Shirley Unser, New Salem Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary

John Rowen, Guilderland

Typically, in Albany County, about 140,000 to 144,000 residents vote in a presidential election. Matthew Clyne, the county’s Democratic election commissioner, estimated that — combining the early voters with the mail-in voters — about half that number had already cast their ballots before Election Day.

After a rent increase following the COVID shutdown, photographer Chelsea Sylvester was forced to relocate her studio from Colonie to Altamont’s Maple Avenue, a stressful last-minute change that Sylvester nevertheless describes as a “dream come true.” 

ALTAMONT — Thomas VanAuken “entered into eternal rest on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, after a long, valiant battle with lung cancer,” his family wrote in a tribute. He was 63.

ALTAMONT — N. Joel Edwards, DVM was a humble man with a passion for helping animals and serving his faith and his community.

Cindy Edwards used these adjectives to describe her husband: loving, kind, sincere. “I could use every admiration in the book,” she added.

Dr. Edwards died on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. He was 80.

GUILDERLAND — Julian W. LeVine, an Army Airforce veteran and Syracuse University graduate, taught first- through sixth-grade gym class at Westmere Elementary School for 30 years until he retired in 1986 with a “Julian LeVine Day.”

Marie Wiles, Superintendent of Schools, Guilderland