THEATER—7 p.m. The CCS Thespians present “Sister Act.” Tickets, $12/adult. Auditorium, Cooperstown High School. (607) 547-8181 or visit cooperstowncs.org
BLOOD DRIVE—10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Save up to three lives with the American Red Cross. Worcester Central School, 198 Main Street, Worcester. Register at redcrossblood.org
“I will be always there with you, right there in your heart.” Mickey Mouse
On December 31,2022 Judith A. Krumpus, joined her parents James and Louise and brother Richard in eternal happiness. Born November 9, 1945 in Plainfield, NJ, Judy lived a life of love and kindness, supported by the strong bonds of family and friends.
Losing her parents at a young age, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, Kathleen and Edwin Phillips in Cooperstown, NY. Surrounded by her Phillips and Clark families, she flourished there and graduated from Cooperstown High in 1963.
She studied at Cobleskill College and Brockport State graduating with a degree in elementary education teaching.
By TED MEBUST
CHAPEL HILL, NC – If you were walking along Pioneer Street in the early 2000s and happened upon “The Freeman’s Journal” offices near Main Street center, you’d find a young editor hard at work. Dakin Campbell, a member of Cooperstown High School’s class of 1995, was launching a burgeoning career in journalism. At that time, the Cornell University graduate could be found diligently reporting on the events of local town and county board meetings. Today, as chief financial correspondent for “Business Insider,” Campbell’s investment has paid off in dividends.
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 enacted into law June 23, 1972
I was playing tennis with someone recently who asked if I had played when I was growing up. I replied yes, and he asked if I had played for my high school tennis team. He was the same age as I, and of course had played on a tennis team in high school. Our experiences, however, were quite different.
We have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which passed a year before I graduated from Cooperstown High School. At a time when there seem to be so many steps backwards in women’s rights, I know firsthand that that legislation has been a critical success in leveling the playing field for young girls. And decades of sports programs for girls created the pathway to this Spring’s equal pay settlement awarded to the US women’s soccer team.
What was it like growing up in our community, pre Title IX? It involved watching your brothers participate in
organized sports — T-ball, Little League, and school athletics. Girls were not allowed to participate.
SPRING CONCERT – 7 p.m. Join the CCS Music Department for spring concert and recital with grades 3 – 12 and performances by the High School Jazz Band and Jazz Vocal groups. Free admission, donations to support the CCS Music Association appreciated. Stirling Auditorium, Cooperstown High School. 607-547-8181 or visit www.cooperstowncs.org/article/744669?org=cooperstown-csd
The League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area held a candidates’ debate for the two open seats on the Cooperstown Central School District Board of Education last week. There are three candidates running, Alicia Chase, Peter Iorizzo, and Cody Moore. Maureen Murray, Co-president of the LWV of the Cooperstown Area, moderated the event. The school board elections are non-partisan; candidates do not run as members of a party.
On Election Day, May 17, voters will also vote on the 2022-2023 district budget.
The election will be held at the Cooperstown High School, 39 Linden Ave., Cooperstown from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Any citizen, 18 years of age or older who has been a resident of the district for 30 days preceding the election is qualified to vote. Absentee ballots are available at the district office. Contact Wendy Lansing at 607-547-5364.
COOPERSTOWN – David Sprague Wilshere, a long-time resident of Cooperstown who served as caretaker of Doubleday Field for many years, passed away late Friday night, February 4, 2022, at his home on Curry Road in Hartwick with his wife, Meme, by his side. He was 78.
Born August 28, 1943, in Iowa City, Iowa, David was a son of Vernon S. “Whitey” Wilshere, a left-handed pitcher who played for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics in the 1930s, and Betty Jean Munden Wilshere, a painter and Emergency Room RN at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown.
When he was four-years-old, David and his family moved from the mid-west to his father’s hometown of Skaneateles, where David attended a one-room schoolhouse. In 1953, they moved to Cooperstown and settled into their home on Chestnut Street.
A graduate of Cooperstown High School, Class of 1961, David excelled in sports and was a letterman in baseball, football, wrestling and track.
In September of 1961, David enlisted in the United States Navy, and proudly served his country during a tour of duty at the NATO base in Naples, Italy. During this time his wife and daughter joined him. He received his honorable discharge from active duty in the military on August 10, 1964, and was released from the reserves in August 1967.
By KEVIN LIMITI • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
Lieutenant Colonel Sean Hill is a Cooperstown High School graduate who bore the responsibility of being in charge of young men in combat as a member of the Army for 20 years.
He is now stationed in Canada but has been all over the world, going wherever his responsibilities as a member of the United States Army took him.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” Lieutenant Colonel Hill said upon graduating from college. “I was more interested in sports and other activities that aren’t conducive to earning a degree. I decided I would join the army.”
COOPERSTOWN – Sandra “Sandy” L. Thorne, a native of Cooperstown and long-time faithful member of Christ Church, passed away peacefully Monday evening, November 8, 2021, at her home with her family by her side. She was 79.
Born September 22, 1942, at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, Sandy was a daughter of William R.P. and Aline M. (Campbell) Heller.
After graduating from Cooperstown High School in 1960, Sandy attended the Central City Business Institute (CCBI) in Syracuse where she completed their secretarial course. For many years she was employed as the Office Manager and Secretary for the Otsego County Highway Department.
PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – Richard C. “Dick” Butler, 82, of St. Petersburg, Florida, and native son of Cooperstown, passed away October 19, 2021. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Anita Gettys Butler of St. Petersburg, Florida; son Brian Butler of Woburn, Massachusetts, daughter-in-law Siobhan and granddaughters Joanie and Sinead; daughter Wendy Macfarlane of Essex, Vermont, granddaughters Alexandra, Jill and Megan, and great-granddaughter Lucy; son Keith Butler of Honeoye Falls, daughter-in-law Jennifer and granddaughter Mairen; sister Susan Butler McCullough of Cazenovia, husband John; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was especially proud of his granddaughters and great-granddaughter. He was predeceased by his parents Clyde and Agnes Butler; sister Jean Butler Olin, brother-in-law Richard Olin; and former wife Gail Thomas Pillar.
Dick was born at MIB Hospital Cooperstown on May 11, 1939, and graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1956, where he lettered in basketball and baseball, and was active in many clubs and activities, including the Student Council. In 1956 he was awarded the CCS John Terry McGovern Sportsmanship Trophy. Upon graduation, he attended St. Lawrence University, and before finishing, enlisted in the US Army, where he served from 1959-1960 and 1961-1962. Upon discharge, he returned to St. Lawrence and received a BA degree in English in 1964. During this time, he married Gail Thomas, started a family, and went on to work for Key Bank in Albany, Honeywell in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, Mohawk Data Sciences in Herkimer, and Hewlett-Packard in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 1974, he returned to Cooperstown as a third-generation owner/operator of Butler Press. He loved the opportunity to carry on the family printing business, be his own boss, and for his children to call Cooperstown home.
STAFF REPORT • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
Karl O’Leary was announced as the new principal for Cooperstown Central School’s middle/high school, the district announced Tuesday, Aug. 3, on its website.
According to the post, O’Leary has 17 years of school experience and was previously an English teacher. He enjoys running and playing with his kids outdoors.
By PATRICK DEWEY • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
For more than 15 years Cooperstown High School history teacher Jennifer Pindar has loved leading student groups on educational trips abroad, a tradition she will continue after the coronavirus pandemic canceled last year’s trip.
In 2022, Pindar will lead a student trip to London, Belgium and Amsterdam. The destinations were agreed on in consultation with educational travel company World Strides. Along with Pindar, students will be accompanied by tour guides from World Strides and parents and teachers who agree to chaperone. The school is not involved in this trip.
The itinerary includes Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and other attractions. Students will also take excursions around Brussels and Bruges in Belgium. In Amsterdam, highlights will include visits to the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum.
By GREG KLEIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN– Cooperstown’s softball players organized a 2.5 mile walk around the village Wednesday, April 28, to raise money and awareness for autism.
About 30 softball players, including modified, junior varsity and varsity players, walked from Cooperstown’s middle/high school to Main Street and back. They were joined by teachers, coaches, parents and one of their classmates who is on the autism spectrum, junior Kai Boulet, who led the walk.
The event was sponsored by the school’s Leadership Training for Athletes program, with support from LTA sponsor Monica Wolfe, who coaches the modified softball team, and special education teacher Stephanie Nelen and Boulet’s aide, Dawn Chase.
The teams raised $1,400 for the Kelberman Center, with seventh graders Arya Patel and Kayleigh Butler raising the most money individually, $665 and $415, respectively.
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
On appointing Anne Meccariello high school principal on March 10, 2020, CCS Superintendent of Schools Bill Crankshaw praised “her sense of loyalty to the district.”
It didn’t pan out. She resigned Feb. 26, just short of a year.
April 1, Meccariello will become superintendent of schools in the Campbell-Savona Central School District in the Finger Lakes, 25 miles northwest of Corning.
“From the moment I saw the superintendent of schools position posted for Campbell-Savona, I knew I was very interested in becoming a Panther,” Meccariello – a Redskin and, after 2013, a Hawkeye – told WETM TV 18 in Elmira.
Gary Kuch resigned in 2008 to become Worcester Central superintendent, and his successor Mike Kring, served five years, and the revolving door began.
Seeking to boost test scores, the CCS school board and Superintendent C.J. Herbert created an “executive principal” position.
Lynn Strang was recruited from Hoosic Falls in July 2013, and raised the high school’s test scores into the two 2 percent in the state, winning CCS a “Rewards School” citation.
But the test scores rose as the outcry rose against “Common Core” testing, and she departed at the end of the 2014-15 school year.
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special To AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – Wendy Kiuber wants to make sure that no Cooperstown senior goes unrecognized.
“As the Governor keeps extending the closures, all the parents of the seniors were just trying to figure out what we could do to support them,” said a school board member and the mother of Lady Hawkeye senior Ashley Kiuber.
She is being helped by Colleen Donnelly, mother of Kate Donnelly, another standout senior on the girls’ basketball team that was headed to the state finals when the COVID-19 state of emergency cut their season short.
After meeting with Emily Additon at The Copy Shop, Kiuber came up with the idea to design yard signs as a show of community support. “We wanted it to be a surprise for the seniors,” she said. “When they came in to pick up their packets for the week, every senior got a sign and a bumper sticker.”
With Governor Cuomo’s announcement Friday, May 1, canceling school for the rest of the year, Superintendent Bill Crankshaw is revisiting plans for the Class of 2020’s prom, graduation and other celebrations.
The seniors have already seen the cancellation of spring sports, state tournaments and more.
“We’re surveying the students and parents on how we want to go forward,” said Crankshaw. “We want them to play a part in creatively celebrating these students.”
Among the ideas being considered is a parade of the graduating seniors through downtown. “We want something that the community could enjoy from a safe distance,” he said.
Crankshaw is also considering a live graduation on the grounds of the school. “That one we have to think through carefully,” he said. “We have to work it out so we’re observing all the rules while still creating positivity.”
Across the county, school superintendents are likewise rethinking graduation in the era of social distancing.
“We’re exploring a lot of options,” said Oneonta Superintendent Thomas Brindley. “Everything we do will have to be informed by state, legal and Department of Health guidelines.”
“I’ve heard of schools doing drive-up graduations, where each student has their five minutes in the spotlight,” said Unatego Superintendent David Richards. “Other places are having the diplomas delivered door-to-door by school bus.”
Richards said he’s also had people locally suggesting using the Unadilla Drive-In as a graduation location, a suggestion he has not entirely ruled out. “We’re exploring multiple options,” he said.
In Oneonta, Brindley is deciding between a scheduled ceremony, where students would show up in small groups, or a virtual ceremony.
“We’d put together the slideshow that we normally show at the Senior Brunch, and all the speeches would be recorded and played,” he said. “We would show each student’s photo and list their awards when they receive their diploma, and at the end, we’d put a tour of the school, since they won’t get to do a last walk-through. It’ll be a keepsake.”