Larry Bucciarelli finds bees extremely interesting insects. He should know, he first started keeping bees when he was a kid. He learned the ins and outs from his grandfather who raised bees at his home in Fort Lee. Larry went to college at the University of Hawaii and in exchange for keeping on eye on their 70 hives (it would take a full week to extract the honey from the hives) he got free tuition. “Because it was the tropics, they produced triple the amount of honey that you would get here,” Larry says. “I would extract the honey three or four times a year.”

Leon "Lee" Drechsler
(Click to enlarge)

Leon Drechsler, who moved to Palisades with his beautiful artist wife Paula and their three young children in 1958, passed away on December 10, 2011. After serving in the Navy during WWII, Leon, known as Lee to all, graduated from Pratt Institute with a certificate in Industrial Design. He and Paula first settled in New Hope, where their first child, John, was born. They ran The Contemporary Studio, a fine arts gallery representing such artists as Isamu Naguchi and George Nakashima.

Angie, 1950s
(Click to enlarge)

Angie Hyde was born in Palisades in 1926 and lived here until the 50s, building a small stone house on Woods Road with her husband Lloyd Bjorklund. There was a fire at the house, and soon afterward they moved to California. Lloyd died years ago. Today Angie is in a wheelchair and lives in a nursing home. In December she returned to Palisades briefly, undertaking an odyssey across the country to see family members and some old friends.

Dinny with two of her charges
(Click to enlarge)

Dinny Price, who helped to raise several generations of Palisades children, died on November 29th, 2010, at the age of 75. She had lived in Palisades for forty-eight years. Her grandfather Joseph Lieval came from France in the late 19th century and became a partner in an artificial flower business located on Oak Tree Road. He married Angeline Hennequin and had three children, Constance (Dinny's mother), John and Joseph. Constance Lieval married Harrison Price, an engineer with International General Electric. They moved to Grandview where their first four children were born.

John Daly, the son of John and Jennifer Daly of Swan Street, recently achieved the highest Boy Scout level: Eagle Scout. John chose to give back to his Palisades community by renovating the lobby of the Palisades Community Center for his Eagle Scout project. He spent the summer raising money, drafting plans, purchasing materials, organizing and supervising his laborers as well as doing much of the labor himself.

Larry Tabor
(Click to enlarge)

On meeting the mild-mannered Palisadian, Larry Tabor, one would not guess the subversive activity he is engaged in. He will tell you with a convincing air of innocence that he has never heard of guerrilla gardening, and is surprised to learn that he is a practitioner of the first order.

One afternoon near the end of October the usual quiet of Washington Spring Road was shattered by the sound of a saxophone, carried by 23-year-old Nick Stefos, who was looking for his lost dog, Charlie. Charlie, a small white cockapoo (half cocker spaniel, half poodle) had run away from the Stefos home in Blauvelt on October 12.

Palisades resident Leslie Price Hayes will appear as Blanche DuBois in a production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, presented by the Fellowship Theatre of Chatham in Chatham, New Jersey. Last year, Leslie appeared as Amanda Wingfield in Williams's The Glass Menagerie, stepping into that role just two weeks before opening night.

Cristina Biaggi
(Click to enlarge)

I was very excited (and nervous) on one Saturday morning this past August when I started out on my trip to be in a movie called Peace, Love and Misunderstanding with Jane Fonda in Rosendale, New York.

Grace Knowlton and Eric Laxman
(Click to enlarge)

Over 200 guests filled Dellwood Country Club Sunday, November 7th to honor dedicated arts-education advocate Barbara Kalvert and celebrated multi-media artist Grace Knowlton at the 2010 RoCA "Through the Looking Glass" themed Gala.

(Click to enlarge)

Enterprising, resourceful, tenacious, enthusiastic, optimistic and, most of all, indomitable—local resident Carol Baxter is one of those rare people who are always willing to step forward and make a difference.

Lawrence Lane’s Buzz Baumgold, teacher, champion and lover of tennis, died this past August (see obituary in the October 2010 issue of 10964).

Our own Dinny (Dionyse) Price died on Monday, November 29, 2010. Daughter of Constance (nee Lieval) and Harrison Price, she was born September 4, 1935.

Dear 10964,
I was going through some old files and found a collection of essays by Lewis Nichols who was the drama critic for the New York Times in the 1940s and who lived in my Woods Road house. I was given the book when I moved in 20 years ago with the understanding that if we ever sold the house the book would remain. One of the essays is about an ice storm when the electricity goes out. He could have been describing our past winter and, when reading it, I felt as though he was right here in the house. I thought it might be of interest to your readers.

Joanne Barak

Architecture Walks: The Best Outings Near New York City, recently published by Rivergate Books, is by Lucy D. Rosenfeld and Palisades resident Marina Harrison. The duo, long time friends, has written eight additional books together including A Guide to Green New Jersey.

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cadet Christopher Y. Choi, son of Charles and Young Ji Choi of Palisades, NY, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy on May 22.

(Click to enlarge)

Ink plays a much-reduced role in the new journalism, but when reporters get together, the epithet "ink-stained wretch" is meant as solid praise for an accomplished veteran. Palisades was home to a consummate “ink-stained wretch,” Peter Michelmore, until he died recently of cancer at 79.

The Barreto Family: Jonathan, Kristien, and Jordan on the right
(Click to enlarge)

January 16 was a rare winter day in Palisades, balmy with a brilliant sky, and perfect for boys eager to get out of the house when spring can’t come soon enough. At around one o’clock that afternoon, Jordan Barreto and his brother, Jonathan, set out from their Closter Road home with a friend for the purpose of taking a walk. A short time later, Jordan died after being hit by a car as he crossed 9W in search of his favorite climbing tree.

Palisades Author Ellen Galinsky
(Click to enlarge)

“How can families and teachers give kids the skills they need to cope in our multi-tasking, multi-media modern world?” That’s the question that Palisader Ellen Galinsky sets out to answer in her ground-breaking new book to be released in April. Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs, published by HarperStudio, will be launched with television appearances, an event in Congress and the National Press Club in addition to events across the country.

Sam Gerard in 1966
(Click to enlarge)

Robert “Sam” Gerard died peacefully at his home in Palisades on January 28, 2010, after a long illness. Sam was born on February 4, 1926, in Huntington, Long Island, where his father, Leo, had a seafood restaurant on the Jericho Turnpike. Sam attended local elementary schools and started high school at Mount Hermon, in Greenfield, Massachusetts but he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 15 and spent time in a Long Island sanitarium. Once cured, he briefly attended Huntington High School. After six weeks there he passed all the New York State Regents exams and was accepted as a student at Cornell University’s Hotel School.