by Bea Peterson
On Saturday, June 15, Norma Brenenstuhl and Armand Rousseau distributed checks to nine local agencies totaling $12,600. The checks were presented to the Hoosick Falls Community Band for operating expenses, the Town of Hoosick Historical Society, the Hoosick Area Church Association (HACA) Food Pantry, the Hoosick Falls Girl Scout Service program and the Hoosick Falls Girl Scout Day Camp, the Cheney Library Children’s Reading program, the Wood Park Residents Association, the North Hoosick Fire Dept. Disaster Shelter Fund and the local Reynolds Foundation.
[private]Town Historian Phil Leonard knew Edith Reynolds personally. He described her as a gracious, petite woman. He said she left Scotland for the United States after the death of her husband and their two children. Once in America she became a prominent minster, served in Hoosick Falls and married Marcus Reynolds. After his death she was generous with bequests of her inheritance. Leonard gave each organization representative a sheet filled with newspaper headlines of just some of her donations. At one point the Little League received $1,000, then $5,000 for a Little League Memorial Park. She donated $13,000 and $22,000 for the purchase of fire trucks. She gave $5,000 to the Rescue Squad, paid off the Grange Hall mortgage and donated $15,000 toward the Town Pool. These are just a few of her many contributions to the Town of Hoosick. Rev. Reynolds died in 1971 at the age of 95. However, her generosity, through the Reynolds Foundation, still provides for the community she loved.
Other members of the local Reynolds Foundation Board are Robert Becker, James Monahan and William Shiland, Sr.
[/private]