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Ward Cotthaus, of Palisades and Highland Mills in New York, passed away on February 20, 2017. He was in hospice care in Stuart, Florida, after a difficult battle with Parkinson’s disease. He is survived by his sons, Skip and Glenn, and by his significant other, Arvinda Moore. He also has two nephews in Rockland county, Clayton and Billy. Arvinda, Skip and Glenn were by his side.

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Elaine Landriau died peacefully at home on April 1, 2017 in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where she lived with her daughter Denise and son-in-law Greg. She was 89 years old.

Elaine was born in Manhattan in 1928 to her French-American mother, Blanche, and Swiss father Leon Ledermann. She grew up in Washington Heights and attended French Sunday School downtown before moving to Auburndale, Queens and attending Bayside High School. Elaine was the first member of her family to attend college, and at 20 years old she graduated from Queens College with a B.S. in math.

It’s always a good laugh when asked which college I’m going to, especially when standing next to two particular friends. I’m often the third of the bunch to be asked where I go, and the responses are always the same, Columbia, NYU, RCC… It’s amusing because the person who asks, which can be anyone of any demographic, whether young, old, rich or poor, always replies with the same three phrases: “That’s amazing,” “Wow,” “Congratulations” and “Oh.”

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A PALISADIAN for over 70 years, Jeanette was born in Syracuse and spent her childhood in Brooklyn Heights where she attended the Friends Elementary School and then Erasmus HS where she met Herbert Kellogg, her future husband and close companion for 75+ years. While he was attending Columbia College and she was at Barnard, they married and shortly thereafter “discovered” the rundown old Gesner house on Closter Road. Here they spent their lives together turning the old house into a gracious home where they raised their four children.

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On November 8, 2016, long-time Palisades resident Lee Ann Guttman (nee Sterling) passed away peacefully at her home at 10 Indian Hill Lane under the care of her family and Hospice of Rockland. Born in Manhattan on March 26, 1923, her passing marks the end of an era in the history of Palisades. Lee was the last surviving resident among the original group of a dozen families that built and named Indian Hill Lane and Horne Tooke Road in 1955.

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RODNEY LEWIS SMITH, a prominent photographer whose whimsical work invited comparisons to that of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte’s died on December 5 at his home in Snedens Landing. He was 68.

While people and businesses come and go in Palisades, Jeanne DiMeglio, the owner of Floral Expressions, has lived her entire life in the same house on Iroquois Avenue. To trace the roots of her local flower business, one has to go back in time to Ellis Island. Her four grandparents, journeying to America at young ages from different parts of the world, would eventually cross paths and end up building a flower business that would span three generations.

Arthur Firestone passed away on June 2, 2016. He was a United States Air Force Veteran of the Korean War and belonged to the American Legion Perry Post in Sparkill for over 55 years. A graduate of Pace University, he was a controller and accountant in New York City for many corporations.

Johanna Lo, 78, of Palisades, N.Y., passed away unexpectedly on Friday, May 13, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

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Carol Stewart fell for her house in Palisades the first time she saw it. “I thought it was charming; when it came up for sale in 2003, I bought it.” The house started life as a country store and at one point or another was a tavern, printing shop, grain feed store, butcher shop, post office, and an ice cream shop. It wasn’t until around 1970 that it was converted to a private home.

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Herbert H. Kellogg of Palisades passed away on January 16 at the age of 95. He was born in Brooklyn in 1920 where he grew up and where as a teenager at Erasmus High School he met his future wife Jeanette Halstead. They were married in their senior year of college. In 1947 they purchased the Nicholas Gesner house on Closter Road where they lived until 2014 when they moved to Sunrise Senior Living in Old Tappan, New Jersey.

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Arnold Finck, Arn to his friends and family, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1920 and grew up in Grand View, New York. He spent his childhood exploring the Hudson River with his younger brother, Howard. The two Finck boys along with several friends—the self-named River Rats—would fish and iceskate on the river. They even built their own canvas canoe.

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Palisadian Lincoln Colwell, 54, arborist, rower with Piermont Rowing Club, devout churchgoer, stalwart member of “the chatty bass section” in at least two different Episcopal church choirs, “wry, rebellious dude” as an adolescent and a man known for his passionate enthusiasm, his joyful spirit, intelligence, wit, kindness and personal warmth was born in Nyack in 1961 and grew up in Grandview-On- Hudson. He spent all his life in Rockland County where he was active and influential in his chosen spheres.

I had never heard of the Clarkstown Country Club when a friend recently showed me the book LIFE at the Clarkstown Country Club, Nyack 1935 which told the fascinating story of Dr. Pierre Bernard and his so-called country club. The first to introduce yoga and the philosophy of tantra to America, this complex man was seen by some as a charlatan and by others as a pioneer, but millions knew him simply by his dubious tabloid title, Oom the Omnipotent.

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What can be better than being successful at something you love? That’s the happy fate of entertainment lawyer Loren Plotkin, managing partner for Levin Plotkin & Menin, a New York based law firm dealing exclusively with artists and the people who do business with artists.

Thane Asch and Suki
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Thane Asch of Tappan, New York died peacefully on Monday, January 18, at home surrounded by his family. He was 88 years old. He was a retired Radiologist and Columbia Medical College educator. A dedicated husband, father and medical practitioner, he devoted his final years to his family and his passions for botany, boating, cooking and bird watching. He moved to Snedens Landing with his family in 1966 and lived there for 40 years. In 2007, he and his wife moved to Tappan, NY.

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Longtime Palisades resident Roger Hooker passed away on December 8, at 74. He served as Deputy Secretary to Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Assistant Secretary to the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Ford administration. Before returning to the private practice of law, Roger was General Counsel to the U.S. arm of Grand Metropolitan, PLC, as well as its predecessor, Liggett Group, Inc. An ardent supporter of the arts, Roger sat on the boards of the American Dance Festival, the Rockland Center for the Arts and the Baryshnikov Arts Center. A devoted father and husband, Roger is sorely missed by wife Joan, daughters Kate and Sarah and brother Henry. He was a true friend to literally hundreds. 10964 honors his life with a sampling of thoughts and remembrances from friends, neighbors and colleagues.

Diagram of the world's tectonic plates
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On May 23 and 24 Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory is planning a symposium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of plate tectonics and to honor its scientists who played a decisive role in its discovery. There will be presentations by distinguished senior scientists from around the country as well as mid-career researchers who continue to investigate plate tectonic processes.It’s hard to believe that only fifty years ago many scientists including Dr. Maurice Ewing, Lamont’s formidable director, were unconvinced that continents could plow through ocean basins. Then in 1966 an interesting thing happened. A handful of scientists led by primary contributors Dr. Lynn Sykes and Dr. Walter Pitman III from Lamont proved unequivocally that the earth’s outermost layer is composed of plates that do indeed move.

Marie and Arthur Firestone
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Marie Helen Firestone, a resident of Palisades for 54 years, passed away peacefully at home on November 8, 2015. She previously resided in Brooklyn where she was born on May 14, 1930 to Purphy and Mary Schiano. The Firestones moved to Swan Street in Palisades in 1962. Marie dedicated 44 years of her life to the Palisades Free Library where she was the head of circulation and business manager. Librarian Maria Gagliardi wrote about Marie: “From 1971 - 2014 Marie Firestone was the smiling face at the check-out desk that greeted visitors to the Palisades Free Library. She was devoted to the library and to providing excellent customer service. Last year, the Library Board of Trustees dedicated the Marie H. Firestone Community Room in recognition of her service. Marie always brought good cheer and enthusiasm to work with her each day and had an unwavering love for life. We will miss her very much.”

(That is his name, you know, "Flower" to the second degree.)

It occurred to me the other day while I was in my study listening to the leafblower’s high pitched whine outside my window that the slight figure with the mop of curly hair who was manning the machine was more or less invisible behind the noise and the task, an unsung yet vital aspect of life in our hamlet. I decided to invite Hector in for coffee. The house was chilly so I started a fire in the living room. In spite of my best efforts to prevent it from happening, smoke began to billow into the room instead of up the chimney to such a degree that we had to open all the windows and turn on the fan. Fortunately, that day it was warmer outside than in.