To the Editor:

It is with great pride that I share portions of the lives of two outstanding Berne-Knox-Westerlo alumnae.

The first is Debbie Mcmanama Herodes. She provides an insightful account on the influence of “family” and education on her life.

Debbie shares that, when she thinks of her family, hard work and music are the two things that come to mind. Her grandparents, Clyde and Ruth Schoonmaker, were students at one-room schoolhouses in the towns of West Berne and Berne. As was true with many of these country people, college wasn’t an option.

Working to raise and support a family was their major endeavor. Her grandfather, Clyde, had a multitude of jobs, including being a bus driver at BKW for 30 years. Her grandmother, Ruth, was a homemaker and a “proud to be” wife of a small farmer. She worked around the clock, as did he. They had three children: Walter, Betty, and Marie.

Marie Schoonmaker was Debbie’s mother. She, like her parents, worked non-stop to raise her two daughters, Noreen and Deborah.

She was a secretary at BKW for 45 years and a piano teacher for 40 years. “The piano was central in our home, along with the church, and between these two strongholds,” said Debbie, “my sister and I sang all the time and learned to play the piano.

“Marie also opened her own travel service, which she ran for 25 years. I learned dedication to hard work from both my grandparents and my mother.”

Debbie like most of her classmates, went to college. Perhaps the marked difference, however, is that she continued to go to college, year after year, until she received a doctorate in three different disciplines. In addition, she also received a school superintendent’s license.

Deb taught high school English for over 30 years and also was a professor at the University at Albany and at the State University of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill for 11 years. She used her administrator’s license to head up summer schools in three different districts for more than a decade.

“The joy in my life was always centered around my family,” she says, “although we suffered much loss throughout the years. I also found joy in writing poetry and henceforth wrote two full-length (200-plus pages) poetry books, published in 1983 and 1993.

“Currently, my third book is awaiting publication. The titles of the two books on the market are ‘Between the Lines’ and ‘Pilgrim Soul.’ The newest collection is entitled ‘Behind Blue Eyes.’ I, like my mom before me, ran a business. My photography business lasted for 16 years, until my eyesight began to wane, but music, throughout my life, has been a huge part of who I am.

“Allowing children the opportunity to perform, sing, and dance, in front of an audience, became a passion for me, as I began to instill a love of music in my own children. Together, with a fellow teacher, some 27 years ago, we reorganized a defunct theater group in Middleburgh and the Timothy Murphy Playhouse ( a tremendous theater group) is still going strong, with a new generation of ‘lovers of musicals.’

“I directed over 25 shows and  produced just about as many. Between teaching, a photography business, directing, writing, and continuing to educate myself, I also managed to raise three wonderful daughters named Sarah, Myleah, and Mikayla. They are all successful in their own lives, with law and education as their chosen professions. They are all mothers, as well, which has allowed me to enjoy my retirement with my eight grandchildren.

“My retirement is about enjoying these small beings and my wonderful husband, Robert Herodes, as well as supporting my daughters in their many endeavors. They are all involved in music and have directed, choreographed, and produced local theater for many years.

“They performed on stage all of their lives and now share this passion with young thespians. My daughter Sarah has had her own business teaching dance for 20-plus years and has choreographed every single show since Timothy Murphy Playhouse’s rebirth.

“She is a high school music teacher, at a local school, and keeps my mother’s love of music alive in her students. She has four children. My daughter Myleah owns her own theater group, where she trains youngsters in her number-one love — acting.

“Before becoming an attorney, Myleah was an actress, and she brings that knowledge to youngsters around the Capital District. She has two children.

“My youngest daughter, Mikayla, is a world traveler. She lived in Croatia, where she performed on Croatian television as an American foreign exchange student, with a ‘big voice.’ She has been involved in directing musicals, as well, and has done modeling, on the side, while raising her two children.

“I have to think that my grandmother’s love of music, my grandfather’s love of whistling (it was constant), and my mother’s devotion to the piano and her students, created this musical family. Although I am happy with the life I have led, the degrees I have earned, the books I have written, the weddings I have shot, the students I have taught, there is nothing more important to me than my family of women.

“We are a foursome of passionate, hard-working, and devoted hearts, that beat together, as one. Although my grandparents and mom are now deceased, their legacy of love for each other and for us, is still evidenced in our devotion to each other.”

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The second outstanding alumna is Nicole Ferraino Clagett who graduated with the Class of 1994. She currently resides in North Carolina. Nicole’s parents are Robert Ferraino and the late Barbara.

Nicole Clagett has a passion for serving as an advocate for individuals afflicted with chronic, severe, and life-limiting illness. Trained as a social worker, she has worked with older adults and their caregivers for over 20 years.

Serving individuals both personally and professionally has helped her understand the social, emotional, and economic toll that serious illness has on friends and neighbors. She draws on that experience to help create a voice through communications, media, fundraising, and caregiver support work.

Nicole is currently the director of Community Development and Caregiver Support for Duke HomeCare & Hospice. She also founded the not-for-profit Guiding Lights Caregiver Support Center.

Nicole is the co-founder and co-host of the Edge of Aging Podcast that seeks to inspire health-care thought leaders to look at how we care for those with chronic and serious illness differently. She is also a contributor to ABC11’s Caregiver’s Corner.

In 2019, Nicole received the Global Humanitarianism Award and an honorary doctorate in humanitarianism in from Yale College. In 2021, she received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement award from President Joe Biden.

Nicole states “I have found that there is no greater calling than to serve others. There is no greater contribution than to help the vulnerable and no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.”

Helen M. Lounsbury Galicki

Berne

Editor’s note: Helen M. Lounsbury Galicki graduated with the Class of 1956 and is a former teacher and former school board member for Berne-Knox-Westerlo. She had both Debbie Mcmanama Herodes and Nicole Ferraino Clagett as students.