Conversations With Older Guys Schodack NY

I have been in a nostalgic mood as of late , such is often the study of history and archaelogy. There are 2 men I would like to credit with being of a fatherly help in my youth. Henry Peters and Ted Kunicki both having lived in the Town of Schodack. Henry Peters my uncle , Ted Kunicki a father of a good long friend. Both men took the time to give me a piece of their mind at a crucial time in a then young life. I am going back 40 plus yrs ago. Peters , on a row boat on Lake Pocatapauge in East Hampton CT. We had a morning of fishing......we had time for a good long discussion. Everything from girls to college....war and peace. Where my life might go from my 16 yrs of life at that point to that eventual adulthood I heard so much about. I admit I kind of poured my heart out about my anxieties and preoccupations. He listened as Ted did....from a life interrupted by war and their own stresses of life. From a life lived . I recieved his perspective in his best man to man way as we used to call it. A few yrs later Ted Kunicki who I occasionally worked for in his home building company were traveling down Rt 9 in Schodack NY. I was driving him back from a house he was building. It was in the early evening. We stopped at a local bar , one of the Kunicki's mottos was "all beer is good , some beer is better than others but generally speaking beer is good. Mr. Kunicki came from Poland and been in the bld trades for many yrs. Like my uncle a veteran of WWII. My uncle Navy Air Corp , Ted Army in an intelligence unit. He could speak multiple languages. After beer #1 he decided to give me a talk. Once again a talk about life and my future in it. My father had been dead about a year. I think he decided I needed some fatherly advice. I had already finished my 1st year of college and I was on summer vacation and not all that self assured. He talked to me in his grumbing manner which was much kinder than it sounded. He told me about someday finding a good woman , settingly down , becoming a home owner. All that adult stuff I was not really wanting to pay much attention to. The kind of good woman I was looking for at that moment was not what he had in mind or for that matter my uncle's mind. Get yourself a good solid wife , one built for the long haul of life. On beer 3 , he admitted being an adult could be a pain in the ass. On beer 4 he told me he was glad I was his son's friend and he actually thought I had the stuff to make it....even though he would yell at me every 10 minutes on the job. It felt good , my Uncle and Ted a few yrs apart gave me a piece of themselves. Also , in a way gave me some confidence. Both men did not waste time and would not waste time if they thought it would fall on deaf ears. It did not , I own a home , have been married for 29 yrs , vote and do all those adult things. I admit that there are moments when I am sick of adulthood....but who doesn't. Ted Kunicki would die a couple of yrs later and I attended his wake. Mrs Kunicki still a resident of Schodack NY spends time between her sons and grandchildren in Atlanta and Brooklyn. My Uncle still living in Berlin , Ct with his wonderful wife my Aunt Marion. Thank you to both , perhaps I need to find someone who is willing to listen and have a conversation. Carry on a tradition.

Seeing George Wallace on NYS Capitol Steps

It was my junior year of high school in that election year of 1968. I was for that one year in what we called aPrep School. For various reasons it was thought I was better off away from my hometown in a private school. My history teacher around October 10th 1968 was organizing a field trip. George Wallace was going to speak on the NYS Capitol Bld steps. To say the least he was controversial in that difficult year. Former Gov. from Alabama , Independent party candidate for President. My teacher felt a well rounded life needed a young mind to be exposed to all sides of an arguement. I had already made my young mind and it was not for Wallace. The anger in America was an ongoing open wound. I felt Wallace was exploiting this fear & anger and believed him to be a hatemonger. I went down with several of my schoolmates . Had to wear a suit as dress code was strict. We were not allowed to wear our blazer coats to point publicly to where we were from. What my biggest memory was from that day was not Wallace's angry contempt of the unfinished decade and pointy headed liberal policy's . In back of him was his guard , Alabama State Troopers. As Wallace was doing his version of a stem winder , a sunglassed somber guard reached in to his coat pocket pulled out a flask and belted down a drink and then put it back in his coat pocket and continued his southern sheriff glare at the audience. I turned to a fellow student from the south , Frank Mcilhenny one of the heirs to the Tabasco Sauce fortune. I said "Frank someday , somebody is going to shoot that red neck son of a bitch with security like his. Frank was to entranced by the moment to answer. But I was proved correct further down the road.

the Night King Was Assassinated Castleton NY 12033

It was 4/4/68. dinner was over it was a fairly warm evening for that time of year. The news came over the TV that Martin Luther King had been shot and soon after that had died. 1968 was in the process of becoming a tough year . Assassination , riots , political unrest ect. I had to travel to the north end of my hometown to deliver some package to a Grace Davis near Boltwood Avenue. This area was located on the heights above the Hudson River. As I turned a corner near the Ennis home I could look out and see the distant Albany NY. About 4 miles away as the crow flies. I could see in what was left of the evening light a slight glow and a rising cloud of misty smoke rising . Buildings were burning , smoke was rising near what was to be named the Nelson Rockefeller Plaza. When I got out of the car in the still evening a faint sound of sirens might be heard if you listened carefully. The MLK riots were just beginning , America was on fire. This memory was rekindled as I have just begun to read the new book Hellhound on his Trail by Hampton Sides. A retelling of the assassination of MLK and the investigation and manhunt that followed.

Reference for first plane landing in ny

A couple of yrs ago I wrote a blog about the first plane landing in Castleton NY. I based it on stories related from the Hudson Bros of Castleton. I have recently found an additional reference to that landing from the New York Times. Go to google , type in aeroplane in castleton and the article datelined August 24 1911 should come up.

First Earth Day 40 yrs Ago Today in Castleton NY 12033

Today is the 40th Earth Day. Richard Nixon signed it into law the year before. The world was in somewhat more of an activist mood back then. Maple Hill High School canceled classes that day and we had seminars on the environment. Topics included Hudson River pollution , overpopulation , smog etc. In the afternoon the student body fanned out and picked up trash in and around the school area. Bottles , paper and an old car starter were picked up. The world was a much more smoggier , dirtier , more polluted place then. Castleton was cited in a NYT magazine article as the biggest polluter in the Hudson River Valley. Our paper plant put out tons of waste into the river then and the specialty metal factory Anti-Corrosive put out it's share of soot and river dumpings. Added to that was open sewer pipes leading to river. There was no unleaded gas back then so automotive pollution was much higher. By the way nobody much complained about smoking as so many people smoked that everywhere smelled like smoke. The world has changed from that first Earth Day. We are now used to the world smelling better and being cleaner. I will be dead 40yrs from now , and as always where will we be?

Castleton Elementary School Time Capsule 12033

I had to make a quick trip to Albany from 11001. I did a quick side trip to Castleton NY. As I passed by the newly rebuilt CES I had a sudden memory. A time capsule was buried in the 1950's in the back playground area. It was placed there when the school had a tree planting to commerate Arbor Day. The entire old playground area has been removed and replaced by parking lots and driveways. The tree is gone and may have been for a number of years. The time capsule was buried under that tree. I have this sneaking suspicion the carefully planned capsule has been wiped out by the modern construction. Checking with other classmates we collectively remember it had the date and members of the class , teachers and administrators that planted it. History is fleeting quite often. A lost memory of an old school assembly to a new driveway.

Why My History Hobby

I am shipping off for a vacation in Vegas ,yes , Vegas next week. I have to fly and I hate to fly. I also will see the Grand Canyon and ancient ruins of south west native populations of + 1000 yrs ago. When I get back I begin another season of occasional digging into the past. Why do I explore these less than ancient ruins like old farmers landfills to attempt to piece together rather small aspects of small town life and history. Well , I remember last July for instance , a hot day after a cool spring. I am sitting eating my lunch inside a clump of trees on a large rock. I am working on an old foundation of a long gone barn. I am finding all sorts of tidbits which I shall report on another occasion after more work. I realize to most people this is a bore. My own wife of 29 yrs finds it odd. But to me I am at peace , piecing together a part of the world that is not really cared about. My pondering as I eat lunch in solitude is in a sense meditative. I enjoy the peace as my wife enjoys the noise of a casino. Finally I in my semi-retired state have time to do this and I am , after all those years in the workforce helping to solve , train , understand all those people's problems in my career feel free. Enjoying my lunch on a warm summer day , reporting on what I have found or remembering a piece of history worth relating. I enjoy this peace , if it is exploring where the KKK met in Castleton or where the old Hilltop Tavern once stood on Rt9. Interviewing people on what they know , grasping what was and turning it around to better have an understanding of what was going on and solutions people came up with to go about their lives. This is my hobby. Of much importance , no. The interests I pursue are much more about me and my self satisfied peace. If you live in the 12033 region of New York or near 06037 in Connecticut maybe I will see you in the next 7 or 8 months doing some research. I'll be smiling.