William Joseph Andrick

Hoosick Falls – William Joseph Andrick, well known photographer in the Hoosick Falls-Bennington area for over half a century, died on Friday, September 7, 2012, at the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Hoosick Falls after a brief illness.
Born February 10, 1915, in Hoosick Falls, NY, he attended St. Mary’s Academy for ten years and graduated from Walter A. Wood High School in Hoosick Falls as salutatorian of the Class of 1933. He then joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in Tennessee.  Later, he worked part time at Thorpe’s Pharmacy.
In 1935, he was employed as a Hoosick Falls correspondent for the Albany Evening News.  At the same time, he became interested in photography. Through book learning, he became proficient in taking pictures and developing them. He took free lance photos part time for The Record newspaper from 1945 to 1975.
After the Evening News ceased production, he worked for the Albany Knickerbocker News doing feature photography, covering most of eastern New York, except for Troy and Albany, until 1941. In the meantime, he opened a photography studio on the second floor of the Thorpe building in 1940, overlapping his newspaper work. There he did portrait, school and commercial photography. He operated a studio in the Putnam Block and 311 South Street, both in Bennington, VT, from 1971 to 1977.
Mr. Andrick married Grace Wagner of Averill Park, NY, in 1946 at the Immaculate Conception shrine in New Lebanon, NY. After his marriage, Mr. Andrick and his wife, who worked part time at the studio, began attending national, New York State and Vermont photography conventions, which improved his skills. Many of his photos won blue ribbons at the conventions which often could be seen in the window of their John Street studio. Mr. and Mrs. Andrick also got involved in real estate as a sideline.  They bought old buildings, renovated, rented and sold them.
Mr. Andrick closed his last studio at 53 Church Street in 1985 but continued his photography on a part time basis. His hobbies were gardening, taking walks and, most of all, dancing. He spent winters in Florida over the past 30 years.
Mr. Andrick was a Legion of Honor member with the Hoosick Falls Kiwanis, the Elks and was a communicant of the Immaculate Conception Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrick raised four children, James, Jean and Edward all of Hoosick Falls and David of Staatsburg, NY.  He is also survived by three grandchildren, Jason, Ellen and Jared Ray, and two great-grandchildren, Carson and Cooper. His brother, Joe, and his sisters, Anne, Connie and Valerie, pre-deceased him.
A Mass of Christian Burial was offered on Tuesday, September 11, at noon from the Immaculate Conception Church on Main Street in Hoosick Falls.  Burial will be at the convenience of the family. Relatives and friends called at the Mahar Funeral Home on Tuesday. In  lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Mary’s Academy, through the funeral home.