110 Years Ago - 1912

Michael McCue passed peacefully away a week ago last Sunday afternoon at his home in Damascus. He was in his eightieth year. While going to the McCue home to pay his respects, a longtime friend of Mr. McCue, John Dermody, in his 79th year, walked to the home of the McCue family Monday afternoon and while he was there was taken suddenly ill and expired.

Richard Odell, who lived at West End, just outside the corporate limits of Hancock village, died of smallpox Monday morning after a short illness. Churches and all places of public amusement are closed. The trustees hope to open the school a week from this coming Monday and possibly the churches next Sunday.

Floyd Young of Lookout and Miss Florence Decker of Equinunk, Pa., were married at the Methodist parsonage in Kenoza Lake November 25.

County Sealer of Weights and Measures Wm. Colden reported to the Board of Supervisors last week as follows: Has made 309 calls, inspected 576 scales of which he condemned 164; inspected 524 measures and condemned 58; 1309 avoirdupois weights, condemning 114; 114 sets counter jacks, all except two were removed; 99 oil pumps were adjusted.

100 Years Ago - 1922

Due to the low water and the absence of a strong current, the Delaware is frozen across from the bridge up to the turn in Cochecton. This is a rare occurrence so early in the season.

When the new steel and concrete bridge spanning the Neversink River on the state road at Bridgeville was thrown open last Monday it replaced the wooden structure that had carried traffic for 115 years. The wooden bridge was built by the Cochecton and Newburgh Turnpike Co. in 1807.

Gail Stalker of Elmira, a former resident of Stalker and son-in-law of Samuel Rutledge of Manchester, was recently elected a congressman.

Mrs. Thomas McCormick and Mrs. Samuel Edwards of Merriwold have the honor of being the first Sullivan County women to sit on jury in the county.

Ground was broken Monday morning for the new chapel at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Callicoon.

A Junior Audubon Club has been organized in the Fremont Center school with 32 members. Mathilda Heuchert is president; Philip Heuchert is vice president; Rose Feigenbutz is secretary and Gertrude Meyer is treasurer.

Born November 15 to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Lamb, a son, Elmer Wilson. Mrs. Lamb was formerly Miss Lucy Schmidt of North Branch.

About 10,000 tons of coal are being removed from the old canal basin at Hawley, ranging from pea coal up. The quality is excellent. Ten men are employed in screening it. To understand how the coal got in the canal bed one must go back in the history of the town. In 1825, the canal was constructed and later the gravity road was built. The coal then was shipped in gravity cars to Hawley and transferred to canal boats for shipment to eastern markets. The boats were loaded from the pockets so full that it would spill over into the water and get in the runway docks. This process was carried on for several decades and accounts for the many thousands of tons of coal found in the basin.

90 Years Ago - 1932

Miss Mary Tempel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Tempel of Obernburg, and Charles Grier of New York were united in marriage at St. Mary’s Church on Thanksgiving, November 24.

Purchase of a new pumper will be the principal business before the annual meeting of the Jeffersonville Fire District December 2.

Arthur Merrill, insurance man of Monticello, is teaching at Eldred in place of Mrs. Frederick J. Lewis, who taught there for several years.

Right of a principal to inflict corporal punishment on a student will be at issue, December 3, when Herbert C. Griffin, principal of the Kenoza Lake School will be tried before Magistrate Wm. J. Dirie on a charge of assault. Griffin is accused of having struck a ten-year-old girl who is said to have thrown metal seats of a swing in such a way as to endanger other children. She was forbidden use of the swing but persisted. Trustee Fred J. Schwartz will support the principal in the controversy.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ray of Fernwood are rejoicing over the birth of a baby girl, born November 25.

Mr. and Mrs. Eric Karg spent a few days in New York purchasing materials for the new Olympia Hotel. They expect to have the hotel ready for opening by December 14.

Workmen are engaged in erecting a foundation on the property of Blake Hunt. When completed the Hunt home will be moved from its present location to the new foundation. Mr. Hunt recently sold his house and a plot of ground to Sullivan County for a right of way for the new viaduct. He reserved the right to move the house and that will be done before construction of the viaduct is begun.

Mrs. Frema  Wolinsky, centenarian, who had passed the allotted three score years and ten by more than 35 years, died recently in Mountaindale at the age of 105. She was born in Russia and came to America in 1905. She and her son had owned and operated farms and boarding houses at Woodridge, Bloomingburg and Mountaindale.

80 Years Ago - 1942

Although the condition of the Sullivan County Farm at Thompsonville had been described in terms of disapproval by former grand juries and the State Department of Social Welfare, the most caustic report yet was to be considered by the County Board of Supervisors at its present session.

Operations by Captain John W. Turner, a professional diver who walked the bottom of the Neversink River off the stone bridge at Fallsburgh for a day and a half, were suspended last week at the director of the State Police. A report has persisted about Monticello that the object of the search was the body of Jack Drucker, who had been weighted and thrown in about two years ago, but there was no official confirmation for that. Drucker was indicted for several gang murders in Sullivan County at about the time of his disappearance more than two years ago.

Alice Elizabeth Hotchkiss of Castile and Robert J. Slaver of Liberty were married at the Liberty R. C. Church on November 21.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Vogler of North Branch are parents of a baby girl born Saturday, November 21, at the Callicoon Hospital.

Sgt. Manuel Bogner, stationed at Hilo, Hawaii put through a telephone call to the Roscoe Hospital on November 2 to talk to his wife and nine-day-old infant son. Mrs. Bogner reports the connection very clear.

70 Years Ago - 1952

The Callicoon Center Fire Department was summoned at 5 a.m. Friday to extinguish a fire which gutted the garage of Peter D. Schmidt.

Mr. and Mrs. George K. Rosenberger were feted on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary at their home Saturday evening. They were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1927.

A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Emil Thol of Milanville at the Callicoon Hospital on Monday.

Supreme Court Justice-elect William Deckelman has been assigned to a court term at Monticello in January. Assignment of Judge Deckelman to Sullivan for his first court term was seen as an attempt to let him have his first term on familiar ground.

Sgt. Gerald A. Doetsch of the Air Force was honored at the Johnson Air Force Base in Japan by being chosen “Airman of the Month” for the month of October. He was chosen over 300 men and has been in Japan 14 months.

A surprise housewarming was given Mr. and Mrs. Harry Barnes on Wednesday evening. She is a school nurse and the attendance officer of the Roscoe Central School.

William Knell of Jeffersonville celebrated his 90th birthday... A son was born to the Richard Steenrods (Charlotte Beiling) at the Loomis Hospital on Wednesday night... Jeff beat Youngsville 41 to 40 and the JVs 42-18 at basketball Friday night... A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. M. Manzolillo Tuesday night at the Loomis Hospital. — Jeff Corresp.

60 Years Ago - 1962

Opening day of deer season proved to be success for three Mileses hunters. Henry Burkhardt took a spike, his son, George Burkhardt, also took a spike and Walter Sipple downed an eight-pointer.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Meyer of Fremont Center were given a surprise 25th wedding anniversary party on November 14 at St. Mary’s Hall in Obernburg. . . Mr. and Mrs. John B. Krantz of the Beechwoods were honored on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary at the Village Inn, Hortonville, on November 22.

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hughs of Goulds observed their 25th wedding anniversary with forty-seven guests at their home on Sunday.

Cadet Richard P. Bihler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bihler of Kenoza Lake, has been promoted to cadet captain in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at Syracuse University where he is a senior in the college of Liberal Arts.

A daughter was born Sunday to Mr. and Mrs. Lee Andrews of Jeffersonville. A daughter was born Tuesday to Mr. and Mrs. William Fulton of Kenoza Lake.

Miss Joy Blake of Roscoe and Dr. J. Koyoiner of Liberty have won automobiles in the Knights of Columbus sweepstakes drawn recently. Miss Blake won a Plymouth and the doctor will enjoy a Chevrolet.

A gold plaque recognizing Rt. Rev. Msg. William F. Wilkins for 25 years of distinguished service to Boy Scout Troop 89 of Woodbourne was presented in a special ceremony in the office of Col. Wilson Dunn of the Woodbourne Correctional Institution. The presentation was made by Chairman Sol Friedman, Scoutmaster John Wright and the institution representative George Brown.

Floyd Emory, a senior in the Department of Health and Physical Education of Ithaca College has been assigned to the Roscoe Central School for his cadet teaching work beginning this week and terminating at the end of the first semester. He will work under Mr. Bruce Lamb, director of physical education.

Mrs. Lois Ostrander of Lookout, Pa., became the bride of Aaron Houghtaling on November 17, 1962.

50 Years Ago - 1972

Terrance Cardinal Cooke, Archbishop of the Diocese of New York, will celebrate a special mass on December 10 to mark the centennial of St. Peter’s Church in Liberty.

Sally and John Schultz of Hickory Ridge Farms, Mileses, entered a bull, Klondike Anxiety IB, in the Keystone International Livestock Exposition in Harrisburg, Pa., and came home with a bronze plaque for their winning entry in the Early 2-year-old class. The bull won his class at the New York State Fair and the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Mass., where he was also Reserve Grand Champion bull.

Fire, reportedly started by children playing in the area, destroyed a partially demolished building behind the storage tanks of the Frank Porter fuel oil property on the top of the hill along Chestnut St., Liberty, Thanksgiving eve. A front-end loader was lost in the fire but two 500-gallon propane gas tanks in the basement did not explode.

Miss Janet Bestenheider and Robert Miller were married September 23 in the Grace Lutheran Church in North Branch.

Bernie and Carol Creamer of Narrowsburg have announced the birth of a daughter, Melinda on November 25, at Wayne Memorial Hospital.

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Waldron of Fosterdale have announced the engagement of their daughter, Carol Ann, to Dennis Kautz son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kautz of Callicoon Center. A fall wedding is planned.

The three-story main building of the Fallsburg Country Club across Route 42 from the Flagler Hotel (now The Fountains) burned to the ground Thanksgiving evening. Reports are that it was possibly the work of an arsonist.

Friends and relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Pierson Schwartz of Kenoza Lake enjoyed a buffet at the Woodloch Pines in honor of Helen and Pierson’s 25th wedding anniversary last Saturday.

40 Years Ago - 1982

The 150-year-old log cabin, found when the Robert Fontaines of Forestburgh decided to take down an old wing of their farmhouse, will be purchased by the Town of Forestburgh and reconstructed at the Forestburgh Town Hall to help celebrate the town’s 150th birthday in 1987. Already, Peter Osborne of the Minisink Historical Society in Port Jervis has numbered the logs and the building will be disassembled and taken to storage. Attorney Anthony Kane of Forestburgh has made an early birthday present to commemorate Forestburgh’s 150th birthday by searching titles of the property on which the cabin was found. It will be necessary to do more research at Kingston, since in very early years, Forestburgh was a part of Ulster County. Mr. Kane has traced the property back as far as 1834 when Abraham Cuddeback owned it.

Six persons in a rowboat were rescued at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning as they were making their way across Swinging Bridge Lake to their hunting camp. The four adults and two children were treated at Community General Hospital in Harris and released.

Eldred Central School raised more than $5,000 from a recent Bike-a-Thon for the benefit of the Red Cross. According to Carl Silverstein, chairman of the Sullivan County Chapter of Red Cross, 13 persons who were left homeless recently after a fire in Kiamesha Lake gutted their house would be recipients of part of the money. . . The Liberty Fire Department received a $1,000 check from the Liberty Rotary Club to help defray the cost of a new $35,000 fire training tower at Griebel Park.

Lisa A. Hahn, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. George Hahn of Jeffersonville, became the bride of James P. Cantey of Brookline, Mass., on September 18 in a ceremony performed at St. George’s R.C. Church in Jeffersonville.

Freezing temperatures coupled with light winter rain and sleet created hazardous driving conditions and triggered many road mishaps and power outages throughout the county Sunday night and Monday. More than 20 accidents were reported at the Ferndale State Police barracks with “more accident reports still coming in,” according to police Monday morning. No fatalities were reported. Approximately 4,300 NYSEG customers in the Livingston Manor, Lew Beach, Callicoon and Hankins area were without power from about 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. About 400 Hurleyville homes and the Sullivan County Community College lost their power Monday for several hours.

The Sullivan County Community College soccer team advanced to the semi-final round of the Region IV playoffs in their first year of competition. The team is coached by Mary Ann Lounsbury who joined the SCC athletic staff in the fall of 1981. She formerly was a coach of the J-YCS Trojans.

30 Years Ago - 1992

A Sullivan County trash hauler, a major manufacturer of outdoor furniture and the county’s largest vendor of ice and bottled water are teaming up to produce fireplace logs from Sullivan County recyclables. Paul Walsh, vice president of Thompson Sanitation, Inc., told the Solid Waste Management Committee Monday that his firm, Budoff Outdoor Furniture in Thompson and Leisure Time Ice in Kiamesha are now producing fireplace logs from wood sawdust and paper waste for retail sale. They are being packaged, promoted and marketed by Leisure Time Inc., Walsh told the committee.

Megan Conover of Tri-Valley and Tammi Burr of Jeff-Youngsville share the honors of being named Most Valuable Player in the Western Sullivan Soccer League.

A new obstetrics and gynecology clinic has opened in Narrowsburg under the name of The Rosemerry Clinic, a third office for the Women’s Health Care of NEPA practice, is owned by Dr. Hoon Yoo and Dr. Pedro Mencia.

More than 100 children let Santa know early what they wanted for Christmas, following the tree lighting and opening of the holiday season in Jeffersonville. Hot cider and homemade cookies were served at the firehouse.

Caryn Landau, a Tri-Valley graduate, has achieved All-American status in cross country at Georgetown University.

20 Years Ago - 2002

Joseph “Joe” Purcell of Grahamsville, 85, a lifelong area resident and a fixture of Sullivan County politics and sportsmanship for five decades, died December 2, 2002 in Albany. A former Sullivan County Clerk and its first County Planning Director, he recently moved to the Albany area to be near his two daughters after living most of his life in the Catskills region.

Well-known children’s book author and longtime area resident John Peterson of Hankins died November 30, 2002 at Roscoe. He was 78. Over the past four decades, he wrote over 25 children’s books, including the celebrated Littles series, published by Scholastic, Inc.

Tom Freda presented a check in the amount of $1,600 to president of the Delaware Community Center, Tess McBeath, representing the proceeds from the Callicoon Canoe Regatta. Organized by Freda, the regatta has continued to grow for the four years it has been held.

Daniel Pierce Library has received a $39,200 grant from the Catskill Watershed Corporation to help build an addition on the Grahamsville library and to purchase laptops and computer equipment for library patron use.

The Narrowsburg Central School Class of 1952 recently held their 50th reunion at the Narrowsburg Inn.

Zella Panebaker, 102, a resident of Achieve Nursing and Rehab Center in Liberty, cut the ribbon on the nursing home’s new wing in a dedication ceremony recently.

Cami Mason and Peter Bruns, both stationed in Okinawa with the United States Air Force, exchanged wedding vows at Woodloch Springs in Hawley, Pa., on September 19, 2002. The bride is the daughter of Harold and Donna Mason of Florida, and the groom is the son of Richard D. and Regina Bruns of Honesdale, Pa.

10 Years Ago - 2012

Livingston Manor’s sheltering hills and welcoming Main Street are a long way from the raucous, rollicking neighborhood of Greenwich Village in the 1970s, where Manor’s Catholic pastor came of age literally and spiritually. But Father Edward Bader, leading St. Aloysius Church in Manor since May, is finding himself delighted with the amenities and the natural beauty of his new hometown.

The Roscoe-Rockland Fire Department asked, and the community answered big time. Make that nearly $10,000 big.  And all of it went toward the purchase of the department’s first rescue boat, the only vehicle of its kind owned by a fire company in western Sullivan County.  “We have several large bodies of water here in Roscoe,” Chief Keith Travers explained, “not only our rivers but Lake Muskoday, Tennanah Lake, some private lakes. Say someone drowns in a lake. We have our own divers in the department who can get out there immediately instead of waiting 45 minutes to an hour for a boat to get here,” he continued. Until Roscoe raised the money, rescue boats would have to be brought in from Rock Hill or Kauneonga Lake, costing precious time for someone in need.

Todd and Laura Kolvenbach, Christopher and Laura Fabia and Thomas and Lynn Fogarty are very pleased to announce the marriage of their children, Madison A. Fabia and Sean T. Fogarty. During a beautiful early evening ceremony on June 23, 2012, Madison and Sean exchanged wedding vows in the Outdoor Garden at the Villa Borghese, Wappingers Falls, with the Reverend David C. Coon, Pastor of the White Lake Reformed Presbyterian Church, officiating.

Last Sunday, Liberty Central School students held the second annual SADD Turkey Trot – a fun-run for kids with Tom the Turkey and Liberty mascot Red Man. It helps collect food items for the annual holiday food drive (organized throughout the middle/high schools). Admission to participate in the run was a contribution to the food drive, and racers went above and beyond the required one item.