A Life Well Lived

Helen Cotthaus and her husband, Harry.
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While we doubt she ever believed us, Helen Cotthaus would always giggle with embarrassment when we teasingly told her that she was our neighborhood “role model” for growing older gracefully, with strength, resilience and mental acuity.

Michael Ludas, of Montclair, NJ, a Customer Support Manager for Verizon Partner Solutions and a former Palisades resident, died on February 7 at his brother Harry's house in Campbell, NY after a long battle with cancer. He was 54. Michael's father, Angelo, worked at Los Alamos as well as at Lamont, where he was in charge of the machine shop for many years. Michael's mother, Lenore, ran the Palisades Country Store for a few years in the 1950s, when it still shared space with the Palisades Post Office. Michael was an avid fisherman and loved singing and playing the guitar.

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My son, Simon Gerard, who had lived in Palisades since 1954, died suddenly at his home on Woods Road on January 22nd. Simon was 55 years old. A memorial party was held at the Community Center on February 16th. Many, many people, from the community and elsewhere, attended the party and shared their memories of Simon.

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Edwin Richardson, a son of Emile and Dorothy (Pettress) Richardson, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 25, 1932. (He was one of twelve children.) From Pennsylvania, Ed went with his family to Newark and soon after moved to central Harlem. Ed graduated from Harran High School and the RCA Institute with a degree in Electronic Engineering.

“Consult the genius of the place in all;
That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;
Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale,
Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;
Calls in the country, catches opening glades,
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,
Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines;
Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.”

Alexander Pope, from Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington

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The Next Step After Tappan Zee High School

There’s a minority in Palisades that few people talk about, but everyone sees. They are the young adults: not quite in the clutches of the real world, but out of the public school systems of Rockland and attempting to find their places in the world. Some have stayed local, while others are attempting, or have already gone, across the country. Some know exactly what they plan to do, while others are still trying things to find their niche. While such a busy and diverse group of people were difficult to get a hold of, five took the time to report on how they plan to tackle the world head on.

Gives Women Explorers Wings

World travel for Palisadian Milbry C. Polk began at a young age as she journeyed through Greece, Turkey, Persia, Pakistan and Japan. In 1979, Milbry led a camel expedition across Egypt retracing the route of Alexander the Great. Most recently, she joined a scientific exploration through the Arctic and participated in a conference of native peoples in Greenland.

Composer David Shire
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Splendid Performance Enthralls Audience

Rockland Community College in Suffern was the venue for a remarkable performance of original compositions by David Shire in early February. Seated at a grand piano at the front of the stage, Mr. Shire shared the podium with RSO’s longtime associate conductor Marvin von Deck in one of the finest concerts that this community arts organization has ever presented. Guest stars included Erik Lawrence on the saxophone and Lynne Wintersteller, who sang six songs from films and Broadway shows.

Actor Aidan Quinn
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On a freezing January afternoon, a sold out crowd, composed primarily of women, packed the assembly room at the Esplanade to hear Didi Conn interview Actor Aidan Quinn. This was the second of the Palisades Library’s talks entitled Palisades People.

Library Director's Memorial Service Held

Beatrice Agnew with her two children, Jean-Christophe, and Kim Dominique
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Born in Paris, daughter of painters Raymond Woog and Violette Picard, she met and married an American GI, Bill Agnew, in France. After World War II, she came to the United States, where she raised her two children, Jean-Christophe and Kim Dominique.

A Remembrance by Carol Elevitch

Beatrice Agnew 1923 - 2007
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When Beatrice and I met and became friends in the 1960s, she confided that upon first coming to the United States from France, newly married and with a small baby, she would sit in Washington Square and imagine how it would be to own a bookstore in Greenwich Village. But when she came to Palisades in the mid-1950s, it was through our small public library that she became involved with books.

Beatrice Agnew, in center, at groundbreaking for library addition in 1995
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PALISADES, N.Y. – At the corner of Oak Tree and Closter roads rises a very old building, once a comfortable house and now a comfortable library, still a home of delight, of interest and intellect, of curiosity and education. Its fireplace is without blaze, but books and magazines and comfortable chairs now draw you to what is still a hearth, one long tended to by a doting mistress. Beatrice Agnew, as French as an expatriate can be in America, with a critical, no-excuses eye for cultural standards and the reading component, has passed on, her nearly 40-year role as director of the Palisades Free Library over but long to be remembered.

Joan Konner and Al Perlmutter
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Palisades residents Al Perlmutter and his wife Joan Konner received Rockland Center for the Arts’ Outstanding Achievements in the Arts Award at the Center’s 60th Anniversary Celebration on November 10th. The accomplished couple was cited for their support of the arts on a worldwide stage and their work in journalism, public affairs programming and documentary filmmaking. Palisades actress Didi Conn was mistress of ceremonies for the event.

One of Eric Voremkamp's photographs
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Joe Printz’s exhibition space in his shop, Grape D’Vine, on Main Street in Tappan is just at eye level above the racks of wine. Looking up from reading his suggestions for pairing wine with food, one notices the interesting range of artists who exhibit on his walls. Waiting for Joe to finish with a customer gives one an excellent opportunity to examine the art from across the room for perspective, or up close for technique.

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Gladys Rasmussen (Johnson) of Palisades, New York, passed away peacefully on Friday, April 27th, 2007, at the age of 93. Gladys was born on November 21st, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, to Hedwig and Carl Johnson, where she grew up. She married John Cornell Rasmussen (deceased) on March 4, 1934. Residents of Palisades since 1968, (formerly of West Hempstead, NY), they were happily married for 64 years.

John and Jill Garrison at wedding reception
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Pia “Jill” Judith D’Amico Garrison passed away at the end of the summer. She was a remarkable person and one who could tell many stories about life in Palisades spanning the half century she spent here married into the venerable Garrison family.

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Piermont is sporting an interesting new shop at 249 Ferdon Avenue across from Sparkill Creek. Located in Candy and Fred Berardi’s old flower and garden shop, The Outside in Piermont is a gallery of uncommon artifacts for the inside and out. Owners Joe Serra and Bill Walsh who are originally from northern Rockland County moved into the house next door last February. With the flower shop up for sale the two were concerned about what might move in adjacent to them so they purchased that property as well with plans to rent out the building. “We talked to a variety of people,” says Bill, “but we really didn’t want to live next door to a nail salon or dog grooming place so we finally decided to open our own shop.”

Joe teaching a class
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Joe Hyde died on Friday, February 23rd at Nyack Hospital from complications of emphysema. His children Anne Tonetti Hyde (Dunsmore), Philip Lawrence Hyde and Barry Lawrence Hyde were with him when he died. Joe was born in Palisades in 1927. His mother Lydia was a daughter of Mary Tonetti, the legendary matriarch of Snedens Landing. His father, Robert Hyde, left the family after a few years, returning to California to marry his childhood sweetheart. Joe became a celebrated chef and ran a cooking school in Palisades from 1960 to 1966.

Geography and services help define a place, but it's people that really matter. Joe Hyde was local color of the first degree, and here's an experience of excellence, courtesy of our irascible, infuriating, and enigmatic neighbor.

What will we do without Bernie? Who will keep us up-to-date on what's happening in Palisades? Who will give us advice? On May 1 we will lose an important — at first I thought father figure, but really it's more like a wisecracking older brother figure — who's been with us for more than thirty years.