Stuart Jerome Conto was born on February 22, 1937 in Bronx, NY. He was the loving only son of Joseph Conto and Rose Tonetti Conto. Stuart lived in New York for much of his early life, surrounded by cousins and a fun-loving Italian family. He loved going into New York City to explore museums and jazz clubs and soaking up culture every chance he had.
At the age of sixteen, Stu tragically lost his father and he took on the responsibility of caring for both himself and his mother. Stu put himself through private school by working as a groundskeeper at Palisades Amusement Park, among other jobs. He attended Don Bosco High School, St. Bonaventure University, and The University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, graduating in 1963. Stuart loved working in the medical profession and for a time, did surgical residency before deciding to pursue dentistry.
While at St. Bonaventure, Stuart attended a dance where he met Margaret Jane Walach of Erie, Pennsylvania. They fell deeply in love and made plans to marry after graduation. Stuart and Margie married on July 6, 1963. They lived in Philadelphia and Long Island while deciding where they wanted to settle down and raise a family. They chose Washington, CT and moved there in early May of 1965, just three weeks after their first child, Carolyn Margaret was born.
Stu set up a dental practice on Main Street in Washington Depot. He, Margie and Carolyn lived upstairs from the dental office in a building that was once a piano store. Stu worked to build his practice during the day, and at night, tended bar at the Yankee Peddler Inn in Torrington to help make ends meet.
For the next forty years, Dr. Stuart J. Conto, DDS practiced dentistry in Washington Depot. Anyone who ever sat in Dr. Contoé