Archive » June 2025 » Columns

SCHOHARIE — Some days are just harder to wake up to than others. Tuesday, June 17, was one of those days for the OMOTM.

Maybe it was the gray, 55-degree, misty morning with the rest of the day not looking much better. As we made our way to the Your Way Café in Schoharie, we may have been thinking about the fine day we all enjoyed the Sunday before. It was Father's Day!

It was a day for families gathering together. The OMOTM don't really need a special day in order to enjoy getting together with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The weather was dry and mid-70s, maybe a little cloudy, but that was OK; we didn't need to get sunburned anyway. It was just fun to welcome the family into our homes; anticipation can be half the fun. Is the barbecue grill ready to go? Do we have enough charcoal or is the liquid-propane tank topped off?

Sometimes some of the family members bring a favorite dish that all of us look forward to each year along with the hamburgers and hot dogs and potato salad. There are definite unwritten rules and customs that are followed regarding who brings what.

Nothing is written down; nobody votes on anything anyway. It all works out just like it always does because the same people always bring the same stuff each year, and it is great!

If the Oldest OF, let’s call him the “OOF,” is lucky, his favorite pie will appear for the millionth year in a row. Most of the time, someone will have to go find this OOF, a man among men, who usually is found on the couch in the family room or maybe in the hammock under the big shade tree, enjoying a nap.

They will wake him up so he can tell everyone for the millionth time that this is his favorite pie. This will cause a younger OF to try to take undue credit for the pie even though all he did was to carry the pie from the car to the kitchen. Everyone knows he doesn’t know how to boil water!

By the way, concerning the rules and regs for Father’s Day festivities, there is, in fact, a select group of individuals who do know all the unwritten rules and regulations, and nobody but nobody messes with them!

Who are these people who have this knowledge? I refer you back to May11: Mother’s Day!

After the paper plates and plastic knives and forks and napkins have been thrown into the trash (no one needs to do dishes on this day), some of these younger OMOTM fathers, many of whom are grandfathers and some of whom are great-grandfathers in their own right, will try and prove their prowess by pitching horseshoes.

This will be a mistake as they learn why the OOFs are not joining them in this game. These OOFs have long since learned they can’t throw a horseshoe anywhere near far enough. That’s why they are over there smiling and shaking their heads and will, under no circumstances, be tempted to pick up a horseshoe.

In keeping with the outdoor sports and the day in general, with picnics and barbecues, a discussion was overheard at one of the tables about going to the ballpark to watch a game. Many of us have fond memories of going to a ball game with our family and absolutely nothing has ever tasted better than a hot dog at the ballpark.

How many of us remember the old Hawkins Stadium in Menands where the Albany Senators played? Or the Albany-Colonie Yankees out by the airport? One of the OFs talked about how much he enjoys going to the Joe Bruno Stadium to watch the Tri-City Valley Cats play a good brand of baseball.

A friend of his and his family went to a Mets game in New York City. They went down by charter bus with the tickets and everything paid for in advance.

He showed pictures of their seats in what, just a few years ago, would have called Uecker seats out in right center field. Not anymore!

He said they had waitresses, couches to relax on (I saw the pictures), and enjoyed a real dinner (four different choices in addition to the aforementioned hot dogs). How times have changed, but the idea of a family going out to the ball park and spending a great afternoon together having fun, remains the same.

Sometimes we forget the simple, really good times we all have shared on our way to the status of OFs.

Some of those good times come in the form of having a Tuesday breakfast at the Your Way Café. Those sharing in the good times were; Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Frank A. Fuss, Ed Goff, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rack, Mark Traver, Miner Stevens, Pete Whitbeck, Robert Schanz, George Washburn, Wm Lichliter, Marty Herzog, Frank Dees, Russ Pokorny, Warren Willsey, Roger Shafer, Gerry Chartier, Herb Bahrmann, John Williams, Dave Wood, Lou Schenck, Gerry Cross, Dick Dexter, John Jaz, Roland Tozer, Elwood Vanderbilt, Dave Hodgetts, Bob Donnelly, Paul Guiton, John Dab, and me.

Walt Whitman appeared in a dream tonight

In front of a mausoleum dressed in sadness

Weeping for the lost soul of America.
 

Uncle Walt! Uncle Walt! I appealed

Weave a poem of hope and restoration

Raise up heroes from the dead

Like sprigs of green in April.
 

Poor Walt, tears fell upon his hoary chin

And words slipped out of silence:

Drop your swords, America! On your forge

Forge ploughs of wheat and honey

The gentle murmurings of a tender heart.
 

Drop your guns America! Raise your arms

In prayer with thanks for all received.

Celebrate the laws of Eros    

Come to clothe and feed the cherished ones,

Feed your neighbor with the crust

And crumb of labor’s sweat.
 

Let no soul be born or die as poor

Every debt the debt of all

Every gain the gain of every other 

Even the minds of the mad say so.
 

Celebrate the common weal, remember

The body wins without division.

Heed the coo of the mourning dove

Whose mindful joy declares:  

Nothing is the end and means of life  

Nothing is its end and means.

— Photo from the Guilderland Historical Society

Ward’s Store dated back to the end of the 19th century. The Carpenter Bros. and H. & E. Olenhouse, previous owners, delivered groceries by horse and wagon and ran a stage back and forth to Albany, picking up the community’s mail. Olenhouse also installed a phone in his store in 1911, the first owner to take orders over the phone. Beginning in the late 1920s, it became Ward’s Store, continuing as a post office until 1961 when a separate post office was erected. The W.G.Y. stood for a grocery wholesaler who supplied independent small grocery stores in those years. Note the 1920s gas pumps. Today this site is part of the Guilderland Fire Department property.

Glassworks along the Hunger Kill led to the birth of Hamilton, which the postal service later named Guilderland. The rest of the hamlet’s history unfolds in this week’s column.

Facing a major setback with the departure of Newbury Foundry on the eve of the 20th century, Guilderland’s villagers had to readjust to an economic impact from the loss of the payroll and the social loss of so many inhabitants including members of extended families who relocated to Goshen with the company.

For many years after, there were visits between Goshen and Guilderland as friends and family members kept in touch.

Fortunately, a group of local men invested their money in shares to buy the foundry property from Jay Newbury, reopening as Guilderland Foundry. Immediately resuming operations, the new management began advertising for additional help in the machine shop and foundry. They expanded its capabilities to cast aluminum and brass as well as plating with nickel.

Wired for electricity in 1920, the foundry advertised grates and parts for stoves with castings of fraternal emblems for cemetery plots and metal doorstops in production. Continuing to provide some employment in the community, the Guilderland Foundry never had workers on the scale of Newbury’s.

With the coming of the Depression in 1929, production ceased. One last shareholders’ meeting was held in 1934 followed a year later with the property foreclosed and up for auction. The buildings were taken down, eliminating all traces of their existence.

Churches

One constant in the community were the two churches, the Methodist Church on Willow Street with its parsonage nearby and Hamilton Union Presbyterian with its parsonage in front of the church. Each had its own minister until 1920 when, probably due to financial constraints, the two churches federated sharing one minister alternating years, renting out its parsonage when it was the alternative church’s ministerial choice.

Especially during the Depression years, financially keeping up the two church buildings became increasingly difficult. Finally, in 1944, Methodist Church members discontinued their church with 72 members formally transferring to the Hamilton Union Church. After this, the Methodist Church building was removed.

Not only providing religious services, the churches had a variety of organizations such as Willing Workers, Christian Endeavor, or the Missionary Society that offered an opportunity to socialize as well as serve some purpose.

Very often some sort of social event went on in one church or the other, each with a minimal admission fee to support the sponsoring church, but also providing a night out, especially important in the years before automobiles made it easy to go to a nearby city for entertainment.

Each announcement, whether for an early century gramophone concert, a chicken dinner, clam bake, or some kind of performance, the whole community was included with the note “all are welcome.”

After World War II, with the rapid growth and suburbanization of that part of Guilderland, the numbers attending Hamilton Union Church increased so that a sizable addition was built with Sunday school rooms and additional space for meetings. The parsonage building that once stood in front of the church was taken down and the area paved to expand the parking lot with a parsonage purchased nearby.

To the east on Route 20 was a small Greek Revival style building originally built in the 1840s for a Baptist congregation, followed by a Catholic church, which also left, leaving the building standing empty for some time.

Social life

Then, in the 1880s, the Good Templars, a temperance group, moved in, being joined in 1896 by a council of The Improved Order of Red Men, a fraternal order that patterned its rituals and regalia on what they considered Indian customs.

In Guilderland, male members were part of the Iosco Tribe, No. 341 and would have come from all over town, not just the hamlet of Guilderland. There were titles such as sachem, prophet, senior sagamore, and keeper of wampum, with ceremonies and rituals to be followed. Women were members of the Order of Pocahontas, Natoma Council also with rituals and titles.

The Red Men’s members enjoyed socializing, sometimes providing a community social activity for a small admission. Both were in contact with other local councils and IORM state officials such as the Great Prophetess. This organization eventually faded away, going out of existence in Guilderland in the later 1950s.

The small building, often referred to as Temperance Hall or Red Man’s Hall, was also used for civic functions. During both world wars, Red Cross meetings were held there with women volunteering to sew or knit needed articles for the troops. It also served as a polling place for the Guilderland Election District.

Finally, after the disbanding of the local chapter of the Red Men, no one was left to pay taxes on the derelict building. Abandoned and condemned, one night in 1967 it burned. Today a New York state historic marker marks the site where it once stood.

Schools

Guilderland’s elementary school, built in 1891 on Willow Street, had a near disaster early in the century when a terrible November storm blew over the chimney, sending chunks of masonry through the roof, crashing through a classroom ceiling, destroying several student desks.But for a teachers’ institute giving the children a day off from school, there would have been serious loss of life.

The building remained in use until after centralization and the 1953 opening of Westmere Elementary School. With the area’s rapid postwar population growth, the school building had gotten so crowded that additional space had to be rented for some classes so that by 1950 classes in that building only went up to the sixth grade.

The centralized school district sold the district’s redundant old school buildings with Guilderland’s being purchased by the town of Guilderland to be used as our town’s first real town hall. Instead of having town officials run the town from their own homes, there was now office space in a central location.

Eventually, when the current town hall opened in 1972, the building became a New York State Police substation; its side parking lot, decades before, had been the site of the Methodist Church.

The school bell that had called generations of Guilderland students to class had been taken down in 1953, and was sent to Greece to replace a bell in a church that had been destroyed in the war.

Fighting fire

People in the community became concerned that they had no nearby fire protection, having to depend on coverage from departments from other areas of town. Apparently by 1930, they began to make a serious attempt to form a fire company and by 1931 began holding meetings in Charles Bohl’s garage.

A year later, some equipment was purchased including hose, a hose cart, and three ladders. During the remainder of the decade, activity was limited, but by 1941, the department reorganized. Two years later, a used power and light truck was purchased and, in 1944, the company received additional equipment. Finally the department incorporated in 1948 and in 1950 the fire district was enlarged.

Hard work and a variety of fundraising activities began with street dances, card parties, and bingo games all raising money to purchase land for a new firehouse. Then volunteers began the job of erecting their new firehouse.

In the meantime, Guilderland’s firemen were able to purchase a new Dodge truck and body to finally have a real piece of firefighting equipment. At last, in 1958, the new firehouse was dedicated.

Over the years, additional land has been acquired with the much expanded current firehouse on the site today.

Business

A business district had begun along the old Western Turnpike in the early 1800s, continuing into the 20th century along Route 20. The general store that served several generations in Guilderland operated under several owners over the years, but was best known as Ward’s Store.

The post office was located in Ward’s Store, leading to much foot traffic during the years until a new post office was opened in 1961 on the opposite side of Route 20. At the time the new post office opened, T.B. Ward had been postmaster 46 years.

In 1928, the Tompkins and Hoe garage opened, expanding in 1932 to not only sell and repair cars, but also sell farm equipment under the name Hamilton Garage.

In 1927, the Bohl Brothers began their bus company and erected a large garage to store and maintain buses. The bus business operated there until 1949.

A large frame building on what long ago had been the site of Sloan’s Hotel was home over the years to a gas station, laundromat, luncheonette, a very early home of the Guilderland Library from 1959 to 1961, and the town assessor’s office. Finally, in 1968, a laundromat fire spread, resulting in the building being taken down.

In this section of Route 20 also stood the Guilderland Gift House and the dry cleaners that opened in the 1950s. The old Ward’s Store, ending its days as a costume shop, was taken down for firehouse expansion.

Once Star Plaza and Twenty Mall went up at the far eastern edge of Guilderland, business within the confines of the hamlet slowly disappeared.

Service

Over the years a variety of activities were available for the hamlet’s residents. Early in the 20th century, several women belonged to the Suffrage Club while others were active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

By the 1920s, a Parent Teacher Association had been formed at the elementary school. Men were involved in playing baseball, especially in early years when the Iosco team had a loyal following.

Generations of all ages informally skated on the mill pond once it was frozen. Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and Sunday schools were available for children.

During both World War I and World War II, community members pitched in with Red Cross volunteers meeting regularly at Temperance Hall to sew articles needed by the troops. Volunteers served as air-raid wardens during World War II.

Many young community members served in these wars. During World War II, an honor roll was erected on the Route 20 corner of the Schoolcraft House, with the permission of the Magill sisters, owners at that time.

During the post-war period, the Guilderland Fire Department played an active role in village life. Women could join the Home Bureau. A few became involved in the early establishment of the Guilderland Library, which for a short time was located in a commercial building on Route 20.

Similar to the experience of other hamlets in the town with the coming of suburbia and population growth, especially with large numbers of outsiders moving in, the Guilderland hamlet was no longer a homey little place where everyone knew everyone and was served by small, locally owned businesses.

In addition, Guilderland faced the challenge of being located on Route 20, the most heavily traveled highway in the town. But in spite of this, the hamlet of Guilderland remains a very nice place to live with its fire department and historic church helping to preserve its individual identity.

MIDDLEBURGH — It was back to normal this week as it was my turn to drive the carpool car. So I picked up my Sports Car OF in my Honda CRV and off we went to Mrs. K's Kitchen in Middleburgh while watching the still swollen streams rushing down the mountainsides to the even bigger and more swollen larger streams and rivers

 It was a lot more fun last week riding through the mountains in the Mazda RX7 convertible!

Maybe it is time for a change in the carpool rules. How about he drives all the days when the temperature is 60 degrees or above, and the sun is shining with just a few  fluffy white clouds which means no rain and I never drive the convertible sports car, for several reasons:

— Reason #1: I don’t own the proper style of hat that should be worn while driving a classic sports car. His wife bought him the perfect hat to wear while driving that car! Maybe the OF I mentioned last week, who picks up the roadkill hats, could keep an eye out for a proper hat for me.;

— Reason #2: I am totally out of shape, or at least my left leg is; it is in no condition to handle the number of times I would be shifting. It would probably cramp up after five minutes and I would be on my crutches for a week; and

—  #3 reason? I'd surely embarrass myself by stalling it.

 

Mowing

With all the rain we have had this spring, it was no surprise that conversations among the OMOTM centered around the negative effects the rain has caused.

Topics like when to mow the lawn quickly turned into a bunch of related discussions involving everything from fertilizer to weed control to how long to let the grass grow to types of lawn mowers.

Remember now, we are not talking about subdivisions with dozens and dozens of houses spaced pretty close to each other that sort of look similar to each other and the lots are all the same size. This is the OMOTM territory.

There are farms here, big old family houses with big yards (lawns are much smaller than your typical yards) and so you don't very often see a wal- behind mower being used on a multi-acre yard here in the Hilltowns, or any place else for that matter.

Even the homes in the towns are substantial and so are their yards — front, back, and side. Not too much weed-killer and feed fertilizer is being used up here on your five acres of “lawn.” You will see lots and lots of rider mowers.

Some of these “mowers” are pretty big and begin to look like small tractors. In fact, many of them do have attachments that will take care of nor’easter snowstorms, prepare the ground for the 3-acre “garden,” and haul that dead tree away.

The discussions also got into electric vs. gas for the smaller, more traditional rider and walk-behind lawnmowers. That started a whole new topic of battery-powered equipment that we all have these days.

I had been complaining about having to push my old, heavy, noisy, gas-powered, self-propelled, walk-behind lawn mower for several years. Yes, a lawn mower.

I live on a quiet little street in a quiet little neighborhood with quiet neighbors close by who are my friends, two or three of them are even retired, like me. Anyway, I now have an electric, battery-powered mower that I push around my small flat lawn for less than an hour when my lawn needs mowing.

It is much lighter and so much quieter to use than my old mower that I had to “help” go around the yard, whoops, I mean lawn.

That’s not the only thing I have that is battery operated. How about the weed eater? The battery-powered drill? Screw gun? The leaf blower? Small nail gun? Hedge trimmer?

Some of my friends were smart enough to buy all of these items from the same manufacturer so all the batteries fit all the tools and the chargers are all the same. I bought my stuff over the years and some of my stuff was gifted to me by my wife and family members.

As a result, I have several manufacturers represented in my collection of tools that I cannot live without. I am even OK with pushing my quiet, battery-powered lawn mower around. Who knew?

It is good exercise for this old man as well. Besides, it really is much easier than the really heavy self-propelled machine I had!  

Sailboats are really cool too, and they don’t even use electricity! But that is a subject for a future OMOTM column. I can’t wait. Did you know that a sailboat ….

So without any battery-powered knives, forks, or spoons, the OMOTM managed to enjoy another fine breakfast. Those who gathered at Mrs. K's were Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Wm Lichliter, Pete Whitbeck, George Washburn, Frank A. Fuss, Duncan Bellinger, Robert Schanz, Joe Rack, Mark Traver, Al Schager, Roland Tozer, Jacob Lederman, Wayne Gaul, Ted Feurer, Frank Dees, Chuck Batcher, Russ Pokorny, Gerry Chartier, Ken Parks, Pastor Jay  Francis, Warren Willsey, Herb Bahrmann, John Jazz, Gerry Cross, Dick Dexter, Bob Donnelly, Elwood Vanderbilt, Allen Defasio, Dave Hodgetts, John Dab, Paul Guiton, Henry Whipple, Dave Wood, and me.

Sometimes, the most meaningful connections don’t require grand gestures or elaborate plans. They don’t demand hours of time or meticulous coordination. They start with something simple — a phone call.

For decades, Community Caregivers has been at the forefront of volunteer-driven support, offering reassurance calls to individuals who may be feeling isolated, anxious, or simply in need of a familiar voice. These calls, whether five minutes or an hour, serve as lifelines for seniors living alone, caregivers overwhelmed by responsibility, and individuals navigating difficult transitions.

While these conversations may seem small, their impact is anything but. A call can mean the difference between loneliness and comfort, isolation and inclusion, uncertainty and reassurance.

Take “Marie,” an 83-year-old widow who lost her husband five years ago. Despite having neighbors nearby, the days feel long, and the silence in her home stretches endlessly.

Each Saturday morning, she receives a reassurance call from a Community Caregivers volunteer — a brief check-in, a few moments of lighthearted conversation, a reminder that someone is thinking of her. 

“I look forward to those calls more than I can say,” she admits. “Sometimes we talk about simple things — weather, family, books. But it’s the kindness that matters. It makes the world feel less empty.”

Reassurance calls aren’t just about checking in; they are reminders of connection, threads that weave individuals back into the fabric of community. They are moments that validate feelings, provide companionship, and prove that, even in an increasingly digital world, human connection remains irreplaceable. 

Volunteers, too, feel the impact of these calls. Many speak of the unexpected joy that comes from forming bonds with those they call. What starts as a simple check-in often blossoms into genuine relationships, built through laughter, shared memories, and mutual respect.

“I thought I was just making calls to help others,” one volunteer shares. “But it turns out, I’ve gained just as much from these conversations.”

In an era where face-to-face connection is often replaced by texts and emails, reassurance calls serve as powerful reminders of the importance of human interaction. They prove that even brief moments of outreach can ease anxiety, lift spirits, and create lasting bonds.

Community Caregivers continues to expand and recognize the profound difference a simple phone conversation can make. Volunteers, recipients, and families all speak to the immeasurable value of these calls — proof that connection doesn’t have to be complicated to be life-changing. A phone call may only last five minutes, but the warmth it carries can linger far beyond that.

****

Community Caregivers is a not-for-profit agency supported by community donations and grants from the Albany County Department for Aging, the New York State Department of Health and Office for the Aging, and the United States Administration on Aging.

Editor’s note: Megan Osuch, a Community Caregivers volunteer, is a student at Penn State University who is slated to graduate this year with a bachelor of science degree in human development and family studies.

DUANESBURG — I finally got to ride in the little itty-bitty Mazda RX7 convertible sports car! It was really cool, so cool in fact, you might even be tempted to call it downright cold.

The temperature at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, June 3, was just beginning its climb to a high of 85 degrees from an early morning low of 48 degrees. I was warned ahead of time that an additional jacket might be needed. It was, and I had it on.

I must say, however, it was a lot of fun. It instantly took me back in time to great memories that came flooding back even before I pulled the door closed and started to look around. I saw things like a real shift lever, and a clutch pedal, tachometer, and a bunch of dials and gauges that actually work and tell you stuff, which have long since been replaced by lights that are no fun to look at.

This car even had dual exhaust pipes, with mufflers that were reminiscent of the old Hollywood mufflers. Remember those? I mean, this OF was starting to feel cool and we were not even moving yet!

I felt like I had to raise my collar on my shirt, put my shades on, reach for my cigarettes, no, wait, wait — I quit smoking over 50 years ago in an effort to prolong my life; I can't put my shirt collar up because I have a jacket on in an effort to stay warm; and my really cool sideburns have now morphed into a white mariner’s beard and I wear a baseball cap with the letters OMOTM written across the front, which nobody knows what they stand for except us. 

So we got going, rather than slouching down in the corner of my seat trying to look cool, I sat there, sitting on my hands, in a failing effort to keep them warm while my friend, the OF, took off, shifting way too many times as he drove through the twists and turns of the Helderberg Mountains.

But that is what you do when you have a great little sports car that looks like a sports car, sounds like a sports car, drives like a sports car, and makes you feel like the former Brazilian race car champion driver, Emerson Fittipaldi. It was a lot of fun, and the temperature warmed up enough so on the ride home I only had to sit on one hand.

A sixth eatery

We warmed up with a cup of coffee at the Chuck Wagon Diner, where you will never guess what the conversation was all about!

You guessed it. The Windowbox Café, located down in the flatlands of Slingerlands in the Stonewell Shopping Center at the intersection of routes 85 and 85A, is being added to the exclusive list of diners and cafés that OMOTM frequent for their breakfast on Tuesday morning.

This will make six diners where we talk too loud; laugh even louder; talk about cars, our health, lack of hearing; and find the tables and chairs where we will sit every time and order the same great breakfast every time without the benefit of menus, which, after the first time, our new best-friend waitress, won’t bother asking if we want one.

We will probably even be polite and say, “Thank you” the first time or two we go there before reverting to our regular form of being the grumpy OMOTM. Some of us will even leave tips!

We are looking forward to the Windowbox Café, even if it is in the flatlands but, since we have no rules, we can go anyplace we want to; we can’t vote on it because we don’t vote on anything.

Roadside hats

Under the heading of “More than you really wanted to know,” one OF, when asked about the hat he was wearing, responded with a rather lengthy explanation. He spoke about what amounts to a new hobby that he is embarking on, that of picking up hats he finds by the side of the road.

He told us of the amazing quantity and quality of hats, both old and new, that are just out there, lying along the road, just waiting to be picked up. He says they are all over the place.

He took off his hat, which he had picked up the day before, and showed us how new it was, and the obvious high quality of it. He explained it had never been run over by a truck or car. He showed us how clean it was; it had never been rained on or spent any time in a mud puddle.

He went on about how there are some Yankees baseball hats out there that are just too beat up to be bothered with and he just leaves them there. This comment bothered another OF who just happened to be wearing an old, beat-up Yankees hat. Another OF was heard to say that it was probably thrown there by a Mets fan.

At this point, the OF who first asked the question said, “That's all well and good, but all I asked was: What’s the hat about? Is it a sports team? A manufacturer? What does it stand for?”

To which our rather windy OF finally said, after proudly looking at his new-found hat again, “ I have no idea.”

Most of the rest of us with our OMOTM hats on, we know what those letters stand for, no one else does; that’s OK with us, we know. Those knowledgeable men enjoying breakfast on Tuesday morning were Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Miner Stevens, George Washburn, Michael Kruzinski, Frank A. Fuss, Wm Lichliter, Pete Whitbeck, Jake Herzog, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rack, Chuck Batcher, Russ Pokorny, Frank Dees, Robert Schanz, Al Schager, Pastor Jay Francis, Roland Tozer, Lou Schenck, Warren Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt, Alan Defazio, Dave Hodgetts, Bob Donnelly, Paul Guiton, Gerry Cross, John Jaz, Dick Dexter, and me.