Briefly
Promoted
OXFRD, Mass. — bankHometown recently announced that Alexandra Likes has been promoted to learning and development officer, based at its 182 Main St., Putnam, office. Likes, of Dudley, MA, will manage a team of learning and development specialists across the Hometown Financial Group family of banks, which includes bankESB, bankHometown, North Shore Bank and Abington Bank, a division of North Shore Bank. Likes earned an associate’s degree in business administration from Cambridge College, and is currently working toward a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nichols College.

WHZ promotions, plus
POMFRET/TOLLAND — WHZ Strategic Wealth Advisors cut the ribbon on its remodeled and expanded headquarters in Pomfret. The company also named two new partners and made several other internal promotions. Leisl L. Langevin, CFP® CDFA® was promoted to Managing Partner, Advisory and Kate Pitts to Managing Partner, Client Relationships and Experience. Co-founder Laurence Hale, AAMS® CRPS® remains with the firm as Senior Partner and Chief Investment Officer, and James Zahansky, AWMA® remains as Senior Managing Partner and Chief Strategist. In addition, Holly C. Wanegar, CFP® has been promoted to Vice President, Associate Financial Advisor; Hailey Costa has been promoted to Director of Client Relationships, and Kayla Densmore has been promoted to Manager of Client Experience.

Branch manager
JEWETT CITY — Jewett City Savings Bank has appointed Amy Turner as assistant vice president and branch manager of the bank’s Plainfield office. Turner brings over 30 years of banking experience to the position. Before joining Jewett City Savings Bank, she served as branch manager and assistant vice president at Eastern Connecticut Savings Bank. Additionally, Turner currently serves as Secretary of the Plainfield Business Association and is an active member of the Northeastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. She holds an associate’s degree from Quinebaug Valley Community College.

President retiring
WATERFORD — Charter Oak Federal Credit Union has announced the planned retirement of longtime President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Orenstein, effective January 2026. Orenstein, who joined the credit union in 2004 as Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer, was promoted to CEO in 2007 and president was added to his title in 2011. The board hired D. Hilton Associates, Inc. to conduct a nationwide search for Orenstein’s successor. 

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Scholarship winners
WATERFORD — Several local students were awarded Community Outreach scholarships by Charter Oak Federal Credit Union:  Johanna Blanchette, H.H Ellis Technical High School; Norah DiMartino, Emma Desrosiers and Lucy St. Germain, Killingly High School; Justin Griffiths-Lam, Marianapolis Preparatory School; Owen Pothier, Plainfield High School; James Rice, Pomfret School; Evan Mailloux, Putnam High School; Xandar Miller, Woodstock Academy; Sofia Thurber, Tourtellotte.

Shirley Anne Pozzato
PUTNAM — Shirley Anne Pozzato, 90, most recently of Putnam, died peacefully on June 22, 2025, at home, surrounded by her devoted daughters, and her outstanding hospice aide, Sue. 
She was born on July 29, 1934, in Woodford Green, England, the second daughter of John and Ivy Marshall. 
Shirley and her two sisters were evacuated as children, to the Westcountry of England, during “The Blitz” of London, in WWII. 
She grew up in Devon, England, where she developed her lifelong love of the sea. 
Shirley emigrated to the USA, in search of a better life. And, While attending classes to obtain her citizenship, she met her future husband, Carlo Pozzato, with whom she had become smitten, while she was teaching her Italian classmate how to improve his English. 
They ultimately married, and remained together until his untimely death from leukemia, in 1987. 
Shirley had studied in England to be a horticulturalist and was tremendously knowledgeable in all things botanical. 
She worked as a professional orchid grower with the Rod McLellan Company in South San Francisco, for many years. And, in 1984, she was honored by having an orchid named after her (Vuylstekeara “Shirley Pozzato”.) 
A lifelong, avid gardener, Shirley left behind beautiful gardens everywhere that she lived, including in Redwood City, Calif.; at St. Elizabeth’s Church in SSF, Calif.; in Bethesda, Md.; Tumon Heights, Guam; San Diego, Spotsylvania, Vir.; and in North Bend, Wash., while she was living with one, or the other, of her two daughters. 
She was also a voracious reader of mysteries and thrillers, and her sharp wit made for the most amusing meeting notes ever written, during her tenure as the secretary of the Sunlight Garden Club of Spotsylvania. 
Shirley leaves behind her elder daughter, Adelia White (née Pozzato), a former, U.S. Navy nurse, and her two children, Carlo and Julia Lombardo; and her younger daughter, Lydia Pozzato, a retired FBI SSA, with whom she had lived for the past 34 years. She also has many, living relatives in England, and in Italy (through her late husband.) 
Considerate to the end, Shirley requested that there be no funeral, so none of her friends from around the world would feel obligated to travel long distances, “Just to say, ‘Goodbye, especially since I wouldn’t be there,” as she firmly stated it. 
Instead, her daughters ask that her beloved friends and family share some of their fondest memories of Shirley on her online guest book, for all to remember her by, at www.GilmanAndValade.com 
Her final resting place will be with her husband, Carlo, in the columbarium at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, Calif. Gilman and Valade Funeral Homes and Crematory, 104 Church St., Putnam.

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