The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Stephentown

Southard To Read From His Book At The SML

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Stephentown Memorial Library welcomes the public to join us on Monday, May 12, at 6:30 pm in the Stephentown Memorial Library Community Room at 472 State Route 43 in Stephentown for a reading of A Final Harvest by Bruce Southard. The book is a series of stories about local, national and international events/history, much of it centered on Hancock, Stephentown and New Lebanon. The stories describe the events that shape our lives and ends with the issue so many of us will experience: How do we help those we love as their end of life approaches?

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Refreshments will be served.

Bruce Southard was born and raised in Hancock, MA, then spent 23 years living and working in and around New York City. He holds a BFA in Communications Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and an MBA from The Isenberg School of Business, UMASS Amherst.

Tsatsawassa Fire Company Final Breakfast Of The Season

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The Tsatsawassa Protective Fire Company will serve its final monthly breakfast of the season at the firehouse on Sunday, May, 18, from 8 until 11:30 am.

Breakfast consists of your choice of French toast or pancakes, together with bacon or sausage, toast, orange juice, beverages and eggs prepared to your order for a cost of $6, with children under five served free. There will however be a similar breakfast on Father’s Day, June 15, during the same time and prepared by the firemen and ladies with serving and other help by the Cub Scouts. So mark your calendars for May and June.

Support your locate fire company and scouts while visiting with friends and neighbors and enjoying a hearty breakfast to start your day. The firehouse is located behind the post office near the intersection of Routes 20 and 66 North in the hamlet of Brainard and is handicap accessible. For more information call 518-766-3815.

Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department Texas Hold’em

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The Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department will hold a Texas Hold’em Tournament on Saturday, May 24, in the Stephentown Fire Hall, located at 35 Grange Hall Road in Stephentown. The doors will open at 5:30 pm and close at 6 pm. Play begins at 6:15 sharp.

No advance registration is required. A donation of $35 per player will be accepted and give the player 6,000 in chip value. Players can make an additional $10 donation at the door for 2,000 extra in chip value. This tournament will pay one place for every 10 players with a minimum of four places and a maximum of 9 places.

A free buffet will be served at the first break, and refreshments will be available.

For further information, please call John Linton at 518-733-0469.

Stephen K. Bobik

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Stephentown – Stephen K. Bobik, a longtime resident of Moore Hill Road in Stephentown, NY, passed away peacefully at the age of 69 on April 22, 2014, after a long illness. He was able to remain with his wife Judy until the very end, which is all he ever asked for the entire time.

Born in Schenectady, NY, Stephen attended Mohonasen and Linton High Schools, Hudson Valley Community College and went on to receive his Master’s Degree from Union College. He was employed as a Mechanical Engineer at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory for many years, retiring in 2006. An avid fisherman and hunter, he was founder and president of the Knolls Fishing Club at KAPL.

After residing for many years in Rotterdam, NY, Steve lived in Castleton-on-Hudson, NY, and then Stephentown. He was well known locally as a true outdoorsman who found his greatest joy in living among nature’s splendor and sharing his lifelong passion for the conservation of its resources. He was also an accomplished cross-country runner, awarded for his achievements in high school, at Hudson Valley CC and in numerous marathons.

Survivors include his wife, Judy of Delmar, NY, his daughter, Patricia Sezna and her husband Steven of Los Angeles, CA, his sister, Suzanne Whelan and her husband Charles of Ocala, FL, his grandsons, Randall Bobik and Christopher Bobik, both of Rotterdam, as well as several aunts, nephews and cousins. He is pre-deceased by his son, Stephen M. Bobik.

The family is so grateful to all the people of Stephentown who helped us through this difficult time. We will never forget the amazing optimism he carried within him even in the face of his greatest challenge.

A funeral service was held Monday morning, April 28, at Daly Funeral Home in Schenectady with interment at St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Memorial donations in Steve’s name may be made online or by check to the Natural Heritage Trust for New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation Education Camps. For details please visit the website www.dec.ny.gov/education/96461.html.

The Mohawk Trail 100th Anniversary At SHS

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Lauren R. Stevens will give a talk on the Mohawk Trail to the Stephentown Historical Society on Monday, May 5, at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be at the Stephentown Heritage Center on Garfield Road (County Route 26), Stephentown. The program is free and open to the public. The building is handicapped accessible. For directions or information, phone 518-733-0010.

The Mohawk Trail, the first designated scenic highway in the United States, will be 100 years old this year. This winding section of Route 2 crossed the spine of the Berkshires, stretching from Williamstown to Orange, MA. Leisure automobile travelers in the first half of the 20th century took in vistas from the Hairpin Turn and Whitcomb Summit in North Adams and stopped at numerous souvenir and snack shops. The heyday of Mohawk Trail tourism ended with the 1957 completion of the Massachusetts Turnpike with its promise of speedy direct transit and avoidance of towns.

The country in 1914 was fascinated by the closing of the western frontier and the accompanying romance of the western Indians. As a result, the massive “Pageant of the Mohawk Trail” staged in North Adams during the opening year featured New York’s Mohawks instead of the local Mahicans and generally confused area history with western expansion. Later tourist attractions would feature western Indian teepees and a 28 foot high Indian in plains-style garb, rather than Mahican culture.

Stevens, an environmentalist and writer, moved to Williamstown in the 1960s to teach and become a dean at Williams College. An environmental columnist for The Berkshire Eagle, he was the founder of The Advocate newsweekly and of the Hoosic River Watershed Association, with which he is still active. He leads efforts to create a long distance hiking trail along the Deerfield and Hoosic Rivers and to naturalize the flood chutes in North Adams.

Jo Anne Sykes

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Stephentown – Jo Anne “Dolly” Loomis Sykes, 61, died peacefully on Monday, April 28, 2014, at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA, with her family at her side. Born in Troy on June 28, 1952, she was the daughter of the late George Loomis and Mary Meyers Connar and is the step-daughter of Helen Loomis of Bennington, VT. Jo Anne resided in Stephentown, NY, for most of her life. She was employed at Sykes General Store in Stephentown and Jiminy Peak Resort in Hancock, MA.

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