August 2012
(in subscribed newsletter, not here: two photos; copy of Judy Rundell's
recognition article)
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Note: There is no September meeting.
Good day, local historians,
A very comfortable August evening awaited the fifty-and-then-some attendees,
necessitating a search of the recesses for another fifteen chairs. It was,
indeed, a well attended meeting. So well attended that I lost track of who was
sitting in front of me, other than a visual recall, which I will attempt (but
should know better). If I leave you out, let me know, and I will fix for next
time.
Among our regulars (customary regulars): Stephanie Ingalls, Dot Blenis, Bob
& Marie Shaw, Christine Micklesen, Orrin & Shirley Stevens, Phyllis
Beechert, Bette Welter, David Rundell, Dot Hesel (nice seeing you!), and, me.
Among the new regulars (two or meetings this year, so far): Tim Broder, Bob
Titus, Evelyn Jennings, Mary Heisinger, Paul Augestein, Jack & Maureen Ver
Planck, Jackie Park, Margaret Donohue, Nick Nahas, Peter O’Hara, John Garafolo.
Somewhere in between are those on the mailing list, and may or may not attend
regularly: Aileen Hesel & Allen Totzeck, Barbara Valicenti, Fred & Carol
Lamb (nice to see you out!).
And then there were a number of first timers: Rob Mirabelli (yeay, Class of
’70), Barbara Flach, Jean Flansburgh, the Goldsburys, and another twenty I
have neither notes nor memory for.
And my categories beg the question of the definition of “regular,”
especially this year.
The cause of the crowd, I suspect, is a semi-rare History of Greenville in
Photos program, instigated initially by Barbara Flach as part of the Library’s
scheduling and programming of community events, and gladly joined by the
Greenville Local History Group.
The trick, of course, is to show, as fully as possible, a representative view of
Greenville. However, since photography was invented 1850-ish, the first fifty
years of Greenville’s existence can visually be seen only in paintings and
sketches. And even the Historian’s files contain only a handful of photographs
before 1900. So, the last half of Greenville’s history dominated the slide
show.
The early part of the show started with a little tongue-in-cheek portrayal of
what people do for fun in Greenville – ride cows, eat hot dogs at Matt’s,
fish in the pond, march in parades, watch the ducks, bicycle through the four
corners, square dance, fight off gigantic locusts, etc.
Then I switched to maps – the five Greenvilles (Orange Co, Ulster Co,
Westchester Co, Steuben Co, and finally Greene Co). (Even worse, there are two
Towns of Greenville in NY – the Orange Co Greenville being our usurper!)
Another set of maps is an eight panel page of the development of Greene County
and Greenville (a reproduction in this newsletter). Of particular interest is
Freehold, which can refer to various areas before 1810. So, when I get a request
from someone who asks for information about an ancestor who lived in Freehold
before 1810, I can’t help but give a long explanation about where that person
should be looking.
Another map, mounted on board, was an original 1856 map of Greene County, the
one (besides Beers 1867) that includes dots where structures are indicated,
along with the accompanying owners – a quite useful “document.”
Then, the show broke off into the hamlets, mostly highlighting the hamlet of
Greenville, with places shown in different time periods at the same spot, or
significant landmarks that show Greenville’s past.
A series of slides showed agricultural scenes, while another batch showed early
resorts.
The final twenty (of the 120) slides showed people, accompanied by the ringing
declaration that all the events and places and buildings amount to little
without the contributions of its citizens. A small discussion of native vs
outsider was instigated to show the importance of the melding of the efforts of
both groups, and that modern day Greenville is so heavily influenced by
community members who moved into the town.
I could have shown a hundred different slides to make the same points, a comment
that I think Barbara Flach took to mean another show could be done next year,
and it may be a good idea.
I have included a two
of the photographs included in the slide show.
Available for viewing on the surrounding tables were enlarged aerial maps of
the hamlets and Country Estates; photos in and copies of past calendars; and
photographs from past shows.
I hope it was a worthy effort. Those of you who have watched my efforts for 24
years know that none of this was in my files at the start, and that it is with
the collective efforts of so many of you, and of so many who have passed on,
that I am able to pull off a show like this. It is with gratitude, and sadness
for the passings, that I share these photos and documents.
Again, September has no GLHG meeting.
October looks like something similar to our share sessions but will
masquerade as a program. I’d like to spend up to a half-hour to see what
people want to share, so bring stuff and news in.
Whenever that runs its course, I will turn to the “program” of the
evening – selecting pictures for the 2014 and 2015 calendars. Thus, I will
bring a couple hundred photographs that we have not used for calendars yet, and
I suspect there will be a few photographs that only a few people have seen in
the last 20 years. If you want, you will be making notes, physical and/or
mental, and narrowing down to a couple dozen by evening’s end.
I’ll give a few parameters, e.g., a school photo, a church photo, a boarding
house photo, etc. And I like a balance of people pictures with building
pictures. I used to try to balance the seasons but we have so few winter scenes
that I gave up on that.
Also, to continue our tradition of recognizing community members, I need
nominations of people for the two calendars. Included in this newsletter is the
list of recognitions given over the course of our calendars. I could suggest a
few names but I would rather not put thoughts in your heads at this point. So,
start developing a list of worthy candidates. If you want, you can call or email
choices and I will make a list to start the October meeting.
The last calendar came close to breaking
even, so we will do at least one more calendar. However, one of our ideas was to
have a sponsor (or sponsors) for a calendar. We may need to try to head that
way. If you know someone, a group, or a business that wants to sponsor either
the whole calendar or part of a calendar, let me know before next summer.
Sometime, by GLHG year’s end (November), I’d like some feedback how this
year’s schedule went. After facing a dwindling interest (my perception) of the
share sessions, I have minimized their number in favor of the programs. I did so
with a bit of sadness of ditching an idea that I thought had worked so well for
years. But facing reality (my perception), I tried a different tack, bringing
more people in but losing a little tightness of group (my opinion). And we added
refreshments, done voluntarily so well by Stephanie and Christine.
So, is it better than what we usually do? Any suggestions, comments, etc? I’d
like to do what I can reasonably do to serve the community’s local history
effort.
Back to this past meeting: my prep for this meeting was going quite well – set
up the screen, move tables, move chairs (with lots of help), turn on computer,
turn to photo show, hook up to projector, …. hook up to projector,… hey,
where’s the projector? A phone call to Debra saved the day, who retrieved it
from home and raced to Greenville within ten minutes. Whew!
Two recognitions that happened earlier this year are given space later on in
this newsletter. Congratulations, Judy, and Dave.
Attendees of the meeting might have kept a copy of Town of Greenville Published
Sources. I have put it online.
Of course, a thank you goes to Stephanie and Christine for the refreshments –
a much appreciated task, not only by me for having it done, but also by all the
attendees for whom it is a nice finishing touch of the evening.
Don
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past
recognitions:
Stanley Maltzman (1996)
Orloff & Jeanne Bear (1997)
Chris McDonald (1998)
Leland & Curt Cunningham (1999)
Ossie & Bunny Gundersen (2000)
Fred & Leona Flack (2001)
Harry & Cris Ketcham (2002)
George Story (2005)
the Nicholsen family (2005)
John & Isabelle Singer (2009)
Harriett Rasmussen (2010)
Walter Ingalls (2012
Past Posthumous Recognitions
Al Bryant, Sr (1999)
Dr. Bott (1999)
John Ver Planck (1999)
Harry Ketcham (2000)
Rev. Chas. Rice(2000)
Gerald Ingalls (2000)
Edna Ingalls (2001)
Scott Ellis (2001)
Rev. Richard Clark (2001)
Capt. Leslie Gumport (2002)
William Vaughn (2002)
Arnold Nicholsen (2002)
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David Battini's recognition, from Daily Mail, Kingston Freeman
Greene County names its 2012 Senior of Year
David was employed as a teacher in the
Battini has been a member of the Greenville Volunteer Fire Company since 1970
and also serves with the Fire Police. He was the founder and initial first aid
trainer for the Greenville Rescue Squad in 1972. Since 2007, he has been the No.
1 responder to ambulance calls as an advanced intermediate EMT. A
certified instructor for the American Heart Association,
he has conducted many classes in cardio pulmonary resuscitation for the American
Heart Association.
Battini serves as a member of the Greene County Rural Health Network, the Greene
County Emergency Medical Service Council and the REMO Executive Board. He is
also treasurer for the Greene County Paramedic
Program and chairman of the Board of Assessment Review. In addition, he serves
as a driver for Greene County Department for the Aging’s Homebound Delivered
Meals.
David Battini is a tireless volunteer, an excellent example of a caring
and active individual volunteering not only to his hometown of