Obituaries Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, September 8, 2011
Alan Kyle Trossbach
CLARKSVILLE — Alan Kyle Trossbach, who loved art and music, died on Sept. 4, 2011. He was 63.
Born in Albany on Aug. 13, 1948, he was the son of Ellen Louise and Charles William Trossbach of Florida.
After graduating from the Vincentian Institute, Mr. Trossbach went to work for the New York Telephone Co. He was then drafted and served in the U.S. Army operating radio communications during the Vietnam War. Upon discharge, he continued working for the telephone company and retired in the mid 1990s after over 30 years of service.
“He had a love of art and music and loved spending quality time with his daughters,” his family wrote in a tribute.
Mr. Trossbach is survived by his parents, Ellen Louise and Charles William Trossbach, and his two daughters, Heather Slaver and her husband, David, of Feura Bush, and Shannon Trossbach of Clarksville. He is also survived by five brothers, Charles, James, David, Paul, and Robert Trossbach, as well as several nieces and nephews.
A memorial gathering of family and friends will be held on Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Applebee Funeral Home, 403 Kenwood Ave., Delmar. Military honors will be conducted at 7 p.m. on Friday at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Community Hospice of Albany, 445 New Karner Rd., Albany, NY 12205.
Elizabeth Margaret (Ivers) Van Patten
GUILDERLAND — A steadfast and warm woman, Elizabeth Margaret (Ivers) Van Patten died on Sept. 3, 2011. She was 88.
Growing up the oldest of five children to parents who had immigrated to Brooklyn, Mrs. Van Paten had a strong sense of patriotism. “As most first-generation immigrants are, her parents were exceptionally grateful to be in this country,” said her son, Emerson Van Patten III.
Her mother, the late Theresa (Rose) Ivers, came from Yugoslavia and her father, the late Walter Ivers, came from Ireland — both were Catholic, Mr. Van Patten said.
After she graduated from high school, Mrs. Van Patten got a job as a Teletype operator at Western Union, developing a skill that would be needed later by the Army during World War II. When she heard that she could contribute to the war effort, she decided to join the Army. This worried her mother, Mrs. Van Patten explained in 2007.
“I’ll do exactly what I do at Western Union,” she remembered telling her mother.
Mrs. Van Patten was sent to a base in San Francisco, where Emerson Van Patten Jr. had also been stationed.
When the war was over, Mr. Van Patten was sent to the Federal Building to work on coding, she said in 2007, and he was put in her class to learn how to do it.
“I’ve got to leave and go home,” he told her after he had been discharged. “Maybe we can get married sometime.”
As they traveled back east to his family’s farm in Guilderland, they stopped in Reno, Nev. and were wed on May 15, 1946.
Of making the transition from city to country life, Mr. Van Patten III said his mother “bonded very, very closely to my dad’s two sisters.” She became involved in the schools through her six children and later in the town through her work in the Guilderland Water Department and by volunteering as an election inspector.
“She was a very gregarious person,” said her son, and she liked to see the many people she knew on Election Day.
Mrs. Van Patten, a devout Catholic, was also a member of St. Madeleine Sophie Church for over 60 years. Religion was in the core of her character, Mr. Van Patten said, adding that she lived by the Golden Rule.
She was very sincere, Mr. Van Patten said. “She said what she meant,” he said, while still being kind. “She was a pretty determined woman,” he concluded.
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Mrs. Van Patten is survived by her children: Linda Sornberger, and her husband, Lee; Emerson J. Van Patten III and his wife, Tara; Jeffrey D. Van Patten and his wife, Jill; Jan L. Van Patten and his wife, Gail; Christopher A. Van Patten and his wife, Carlene; and Lisa Cay Clark and her husband, Patrick. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Kelly, Kacey, Brandon, Kourtney, Korinne, Kyle, Carlie, Caitlin, Erin, and Jack, as well as her great-grandchildren, Owen, Aiden, Adrianna, Caden, Brooklynn, and a great-grandson due in December. She is survived, too, by numerous nieces and nephews and by her sisters, Theresa O’Hare and Leslie DeCollibus, and by her sisters-in-law, Hannah Ivers and Phyllis Ivers.
Her husband, Emerson Van Patten Jr., died before her as did her brothers, Daniel Ivers and Walter Ivers Jr., and her sisters-in-law, Ruth (Van Patten) Lawlor and Olive Van Patten, and her brother-in-law, Jack Lawlor.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Madeleine Sophie Church on Sept. 6 with interment in the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Guilderland. Arrangements were by the Fredendall Funeral Home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Regional Food Bank, 965 Albany-Shaker Rd., Latham, NY 12110.
— Saranac Hale Spencer
Marcia P. (Pangburn) Arrow
ALTAMONT — Marcia P. (Pangburn) Arrow, a schoolteacher who was active in her community, died on Sept. 2, 2011 at Elizabeth Church Manor. She was 78.
Mrs. Arrow had retired from her work as a schoolteacher at the Whitney Point Central Schools and was a member of the Whitney Point Methodist Church, the Eastern Star, and the Triangle Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary.
Mrs. Arrow is survived by her husband, Arthur Arrow, of Whitney Point, N.Y., and by her three children, James Arrow and his wife, Mary Lou, of Webster, N.Y.; John Arrow and his wife, Vicky, of Whitney Point, N.Y.; and Amy Brown and her husband, Chip, of Richmond, Va. She is also survived by her six grandchildren, Patrick Arrow, Lindsey and Daniel Dixon, Avery and Hayden Brown, and Heather Reddy, as well as her sister, Kathryn Benson and her husband, Paul, of Camino Island, Wash., and several nieces and nephews.
Her parents, Harold E. Pangburn and Agnes (Campbell) Pangburn, died before her as did her granddaughter, Katie Lynn Arrow.
Thomas Conklin
\BERNE — Thomas Conklin was a true outdoorsman, who loved his family, and who had a career working in parks, with the mantra, “Parks are for people.”
When asked how she would describe him, his wife of 35 years, Leslie Conklin, replied, “exuberant.”
“He was full of life, energetic, caring, loving,” she said. “It’s hard to know where to start.”
He died in the early morning on Monday, Sept. 5, 2011, at his home in Berne, surrounded by his family. He was 58.
Mr. Conklin was born April 17, 1953 in Albany, to the late Bob and Esther (Greene) Conklin.
Mrs. Conklin remembers when they met, in their youth.
“He was a basketball player in Berne, and I saw him playing basketball,” she said. “And, my grandmother had a camp at Warners Lake, and he used to work at the local grocery store, and I was kind of smitten with him.
The two went off to different colleges, but got together again afterwards. They were married on July 24, 1976.
Mr. Conklin had retired after 37 years as a manager at different state parks.
“He worked at Thompsons Lake for a few years,” his wife said, “and then, we moved to Minekill State Park, where he was the manager for three years; and then, he managed Grafton Lake State Park for 24 years.”
He won the Maple Leaf award in 2007, “In recognition of your extraordinary contributions to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation,” the plaque reads
“That was something he always hoped for,” his wife said of the award.
Mr. Conklin started the “Run for the Roses” footrace in Grafton over 20 years ago. He started the Friends of Grafton group, “dedicated to making the state park a great place to be by interacting with the public and making it more accessible to the people,” his family wrote in a tribute. He also started an annual winter festival at the park every year, of which he was very proud.
“One year,” his family wrote, “when there was a lack of snow in Grafton, he went as far as having snow trucked in from the Berkshires so the kids could still participate in a snow sculpture contest, as well as creating an ice rink in the parking lot when the pond didn’t freeze in time.”
When he retired, and prepared to leave Grafton to move back to Berne, hundreds of people came to see him off. Though he lived elsewhere, he loved Berne, and he always looked forward to moving back.
Mr. Conklin loved his home in the Hilltowns, and so did everyone else, his family wrote, and there are visitors there almost every day of the week, “Partly because it is beautiful land, but mostly because he could always make you feel at home here, like you belonged. ‘The Land,’ as he called it, was his oasis that he made his home.”
He loved gardening, hunting, camping, hiking, canoeing, making maple syrup, and feeding his fish in his pond. Anything that had to do with the outdoors, he loved, and his property in Berne gave him a place to do those things.
“We traveled to Alaska twice,” said Mrs. Conklin, “enjoying parks along the way.”
He participated in a 90-mile Adirondack Canoe Classic race with his wife on multiple occasions, and the couple hiked the Taconic Crest trail as well.
He volunteered at several organizations over the years, most recently at Community Caregivers.
The phrase “What would Jesus do?” was a guideline for his life, and he was in church every Sunday.
“He was happiest when he was around people, and especially around family,” his family wrote. “He was so proud the day he got to meet and hold his new grandson, Alexander, and has been happy to brag about him since July.”
The tribute ended, “If you knew Tom, you loved him, and he loved everyone that knew him. He was the type of guy that you could know for five minutes, and it felt like you knew him your whole life.”
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In addition to his wife, Mr. Conklin is survived by his children: Jennifer Manias and her husband, Jason; and Scott Conklin and his wife, Sierra “Belle.”
He is also survived by his grandson, Alexander Manias, and his brothers and sisters: Bob Conklin, and his wife, Karen; John Conklin and his wife, Bonnie; Chuck Conklin and his wife, Sue; Steve Conklin and his wife, Mary; Jim Conklin and his wife, Kim; Ken Conklin and his wife, Jean; Gord Conklin and his wife, Paula; Patty Skinner and her husband, Shawn; and Kathy Lounsbury and her husband, Kevin.
Also surviving is his cousin, Harold Conklin, and his wife, Ruth.A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. today, Sept. 8, at the Helderberg Lutheran Church in Berne, followed by interment in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Arrangements are by the Fredendall Funeral Home in Altamont.
Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of choice.
— Zach Simeone
Shirley Anthony Carman
ALTAMONT — Shirley Anthony Carman, a musician and community leader, died on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011, after a short illness. She was 83.
Mrs. Carman was born on Nov. 9, 1927, the daughter of Anna Blessing Anthony and Merwin J. Anthony. She was born in Schenectady, and grew up in the countryside outside of Altamont.
“Except for college and the last two years of her life, she chose never to live more than a quarter of a mile from her cherished childhood home,” wrote her family in a tribute.
Mrs. Carman graduated from Draper High School at age 16, and the Crane School of Music at Potsdam State in 1947. She later acquired a master’s degree in music education.
“She was a gifted musician, master teacher, and church and community leader,” wrote her family.
She started her career as a music teacher at the Carman School, then worked until retirement as the music teacher and choral director at Jefferson School in the Schalmont District.
In 1949, she married Burton “Jack” Carman, who died in 2002.
“She combined the roles of wife, mother, teacher, church choir director, and volunteer with unfailing energy,” her family wrote.
A lifelong member of the Helderberg Reformed Church in Guilderland Center, Mrs. Carman was its volunteer choral director for decades, an ordained elder, and a member of Reformed Church Women.
Upon her retirement, she became active in the formation of the Old Hellebergh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and served as the national chairperson of the DAR Conservation Committee.
She was also a member of the Mayflower Society.
“Proud to be a cousin of Susan B. Anthony,” her family wrote, “she traveled around the state lecturing about her relative’s legacy and the importance of women’s rights.”
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Shirley Anthony Carman is survived by her three children, Candace Carman Weeks, and her husband, Richard, of New Vernon, N.J., Bruce Carman, and his wife, Noreen, of Pittstown, N.Y., and Susie Carman Luyet, and her husband, Francois, of Haiku, Maui, in Hawaii, and Saviese, Switzerland; six grandchildren, Eric Magill, and his wife, Christine, Nicholas and Jonathan Carman, and Alexandra, Katherine, and Matthew Weeks.
She is also survived by five great-grandchildren, Sheridan, Erica, Joseph, and Jaiden Magill, and Mya Carman; a brother, Kenneth Anthony, of Altamont; a sister, Beverly Marx, and her husband, Robert, of Centerville, Mass.; and many nieces and nephews.
Her husband, Burton “Jack” Carman, died before her.
Her children are profoundly grateful to the many family members, friends, doctors, and other acquaintances whose love and support added to the quality of her life these last several years.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 3 p.m., at the Helderberg Reformed Church, in Guilderland Center. Arrangements are by the Fredendall Funeral Home in Altamont.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Susan B. Anthony House, 117 Madison St., Rochester, NY 14608, or to the Church World Service, Post Office Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.