What's New
| ||||||||||
sad news from 2022 -- I came across this obit for Dorothy Polockow when I was researching "lost" classmates --
Obituary for Dorothy Polockow
LITTLE FALLS - Dorothy Polockow, 74, died on October 22, 2022, from complications of pneumonia at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, in Utica, NY. She was the daughter of Rita and the late Andrew Polockow, of Little Falls, NY.
Dorothy was born in Yonkers, NY. She spent her formative years there, as well as in Upstate NY at her grandparents’ farm and lastly in Rome, NY. She graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1970, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design. She was employed by several advertising agencies that included the New Studio, New York City, Bevis Industries, Hartsdale, NY, Lockwood Kent, White Plains, NY and Sklar-Lenett Associates, Port Chester, NY. Her studio work was expansive. She worked on all facets of design that included the creation of ads, posters, mailers, point of purchase displays, packaging, mail order catalogs, booklets, calendars, flyers, newspaper ads/copy, photography and lettering, etc. She enjoyed working with many clients, some of which included Paramount Pictures, Seagram’s, Girl Scouts of America, CBS Fox, Playboy Book Club, Time-Life Records and Yankee Yearbook.
Dorothy was passionate about the arts and the creative process. She was interested in exploring all types of artistic media that became especially therapeutic when a life-altering diagnosis of mental illness impacted her life and derailed her professional career. Early on, she worked in hand lettering, creating her own fonts and working in calligraphy. She was a talented painter, especially adept at painting flowers, using watercolor and acrylic and oil paint. She also enjoyed sculpture, film photography and pencil and chalk drawing. She grew herbs and created her own spices and made herb and lavender sachets. She won several art competitions throughout the years at various events and expos. Her greatest talent was evident in the fiber arts category. She quilted by hand, embroidered, sewed and weaved, on a large floor loom. She knit her own clothing, crocheted and worked with macrame. She was also a member of the Leatherstocking Spinners Guild, along with her mother, Rita, where she took part in the whole process of fiber creation, from shearing, carding (cleaning) and dying and spinning of wool. Together, they enjoyed sharing the craft of spinning on antique wheels and demonstrated at fairs and events in the upstate area. Dorothy gifted many of her artistic pieces to family members over the years where they will remain as treasured remembrances of her talent.
Dorothy is survived by her mother, Rita Polockow, of Dartmouth, MA.
She will be interred privately, at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Yonkers, NY.
Arrangements are in the care of her longtime family friends at the Enea Family Funeral Home, 24 West Monroe Street, Little Falls, New York 13365, Enea, Ciaccia and Applegate Funeral Directors (315) 823-2424.
https://www.eneafuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Dorothy-Polockow-53393/#!/Obituary
Barbara Ducat (Escoffier) obituary….
https://www.keohane.com/obituaries/barbara-escoffier
Posted on: Nov 04, 2024 at 11:51 PM
Hello, all. It is with great sadness I share that one of our classmates from HHS passed away Nov. 3. Barbara Leigh Ducat Escoffier died after a short illness. Barb and I had been in touch often since leaving Hastings and increasingly over the last ten years; our lives took a strange parallel path with life events at almost the exact same times. We missed our 50th reunion with you all while on a wonderful trip through Europe, followed a few years later by ten days in Paris and Normandy. We had another trip planned but COVID and eventually her health caused us to cancel.
Barb moved from California to Mass during COVID to be closer to her daughter and her family. She loved being with her three grandchildren who gave her great joy and pride. She will be missed by them and many others.
This is all very new, I am in touch with her daughter regularly and she has been Barb's major support the past few years. When a formal obituary is shared, I will include it on this page.
Barb had so many wonderful memories of Hastings and HHS and the people we knew. She and I had some antics that if our parents knew....well, better left unsaid. She was not a fan of social media (one night on that first cruise we convinced her to create a Facebook page which she promptly had me close later that night) while I am at least a FB fan; this seemed the best way to let this be known. I ask for thoughts for her family, which while small, was close and loving.
When I can share more, I will put it here.
Gail
Here is Bob Bedoukian's obit -- quite a life! https://www.cornellmemorial.com/obituaries/Robert-Haig-Bedoukian?obId=32977071
Info on Vanessa's memorial --
Dear community,
As many of you may have read or heard by now, it is with deep sadness we share that Vanessa Merton passed on to her next journey on July 15th, at her childhood home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she had lived much of the past nearly 75 years.
It is thus in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson that we will be holding a celebration of Vanessa’s extraordinary life, on Saturday, July 27th.
Please find the details as to times and locations in the invitation and RSVP form here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBjBC33kj7waUQ-BsC2CUFT_pXzctp5BSboUlAmJU3kvo6qA/viewform
We humbly request that everyone please fill out the RSVP form above if they plan or hope to attend, ideally by July 25th, so that we have a better sense of numbers and any needs.
There will also be a Vanessa Merton memorial held this September (when she would have turned 75) on the campus of her employer of 35 years, Pace Law School in White Plains, New York. If you wish to receive information about this event once it is finalized, please let us know via the RSVP form above.
With grief & gratitude,
Steven, Darrow, and Rebecca
Some sad news … Vanessa Merton passed away last week. She had retired from her position at Pace University and founder of the Immigration Justice Clinic last year, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I don’t know any details of a memorial service, but here is the notice on the Pace website that links to a wonderful tribute book. Add your own photos and tribute, if you like. https://www.pace.edu/news/memoriam-professor-vanessa-h-merton-1949-2024
Posted on: Feb 21, 2022 at 8:44 PM
Carol,
I was so sorry to hear of Rich's passing. I hope that your long time together will provide you and your son's and family many wonderful memories to sustain you now and in the future.
Gail Wright
From Ida Susser --
Bob was one of my few friends when I arrived at Hastings High School from the U.K. in 1965, He was a senior then. As I was in classes across different years and younger than some of the students. It was very hard for me to get to know people. He was always generous to me and friendly - we used to walk up the Mount Hope hill to my house together.
I am very sorry to hear the news although I knew he was not well for a few years.
Posted on: Mar 31, 2021 at 1:56 PM
Sad news about Bob Rainwater --
Obituary for Robert S. Rainwater
After a long illness Robert Stephen Rainwater, 72, died peacefully at his home in Providence on March 11, 2021.
Robert was born in New York City on July 27, 1948, the son of Leo James and Emma Louise (Smith) Rainwater. His father, a physicist at Columbia University, shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Robert grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York where he graduated from high school in 1966. He attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, graduating in 1970 with a degree in physics. Afterwards, he attended Teachers College at Columbia, graduating in 1972. Upon graduation, Robert embarked on a career teaching high school physics. After spending 12 years in the Connecticut public school system, he moved to Rhode Island where he taught at Portsmouth Abbey School for 30 years, until his retirement in 2015. A passionate and dedicated teacher, his family can recall his many late nights devoted to figuring out some better way to present some particular aspect of the subject that he felt his students were struggling to understand.
In addition to his work, Robert was an avid gardener. He enjoyed biking, often cycling the 54-mile round trip from his former home in Barrington, RI to Portsmouth Abbey School. A voracious reader, he consumed science fiction, fantasy and the classics. He also displayed his artistic temperament with, among other things, his elaborate sand castles in the summer, gingerbread houses at Christmastime, and a privet hedge maze in his yard.
A loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, Robert is survived by his husband, Lewis Seifert, Providence; his daughters: Sarah Rainwater (Guy), Providence, Nellie Rainwater (Justin), Riverside and Emma Rainwater (Naomi), Honeoye Falls, NY; his grandchildren: Oliver Michaud, Thomas Michaud, Alexander Uhr, Autumn Uhr and Norah Rainwater; his former wife, Jean Rainwater, Providence; his brother William (Debra), Highland Park, NJ and his nephews and niece, Noah, Jake and Julie. Robert is predeceased by his parents, his brother, James, and sister, Elizabeth.
Robert’s remains will be interred in the family plot in New York. A memorial service is planned for this summer. Donations in Robert’s memory may be made to the American Kidney Fund (https://www.kidneyfund.org/).
https://www.mkds.com/obituaries/Robert-S-Rainwater?obId=20272381&fbclid=IwAR3vhnYepKr6JJqKohINnaplpWOUbrTDeYo7-2Q9JODOm6d3EnIg9we-Wu8#/obituaryInfo
Posted on: Nov 28, 2020 at 2:22 PM
So I've been in contact with Laurie as military experiences were sought out for the alumni boards. Not being very active on our alumni site I thought to write something a little different about one of our teachers. Shared it with Laurie and she thought better coming directly from me so here goes.
Jay
A SPECIAL TEACHER AND FRIEND
October 28, 2020
September 1961, the first day of classes. On the transom over the door to English class was written Qui Huc Intrasti Omissa Spe. Latin for “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” That first day I was one of the kids in Charles Oscar Ashmann Jr's (COA) class. Before the first day was done we all knew the translation from Latin and wondered.
COA's class and this was the only one I had with him, was different. Looking back on it he conducted a great class. At the time it could be scary. I remember he generally was not in the classroom when students arrived but would walk in a minute or two later and greet the class. Often on the black board a student had scribbled in chalk a hangman's scaffold with a stick figure hanging from it. The initials COA were written to the side with an arrow pointing to the stick figure. Today, probably at the very least the perpetrator would likely be rooted out, told to report to the office and likely suspended. COA would smile and in his booming voice ask who the perpetrator was. No admission by anyone. He would pull out his Delta Tau Delta fraternity paddle from college, slap it on a stack of books on his desk seeking the guilty culprit, never discovered. Never was any of this done with malice but with a twinkle of the eye and total control.
I remember the day the “direct object” lesson was taught. It was my day. Mr. Prather, it was always Mr. or Miss., please share with the class the definition of a direct object. While I probably should have been prepared I wasn't. Mr. Prather what is a direct object? By now I was sweating bullets with no answer in hand. Twice the paddle slammed a stack of books on his desk. “Mr. Prather, I am going to demonstrate what a direct object is. Mr. Prather please come up to my desk. Please lean over this stack of books.” Where upon the paddle met my posterior with a good amount of force. I was the “direct object” and I'll never forget that lesson.
Another day it had just starting to snow outside halfway through his class. Jill Bolinsky who much to soon was taken from us was also in the class. She would sometimes say something out loud disrupting a class. Well this day she looked out the window and shouted out to the entire class “It's snowing outside”. Well, COA looked at her and didn't miss a beat, didn't tell her not to shout out but rather returned to his desk and said “I must write this down Miss Bolinsky has offered an intelligent thought today it's snowing outside” and the class resumed without further interruption.
I remember an assignment which was to go home, pull out one of my parent's books, read some of it and come back to class with what book we had read was about and whether it was interesting. I suppose COA had hoped for students to report on classics or at the very least some western paperback novel. I came back to class and said I couldn't do it. He looked at me like I had to be up to something. I told him my dad was an engineer and all we had around the house was engineering books with lots of mathematical formulas. I even subsequently brought in one of the heavy books. He looked at it and I think said okay, probably thinking this poor kid is being starved culturally.
Although this was my only class with COA this year started a long term and very special relationship which I still cherish this many years later. Throughout the rest of high school we would occasionally talk. So it came time for possibly going to college. My grades were not the best but my SAT scores were not that bad. I ended up at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana where COA went to school and was a proud alumnus. I'm sure he had a major role in my admission to DePauw although I'm also sure he would never have omitted it. It helped that DePauw, at that time, also had an Air Force ROTC program and I wanted to fly. During college, whenever I was back to visit my parents I would visit COA either at school or he and Vonnie his better half, at their apartment in the buildings behind the A&P. Then during my 20 year Air Force career I always stopped by to visit. I had the opportunity to travel the world and would talk to them both about what I had seen and done. I particularly told him of the London museums, the Victoria & Albert, the National Gallery, the British Museum and many others. It seemed to me the British, in the days of empire, had plundered the world and brought it all back to London and placing the world in their museums. I was excited and told him, he and Vonnie had to go, that they would absolutely love Europe. He told me he and Vonnie would go after he retired.
And then it was 1991 and our 25th reunion. I think it was held sometime in the fall. I had heard that COA was not well. That he was not taking visitors. I never-the-less went to their apartment behind the A&P. I think Vonnie answered the door and said something about COA not feeling well that day which was consistent with his not taking visitors. I heard the voice, not quite so strong but unmistakable from within the apartment, “Is that Jay? Come in.” I sat down and was in shock at what I saw. COA said something like “don't be so surprised, it's what cancer does to you.” I tried to recover as best I could remembering the dynamic, vibrant, in love with teaching, people and life, person that cancer was now eating away. We visited and I left before COA was too tired to continue. I went to the reunion and said nothing when the subject of COA being sick was occasionally mentioned. I felt my private moment with COA and Vonnie was not one to share then with anyone else.
COA died on December 29, 1991, having retired from teaching just the year before.
To this day it bothers me and I am so sad that he and Vonnie never had the opportunity to visit Europe, the great London museums and that he was taken from us too young.
Posted on: Apr 17, 2017 at 3:55 PM
Happy birthday, Bobby!
So great to hear from people! Scroll down so you don’t miss things
Hi everyone!
These are strange days for sure! I am fortunate to be able to work from home for my part time child advocacy position; our office closed to the public 3.20 and we all decided that for us and our families, working from home was best. Schools shut and went to NTI thinking it would be just until Spring break. Since, school has been deemed over for the year. I ache for the seniors and since I’m on the School Foundation Board, we are working with school administration trying to make it special any way we can. Our courts have been closed to all face to face hearings and what can be done by Zoom or Skype. I’m actually attending a virtual adoption on Tuesday! We have had dockets rescheduled three times already...we’ve stopped advising our volunteers about changes as it was becoming overwhelming. All our small businesses are shut down; restaurants are doing take out and delivery and small businesses are doing on line or phone ordering and curbside pick up. Add to that, the weather has been as un predictable as possible...not unusual for KY, but this is extreme! I had been scheduled to go to Jen’s outside of Boston for ten days at the end of March, early April to help her out while her husband traveled to India on business. When his trip was postponed even before things got really serious and began shutting down (best decision ever), I reluctantly cancelled mine and am making Do with regular FT calls for Jen and my grandson, 5. We are just hoping school will resume so he can begin kindergarten on schedule. Them all being home, Jen and Adam working and keeping Charlie engaged and occupied is a challenge as I’m sure many others are facing.
Barbara Ducat Escoffier and I made another Viking trip in Late September, early Oct. This time, we started with three days in Paris and then 8 days up the Seine to the beaches of Normandy. The history of the area was spectacular and the beaches and cemeteries dedicated to those who lost their lives during the Normandy invasion were very emotional to,say the least. The small towns along the way were wonderful....many were untouched by the Invasion; one extremely moving moment was a tour guide who had his aunts diary and shared excerpts of it. She wrote it as a 16 year old from the perspective of living just two doors down from the Gestapo headquarters in their little town. She wrote of the fear of not knowing, of fearing a knock on the door and of someone going out but not returning. She prayed for their “normal”.... I don’t think there was a dry eye on the bus as he read.
Beyond that, life moves on. To occupy myself, I’m making masks for friends, family and our medical community. My high school graduation present sewing machine is getting a workout! It deserves a service appointment when this is over. Other than that, Im socially distanced visiting with friends, walk when the weather is decent and try to stay reasonably sane and healthy! All my family are doing well, isolating and behaving (even my 80 plus year old brother and sister in law on the Cape....if you remember him, yiu can imagine the challenge THAT IS!!! ??)
As for a reunion or something for 55, distance for me is an issue. It’s nearly impossible to get anywhere from here without two flights, but it’s always a possibility! I hope you are all staying well, busy and engaged. Our class has a lot to be proud of and I have loved catching up through this page! Stay well and happy....
Gail
Hi Laurie, everyone,
Gail and I have been sent to home isolation (in Connecticut) as well. It's been five weeks now.
I'm still working, now exclusively from home, and I have developed great respect for those who can manage this in a structured way so that they are not working from 6AM to 6PM and losing their minds. I assume and hope it is an art that can be learned, even buy an old guy.
My company is an "essential business" (chemical manufacturing) fortunately, making fragrance and flavor ingredients and insect pheromones. Through today (knock wood) business is up, possibly since fragrance is used in soaps, detergents, sanitizers, etc., flavors are for food, and agriculture continues. And, off shore suppliers may be problematic now. But who knows what tomorrow brings.
The morale boosting portion of our business is making and donating hand sanitizer to local hospitals, nursing homes, city agencies, state police, food banks, etc. Despite being busy with their normal jobs, and dealing with masks, disinfecting everything they touch, and keeping six feet apart, my employees are doing a fantastic job making and packaging hand sanitizer. Over 1,000 gallons so far and it will be 5,000 gallons by the time we're done.
It is insane that in the U.S., hospitals can't get masks, hand sanitizer, or disinfectants in this crisis. OK, testing kits are something more complex, but sanitizer??
Hope you're all doing well and staying safe (and sane)!
Bob