by Bea Peterson
On Saturday, July 18, members of the local Reynolds Foundation committee presented $12,000 in checks to the following organizations for their community work: the Town of Hoosick Community Band, Town of Hoosick Historical Society, Hoosick Area Church Association Food Pantry, Hoosick Falls Girl Scout Service Program, Hoosick Falls Girl Scout Troop #1144, Cheney Library Children’s Reading Program, Hoosick Veterans Memorial, Hoosick Falls Boy Scout Troop #63 and to the local Reynolds group as a reserve.
The memorial in front of the Hoosick Falls Municipal Building states that Mrs. Edith Craig Reynolds (1877-1971) received highest honors from the British Government for bravery during the WW I Zeppelin raids on London while giving recitals to the military. In her early years she undertook a lengthy tour of Northern England and Scotland establishing branches of the YWCA. Mrs. Reynolds was invited to speak before both houses of British Parliament. She was a biographer to the Queen of England. She is listed in Who’s Who in America as one of the outstanding women in America. She was the first woman to be fully and publicly ordained as a minister in New York State, and she was the first woman to
preside as Chaplain to the NYS Assembly. She became Pastor of the Baptist Church in Hoosick Falls in 1925. Her sermon “Lives Remade” received international acclaim and was translated into several languages and is included in a collection of the World’s Greatest Sermons. Born in London and later living in Scotland, she became a naturalized US citizen in 1942. In 1966 she was the first person in this area to receive the Kiwanis International Citizen of the Year Award. She also received a medal from the Boy Scouts of America for her extensive food raising activities on their behalf. In 1967 she was honored with a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Russell Sage College.
Hoosick Town Historian Phil Leonard pointed out in his presentation about Mrs. Reynolds on Saturday that her largess was due to the money she inherited from her late husband Marcus T. Reynolds, a successful businessman and the son of a member of Congress. The couple married in 1928. Mrs. Reynolds shortly thereafter retired from active ministry. The couple spent their winters in St. Petersburg, FL, where she filled in at many churches in the area. Mr. Reynolds passed away in 1957.
