have to know that you’re in charge; and you need to follow through. Those are big parts of being consistent. 

Just know when they’re having a hard time, it’s not about you. 

3 .Being organized is something you obviously have to be in your job. As a highly disorganized individual myself, I’d like to know what you do in your daily life and perhaps at work to keep you “on task”? Any tips for the Post-It Note-challenged Wiltonions out there? 

Terranova: So yes, I’m very organized… and a little rigid. [laughs] 

My schedule is always on my phone. I use the calendar app… otherwise I would forget everything. 

I’m not really a Post-It Note woman. I’ve had a lot of issues in the past where I’ve written a note and it’s just gone missing… I would write something down and then couldn’t find it. 

I guess my best advice would be to try to finish one task at a time, and I also try to minimize what’s around me and put things away, right away, where they belong. 

I used to not be like that though. I used to pick something up and look at it and say, “oh, this needs to go downstairs” and set it on the counter and forget about it. But I’ve really gotten better about that — and getting better about minimizing what’s around me. Sometimes I look at something and I just say, “it needs to go.” 

Sometimes I get sentimental though, too, I guess, especially working in the school. The kids know I love frogs. So many families have given me frog statues and things over the years. I still have all of them. I write on the bottom of them who gave them to me and the year. 

My nickname growing up was Froggy. I had seven brothers — three older and four younger — and I’m the only girl in the family. 

One of my older brothers used to call me ‘froggy’ and tell me to jump. That’s how that started, I guess. 

4. A lot of people know you as “Miss Patty” but you also volunteer a lot. Can you tell me about that and what volunteering means to you? 

Terranova: I think it’s important to give back. I’ve been fortunate in my life in a lot of ways and I love to give back to organizations, to the town. 

I’m the president of Columbiettes, the Knights of Columbus Women’s Auxiliary Organization. It’s a Catholic women’s organization and we do a lot for the church, for Our Lady of Fatima. 

We do events for the community… to build community within the church. 

COVID [and the pandemic] took a lot of people out of church, so we’re trying to do a lot of events to help bring the community back in, and we’re working with the Knights to do that. We’re doing a St. Patrick’s Day celebration dinner in March and a fish fry in April. 

I also teach Faith Formation (formerly known as CCD) to a group of third grade students. 

At first I was a little nervous to be working with the older kids but I love that age group now. They’re very insightful and they have some great questions. They’re so inquisitive and they want to learn. 

And then of course I volunteer at Ambler Farm. The Transplant Sale is coming up… big event… I’ll be helping with that. And then in June starts the Wednesday Farmers Market and the Saturday Farm Stand. And then in December is the Greens Sale and I really love helping with that because so many of the kids I know will come up to me and say, “Help me pick my tree, Miss Patty!” 

I love living and working in town. I love seeing the kids if I’m in the grocery store or at a restaurant. I want them to come up and say hi. I love that! 

5. If you had to live somewhere other than Wilton, where would it be? Are there places you’ve traveled to that come to mind or places you’ve always wanted to visit but haven’t experienced yet? 

Terranova: My late husband and I lived in Buffalo, NY after we first got married. We lived there for eight years. That’s where our son, Nicholas, was born and the people there are so wonderful, so down to earth. I like that. And I like the snow. It’s beautiful. It’s cold. I don’t mind the cold. 

One year, it snowed on Halloween and then it snowed on Mother’s Day. So from the end of October to about the middle of May, we had snow on the ground. We didn’t see the grass for eight months.

I always said I would go back there. Toronto is an hour away and they have a great theater district — so much culture. They have the film festival. 

The foliage, the [Niagara] Falls and the people are just… so nice. 

Kirschner: Like “Northern Exposure” 

Terranova: Yeah. It was a simpler way of life. People were more connected. 

That’s another thing I think I would say to parents, too… to try to be in the moment. Some of my best conversations with my son were driving on the way to somewhere.

Now we have the phones. I’m not on social media. I’m not on Facebook or Instagram. I don’t even really like texting. I think people can get easily offended or messages can be misinterpreted and there’s a lot of breakdown in communication. I do text. I think you have to.

I prefer face to face though. But it’s hard. It’s hard for the kids, for families. I think we need to go back to “family” and enjoy life and take time. Just take time.