The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

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Class of 2009 Golf Tournament Fund Raiser

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On Saturday, October 11, the Berlin High School Class of 2009 is hosting a fund raiser at the Windy Hills Golf Course in Greenwich.  

The event begins with a Continental Breakfast at the clubhouse at 7:30 am followed by a 9 am Shot Gun Start.

There will be hot dogs and beverage at the turn and a hot/cold buffet and beverages at the end as well as lots of prizes plus challenges, surprises, thank you gifts and fun. 

The format is a four person scramble – limited to 26 teams.

The fee of $100 per person includes 18 holes of golf with cart.

Registration forms are available online at www.berlincentral.org.  Click on schools, select the high school and then click on the Class of 2009 link.

College Night

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The Hoosick Falls Junior/Senior High School Counseling Center is sponsoring a College Information Night on Thursday, September 25, at 6:30 pm in the High School cafeteria. Guest Panelists, Jane McDonough of SUNY Albany admissions and Kathy Rusch of Russell Sage College, will address a wide range of topics. 

The program is open to all parents and students and is designed to be especially helpful to college bound juniors and seniors.

Open House For HFCS Capital Improvement Project

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The second phase of the 8.3 million dollar Capital Improvement Project at Hoosick Falls Central School has been completed. On Monday, October 6, at 6 pm the school will hold a community-wide Open House to offer residents the opportunity to view the many and diverse physical plant improvements and updates at the school. 

Although originally slated to be held on September 11, the open house date has been rescheduled to coincide with the installment of the school’s new playgrounds. This event will also provide the public a chance to meet our new administrative staff, principals at both the k-6 and 7-12 levels.  

Students will conduct tours to showcase the new windows, refurbished auditorium, new parking lot and sidewalks, refinished gym floors, new lockers and much more. The PTA will provide refreshments. The HFCS Board of Education, Staff, Faculty and Administration are looking forward to seeing you on the evening of October 6.

Stephentown Seniors Club To Celebrate Its 40th Anniversary

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The Stephentown Senior Citizen Club will celebrate its 40th Anniversary with an Open House on Saturday, September 27, at the Fire Hall in Stephentown from 2 to 4 pm. All are welcome!

The Club, founded in 1968, has continuously served the community and senior citizens by providing Fellowship, Recreation, Education and Community Service activities.

Fellowship – The group meets twice a month. An annual picnic, Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas Party give members a chance to socialize and enjoy the seasons, as do the occasional covered dish dinner, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day dinners and the annual Halloween party.

Recreation – Well planned day trips and at least one overnight trip during the year gives members and guests an opportunity to have a much needed day away from home and an affordable mini-vacation. This is an area where the community gives back to the seniors for their years of service with much needed and appreciated money for bus  trips.

Education – A top priority of the Club is to inform and refer its members and guests to appropriate vendors and agencies to meet their needs. Invited guest speakers have given presentations on Alzheimer’s disease, exercises designed for seniors, hearing aid devices, prevention of falls, veterans benefits, the Stephentown Library and its activities and the Town Supervisor on the goals of his office. The Club refers members to the County agencies that provide HEAP, home improvements, meals on wheels and other concerns of the aging.

Community Service Activities – The Club supports the Food Pantry with food and donations of money, visits to nursing homes and hand knitted and crocheted hats and mittens for children in need. The Club makes available for loan to the community: walkers, canes, commodes, shower seats, wheelchairs and toilet seat extenders. The Club also participates in the Veterans Day Parade with a float with many of its seniors riding on the float or carrying flags.

We are proud to be continuing the dreams of those dedicated people who 40 years ago recognized the value of the seniors in the community and who organized the Stephentown Senior Citizen Club.

A Busy Spring On The Farm

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Friday May 10, 1850: Today Geo P. bargained with Sylvenas Carpenter and bought Roswell G. Pierce’s nursery and is to pay 325 dollars cash and 75 dollars is paid in trees and is to pay in trees and today paid one hundred dollars of the cash and is to have the nursery until the seventh day of May in 1852.

Saturday: I and John F. carried two loads of manure onto my Rodgers farm and got out some manure there. We plowed with both teams a piece of ground west of the house, it was an old carrot ground. I sewed two bushels of oats on it and harrowed them in and put on eight quarts clover and timothy seed 3/4 acre of the ground and today Geo P. and hired man worked in his nursery.

Sunday: I walked over to Martin Owen’s and he agreed that his boy Michael to come and work for us in one week.

Thursday: I this forenoon took my lame horse onto my Rodgers farm to pasture and put up fence there, and I carried Mr. Aaron Merrils one pound carrot seed to raise carrots to the halves in the same way as years before.  Said horse got out of the pasture and Geo P. got the horse home again when he returned from Hancock village.

Friday: Today I took the one horse wagon and went to Pittsfield. On the way I stopped on Pool Hill and sold Parsons seven gallons of dried apple sauce for three dollars and 62 cents. I sold in Pittsfield half a bushel of apples for one dollar and 25 cents and twelve quarts walnuts for 48 cents. I changed 20 dollars for Pittsfield money in the bank. I paid while in Pittsfield to Benj Hall five dollars by order of his brother that gave me insurance on my buildings of one thousand dollars and got my policy from Hichols post office the other day from Washington County Insurance Company.

Monday: I harrowed turf for corn part of the forenoon and then it was rainy the remainder of the day. I paid Eliza and Jane Wylie each three dollars which was interest on their fifty dollars notes up to the first of April, and I went over the hill to cousin Jesse Egleston’s and paid one years and six month interest on a fifty dollars which was five dollars and 25 cents. I rode up to the widow of Johnson Brown to hire a boy but could not. On the way home I called to C. Wheeler’s store and engaged a boy of Mr. Leonard to come tomorrow on trial.

Wednesday: This morning Edwin Leonard came to work for me on trial but no price agreed on. I and Edwin mended fence on my Rodgers farm.

Saturday, June 1: This morning Geo P. drove 44 of his fat wethers and delivered to a man by the name of — to go to Brighton. He came yesterday and bargained for the sheep and agreed to pay three dollars and 25 cents a head for 42 and three dollars a head for two, which makes 142 dollars and 50 cents but when he paid for the sheep he would not pay the 50 cents and then I and Geo P. returned home by eight o’clock this morning.

Grafton Lakes State Park Invites Artists To The Park This Fall

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Grafton Lakes State Park invites artists to portray the Park’s fall scenery on Sundays from September 21 through October 12 (Columbus Day weekend).  Registered participants in the Art in the Park program will receive free Sunday admission to the Park to paint, draw or photograph in exchange for submitting a piece in the Silent Art Auction at the Winter Festival on January 24, 2009.

The Park’s forests, wildlife and lakes make for spectacular autumn scenery and an ample supply of inspiration.  The pieces will be displayed and auctioned at the Winter Festival, which was attended by nearly 2,000 people last year.  Artists will split the proceeds of the auction with the Fr

iends of Grafton Lakes State Park, a group that supports the Park’s environmental education programs. 

Participants can register at the ticket booth on weekends or at the Park Office Monday-Friday to receive an Art in the Park pass. You can also call the Park naturalists to register for Art in the Park at 279-1155 and have a pass mailed to you. Space is limited – call soon to get your pass.  

For more information about other events at Grafton Lakes State Park this fall, you may also visit www.nysparks.com.

Norman L. Bentley Sr.

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Pownal – Norman L. Bentley Sr., 66, died Wednesday, September 3, 2008, at his residence on Rt. 346 in Pownal, VT, after a courageous battle with cancer. He resided there with his wife Edna (Hurley) Bentley.

Born on December 29, 1941, in Hoosick Falls, NY, Norman was the son of the late Ernest and Lydia (Thomas) Bentley. He attended school in Hoosick Falls and was a veteran of the United States Army. Norman worked at the Bigelow Farm in Crown Point, NY. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, working on cars, surfing the web and spending time with his family.

Survivors other than his wife include two sons, Norman L. Bentley Jr. and wife Bonnie of Pownal and Leo Bentley of Bennington, VT, and his daughter, Cherie Bentley and friend Shane of Pownal. He is also survived by four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Norman is pre-deceased by a daughter, Brenda Bentley, a son, Ernest Bentley, a brother, Robert Bentley, and a sister, Ruth Shaw.

Funeral services were Monday, September 8, at 12 pm from the Mahar Funeral Home, 43 Main Street in Hoosick Falls. Committal services will follow at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Pownal.

Relatives and friends called at the funeral home on Monday from 10:30 am until the start of the service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Southwestern Vermont Cancer Center through the funeral home.

Edythe J. Hammond

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Petersburgh – Edythe J. “Edie” Hammond, 82, passed away on Monday, September 8, 2008, at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, NY, following a brief illness. Born November 8, 1925, in Hamilton, NY, she was the daughter of the late Arthur and Grace Fuller Smith Sr. and the beloved wife of Richard E. Hammond for almost fifty-two years. 

Edie had worked at Hoosick Falls Undergarment until 1957 when she left to devote her time to making a home and raising her children. In 1972 she returned to the work force and was employed in the Medical Records Department of St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam, NY, until her retirement. She enjoyed being with her family and friends and enjoyed many hobbies, including crocheting, knitting, puzzles, card playing and bowling. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and special friend to many. She will be truly missed.

In addition to her husband, Edie is survived by her devoted children, Paul and wife Autumn Hammond and Becky Bonesteel, of Petersburgh, NY, cherished grandchildren, Phillip and Kevin and his wife Jennifer Bonesteel, Daniel and Jeffrey Hammond, Katie Hodges, Tabitha Lajuenesse, Hattie and husband Matt Richardson and Mary and husband Jude Watkins, and treasured great-grandchildren, Kayla, Thomas, Brittany, Tashina, Devon and Danielle. She was a sister to Arthur and his wife Gwen Smith, Jr., and a sister-in-law to Lee Hammond. She was pre-deceased by her brother, Lawrence Smith, and a sister-in-law, Marge Hammond.

Graveside services were held on Thursday, September 11, at the Hancock Cemetery, Route 43,  Hancock, MA,   where interment will take place. The family will host a reception following the cemetery services at the Petersburgh Baptist Church Hall on Route 22 and Route 2 in Petersburgh. Contributions in Edie’s memory would be appreciated by the family to the Liberty ARC, Attn: Barb Wool or Lisa Augustine, P.O. Box 515, Amsterdam, NY, 12010, or the Muscular Dystrophy Association, 1 Marcus Blvd, Suite 203, Albany, NY, 12205.

Sylvia L. Roullier

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Berlin – Sylvia L. Zwinge (Bermas) Roullier, 68, of Plank Road, Berlin, NY, died on Wednesday, September 10, 2008, surrounded by her loving family at St. Mary’s Hospital in Troy, NY, under the care of Community Hospice of Rensselaer County.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, on September 2, 1940, she was the daughter of the late Waldemar and Martha Peterson Zwinge. She was the beloved wife of Napoleon A. Roullier whom she married on June 9, 1984, in the Church of the Covenant in Averill Park, NY.

A graduate of Berlin Central High School, Sylvia worked  locally for many years as a waitress. She retired in 2002 from David’s Bridal in Albany, NY, where she was a sales associate. She loved cooking, gardening and painting; though her greatest joy came from spending time with her family. 

Survivors include her husband, Nappy, children, Tanya and her husband Anthony Nuvallie of North Adams, MA, Glenn and his wife Jean Bermas of Averill Park, Alicia and husband Jeffrey Jahn of North Greenbush, NY, and Danyelle and husband Matthew Meyers of Petersburgh, NY, her former husband, Donald M. Bermas of Averill Park, step-children, Christine Roullier of Troy, Susan and husband Thomas Testo of Troy, Steven and wife Maryellen Roullier of East Greenbush, NY, her siblings, Phyllis Craib of Berlin, Walter Zwinge of Hoosick Falls, NY, Felix Zwinge of South Carolina, Martha Senecal of Florida, Roy and Hjarl Zwinge both of St. Petersburg, FL, and Ann Paccini of Cincinnati, OH, along with eight grandchildren, Haylee Jones, Shawn and Heather Jahn, Michael and Steven Bermas, Olivia Nuvallie and Chloe and Lilly Meyers, ten step grandchildren, two step great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was pre-deceased by two brothers, Harold “Cookie” and Peder Zwinge.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, September 13, at 3 pm in the Hall & Higgins Funeral Home, 457 NY 43, Stephentown, NY, where Rev. Trygve Tomlinson will officiate. Relatives and friends are invited to the funeral home for visitation starting at 1 pm on Saturday.  There will be an open forum for those who would like to share their memories.  Sylvia requested that all attendees wear brightly colored clothing to celebrate her journey.

Sylvia’s family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the doctors, nurses and staff on the 5th floor of St. Mary’s Hospital, as well as those from Community Hospice of Rensselaer, who took such wonderful care of Sylvia and offered their comfort to her family.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in loving memory of Sylvia L. Roullier to Community Hospice of Rensselaer County, 295 Valley View Drive, Rensselaer, NY, 12144, or The American Lung Association of New York State, 155 Washington Avenue, Suite 210, Albany, NY, 12210, Attention Special Gifts.