ALTAMONT — Dick Howie met Ellen Ferry when they were in the Ramsey High School band. She was a freshman, playing the French horn; he was a junior who sat nearby, playing the trombone.

EAST BERNE — Douglas E. Michaels — a union electrician who lived in East Berne his entire life — died peacefully on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, at Albany Medical Center Hospital of complications from multiple myeloma.

He had been fighting the cancer since 2012. He was 66.

GUILDERLAND — Ernest “Ernie” Rau — who was proud of his children and taught them the value of hard work — died peacefully on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. He was 71.

“Ernie had farming in his blood and loved working with animals and being in nature,” his family wrote in a tribute.

SLINGERLANDS — Robert A. Cook died peacefully and with his wife, Susan Y. Cook, at his side, on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, at Albany Medical Center from complications of COVID-19. He was 94.

SYRACUSE — On Saturday, Dec. 19, John C. “Jack” Walters — husband, father, and friend — died, awaiting the arrival of his devoted family, at Loretto Nursing Home in Syracuse. He returned there after testing negative from a battle with COVID-19.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

James Herbert “Jim” Chmielinski, formerly of Berne, died on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. He was 73.

VOORHEESVILLE — Coach Tim Selby was a monumental figure on the field and in the community, whose humor and compassion built strong relationships over generations for players on the Voorheesville varsity baseball team, said his colleague, Coach Kyle Turski.

Mr. Selby died on Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. He was 70 years old. 

SLINGERLANDS — Luella Edna (née Ogden) Ellis — wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother — “passed unexpectedly into eternity,” her family wrote, at Albany Medical Center, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. She was 90.

VOORHEESVILLE — Mary L. Donato — an artist, a caregiver, and a world-class Gramma, her family said — died on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020 at her Voorheesville home. She was 92.

Born Oct. 30, 1928 in Albany, she was the daughter of the late Kenneth and Evelyn (née Brown) Oddy.

ALTAMONT — Peggy Walker tried her hardest to make the world a better place, said her daughter, Dr. Elise Saks, and she made a difference. 

She died peacefully in her sleep at her Altamont home on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. She was 73.