Under the Gretchen Moon : Schodack N.Y.

When I was in elementary school in the Castleton NY 12033 area there was an unfortunate women that lived near our elementary school with her family. Her name was Gretchen.......I will not reveal her last name. She was psychotic and delusional. Her claim to the town's fame was the local looney as many referred to her. Usually during the full moon , she would dress up in what would have been fashionable clothes in the 30's often with a beret and walk for miles all over the town of Schodack. Other times of the month she would act quite within normal bounds for an elderly woman in her 70's. I once had a conversation with her during one of her quiet times. She asked me about school and the recent weather ect. Normal. But those times when she became active became the stuff of legend in our small town. She would talk loudly to people that were not there , walk sometimes 10 to 15 miles from her home , often with an angry scowl on her face. I remember many times passing her in the night in our parents car as she walked by the side of the road. Needless to say she held an all most legendary position to the kids of the town. She was our Boogey man so to speak. Trust me you avoided her at those times. Legendary stories were told of her , how she became as she was. A nurse in WW1 that had a shell burst near her medical tent......left by a doctor/ lover leaving her to always search for him. Who knows? On occasion she would walk by a home of someone she had known during childhood and call out their name. Sometimes call them to come out and play. All this was tolerated by the citizens of Schodack. Her family in whatever dysfunctional manner they lived seemed to accept her for what she was and let her be her untreated self. One of my dark memories of her was on a late May night when I was a kid of around 10 or 11. I could not sleep as often happens in my adulthood. So I was looking out the window out at the sky & the moon. It was about 2:00 am in the morning. Off in the distance down the street I saw her shadow like figure walk under a dim street light. Silent and grim she walked the night....sending a chill down my spine. I suppose it had to eventually happen....she was struck by a car along route 9. She was not killed but suffered multiple fractures of leg and hip. She lived another 2yrs but never walked again. As the yrs went by her memory faded.....she died and was buried in her family plot I believe without a headstone. But the funny thing is ....she left a deep impression on my generation. I talked with a handful of people from that era in the town. All remember her and all have a story. A story more from their darker recesses. She left an odd mixture of fear & curiosity behind.

An Ode To My Wife Beth

Last July I celebrated my 30th anniversary. My children rented out the Farmer Boy Diner in Schenectady and we had a large celebration. By the way that is where a young broke Human Service worker used to take his girlfriend for a late dinner. Anyway , being married to a mildly quirky guy with unusual hobbies like rally racing , archaelogy , history , rowing , old cars and attempts to create art is not easy. At my home in 11509 there is a pile of rocks and stones I have dragged home to examine to see if they were stone tools. My wife in frustration used them to create a rock garden. Often I view my life in terms of BC before Crounse her maiden name and AD after domination. Ha Ha . She does not find it funny as either. But I felt it only fair to give her a mention. To say thanks Hon , appreciate it. Could not have remained as whole without you.

Some of my source people

I think it is time I printed a list of some of the people I remember through conversation or interview that have given me source material for this blog. History is sometimes just memory and many of these people are memory , many now gone.

Vivian Ingalls Teacher Maple Hill High School Schodack New York
Elmer Henniger Justice of the Peace Schodack
Lewis Hudson former Town of Schodack Supervisor
Eloise Hanreader
Ron Kunicki
Lillian Kunicki
Ted Kunicki
Willard Wright
Ruth Steele Teacher MHHS
Charles Harris Carpenter
Peter Stohl Teacher
George Andrews
Jack Ray Funeral Director
Betty Ann Crounse
Kenneth and Virgina Golden
Marion and Henry Peters
Benny Funk
Janet Abelseth
Tim Harris Teacher Baltimore Maryland.
Douglas Hudson NYS Senator
Ernest Hudson
Margaret Ward Teacher MHHS
Gerald Boule Teacher MHHS
Edgar Swartz
Ruth Speasky
Ruth M. Hudson Former Town Clerk Schodack NY 12033
Beverly Ingalls
Fletcher Thomas Former race car driver
Arnold Feldman Map Maker
Loretta Harris Author & Geneologist
Hope Long
Donna Blasch
Susan Walsh
John Connolly
Pauline Jennings
Arnold Bonwitt'
Dennis Olson
Jeffrey Hudson
My thanks to these people living & dead I know I have left some people out but will add to another list in the future.

Fish Kills on the Hudson Castleton NY 12033

Reading in the New York Times today that there are enormous sardine mass deaths off the coast of California . Speculation is lack of oxygen as the fish crowded into the harbor. Millions of dead Sardines. I remember smaller fish kills along the Hudson River in my youth in my hometown of Castleton on Hudson New York 12033. As I have previously stated in other blogs that Castleton was noted for it's rate of high pollution. Once was sited in a 1967 NYT Magazine article as the biggest polluters in the Hudson River Valley. Between the Brown Company paper mill and the Anti-Corrosive small steel mill , the open sewers directly into the river and general dumping by garages and farm runoff into streams we had problems in this area. This toxic mix along with the general pollution of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers lead to fish mass killings. Especially at Castleton where it seemed many fish or waterfowl decided to give up so to speak. In I believe 1966 in June or July atleast plus 500 fish washed up on shore with the river tides. With plus 85 degree weather this made for unpleasant times for residents along the river . Many took vacation time to escape. In those times one could smell the river more than two miles away if the prevailing westerlies were blowing. On more than one occasion bulldozers were used to plow up the mass of dead fish and cart them off by dump truck to be buried. With modern pollution legislation this mass killing problem was eventually eliminated to a large extent within the Hudson Valley region. Making summers a more livable circumstance.

Duke Snyder and the Montreal Expos

Well Duke Snyder passed away this past weekend. I barely remember when he played briefly for the Mets. So I don't recall him well as a player , what my memory of him is as an announcer for the Expos in the late 80's up to about the mid nineties. I lived in the Adk Mts back then and could get Canadian channels on cable. There was on CBC a limited number of English language broadcasts of Expos games. He did what some refer to as the color commentary. Noted for talking slowly and filling the air during some horrific seasons before the spectra of Major League baseball was given up in that city. With all I have read of The Duke these past couple of days I don't recall reading of his time in the booth. So for the record add this on to a great career.