Cutting the cake at our reception
9. JOHNSTOWN:
Marie's family had helped us look for a house in Johnstown. Her Uncle Leland was a plumber and her Uncle Don was a carpenter so they knew what to look for. We looked at several houses, but the one they determined was the most sound was our house at 107 North Perry Street. Her mother and Aunt Esther also helped with getting the house cleaned and ready to move into. They seemed to like me ok, but her Aunt Esther called me "Mike" for about the first 6 months we were dating.
Marie's mother (Blanche Swartz) was a retired teacher. She seemed pretty stern at first but she turned out to be a very good mother-in-law. She often kept Michelle on weekends after we were married so that we could spend some time together alone. Her father (Carlton "Beany" Swartz) ran Swartz Garage in Fort Plain and was also the Fort Plain Fire Chief. He was a great guy and always treated me very well. He let me use the garage and the lift to work on my cars. Marie had a 1961 Ford Falcon but one night when we were dating and both working at the Cereal Plant, she had her father's car instead. It was a red 1957 Chevy with a red light on the roof. We were talking in the parking lot and I reached in and flicked a switch on the dash. Who knew the car also had a siren? And it wasn't the new electronic style; it was the old wind up style. So even though I switched it right back off, it had to wind all the way and all the way back down.
We got married on June 29, 1974 at the Fort Plain Reformed Church with both Reverend Bob Hess and my cousin, Reverend Ken Dingman officiating. A reception followed at the Fort Plain Fireman's home directly across the street.
Cutting
the cake at our reception
It was a low-key affair with food prepared by the women in the families. My brother was my Best Man (I had also been his) and Pete Hage and Ralph Richer were ushers. We honeymooned at Marie's family camp on Pine Lake.
Her family had built the camp in 1947 and named it Camp Marie. We enjoyed many good times there. There were plenty of bedrooms and her family would all go in and stay. We'd play cards out on the enclosed front porch. Her family had a Memorial Day tradition of a German potato salad and ham. The salad was made with potatoes, onions and cabbage, covered with gravy made from fried salt pork and heavy cream. I wasn't really crazy about it in the beginning, but I quickly acquired a taste for it and now I love it. We still only make it once a year.
We moved into our house in Johnstown and settled in. We bought some new furniture and some used furniture. It was a big change for me; I was used to living in Starkville where it was pitch dark at night. In Johnstown, the streetlights were so bright I could walk around the house at night without turning on a light. And there was a lot of traffic on Perry St., including sirens whenever the fire trucks or ambulance went out.
We had registered Michelle for school and she was to attend the Glebe St. Elementary School. When she got there the first day, they said she didn't belong there; she should go to Jansen Avenue School. So she attended Kindergarten there, but each year after that, they tried to send her back to Glebe St. We had to write a letter every year so she would be able to stay at Jansen.
I was often working 2 to 10 PM or 3 to 11 PM at the police department and missed a lot of her evening school activities. In some ways it was like my own father, I would go off to work before she got home from school and would only see her for a half hour when I came home for supper. When I got home from work she would be asleep.
We did a lot as a family though. One time we went to Storytown (now Great Escape) in Lake George and Marie and I got in a big fight because she that I was flirting with Cinderella. We bought a used fold down camper and starting camping along with the rest of the family. That was always a lot of fun and the whole family accepted Marie and Michelle wonderfully. Michelle would have a great time finding worms and bugs and salamanders. Uncle Everett would help her find them. She had a stuffed monkey with a banana in his hand and she would say, "He wants he's banana". My Uncle Kenny got a big kick out of that.
Our first camper
at Caroga Lake campsite
We decided to get a dog and went to the Humane Society to pick one out. We picked a female Great Dane puppy. We named her Fuzzy. She got huge, of course, but she was a good dog. Michelle loved her and they had fun romping around together. One time we took her sledding and she had as much fun running up and down the hills as we did.
Michelle and Fuzzy
Fuzzy came into heat and we kept her inside on the back porch. What we didn't realize was the damage had already been done, apparently by the neighbor's old beagle Tom. We ended up with a litter of puppies. The odd thing was that half had Great Dane markings just like her and half had beagle markings. One day Marie walked out the back door to find Michelle sliding a couple of the puppies around on a frozen tub of water in the back yard. They didn't even have their eyes open yet! Michelle said they were "ice skating". My sister wanted one of the pups, but it ended up at my parents' house. He was named Herman and grew up to be a big beautiful dog. My father liked him a lot. Unfortunately he started killing chickens and they had to get rid of him. We wound up having to get rid of Fuzzy too, I think she got protective of the remaining puppies and would snap at Michelle.
We used our used camper for a couple of seasons, and then bought a new Jayco fold-down camper. We continued to use it on vacations at Caroga Lake but also took it to Northampton Beach, to Shadow Brook campground near Cooperstown, and Jellystone in South Glens Falls. It was great fun camping there; Yogi and Booboo would come around the campsite and greet the kids. They had two pools, miniature golf and a community center. There was also water and electricity which made camping a little less rustic. We also took the camper to Bar Harbor, Maine.
Camping
during these years was a lot of fun, in addition to my Uncle Kenny
and Aunt Doris, Uncle Everett and Aunt Marian, and my parents,
my cousin Larry Cook and his wife Diane, my cousin Ken Dingman
and his wife Carol and sometimes other cousins would all camp
at the same time. We'd drink wine and play Yahtzee at night and
we'd all pool our food and create some tasty smorgasbords. Uncle
Everett would ask, "What's this slop?" During this period
of time Uncle Kenny and Aunt Doris divorced and he was seeing
Jasmine Bullock. He came to visit us at the campsite one day and
had left her at her family's house in Fonda. He and I rode down
to get her and bring her up to meet the family. I think he was
a little nervous about it since Doris had been part of the whole
family for so long. He and Jasmine stopped to visit Marie and
me several times and they also took us to a country music show
at FMCC. I don't know what the relationships with his kids were
at the time, but they seemed to adopt Marie and me. In 1978 he
died of lung cancer and was cremated.
We
took a trip to Disney World and that was my first time flying.
My parents took us to Albany airport and we flew on Eastern Airlines
to Orlando. We spent a couple of days at Disney World. At that
time Epcot Center had not been built yet. We also went to Sea
World. At Disney World I wanted to go on Space Mountain but Marie
and Michelle wouldn't go so I went alone. I wasn't going all the
way to Florida and not try it. Marie's parents picked us up from
the airport when we returned. We went to Red Lobster for dinner
and Marie's father drained a big draft beer in about 3 seconds.
I guess he was thirsty!
I got very much into guns. I had bought a 9mm automatic in addition to my department issued .38 Spl. I would go to Lock, Stock and Barrel, to Bleeker Sports, and DiMezza's. I bought many guns over the years of all types and calibers. I subscribed to gun magazines and always wanted to buy the newest thing out. I'd trade in guns I'd lost interest in for new ones. I don't have a large collection any longer, just a few pieces that I really like. I have not fired a gun since retiring from the police department and don't have a lot of interest in it anymore.
We took a trip to Tucson, Arizona to visit Marie's Uncle DA and Aunt Margaret and we took along Marie's mother who was DA's sister. It was her first time flying and I don't think she was too keen about the idea. We stayed at their house and took side trips from there. We went to Nogales, Mexico, Old Tucson where many movies and TV shows were filmed and other sites of interest. We took a longer trip up to the Grand Canyon and through several Indian reservations. We bought a Navajo rug and some jewelry.
We decided to get another dog and went to the Shelter to find one. Michelle picked one out, or maybe he picked her out, who looked liked Boomer from the movies. His name had been Das but we changed it to Boomer. He liked to ride and went everywhere with us, including a fall trip to Vermont. He always would ride with Marie or me when we were running errands and we also took him in our boat. We had bought a 15' tri-hull with an open bow and a 55 hp Johnson engine. We would launch it in the Sacandaga Reservoir at the state boat launch in Northville and go to Sand Island for a picnic and swimming. Boomer wasn't too sure about the boat but he liked the island except that he'd bark like crazy when we went in the water. He loved it up at the camp at Pine Lake too; he'd sit on the chaise lounge on the front porch and watch the world go by.
We could let him out of the house on his own and he'd do his business and come back. He liked to lie on the side porch and watch outside. We had him for about 10 years, when one day he must have run after a cat or something. He ran into the street and was hit by a car. We took him to the Animal Hospital but they couldn't save him. Marie's mother had originally pretended she didn't like him but she really got to love him and he loved her. She would keep him whenever we traveled and I think sometimes she hated to see us take him back home.
Boomer with Marie
We took a trip to Pennsylvania and stopped in Stevens Point, the town where my father was born. Then we went on to Hershey and went to Hershey Park. We also visited the Amish area in Lancaster County.
Marie's father died in January of 1980. It was a shock, but he did have a bad heart. The good thing was he was active right up to his death, working at his garage and in the Fire Department. He would never have been happy had he been unable to do the things he loved. He had a very nice funeral service, in the Fort Plain Reformed Church and was carried to the cemetery on a Fort Plain fire engine.
On December 8, 1980 we were at Union Hall in Johnstown for a Police Benevolent Association Christmas party. The news came on that John Lennon had been shot and killed in NYC. It was shocking and sad. He had reached a point of comfort and happiness in his personal life and was continuing to bring joy to many fans with his last new album release "Double Fantasy". Ironically, John had autographed an album for Mark David Chapman earlier in the day. Chapman loitered around the Dakota Apartments all afternoon and when John returned home from the studio later in the evening, Chapman shot him in the back.
Michelle moved on through Knox Junior High and to Johnstown High School. In 1984 we visited Aruba. We stayed at the Aruba Concord Hotel which was very nice. When we checked in it was Happy Hour and we had 2 for 1 pina coladas. We rented a car one day and explored the island. It was only 6 miles wide and 20 miles long. Aruba is a Dutch island and they used Dutch currency and also US currency. The areas away from the beaches were desert with wild goats running around. It was quiet exotic.
When Michelle first started driving she seemed to think that you had to drive the speed limit no matter what. If it was 55 you went 55 even around turns. It was like she locked her ankle and that was it. One day she was driving when we were going to my parents' house. There was a 90 degree bend just before their house and she was going too fast to make it. Fortunately there was a driveway straight off the turn that she was able to drive down. After that she learned that you could slow up for turns. Today I'm pleased to say that she's an excellent driver and drives aggressively like I do.
I mentioned before that I had a motorcycle accident so this is as good a place as any to tell the story. Several of us from the police department and the Assistant District Attorney all rode our bikes to a police clambake in Colonie. I was riding my 1981 Harley Davidson Sportster at the time. I dutifully stopped drinking beer a couple of hours before we were going to leave. We came right up Rt. 5 from Colonie, through downtown Schenectady and into Scotia. We had talked about stopping at Peckham's in Scotia on the way home. I got ahead of them and pulled over to wait. When I saw them coming I took off again. I went to Peckhams's but apparently they weren't sure how to get there. I waited awhile and when they didn't show I took off again, down to Rt. 5. When I turned onto Rt. 5 I saw them ahead of me so I sped up to catch them. I was just coming up on the right side of them, when they suddenly took a right turn. Neil Luck was riding his Sportster and when he turned right I ran into him and we crashed. I remember flying through the air and hitting the street. Although it was a hot day I was wearing my leather jacket and as my head hit the pavement I was thankful I had a good helmet on. I was able to get up and hobble out of the street and sit down on someone's lawn. I started to hurt and when I could feel the bones moving around when I moved my left arm I knew it wasn't a good thing. An ambulance came and carted me off to Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. The ER was very busy that day and I lay there about 4 hours before they got me to X-ray. They found my left foot broken and two toes crushed. My left collar bone and shoulder blade were also broken. They said they didn't think I was hurt that bad because I hadn't been complaining. They put a cast on my left leg and a sling on my arm and JAVAC (the Johnstown ambulance) came and took me home. The pain was very bad for the first few days but gradually got better. We had a hospital bed brought in and borrowed a wheel chair for me to get around in. Neil's family had picked up both bikes and when I got a chance to look at mine, it wasn't too bad. I had to have the front fender fixed, replace the front wheel and brake rotors, the handlebar risers, and maybe a mirror or turn signal. The bike was fixed before I was. I was out of work for 5 weeks. My left foot still aches when it's going to rain.
I still enjoy riding today but I'm a lot more careful, especially when Marie is on the back. It's one thing to hurt myself but I don't want to hurt someone else. She likes to ride and is an excellent rider, she leans with me and I barely know she's behind me.
1997
Suzuki Marauder
Around this time my father started having heart problems and chest pains. He went for tests and it was determined he needed a valve replaced and a by-pass. This was before by-pass surgery had become as routine as it is today. He went to Elmira for the surgery. He suffered a stroke during surgery which affected him greatly and he never recovered in spite of trips to other hospitals in Utica and Schenectady. He was in a wheelchair and a bed after that and my mother cared for him 24 hours a day, seven days a week. My father had been a kind man who loved his grandchildren more than anything, but the stroke changed his personality. He became cranky most of the time and the fact that he couldn't hear made conversation with him very difficult. He did love to sit and watch movies. We had given him "On Golden Pond" and "Tender Mercies" and he watched them over and over. I'm sure my mother can recite the dialogue of both movies yet today. She cared for him for 7 ½ years before his health worsened. He had been in Cooperstown hospital where they wanted to remove his leg. He went home and on July 26, 1992 he died. Many of the officers from the police department attended the funeral service along with the Chief and 2 Lieutenants from Gloversville. That was touching to me. Dad was buried in the Frey's Bush cemetery near his mother and father.
Michelle probably wasn't real thrilled having the police chief for a father when she was in school, but she seemed to live a fairly normal life in spite of it. We were called away from a City Hall Christmas party one year because there was a wild party going on at our house and the police had been called. In 1986, Marie and I went to Hawaii by ourselves. It was a wonderful trip. We spent a few days at the Royal Lahaina Hotel on Maui, then a few days at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu. We did the touristy things and went to a luau and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center which was fantastic. When we got home we discovered a beer keg in our cellar and the house pretty much in shambles. So I don't think Michelle was all that inhibited by my position.
I've always loved music. I had bought a lot of records, and I had 8-track tape players in my older cars and then moved up through cassettes and to CDs. I got into the CD craze early when it was new and exciting. CDs were hard to find at first and you were always looking for the elusive DDD discs which were not only mastered digitally but recorded digitally was well. I have a very large collection of CDs now and have recently gotten into exchanging mp3 files with friends. We used to have a membership at the Starlite Music Theater in Latham. It was a small, round theater with a revolving stage in the center. We saw a lot of great music there over the years. It has closed now. We also have gone to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center many times to see various acts.
Mark Snyder had an acoustic guitar and I decided I wanted one. I had always wanted to learn to play. I remembered just now that I did have a guitar that my parents bought me but that I never really learned to play. Mark and I went to a music store outside of Amsterdam and I picked up an Applause acoustic guitar which is an economy version of the Ovation line. They have a rounded plastic body instead of wood. It was a nice guitar and I started learning chords. I discovered it was easiest to just pick a song you wanted to play and start learning the chords as you went along. The first song I learned was The Eagles' "Peaceful Easy Feeling". Eventually I traded the Applause for an Epiphone PR-350 acoustic guitar which I still have. I love the way it looks and the way it plays. I also picked up an Ovation hollow-body electric guitar at Hilton Music in Amsterdam. I took it to Vishnu Music in Johnstown (now in Gloversville) where Vinnie put some new frets in it, replaced the pickups, and the tail-piece. I also picked up a black solid-body electric Charvette from Vinnie along with a vintage late-60's Fender Pro Reverb amplifier. I don't play the electric guitars much anymore but I do pick up the acoustic guitar now and then.
Marie's mother died in 1986 from ovarian cancer. She was in St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam and was very sick. The hospital called one day to say that Marie had better get down there. She went down and visited, but after awhile her mother sent her home. Before she could get back to Johnstown, the hospital had called to say she had passed away. It was like her last unselfish act. She had wanted to see Marie before she went, but didn't want Marie to watch her die.
Around 1987 I got into computers. I'd had an old Timex Sinclair and a Commodore VIC-20, but my first IBM compatible computer was a Xerox that I bought from CVN (now QVC). It had no hard drive, only 640k of RAM, and operated at 10 MHz. By comparison, my computer today has an 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM and operates at 2.6 GHz. But I was hooked. I bought a 300 bps external modem and got online. It was exciting stuff at that time; nothing at all like the internet of today, no spam and no ebay. Nothing was graphical; it was all text. I joined GEnie, an online service operated by General Electric. They had Roundtables where you could talk to other people who shared your interests. On the Music Roundtable I found a group of people who were doing emails to each other about country music. I was invited into their group and we became friends, not only talking about music, but sharing everyday aspects of our lives with each other. The first person from the group that I met in person was Clarence Ellis from outside Philadelphia, PA. He was married to Linda Ellis who was one of the group. Clarence was a truck driver and was coming through the area so I met him at the truck stop in Fultonville for coffee.
Through the Roundtable I also met Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball who are folk singers from Averill Park, NY. We went to the Town of Moreau Park one day to see them play and after that we saw them perform many times. They were appearing at the Barnes and Noble on Wolf Rd. in Colonie one day and Clarence and Linda came up from PA and we all met there. After the performance we all went out to a Mexican restaurant.
Chris
and Bridget at Barnes & Noble in Colonie, NY
We continued to see them perform whenever we could, often at their Christmas show at the Gloversville Library. They are very special and talented people.
Marie and I decided to take a trip to San Antonio, TX. A couple from the roundtable, George and Lucy Hay who lived in Dallas were going to meet us there. What they didn't know what that Clarence and Linda were also planning on going and also Jan and Perry Brown from Laredo, TX (since moved to Tulsa, OK). We flew to Chicago where we met up with Clarence and Linda and then flew to San Antonio. We had made reservations in the same hotel. Marie and I went into the hotel and met George and Lucy while Clarence and Linda hung back out of sight until Lucy spotted Linda. Then Jan and Perry showed up and we all sat around getting acquainted over drinks. It was like we were old friends. We had a really good time eating out, visiting the River Walk, and the Alamo. Marie and I stayed on after they had to leave and saw other sights in the area such as the zoo and the Lone Star Brewery.
Marie
and I in San Antonio, Texas
When Michelle was still at home and fairly young, we visited Cape Cod and stayed at the Spouter Whale motel in Dennisport. We loved the Cape and have visited it several times since. We've stayed twice more in Dennisport, twice in Hyannisport, once in Harwichport, and once in West Yarmouth. We've taken the ferry to Nantucket twice and to Martha's Vineyard once.
We also stayed at the Jersey shore at Wildwood Crest when Michelle was still at home. We visited Cape May while we were there. We love the ocean and Marie and I have since gone back to Atlantic City. We've also visited Maine again and stayed at Wells Beach and another time at Old Orchard Beach.
Michelle graduated from high school in 1987 and attended the University of Georgia in Athens. We visited down there several times while she was at school there. During her time there, she got an internship at the White House and we visited Washington D.C. Because she worked there, we were able to tour the West Wing which is not part of the public tour. We saw all the Washington sights, the various monuments, and the museums. The Vietnam War Memorial was particularly impressive to me because of the effect of that war on people my age. To see those 55,000 names of young men who died for nothing really gets to you.
After Michelle graduated from Georgia she returned to the White House until the Clinton administration took over. Then she got a job at Walt Disney World which was not really much of a change from the White House. We visited her again down there and this time we went to Epcot Center and MGM. We also visited a war bird museum in Kissimmee and went to Church Street Station.
Marie
and I went to Nassau, Bahamas on another trip. We enjoyed the
beach and the ocean, went to the casinos on Paradise Island, and
took a cruise on a pirate ship that went out to an island all
set up for recreation. You could sun, swim, play volleyball, snorkel,
scuba dive, or ride jet-skis. There was something for everybody.
My one regret from that trip is that I didn't pick up a CD of
the reggae style music they played there.
We've
gone back to Florida twice more, once to St. Petersburg Beach
near Tampa. We visited Busch Gardens Tampa on that visit. The
next time we went to Fort Lauderdale.
We've also gone to Williamsburg, VA and also visited Busch Gardens there along with Virginia Beach. We went to Nashville, TN with Jerry and Connie Shelmandine. We went to Opryland a couple of days, took a riverboat cruise, went to a performance of the Grand Ol' Opry, visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, and went to some other clubs that featured music.
A couple of years after Boomer died, Bill Wock, the city's Animal Control Officer came around with this little terrier mix puppy a few months old. We took him to where Marie was working on a garage sale and showed him to her. "Who couldn't love that face?" So, Bozo came to live with us. Marie and I had always joked that if we had a son we would name him Bozo, so that's what we named the dog. Over the years he was another great dog and companion, although he didn't like to ride like Boomer did. Consequently he didn't get to go many places, usually just to the kennel when we traveled or to the Vets.
Bozo lounging at home
We had Bozo until he was over 13 years old and got to be in really bad shape physically. We finally had to make the decision to have him put to sleep. Bill Wock, who is still the Animal Control Officer, came through for us and took Bozo to the Animal Hospital so we didn't have to deal with that. It was still a tough loss and we still miss him.
Marie and I also made trips to Myrtle Beach, SC and to New Orleans, LA. New Orleans was fantastic; we really had a good time there. We stayed in a small hotel in the French Quarter. We could walk all over the Quarter. We had café au lait and bignets at the Café du Monde. We went on a riverboat cruise, visited plantations, and had tons of great food including jambalaya, crawfish etouffe, and pralines.
In
the fall of 1996, while searching for a book to read, I came across
a book called "Wingman" by Mack Maloney. The cover and
the blurb interested me so I bought it. I enjoyed the book very
much. It was set in post-WWIII America. The country had been nuked
and the center portion was a nuclear wasteland. There were pockets
of "civilization" on both the east and west coasts.
The main character, Hawk Hunter, had been a fighter pilot in the
war and the book tells the story of him getting together with
other pilots and soldiers, re-uniting with an F-16 fighter and
working to defend and rebuild the country. It was a good yarn,
and a few months later a second book came out. Every few months
another book in the series came out. Each one seemed to have local
areas written about in them. Places like Schenectady, Syracuse,
Newburgh, Cooperstown, etc. Not only was I enjoying the books,
but I was passing them around the police department and to Clancy
to read. In the back of one of the books was an address to write
for a "Wingman" bumper sticker. So I wrote a letter
and explained who I was and how much we enjoyed the books. What
a surprise when I got a note back from the author and found that
he lived 35 miles away in Saratoga Springs, NY.
We all got together and had lunch. The author, whose real name is Brian Kelleher, brought us bumper stickers and t-shirts. Afterward he would send us autographed copies of the books. Eventually he wrote us into the series as the JAWS team; a crack squad of commandos made up of former police officers from what had been Johnstown (now called Jacktown, in the Free Territory of NY). I was the commander of the unit and the other guys were Clancy, Mark Snyder, Warren Maas, and Sean Higgins. Sadly, Sean was killed in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. It was fun being part of the books that we all enjoyed so much. The local newspaper did an article on the books and our involvement in them.
After 16 books in the "Wingman" series, Brian moved on to a new series called "Starhawk". That series is still being done and still has the Hawk Hunter character, but this time in outer space. He also wrote a short series of books called "Chopper Ops" and is now doing a series called "Superhawks". In addition he has written a couple of individual novels called "Thunder Alley" and "War Heaven".
Michelle left Disney World and returned to New York State to attend law school at Syracuse University. I think it was among the worst winters they ever had while she was there. She had met Ed Sullivan there who was a year ahead of her in law school. He had moved to Washington, DC and was working for a law firm. After graduation, Michelle also returned to Washington to work for the United Cerebral Palsy Association. She and Ed got together again down there and eventually decided to get married.
Ed and Michelle got married on October 10, 1999 in Saratoga Springs, NY. It was harder than I thought it would be to walk her down the aisle. The service was going nicely until the minister whipped out an accordion and played a tune. The reception was held at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga. They bought a house in a preserve outside of Accokeek, Maryland within easy walking distance to the Potomac River where you can look across to George Washington's home, Mount Vernon.
In the summer of 2000, the women were planning a baby shower for Michelle. I thought it would be a good idea to get out of the house. So, on a Friday evening after work, I packed a small bag and took off on my motorcycle. Marie and I had visited the Town of Woodstock in Ulster County on many occasions. It's a fun place to visit and have lunch. But I had always wanted to visit the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, which was actually held in Bethel in Sullivan County. So that's where I headed on that Friday night.
I rode south on Rt. 30 down through Schoharie, Middleburgh and Grand Gorge. It was getting dark and I needed gas. I finally found a station in Arkville and filled up. I continued on past the Pepacton Reservoir which was a very picturesque but lonely ride. It was getting darker and cooler. I finally reached Downsville at the end of the Reservoir and found a little motel on the outskirts of the village. I checked in and then rode into town and had supper at a diner.
The next morning I took off again, heading south until I reached Rt. 17 and took that to Monticello where I got onto Rt. 17B toward Bethel. I had found that the Festival was held at the intersection of Hurd and West Shore Roads. I rode along 17B watching for Hurd Road I took a right on Hurd Road and took it to the intersection where there is now a small parking area near the monument. It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning in August, almost exactly 31 years after the Festival. It was amazing to stand there and look at that field, see the natural amphitheater and the location of the stage and realize what had happened on that place. I was there alone for awhile, but soon a van full of young people pulled in to also visit the site. People still come from all over the world to visit.
The
Woodstock Monument in winter
I also rode around White Lake and visited other sites like Vassmer's Store and Filipini's Pond.
For over 35 years, people have been returning to the site, or visiting it for the first time. The Town of Bethel has not promoted it and in fact they go out of their way to make it difficult to find and to be as inhospitable as possible. Over the years, particularly on anniversary weekends in August, they have parked town trucks around the site, dumped piles of dirt on the access roads, spread chicken manure over the field, and hired State Police to patrol by car and helicopter but still people visit.
There are two places in this world that I've found to affect me profoundly when I visited them. One is the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC and the other is the Woodstock Site in Bethel. They both are tributes to an entire generation, not just the 55,000 whose names are on the wall and not just the hundreds of thousands who came to Bethel in 1969. They are like opposite sides of the same coin, both causing us to stop and reflect on what our lives were like back then in those turbulent times and how we've gotten to where we are today.
The site, and all the surrounding land, is now owned by cable TV billionaire Alan Gerry who plans to build a performing arts center. He had originally said he would not build on the actual site but since has gone back on that promise and intends to build on the upper one third of the original site. I came in contact with a group called the Woodstock Preservation Alliance which had been fighting to preserve the site in its natural state. I eventually got elected to the Board of Directors of the WPA. We wrote letters to politicians and to newspapers, we issued press releases and distributed petitions. We worked through traditional preservation channels at the state and federal levels in order to get the site named as a Historical Landmark. Three of us, Joanne Hague from near Scranton, PA and Brad Littleproud from Ontario, Canada and me put together an impressive document of the history and significance of the site which was submitted to the various preservation offices.
The documents we submitted
Ultimately we were not successful. The power of money and politics proved too great and building has begun on the Woodstock site. The State of NY had put up funds for the performing arts center. The funds originated from HUD which meant we could have insisted on a Federal review. In order to avoid that, Mr. Gerry ultimately turned down the funding and we lost our last hope. Hopefully the performing arts center will be successful and will honor the memory of what happened there in 1969. There's more historical info on the Woodstock site here: http://www.woodstockpreservation.org:81/
When I left Bethel on my motorcycle, I headed west along the Delaware River where it forms the border between NY and PA. This was a really nice ride. I continued west to Deposit, a town where my Grandmother Cook had relatives and we had visited when I was very small. I wanted to ride along the Cannonsville Reservoir but there was construction and traffic was detoured another way. I rode up Rt. 28 through Delhi and Oneonta and returned home through Cooperstown. It had been a fun and unique trip.
On November 16, 2000, Gabrielle Marie Sullivan was born at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. It was a wild trip down; we flew into Baltimore and took a shuttle to the hospital. We didn't arrive in time for the birth but got in a few hours later. I'll never forget first laying eyes on Gabby and holding her. She and Marie formed an instant bond that is truly special and continues to this day.
Gabby
and me napping
Christmas of 2002 brought us quite an adventure. Michelle, Ed, and Gabby had come up for Christmas. We all loaded into our mini-van and drove out to Constantia, NY to spend the night with the Sullivans. It started snowing and never stopped! We spent Christmas morning with the Sullivans and were supposed to go to my brother's house in Frankfort, NY in the afternoon. We took off and heading south on I-81 was pretty bad. I figured the NYS Thruway would be ok but it was even worse, and the snow kept coming. Not only was the Thruway not plowed, but the wipers kept freezing and we had to keep stopping to clean the ice off them. The Thruway was so bad, I decided to get off in Utica and take Rt. 5-S into Frankfort. I thought it couldn't be worse. Boy was I wrong! The streets in Utica were horrible and we got stuck once but got going again. Rt. 5-S was just a path through the deep snow. The left lane was impassable from the deep snow. There were cars off both sides of the road in the snow. It was the worst driving of my entire life. We made it into Frankfort, but the side streets hadn't been touched and we were plowing snow with the van as we headed up my brother's street. When we couldn't go any further, we put Marie behind the wheel and Ed and I pushed. It was a spectacular entrance. The snow just kept coming and all the roads were closed. We had to spend the night at my brother's house. Gabby thought it was a really fun "sleep-over".
On April 23, 2004, Bryce Benjamin Sullivan was born at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. It was another wild trip. We got the call early in the morning that he was on his way. We couldn't get a flight, so we decided to drive. About midway though Pennsylvania, on I-81, the cell phone rang. Bryce had been born. We continued on and, after getting lost in downtown Washington, finally found our way to the hospital where we got to meet Bryce.
Me
with Bryce
In April of 2005, Marie and I went to Vero Beach, FL and spent a week in the Sullivan's condo. We had a great time visiting Fort. Pierce, Sebastian, Melbourne and other areas. We ate lots of great seafood, but the most memorable part of the trip was having to get out of the ocean due to the spotting of a shark.
On August 28, 2005, our third grandchild, Garrett Maddeford Sullivan was born at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC and weighed in at a
Gabby feeding a lamb at the Farmer's Museum
My hobbies continue to be computers, reading, music and racing. I love doing stuff with computers. I even built one from scratch. Now I've picked up a used laptop and have a wireless network set up in the house so I can get online from anywhere. I love Microsoft "Flight Simulator" and I spend a lot of time flying virtual airplanes around the world. I have a large collection of music CDs and love to climb into the recliner, put headphones on, and listen to music. I enjoy watching NASCAR racing and NHRA drag racing on television. We've attended NASCAR races seveal times at Loudon, NH and at Watkins Glen, NY I've collected NASCAR die cast since 1995, particularly for the late Dale Earnhardt and now Dale Earnhardt Jr. I have it displayed on a website which I created here: http://jims_diecast.tripod.com. I like to watch football and am a long-suffering NY Giants fan. I've been watching them for 25 years of mostly agony, but they won Superbowls in 1986 and 1990. Even in the lean years, their defense has generally been fun to watch. Michelle took me to a game in Maryland when they played the Redskins, and I've had the opportunity to visit their training camp when they've been at SUNY Albany.
Me
with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car
My biggest regret in life, aside from not finishing college, is that I've been so reserved. In school I was more open and I was quite liberal. I think getting into law enforcement made me conservative, both politically and socially. I've kept my emotions to myself and often stayed in the background or just on the edge of whatever was going on. I've resisted saying things I should have said to friends and family, and even to strangers. Police work forces you to keep your emotions in check and eventually it becomes a way of life. If you get emotionally involved it tears your guts out, so you learn to keep things at a distance.
Unlike when I was in school, I've been uncomfortable about singing in a group, or dancing. I've always been too concerned with what other people might think of me. Fortunately my grand-children are helping me to change. I've gotten much better at voicing and showing my affection and I'm more willing to make a fool out of myself for them. Since leaving law enforcement I've also been becoming more politically liberal again.
I've also gotten into periods when I've been "existing" more than "living", just going through the motions and vegging on the couch or the computer when I could be doing more constructive things, or be outside, or on the motorcycle. At this point in my life, when there is less life ahead than behind, I need to work on making the most of my time. One of my favorite quotes is from a John Lennon song, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." It certainly is true; we plan and anticipate the big events in our lives, but the real life is what goes on every day in between those events.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this and learning more about me. Everything written here may not be totally accurate but it is written from my memory and from my perspective. This is a work in progress which will grow as my life experiences (and my memory) continue.
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