Bound Volumes, Hometown History

August 31, 2023

50 Years Ago
While many Oneontans are bemoaning the meat shortage and only reluctantly acquiring a taste for meat substitutes, at least one local resident is well prepared to face the shortage. Patricia Keddell, age 17, and a senior at Oneonta High School, adopted the vegetarian diet of her host families during her stay as a Rotary Exchange student in India this past year. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Keddell of 8 Winney Hill Road, Oneonta. “I went to India to learn their customs,” she said. “I was a vegetarian almost all the year.” Miss Keddell’s year was spent in the Indian State of Gujarat where she learned to speak the local dialect.

August 1973

40 Years Ago
Oneonta Mayor James F. Lettis is scheduled to formally open the new fitness trail in Wilber Park at 10 a.m. on Thursday—but only if vandals leave the facility alone in the meantime. Vandals ripped five trail signs from the ground over the weekend. Local youths who installed the fitness course this summer in a job-training program spent Monday replacing them. Lucia Colone, coordinator of the Oneonta Youth Employment Service Youth Center, said it was the third time vandals have pulled up fitness trail signs in recent weeks. The signs provide instructions on the use of equipment at the 20 fitness stations along the trail.

August 1983

30 Years Ago
Wendy’s Restaurant on Oneonta’s Southside just missed beating a Wendy’s record for getting the most cars through the drive-through in one hour last Friday afternoon. Between noon and 1 p.m. 241 customers lined up at the drive-through and Wendy’s employees were busily flipping burgers until the cars stopped coming – just short of the 250-car record.

August 1993

20 Years Ago
Retired Oneonta minister William Bouton and his wife, Sylvia, will be recognized next month by Opportunities for Otsego for their years of community service. OFO’s annual Community Service Award will be presented to the couple on September 18th at a dinner in their honor at the State University College at Oneonta. “They’re great people, and they’ve given so much to this community,” said OFO Executive Director Cheri Albrecht. “They exemplify what we all should be doing with our lives.” The Rev. Bouton retired earlier this year after 17 years as pastor of the First United Methodist Church at 66 Chestnut Street.

August 2003