JEFFERSONVILLE – For nearly two decades, Victor Thomas donned one of his large, fancy hats and strode from the Jeffersonville Adult Home through the Village of Jeffersonville downtown.

Now he’s doing the same in the village of Beacon, 65 miles south and right on the banks of the Hudson River.

“I like it here,” said Victor the other day, speaking from the Hedgewood Home for Adults in Beacon.

Victor, who likes the use of his first name, was one of the 48 residents in need of room, board, medical care and some supervision at the Jeff Adult Home. But on July 21, a fire in an unused building on the property catapulted the residents into other adult homes, many of them far from Sullivan County. 

For Victor, Hedgewood was a good match.

“I’m quite busy,” Victor said, noting that he enjoys strolling, for him, the new neighborhood. “It gives you something to do to keep busy – it keeps you out of trouble, indoors and out.”

“There’s also an Activity lady here who does arts and crafts,” he said. “And we have two Sunday church services, one in the morning and one at night – one is a pastor and one is a lay person. The food here is pretty good, too.”

In Jeffersonville, Victor was one of the most famous adult home residents, particularly with churchgoers at the First Presbyterian Church on Main Street.

“He attended every single Sunday service, sitting in the back row, wearing a big hat,” said Presbyterian’s Eleanor Lare. “He enjoyed our coffee hours, and he would pick up our flowers to take back to the nursing home for the people there to enjoy.”

He was also a fan of the Presbyterian thrift shop, said Barry Stickney, who is the church’s organist and in charge of the store. 

“Victor got comfortable with us, familiar with us,” Stickney said. “He’d buy clothes from the shop for other people. He’s a good man.”

Victor was a constant presence in town, walking from the adult home straight through the village to the Dollar General, at least a mile away. Often, he’d walk back a few times each day to buy soda and chips for adult home residents who couldn’t trudge that far.

Patti Widmann of Callicoon recalled getting to know Victor when he utilized the food pantry at her church - the Riverside United Methodist Church on Route 97. 

“I also remember how Victor enjoyed the Jeffersonville’s holiday parade at Christmastime,” said Widmann. “He loved to dance to the music.”

Before the Jeff Adult Home, Victor lived at a boarding house in Liberty. Years before that, he had graduated from college with two degrees, worked in New York City as a high school language teacher and suffered a breakdown after attempting to stop a fierce fight.

Recently with friends, Victor was treated to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Beacon’s booming downtown. Along with enjoying the cuisine, he smiled to at least four or five passersby who shouted “Hey, great hat!” as they strolled past Victor and his colorful sombrero.