A Schilling Family bequest caps years of service to village parks and gardens
— Photo by Ron Ginsburg
Tennis and tranquility: Through its original acquisition of an abandoned home on 149 Maple Avenue by the village, the organization of tennis leagues for its courts in the 1960s, and, later, its designation as “forever green,” the land now named after Phyllis Schilling has been shaped by her hand and other community volunteers. Now, the park is a community space with a pavilion, a playground, and a stone labyrinth.
For its entire existence, Altamont has been defined by and has been enhanced by a strong sense of volunteerism in its citizens. For over 50 years, the Schilling family has personified that sense of volunteerism.
At the Sept. 2 village board meeting, Keith Lee, volunteer coordinator of the Park Committee, announced a gift of $5,000 from the family of Phyllis Schilling, a long time village resident and champion of Altamont’s gardens and streetscapes. The gift is to be used to maintain and provide on-going landscaping of Schilling Park on Maple Avenue.
Phyllis Schilling served as village trustee from 1983 to 1998 and joined the Albany County Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener program in 1986, applying her knowledge to developing the village’s green spaces. The gazebo in Orsini Park was replaced in 1978, and, as part of the village’s centennial celebration, Phyllis organized volunteers to plant and landscape the park.
Through the Master Gardener program, she organized “Twilight Garden Tours” of the gardens of Altamont in 1990 and 1997. She headed the effort to design and plant the entrance to the Benjamin M. Crupe Bozenkill Park and collaborated with the state’s Department of Transportation to select the tree and replacement plantings after the road reconstruction.
Phyllis supported community efforts to have the green space at 149 Maple Avenue preserved by the village board, in May 2003. In March 2004, the tennis court was removed. Based on input from a November 2004 public meeting, she developed the plan for planting the entrance garden and installing an iron arch to define the park space.
Phyllis supported the request of a local day care center to provide space for a “tot lot” playground and figured prominently in organizing a quilt raffle that raised seed money to develop the playground. Carl Schilling, her youngest son, installed the pavilion in the center of the park along with other village volunteers. The gardens have been expanded, and a labyrinth using stones unearthed from the Bozenkill Creek have been installed in recent years.
At the May 2010 village board meeting, the park on Maple Avenue was officially named Schilling Park, in honor of Phyllis and the entire Schilling family for their contributions to the village. Designating this treasured community space as under its name was a fitting tribute to the Schilling family’s public service to Altamont, which has exemplified the best of Altamont’s community spirit.
“The gift of the Schilling family in Phyllis’ memory,” reported Mr. Lee,” is a welcomed resource that will support the continued beautification of Schilling Park, and is an appropriate recognition of Phyllis’s tireless advocacy for the village’s public spaces.”
Editor’s note: Mayor James Gaughan and his partner, Keith Lee, live in a Victorian house on Maple Avenue that they purchased from Phyllis Schilling across from the park.