HOME TOWN NEWS

On the Hill

Here we thought we were so clever. Judy and I left for Florida on a February day when it was 9F above as the plane left Albany at 10 am. Two and half weeks later we get back when we thought winter's back would be broken and face sub-zero weather and threat of a new storm. So much for being clever.

This has been a harsh winter for Alplausians. Andy Coppola down, but doing better with a stroke, the death of two old friends of us all, Dr. Francis Bundy and Lois Rix, and news on Friday of Ed Joynson down with a stroke.

We just learned today of the February 17th death of Ted Bury who printed the Home Town News at no charge to us for 2006 and 2007. Ted also introduced color to the HTN, all as a way to advertise his business, Mail Center USA; now owned and operated by Mike Wallace.

We offer our sympathy to the Bury and Bundy families and hope and pray for the recovery of Andy and Ed....AWH

Editor's note: February calls for AFD were not available at press time.

The Alplaus United Methodist Church has connection to our community as part of its mission and vision statements. The Church has served the community not only as a religious center but also as a community social center for more than 95 years. We feel that our connection to the community has weakened over the years and would like to strengthen it. We want to offer more opportunities to interact with the community beyond our Sunday morning regular worship at 10:15 am and Sunday School and Bible Study at 9 am.

3/2 at Noon Our free community luncheon (participants often bring a dish to share)

I have written a history of the church that is available at the Alplaus Post Office for you to pick up.

We have meeting space and kitchen facilities available for community groups to use and we are handicapped accessible. If you have ideas for how the church can cooperate with groups within the community, please call me at 399-6000 (church), 399-0497 (home), 322-1179 (cell), or e-mail me at: umccarl@nycap.rr.com. I look forward to hearing from you and working with the community.

Hello again,

Hope you are healthy as you read this and if not, remember and be encouraged because Spring is coming!!! And with it, some ease of mind as the warm sun melts our cares away promoting good health!

And if you're Irish, stop in this St. Patty's Day for a Mr. McDoogle, with its White Chocolate and Irish Crème flavor with espresso, I'm sure you'll love it!

Here is this month's music schedule:

Saturday 3/1 Emily Smith (Folk)

Friday 3/2 Wide Awake & Dreaming (acoustic)

Saturday 3/8 Sandy Shoor (acoustic)

Friday 3/14 2 Late (acoustic)

Saturday 3/15 Lisa and Danielle (acoustic)

Friday 3/21 Point 5 (hip hop)

Saturday 3/22 Hans the Double (rock)

Friday 3/28 Acoustica (acoustic rock)

Saturday 3/29 Open Mic (acoustic)

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Barred Owl Strix varia - Picture 5 of 27 in varia "Who cooks For Yoooo” is the question asked by the Barred Owl. Jessica Evans has seen one in her yard and will probably hear one if she listens carefully. These large mottled-brown owls are easy to identify since they have dark eyes instead of the piercing yellow eyes of other owls. Barn Owls are the only other owls that have dark eyes. Charlie and I have also been lucky enough to see a Barred Owl along the creek opposite the swim club. He was being harassed by several Blue Jays and flew out of a thick stand of pines. After enduring the Blue Jay’s assaults for a minute or two he returned to the pines and we lost track of him.

Jessica has also enjoyed watching the Mergansers in the river. Males and females are very different in these diving ducks. The males are strikingly white and black while females are drab brown with reddish heads. Both sport long red beaks which are serrated to help hold onto the small fish they feed on.

Gray Watkins may have solved the mystery of the Great Horned Owls. For the past two winters they have not been heard on Hill Street. Gray mentioned that the large oak tree the owls nested in fell down two years ago. Hopefully these majestic birds found another tree to make their home. If you hear one, or have any interesting bird sightings, call the Alplaus Bird Line at 399-0490 or e-mail me at swanalaka@aol.com.

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FRANCIS PETTIT BUNDY, 1910-2008

by Cliff Hayes Saturday 2-23-2008

Francis P. Bundy died peacefully Saturday evening, age 97, in the presence of his daughter, Suzanne, and sister-in-law, Mildred Garling. He is survived by his four children: John F. Bundy, Suzanne B. Moffat, Freda B. Hofland, and David S. Bundy, his sister Anita Cheek, and was predeceased by his beloved wife, Hazel, who died September 2006. According to his wishes, there will be no memorial service, the body will be cremated, and the ashes disposed of in a manner previously directed. Any memorial observances could be made to Otterbein College or the Otterbein/Lebanon Retirement Community.

Dr. Francis P. Bundy, physicist, gardener, outdoors man, and soaring enthusiast - to name but a few of his interests and accomplishments - was admired for his scientific prowess, his love of soaring, and was unfailingly generous to all those he mentored.

Born September 1, 1910 in Columbus Ohio, to Edith Claire [nee] Scott and Lyman Edmund Bundy, married to Hazel Victoria Forwood, 1936, in Springfield Illinois.

He attended Lancaster High School, Lancaster Ohio [1927], and graduated from Otterbein College, Westerville Ohio [1931]. After earning his doctorate at Ohio State University [1937], he taught at Ohio University in Athens Ohio, before joining the Harvard Underwater Sound Lab during World War II, where he worked on sonar devices. After the war effort, he joined the General Electric Research Laboratory, Schenectady NY, January 1946, and there specialized in various fields of physics, mechanics, optics, radiation, heat transfer, and, most notably to the world at large, super-pressure physics, where he was a member of the GE team which perfected the process for "Man-Made" diamonds.

He was a fellow of the American Physical Society, Sigma Xi, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He published over one hundred scientific papers, and won many awards and much recognition for his various scientific and gliding accomplishments. Most notably, he was recognized in 1987 with the Bridgman Gold Medal of the International Association for for the Advancement of High Pressure Science and Technology. He has more than 8000 glider flights in his logbook, and was elected to the National Soaring Museum's "Hall of Fame".

Francis Bundy will be long remembered with admiration and affection by his children, scientific colleagues, gliding friends and students, and a host of people whose paths he influentially crossed during his wonderfully long, rich, and creative life.

Lois (Tracy) Rix

by Pastor Carl Shepard and Gray Watkins

Lois Rix, who lived on Alplaus Avenue just west of the bridge 1954-1995, died Friday, February 28th. She has donated her body to Albany Medical College. There will be a memorial service at the Alplaus United Methodist Church on Saturday, March 8th at 3 pm. The family wants the service to be in Alplaus as this is where she lived longest and was known best.

Lois was a kind and intelligent lady who was also one of the strongest people I have ever known. She and her husband, LeRoy, lived in the Abatto home, raised three children, worked the 52 acre farm (while it was still a farm), from the early '60's until the mid-'80's when Lois decided to sell. The home was then fixed up and the parcel subdivided into three pieces and Keith and Patricia Abatto bought the house parcel and have improved it to what you see today.

Lois will be well-remembered as an important part of Alplaus history, as she was truly a "renaissance woman", working as an executive assistant at GE (you know - the kind that runs the world while the boss takes credit), a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a farmhand, an exceptional gardener, a Glencliff classroom volunteer, and a truly kind human being.

Hope to see many of you at the service next Saturday.

Ed. note - See page 7 for the history of the Rix farmstead.

The large area of undeveloped land north of Alplaus Avenue and west of the creek is known as “The Rix Farm.”

In the late 1700’s it was part of the William Stevens holdings and was farmed even then. Stevens built an 8-room house on the knoll overlooking the creek in 1785. It was rebuilt in 1869 and, with many subsequent alterations and additions; it is still standing in better shape than ever, one of the oldest homes in the hamlet of Alplaus.

William Stevens died in 1811, leaving the farm to his sons Aaron and Alexander. Alexander bought out Aaron’s share, continued to farm the parcel, then sold it to James Rosa in 1836. Rosa sold it to Thomas Hannagan in 1842 who then sold it to William Cashin, Ambrose Cashin and Elizabeth Cashin in 1899, as part of a transfer of about 61 acres total, including some land on the south side of Alplaus Avenue as well. The sale price was $6500 and Hannagan held a mortgage in the amount of $4300.

The Cashins also bought another 18-acre parcel which comprised most of the land north of the avenue and westerly to the railroad tracks. The Cashins were industrious developers who subdivided the land along the creek south of the avenue, running along “New Street”, which we now know as Mohawk Avenue. The original Cashin subdivision map was filed in 1906 and many of the current area owner’s deeds still refer to that very same map.

In 1910, the Cashins granted an easement to Schenectady Power and Light to construct a power line through the large parcel to the north of the avenue and the towers that can be seen today are the result. National Grid is now the party benefited by the easement and the power lines, though not charged, could be used when and if the utility company decides to do so. In the meantime, they serve as nesting stations for the red-tailed hawks and as perches for the doves and pigeons that inhabit the “farm.”

William Cashin died in 1920 but his sister, Elizabeth, and brother, Ambrose, carried on until their deaths a few years later. They sold the bulk of the land west of the creek and north of the avenue to the D & H Railroad Company in 1921. The railroad then sold most of the easterly section of the land, approximately 53 acres, to the Heckelers who then sold it to Leroy and Lois Rix in 1955.

Leroy led an interesting life, traveling all over the northern part of New York, doing some farming, working as a hired hand on the canal system, being an itinerant preacher and working at General Electric Company as well, as did his wife Lois. They also farmed the property for many years with the help of their son Tom and daughters, Martha and Carol, until Leroy died 1982. Tom carried on the hard work and long hours of the farming tradition for a few years after his father’s death and Lois still managed to maintain a huge and bountiful garden next to the house, until 1996, when Lois decided to sell the place.

Two neighbors bought the farmhouse and land and fixed the house up. They then subdivided the land so they each kept a nice parcel and sold the house and 3 acres or so to Keith and Patricia Abatto who now live there with their two children. The old red barn, which identified the property for so long as a working farm, was razed in a spectacular fire drill in 1997. The acreage is maintained by the neighbors as open space and as a place for wildlife to live and grow in peace.

HOME TOWN NEWS

ALPLAUS, NEW YORK 12008

March 2008 Vol. 132 No. 3

The Ladies Auxiliary