The name Katherine “Sissy” Wells still sparks memories for hundreds of Middletown residents. Born over a century ago, in 1917, “Sissy” dared to live openly as a transgender person more than half a century ago. Until just a few years before her death in 1999, she lived in the Arriwani Hotel in the North End of Middletown and was a familiar figure on Main Street.   

            On Friday, June 6, at 5:30 PM, “Sissy” Wells will be remembered and honored at The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main Street in Middletown, downstairs from the former hotel where she lived. This in-person event, part of Middletown Pride, will also be livestreamed on the Middletown Pride Facebook page.

            The event, co-sponsored by the Buttonwood Tree, the Middlesex County Historical Society, Middletown Pride, and the Russell Library, will include recollections and reflections on Wells’s trailblazing life. Speakers will include Barbara Woike, Buttonwood Tree President Caitlin Duffy, Jesse Nasta, Executive Director of the Middlesex County Historical Society, and Brianna Skowera, a local LGBTQ+ advocate and organizer of Middletown Pride.

            Woike, a former Middletown resident, photographed “Sissy” Wells in 1979 as part of her senior thesis while a Wesleyan University photography major. Woike preserved these photos ever since and recently donated her portrait of Wells to the Buttonwood Tree, which will be unveiled at the June 6 event.

            This event is free and all are welcome.