by Bea Peterson
On Sunday, October 27, members of the Hoosick Town Board, Rensselaer County Legislator Stan Brownell, the Armand Rousseau family and a few friends gathered at the Reynolds/Gilchrest Skating Rink for the unveiling of a plaque in memory of Claude Rene Rousseau. Claude was born in 1961 and died in an accident in 1976.
Many was the cold winter night the Rousseaus, along with Phil Leonard and other volunteers, would help flood the rink, starting at 3 am. “It was worth it,” said Brian Rousseau. “We all loved to skate.” Armand played semi-pro hockey in Canada in his youth. “He is a beautiful skater,” said Mariea Rousseau. Though Claude was a little tyke when the rink was built in the mid 60s, he was there to help and to skate all his short life. The plaque with Claude’s photo etched into it and the years of his life states, “His love of skating and this rink has been an inspiration to his family and friends and epitomizes the benefit of this facility to the people of the Town of Hoosick.”
Making ice in those early years wasn’t easy. The rink has no refrigeration. “The rink had a dirt floor, and you couldn’t let the water puddle,” said Phil Leonard. Dennis Casey, who was at the unveiling in his hockey shirt, recalled the difficulties of getting that ice smooth over the uneven surface.
When David St. Hilaire was Hoosick Town Supervisor in the late 1990s, he commissioned the plaque from Hoosick Falls Monumental Works. The plaque was completed when St. Hilaire was out of office. Apparently no one on the Town Board knew about it, and it remained at the Monumental Works all this time.
A few months ago Dave Begin gave the plaque to Armand. In turn, Rousseau brought it to a Board meeting, and the Board agreed it should be installed at the rink. Last month the Board agreed to pay for the plaque as well. However, Begin said, an anonymous donor came forward and paid for it.
Now the plaque is where it was meant to be. And times have changed since those early years. The rink has a cement floor and new rink boards. There is also a Zamboni for grooming the ice instead of two pipes and a piece of canvas. This winter a new Town staff person will be making the ice, though the hours will not be any better than in the past.
When youngsters and adults come to skate they will see the plaque and perhaps harken back to those early days when volunteers made sure there was skating in Hoosick Falls.
