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Stories My Father Told Me

My father died in Crystal River, Florida, on April 7, 1999, from a long battle with Parkinsonism. He was just shy of 80. In his eulogy, I called him "the Cary Grant of fathers." He was quite extraordinary - smart, handsome, successful. I adored him as most little girls love dads who remain in their lives and care for them. My father did that though he left us when I was a teenager. Nonetheless, we remained quite close most of his life, and it was me he called at Christmastime 1998. I picked up the phone and he said, Sandy, I've got trouble.What he meant was he had become so disabled that ...

Jamestown Schools PROMISE Fund Helps Students And Programs

"Did the curriculum that we helped purchase for the JPS Summer LitCamp seem worthwhile?" asked Jamestown Schools PROMISE Fund Advisory Board Chair, Dr. Lillian Ney. "I know the day that I visited LitCamp, students seemed engaged and were really having fun learning about literacy.""We had such great reviews of the LitCamp from parents," said Jeannie Larson, from Chautauqua Striders and the YMCA. "They loved that their children were engaged in literacy activities during the summer months when they wouldn't necessarily be as involved at home. All of the kids that came to the program grew ...

Why Does Jamestown Schools Need The PROMISE Fund?

Last year, Jamestown Public Schools made a promise to invest in the people and programs of the school district by creating the Jamestown Schools PROMISE Fund. Local community members and school district staff formed the Advisory Board to assist in financing people, projects and programs not supported by tax dollars. The PROMISE Fund Board works to marshal varied resources to support our students, teachers and schools. In fact "PROMISE" is an acronym that stands for - Providing Resources to Our Mission in Support of Education. In just one year's time, the Jamestown Schools PROMISE Fund ...

Going To School At Walgreens

This past summer I attended the 45th year reunion of my graduation from Jamestown High School. It was a great two night event where we met and saw old schoolmates, and talked about teachers, lunch periods, school plays, and enjoyed some good food, good drink and lots of merriment.One of the normal activities of reunions is picture taking. Usually, at the main event of the weekend walk down memory lane, a picture of the classmate and his or her spouse is taken and sent, now via e mail, or posted on Facebook at some time, and throughout the evening individual friends and groups find a ...

Winnie And Me

Perhaps my earliest memory is of a stay at Chautauqua's Hotel Atheneum with my cousin and our grandmother. Mimi was just at that age where enjoying the young elevator boys would have filled her days had she not, I'm sure, been put in charge of me. I was probably four or five. Grandma was obviously older. I don't remember her there at all.To keep me entertained (if not pacified), Mimi spent many hours reading to me. With a liberal childhood in Bermuda, she was a font of fascinating books - just right for me. Of all those we read, it's Winnie-the-Pooh that remains with me to this ...

A Brush With Poverty

Those of you who have followed this column for years know that there were numerous periods in my life when there were hard times. I grew up in a single parent home when that was anything but the norm.The presence of my grandparents in the home made it multigenerational. That was a blessing since my grandmother was my caregiver while my mother worked outside the home. I love them for shepherding us through hard times when my dad just up and left us. They made a comfortable home for us giving up their privacy as a couple and the solitude that their age should have afforded them. My ...