Obituary of Thomas R. Vogt

Thomas Richard Vogt was born in New London March 22, 1942 – and died November 5, 2017. He was the husband of Judith Beloff Vogt and the son of Florence Ladd Vogt and Walter R. Vogt. He loved the poem…The Dash by Linda Ellis.  In that poem, it states we are all guaranteed two dates---our date of birth and our date of death.  But what’s really important is how we live what’s in between those dates---the dash.  He did a great deal of things in that dash. He started working at the age of 2 by counting coins for his grandmother to fill the Vogt’s Bakery cash register. He worked along with his father mixing batters, rolling dough, and frying donuts in the bakery. At 16, he worked 23 hours a week delivering for James Drug. After graduating from New London High in 1960, he received his BS from Central Connecticut State College in industrial arts. He started teaching in Ridgefield secondary schools in 1964. He helped design a new junior high school which was the first junior high in the state to implement an offset printing operation. Over the time he was in Ridgefield, he taught metalworking, power technology, woodworking, graphic arts, photography, plank-on frame model construction, driver education, and adult education. He was selected as 1988’s Teacher of the Year for Ridgefield. After 35 years of teaching in Ridgefield, he retired in 1999, and did some commercial work in electronic prepress.

During his time in Ridgefield, he wrote nineteen curriculum guides in industrial arts, practical arts, computer arts, and special education. He received his Master of Science from Central Connecticut. He also received study grants from the National Printing Equipment and Supply Organization and Raytheon Corporation. During many summers, he and his family attended International Graphic Arts Education Association conferences in Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia, He was a participant in Space Camp for Teachers in Titusville, Florida. He praised the four courses that he took at Disney University. In 1992 he was selected for Who’s Who in American Education and in 1994 he was selected for Who’s Who Among American Teachers.

He also developed several innovative courses. Computer Arts was an applications course praised throughout the country. SCARE (Simulated Car Assembly and Reproduction Experience) was a program where students ordered a vehicle on the computer and then made the parts to build it. Alumni News was a publication project that had students write about what they thought their life would be like 20 years in the future.  They used word processing to record them and then moved them through electronic prepress and then offset printing to produce a publication that was distributed throughout the school. POP (Producing Our Products) set up a business, financed it, paid its employees and “sold” them their grade. STEaM (Science, Technology Education and Math) was an engineering course that had students solve problems and construct the solution that they designed. He received four Celebration of Excellence awards from the Connecticut Board of Education and SNET.

He published the Ladd Family of Southeastern Connecticut newsletter four times a year for a decade. He had written and published fourteen books on members of the Ladd and Vogt families.

He is survived by his wife, Judith; his daughter Karen Reilly (Matt); his son Mark; and seven grandchildren, Kevin, Megan, Liam, and Mason Reilly and Grady, Payton and Cooper Vogt. He is also survived by his sister, Janice Reichenbach (Rick) and two nephews, Kurt and Brett.

Memorial Services will be held 11:00 AM, Saturday, Nov. 11th at the United Methodist Church, 5 Clapboard Ridge Rd, Danbury. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Thomas's name may be made to AstraZeneca Hope Lodge, 125 South Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02130.