110 Years Ago - 1912

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Wahl of Callicoon, a daughter, on Wednesday.

Gus Neumann has installed new gas lights in the shoe department of B.E. Dycker and Co. store, the whole store now being equipped with these new excellent lights.

The New York papers state that Charles B. Ward of Livingston Manor would probably be nominated for Congress in the 27th district which includes Sullivan, Ulster, Greene, Schoharie and Columbia counties. Mr. Ward is a newspaper man, proprietor of “The Liberty Register.”

The Centennial Services at the Cochecton Presbyterian Church was a noted success and brought together many old friends from far away. Among the number of historic memory were Mr. and Mrs. C.T. Curtis of Callicoon who gave a most noted address from the formation of the church up to the present time. Mrs. Emma Valleau of Chicago is greeting her many friends in town, having come for the celebration.

100 Years Ago - 1922

H. Westlake Coons, the Ellenville attorney who is a candidate in the primaries for the nomination for congressman in the district against Congressman Ward, is a grandson of Luther Buckley, one time an operator of tanneries in the town of Fremont.

At 8 o’clock Sunday, the cornerstone of the new Catholic church in Narrowsburg will take place. The rev. Father Raphael Adams, O.F.M., president of St. Joseph’s Seminary, will preside. The old church was built some 45 years ago, but has been disbanded since it became too small for the ever increasing Catholic population of the parish and for the great numbers of summer boarders who worship there.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. G. Sauer on the arrival of a baby girl. The Sauer family live in East Cochecton.

With the controversy about changing the name of Cochecton to Lake Huntington, correspondence has been received referring to the recent mention of Heirsville. This place has always been known as Old Town Cochecton, and the writer is vehement about calling it by any other name.

The Bosley House, one of the most prominent and successful boarding houses in this section was sold this week to Benj. Goldberg, a foreman carpenter, and A. Sackman, jeweler, both of Brooklyn. The price paid is $25,000 and includes all the house furnishings, farm stock and equipment. There are 92 acres of land and the house has 35 rooms. The Bosley House was one of the first houses to cater to summer boarders in this section.

90 Years Ago - 1932

Luis deHoyos, Legionnaire and Republican leader in Monticello, was elected first vice-commander of the New York State American Legion at the final session of the state convention in Brooklyn Saturday.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wagner of Callicoon are the parents of a daughter, Margaret Mary, born Friday; born Monday to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Terrell of Galilee, Pa., an 8-pound daughter, Marie Anne, both at the Callicoon Hospital.

Miss Freda Engert and Edward Robisch, both well-known in this part of the country, were married by Rev. John Straub at the German Lutheran Parsonage in Callicoon Center August 28. A wedding banquet was enjoyed at the Olympia Hotel for about 40 guests. She manages the Gersten Bros. Dry Good Store and the groom is employed at the Crystal Shower in Hortonville.

Wednesday evening was skimmelton night in Callicoon if the amount of noise is any indication. About 11 o’clock the young folks gathered and serenaded Mr. and Mrs. Edward Robisch, Mr. and Mrs. William L. Bergner, Mr. and Mrs. William Wilkie and Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Schultz. After the noise was over, all enjoyed a pleasant evening at the Crystal Shower dance hall.

Laura Spielman of White Sulphur Springs will leave for the city September 5 where she will take up nursing in the Methodist Hospital.

The neighbors gave Mrs. Minnie Crawson of Goulds “a raising bee” to help rebuild the barn which was blown down last spring. As soon as the roof can be put on, they expect to put the hay in.

80 Years Ago - 1942

The New York Automobile Association is urging a flat automobile registration fee of $5 a year, regardless of the weight of the car.

Matamoras, Pa., airport may be enlarged for the planes of the Civil Aeronautics Patrol, with additional land for longer runways. The present operator of the airport has leased a 20-acre lot adjoining the field.

Former District Attorney of New York Thomas Dewey was nominated this week as the Republican candidate for Governor of New York State. Sullivan County delegates attending the convention and all apparently solidly behind Dewey were Luis deHoyos, Arthur C. Kyle Jr. and Mrs. C.A. Osborn of Monticello; Charles G. Curtis of Callicoon; Hyman E. Mintz, South Fallsburg; J. Eugene O’Gorman, Wurtsboro; Dr. Lee R. Thompkins, Liberty; J. Frank Wood, Roscoe; and Al Townsend, Jeffersonville.

70 Years Ago - 1952

The marriage of Miss Edith Knack, Callicoon, and James Brown, Mileses, was solemnized at Sacred Heart Church, Hankins, on August 24.

A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. John Weber of Yulan, on August 26; a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kraus of Narrowsburg on August 27; and a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Warren Petterson of Callicoon, August 28, all at the Callicoon Hospital.

At the meeting of the Hankins School District last Thursday, it was voted to turn the building and grounds over to the Hankins Volunteer Fire Co.

Rocky Marciano of Brockton, Mass., has begun training at Ferndale for the heavyweight championship bout with the title holder, Jersey Joe Wolcott. Other ring gladiators have conditioned themselves at Grossinger’s, including Barney Ross, Joey Maxim, Randy Turpin, Bill Conn, Lew Jenkins and Max Baer.

Miss Lela McClure of Callicoon has been appointed assistant professor of nursing at Fairleigh-Dickenson College. Miss McClure was a founder of the Nurses Section of the Alumni Association of Adelphi College and is immediate past vice president of that section.

George J. Treyz Co., Inc., has sold its charcoal plant at Horton to the Susquehanna Chemical Corp. of Bradford, Pa. The Horton plant is the last of the wood chemical plants which at one time furnished employment to hundreds of men in Delaware County. At one time there were 22 acid factories in operation.

60 Years Ago - 1962

Allen Hankins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Neil Tobin of Callicoon, arrived home August 22 at the completion of a two-and-a-half year stay in Iran as Agriculture Advisor to Kermanshah, Iran, under the United States Agency for International Development.

In order to meet the present requirements of many engineering and technical institutions, additional courses in science and mathematics will be offered when Delaware Valley Central school opens September 4. Frederick Gasko has been hired as an additional mathematics teacher and will make available four years of mathematics in grades 9-12; 7th and 8th grade science courses will meet for the entire year instead of one semester. The eight new classrooms will reduce the overcrowding which has existed for several years and will avoid unusually large elementary grades and split grades.

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kearney were honored guests at a 50th wedding anniversary party held at the Village Inn, Hortonville, August 25.

Patricia Nelson, school dietician, aged 44, died Tuesday morning at the Callicoon Hospital.

Vivian Graby and Philip and L. Richard Hillriegel have garnered enough wins in cattle showing to be eligible for the state test. Most recent win for all three was the Little World’s Fair in Grahamsville. Vivian won a first with her junior heifer and a reserve champion in the junior division. Philip won second in the junior heifer class and scored reserve championship in the Brown Swiss class. Richard won the reserve grand champion award with his senior calf and also showed the grand champion cow. Philip has also been selected for the tractor driving contest.

50 years ago - 1972

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kearney were honored on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary at a party held in the auditorium of Holy Cross on August 26.

Rena Weissman, Queen of the Sullivan County Sportsmen’s Show, participated in the Hortonville Firemen’s Field Day on August 27. She will reign over activities September 8, 9 and 10, at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds when the Sportsmen’s group will sponsor their annual show.

Arthur J. Rees Jr., 47, owner of the Livingston Manor Airport and his 14-year-old son, James, were killed instantly last Tuesday evening, when the light plane which Rees was piloting plunged into the ground while flying over a wooded area near the Pepacton Reservoir in Delaware County.

Miss Pam Sturdevant of Livingston Manor has been enrolled for a European Study Program for special education. She will leave September 6 for Amsterdam, Holland, from where she will begin her studies which will take her to Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands. She will return home December 24.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Williams of Jeffersonville were guests of honor at a 40th wedding anniversary celebration held in their honor at the Lake Jefferson Hotel.

At the Liberty-Loomis Hospital, it was a son, Harold Earl, born to Mr. and Mrs. George Houghtaling of Loch Sheldrake, on August 20; a son, August 21, named Daniel Hick, born to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Frisbie of Roscoe.

A 25th wedding anniversary party was held for Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Rolston at the Century Hotel in Narrowsburg… Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Deighton, married August 26. —Damascus Corresp.

Twenty patients of Sullivan County Infirmary attended the “Little World’s Fair” August 19. Mrs. Amelia Fries and Mr. Peter Schriber, both 100 years old, were runners-up for the oldest person at the fair.

40 Years Ago - 1982

Ground has been broken for the construction of a new three-story  fire training tower at Griebel Park on the outskirts of Liberty. Expected to be completed in October, the tower will be used by the two village fire companies as well as by the Liberty Hose and Truck Company and cost $35,000.

Cardinal Terence Cooke was on hand for the blessing of the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish House in Forestburgh Saturday.

Julia Poli of Fort Lee, N.J., and John Pavese of Monticello were married in Fort Lee, N.J., on June 26… Cindy DeLaMarter of Ulster Heights and CM3 George Hubbert of Callicoon Center were married August 7 at the United Methodist Church in Kenoza Lake…Anita Krum and Everett Williams were married June 19 at the Livingston Manor United Methodist Church.

A Medlar family reunion was held July 24 at the home of David and Shirley Medlar Goodenough of RD 3, Honesdale, Pa.

Residents in Hankins with gardens registered the first frost of the season Sunday morning.

Over 1,000 attended the 39th annual Hortonville Field Day on Sunday.

30 Years Ago - 1992

The hottest ticket in the Catskills Thursday was not for the boxing ring but for a political debate between the two candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the race for the Senate’s 40th Senatorial District. Longtime Assemblyman Richard I. Coombe of Grahamsville is attempting to wrest the Republican nomination for the senatorial seat from incumbent Senator Charles D. Cook of Delhi, a longtime state legislator and longtime senator.

Members of the Upper Delaware Council’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Friday evening threw their support behind efforts to save the Cochecton Train Station while skeptically considering a proposal to build a medical waste treatment plant in the river corridor.

The first family reunion of the Nystrom clan was held at the residence of Eric and Janet Nystrom in Kohlertown on July 25, for descendants of the late Harold Andrew Jr. and Liesolotte Ihrig Nystrom. 

The 67th annual Burns family reunion was held August 16 at the Parish Homestead in Monticello with 37 members and two guests present. One birth was reported, a daughter, Jennifer Rose, on January 25, 1992, to Ron and Rosie Comfort.

Many descendants of James Deighton gathered at the Conklin Hill Church basement for their annual family reunion on August 16. A covered dish buffet was enjoyed by the 53 members attending.

Melissa Rasmussen, the daughter of Robert and Helen Rasmussen, has become a fourth generation funeral director as she has become associated with Rasmussen’s Sons Inc. of Narrowsburg as a licensed funeral director. Her great-grandfather, N.P. Rasmussen, founded the firm in Narrowsburg in 1898. Her grandfather, Oscar, and his brother, Fred, completed the present funeral home in 1953. Her father and Uncle Ronald became the third generation of Rasmussens in business in Narrowsburg. Melissa will also be associated with the Gray-Rasmussen Funeral Home in Barryville.

20 Years Ago - 2002

As word of the death last week of Marilyn “Lyn” Phillips, popular co-owner of the Callicoon Saloon & Beanery, swirled across the Dela-ware River valley and beyond, a spate of rumors seemed to outpace the complex investigation being undertaken by Pennsylvania law enforcement authorities. Early in the week, Wayne County Coroner Edward Murray confirmed that Phillips’ body was located, along Cooley Road, on Sunday, August 25.

Working with the United Way of Sullivan County, Wardrobes for Work has been filling a building with suits and dresses appropriate for a prospective employer’s first glimpse. Already about 25 people have been served – most of whom got a job thanks in part to the new suit of clothes and accessories provided by the program.

Paul and Kathleen Lounsbury of Grahamsville and Linda and Donald Smiddy of Granbury, Texas announce the engagement of their daughter, Ashley Lounsbury, to Tyler Spangenberg, son of Judith Dunn Spangenberg of South Salem, New York, and Thomas and Dianne Spangenberg of Hubbardton, Vermont. A June 13, 2003 wedding is planned.

A boy, Matthew Thomas, was born Monday, August 12, 2002 to Lisa and Thomas Moran Jr.  of Jeffersonville. He joins a brother, Michael, and sisters, Lynette, Victoria, Deanna and Samantha, at home.

The Catskill Mountains Jeep Jamboree was held  on Friday and Saturday, August 23-24, attracting 100 Jeeps ranging from a 1954 military M38A1 owned by Mike Boyle of Columbia, Maryland, to a 2002 Grand Cherokee Overland from the East Side of New York City. The fifth annual local event was held on private property in the towns of Bethel and Thompson.

10 Years Ago - 2012

These firefighters respond when there is no fire. In fact, they literally dive in to emergency situations. And they don’t even charge for their services. They are the Dive Team of the Forest Volunteer Fire Department, a small collection of skilled divers and boaters who are the Pennsylvania counterpart to the Sullivan County Dive Team. “We go basically wherever we’re called,” affirms Harrison Balthaser, a Damascus, PA, resident who’s the dive captain. That includes the portions of Sullivan County bordered by Pennsylvania – the entire upper Delaware River, in other words. It’s a passion that extends beyond the summer months when the rest of us join them in the water. These guys go out even when ice coats every lake and stream.

Seven extraordinary women were honored August 23, at the Villa Roma Golf Course in Callicoon. It was at the Sullivan County Women Who Make A Difference Awards where seven exemplary representatives of Sullivan County were recognized. Hosted by The SUNY Sullivan Foundation, the evening’s highlight was an award dinner when honorees received their awards: Dr. Michelle Koury, Suzanne Rhulen Loughlin, Danielle Gaebel, Elizabeth Kuehn (who accepted the award for her grandmother, Julie Allen), Gladys Walker, Phyllis “Penny” Coombe, and Jillian Rahm.

Amanda Wilson of Woodridge, and Me-kay-la Perneszi and  Kali Seastrand of Hurleyville, are three of only 300 high school cheerleaders and dancers from across the nation who will be performing in the world famous London New Year’s Day Parade and Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade. High School division qualifying cheerleaders, such as Wilson and Seastrand, will be going to London, while Middle School division qualifiers, like Mekayla Perneszi, will take part in the Thanksgiving celebrations at our nation’s birthplace. The Fallsburg High School cheerleaders were invited to participate in the British bash and Philly festivities after they were named All-American Cheerleaders by the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA).