Echoes Of The Echo At The Stephentown Historical Society

Tom Bleezarde will present “Echoes of The Echo,” the weekly newspaper which served the Taconic and Lebanon Valleys from 1940 to 1996, at the Stephentown Historical Society meeting on Monday, October 5.  The meeting is at 7:30 pm at the Heritage Center on Garfield Road (County Route 26) in Stephentown. It is free and open to the public. The building is handicapped accessible. For directions, telephone 518-733-5675.
Bleezarde will provide the rest of the story of the first fifteen years of this independent hometown newspaper, founded, owned and edited by his father, Warren Bleezarde. Tom grew up in the Valley, sharing a home with his parents, one brother and the office of The Echo, the area’s family owned weekly newspaper.  Taking ads, selling subscriptions and accepting news items were second nature for him and provided material for the anecdotes he will share.
Bleezarde went to Hamilton College, the University of Massachusetts Journalism School and became a reporter, columnist and editor for The Berkshire Eagle, news editor of The Brattleboro (Vermont) Reformer and editor of the Williams College Alumni Review. He has written, edited and/or published a half dozen books including the recently published A Class, A Building and A War, the story of the New Lebanon Central High School class of 1953 during the World War II years in the Union Free School building.