Each year on National Wreaths Across America Day, millions of Americans come together to remember the fallen, honor those that serve and their families, and teach the next generation about the value of freedom.

Until last month, when joint applications filed by Harvey C. Noone Legion Post 954 and Girl Scout Troop 60487 were approved, there were no participating cemeteries in Monroe County. There are now two. One is the Creekside/St Vincent’s Cemetery, 44 N. Main St., in the Village of Churchville and the other is the Riga Cemetery on Route 36 just south of the Village.  Buried in these cemeteries are over 375 veterans. 

On Saturday, December 14, 2019 (National Wreaths Across America Day) wreaths will be laid for these  local veterans. The event begins with a free and open-to-the-public ceremony at noon at the grave of Harvey C. Noone, who is buried in Creekside Cemetery. After the ceremony, will be the placing of wreaths on the headstones of veterans buried in the Creekside/St. Vincent’s cemetery. Parking will be in the Church Lodge Parking Lot, with refreshments following in the Lodge. Wreaths will be placed later that day in Riga Cemetery.

For real time updates go to www.facebook.com/WAAChurchvilleCreekside/ 
To sponsor a wreath or learn more about Wreaths Across America visit https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/162525.
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The theme of this year's National Wreaths Across American Day is "Everyone Plays a Part." In 2018, nearly 1.8 million veteran wreaths were placed on headstones at 1,640 participating cemeteries around the country in honor of the service and sacrifices made for our freedoms, with each name said out loud.

by Caurie Putnam
this article originally appeared in the Democrat and Chronicle on November 17, 2019.

On Nov. 17, Dalton Letta takes his final bow as the lead in Artists Unlimited’s production of 'Shrek the Musical' at Kodak Center. His most influential role, though, is that of the founder of Campaign D, a new organization based on the west side to spread autism awareness and promote inclusivity.

“Campaign D is run by individuals with autism,” said Letta, 24, a charismatic actor and autism awareness advocate who was diagnosed with the spectrum disorder at age 3. “It is the personal voice for people with autism and a way to give back to the community.”

Community is a key piece of Campaign D, which was recently incorporated and is on its way to nonprofit status.

The group holds many of its activities at the town of Gates’ complex on Buffalo Road. Gates was the first town in New York to receive an Autism-Friendly Community designation (by the Autism Council) and has embraced Letta and his organization.

“To watch Dalton grow into this role has been a joy,” said Gates Town Supervisor Cosmo A. Giunta, who has known Dalton — also the town’s autism ambassador — since he was a little boy. “I’m really proud of him.”

It’s not unusual to stop by Campaign D’s social club on a Friday afternoons at the town’s recreation center and find Giunta playing ping pong with club members or a Gates Police Department officer hanging out with the group.

“The best way to learn is through interacting,” said James VanBrederode, chief of the Gates Police Department. “Campaign D has added a new dimension to our training and department. We all know Dalton now and all of our officers have a puzzle piece on their uniform.”

The puzzle piece, a universal symbol of autism awareness, is also on all of the town’s police cars. Letta has spoken to Gates officers on topics like how to interview individuals on the autism spectrum who have witnessed a crime.

Jerri Sparks of Churchville, who attends Campaign D events with her son Jared, 22, has heard Letta speak on issues such as autism and law enforcement.

“Dalton is such a great leader of this movement because he is so articulate, funny and well informed about the issues,” Sparks said. “To have an organization run by individuals with autism is so unique and getting their perspective on issues is so important.”

Advocacy is critical to Letta, who hopes Campaign D will have a voice in changing laws and policies beyond a town level. One of his goals is for school

districts to improve educating families about transition programs for individuals with autism after they graduate.

After Letta, the son of Krystin Letta and the late Travis Letta, graduated from Greece Arcadia High School in 2013, he faced a period of downtime before his family learned about the Bridge to Earning, Living and Learning (BELL) program at Roberts Wesleyan College.

The four-semester BELL program is an inclusive postsecondary certificate program on campus for students age 18 to 26 with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It focuses on personal growth and also prepares graduates for competitive employment.

Volunteers from the BELL program, from which Letta graduated in 2016 and now serves as the program’s special liaison to the community, also attend Campaign D’s social club.

That’s where you’ll also find Letta’s mom — giving support to other parents and caregivers of children and adults on the autism spectrum and looking on with pride at her son as he leads Campaign D.

“Before Campaign D, families with members with autism didn’t have a presence on the west side,” Krystin Letta said.

Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad.rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Twitter at @CauriePutnam and on Facebook at facebook.com/BrockportBlog.

The Spencerport High School STAGE Drama Club presents ANNIE from November 14 to 16 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. at Spencerport High School's Performing Arts Center.

Featured in the show, is Sandy - a lovely dog rescued by a Spencerport teacher via Lab Lovers Rescue (formerly Rudy's Rescue). Sandy will be playing the role of...Sandy!

Additionally, the show is a full-circle moment for the graduating seniors, says Ruth Jacobs, STAGE Drama Advertising/PR Coordinator, "as they performed Annie as 6th graders in their first ever school musical."

​Tickets ($12) can be purchased at www.showtix4U.com and at the door at any performance.

by Caurie Putnam
article originally published in the Democrat and Chronicle on October 6, 2019.
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Seven years ago Nanette Klein Davis of Brockport was going through a personally challenging time when she attended the first Spiritual Spa Day at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Hamlin.

“It was very uplifting,” said Davis, of the event for women of all faiths and ages. “It was a very calming day to center myself, relax and refocus on what’s important in life.”

Davis’ mother, Anne Klein of Hamlin, and her friend Teresa “Terry” Werth of Spencerport founded the daylong event seven years ago. About sixty-five women attended and, over the years, many have asked them to hold another one.

Klein and Werth, who have been friends for 40 years, took the requests to heart and will be holding a second Spiritual Spa Day from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 19, at the church on 3747 Brick Schoolhouse Road in Hamlin. The theme of this year’s program is Compassion: One Wish to Change the World.

“We both felt that if ever there was a time we, as women, needed to reflect, think and talk about compassion it’s now,” Werth said. “As women of different faiths, we have so many shared values and the way forward to a world that is a better place is to share those values with each other.”

The day doesn’t include manicures or pedicures, but, instead, a rich program of activities to help attendees better care for their inner selves.

These activities include: relaxation exercises, creating origami birds, rock stacking, a labyrinth walk, inspirational music and a short play adapted from Sharon Mehdi’s book “The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering: A Story for Anyone Who Thinks She Can't Save the World.”

Attendees will also help create a compassion tree with over 300 personalized leaves as a symbolic representation of those people, places and communities that need more compassion.

“Everything we will present takes into account the common threads of compassion we share in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam,” said Werth, who has a background in Christian education and public relations. “We will look at compassion from an inclusive, human perspective and explore ways we can carry compassion into the world.”

The cost for the Spiritual Spa Day is $20 per person, which includes lunch, bottled water, snacks, door prizes and take-home materials. A portion of the fee will be donated to the Willow Domestic Violence Center of Rochester, in support of October being National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Attendees are also asked to bring canned food or dry goods to be donated to Life Solutions of Hamlin. At the original Spiritual Spa Day there were so many donations the group was able to fill a kayak.

​“We hope to draw women of all faiths and ages from young mom to grandmas,” said Klein, who ran a local bed and breakfast for 20 years. “The goal of the day is to create a better understanding of what we can do as women when we come together.”
Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad.rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Twitter at @CauriePutnam and on Facebook at facebook.com/BrockportBlog/.

This article ran in the Democrat and Chronicle on September 29, 2019.
by Caurie Putnam 

For Michele Walsh Myers, Tuttle North, on the campus of The College at Brockport, will forever be a place of bittersweet emotion. It was in that building on Sept. 11, 2001, that Myers, a native of Seaford, Long Island, was at her graduate student work study job when she heard that a plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
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Eighteen years later, Myers teaches in Tuttle North as a full-time lecturer in the kinesiology, sports studies and physical education department. It is also where the Stephen Siller — Tunnel to Towers Brockport 5K Run & Walk, which Myers directs, will begin and end Sunday, Oct. 6.

“I’m so glad to be able to bring the event to Brockport because this is where I was when Sept. 11 happened,” Myers said.

Since 2002, the race has been held in cities around the nation in memory of Stephen Siller, 34, a New York City firefighter who died Sept. 11, 2001, after putting on his gear and running through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers.

The nonprofit Stephen Siller Foundation, which founded the race, has raised over $125 million in support of first responders, veterans and Gold Star families. It remembers the 343 FDNY members, 71 police officers (from 10 different agencies) and thousands of citizens killed on Sept. 11, 2001 — several of whom Myers had a personal connection to.

“My alma mater, Seaford High School, lost five in the tower attacks,” Myers said. “Two of them I went to high school with and grew up with — New York City firefighter Timmy Haskell and his brother Tommy, a battalion chief with FDNY’s Ladder 132. It made the attacks more personal and gave me the drive to do something to make sure the victims were never forgotten.”

Myers organized a Tunnel to Towers races in Rochester from 2016 to 2018, but when she got hired full time at her alma mater last year, she was asked by her department chair, Cathy Houston-Wilson, also a Long Island native, to consider moving the race to Brockport.

“The support I’ve received from the kinesiology department, the college, village of Brockport, mayor, campus and village police departments and the Brockport Volunteer Fire Department has been overwhelming,” Myers said. “It means a lot to bring the race here and to include the students and the monument.”

The Brockport Volunteer Firefighters Association maintains a September 11 th monument in front of Brockport Fire Department’s Station 4 on 237 S. Main St. A part of Main Street will be shut down on race day so that participants can run by the monument.

About 70 Tunnel to Towers races are held annually; typically on or around Sept. 11. Myers chose early October so she could get more students from the college involved after they were settled in for the first semester.

The Brockport Student Government has given 100 registration fees for students to participate. Myers is also seeking 343 volunteers from the college and community to hold signs along the race route that bear the photos and names of each of the 343 FDNY members killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

To register for the Tunnel to Towers Brockport race ($25 advance; discounts for certain ages) at 9 a.m. Oct. 6, visit crowdrise.com/t2tbrockport2019. Same day registration is $30. To volunteer, email Brockport@tunnel2towers.org or fill out the online race registration form (there is a free volunteer option listed). For race updates and road closures, visit Tunnel To Towers Brockport on Facebook.

Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad.rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Twitter at @CauriePutnam and on Facebook at facebook.com/ BrockportBlog/.​

In less than a year and a half, Nate Riexinger of Hamlin lost a good friend and the brother of a bandmate to suicide. It was too much for him to handle from afar.

“I wanted to do something about it,” said Riexinger, a 2019 graduate of Brockport High School and drummer for the band Element 36. “I wanted kids to know there are people who care. The skate community is a huge family and we wanted to link them in.”

Riexinger, along with Kyle Matthews, a longtime friend and a student at The College at Brockport, teamed up to organize the Skate to End Hate. The wellattended music and skateboarding event was held on Sept. 8 at the Sweden Town Park to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Western New York Area chapter.

“During the process of setting this up, the stepfather of a very good friend also took his life,” said Matthews, who also runs Infamous Street Co., a clothing brand. “It just showed the need for this event. Nate and I wanted to show everyone there are people in the community that won’t look away and will help.”

Among the vendors, music, food and raffles was a table staffed by volunteers from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It was busy throughout the seven-hour event.

“We are seeing a huge range of people here from all ages and backgrounds,” said volunteer Donna Besler of Canandaigua. “Everyone from skaters who are here to support the cause, to people who have lost loved ones to suicide to a gentleman who was suicidal himself. We were ready and able to support him and give him resources.”

Volunteering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is a personal mission for Besler, who lost her own son Brennan Tatem to suicide on Nov. 23, 2014. He was a 19-year-old sophomore at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

“He was an actor and athlete,” Besler said. “He was a handsome and brilliant young man on the outside, but on the inside he was struggling and we didn’t know the depth. Events like this are so important to break the stigma and allow kids to openly and freely talk about their inner challenges without people judging them.”

That accepting vibe was what Riexinger and Matthews were going for when they first conceived the Skate to End Hate in late May immediately following the death of Chase Marshall, 14, of Farmington. Chase’s brother Zachary is also a member of Element 36.

Riexinger and Matthews, who hope to make the Skate to End Hate an annual event, dedicated the inaugural event to the memories of Marshall and Hannah Testa, a friend and classmate of theirs at Brockport High School who died on December 15, 2017, at the age of 16. Both the Marshall and Testa families  have shared publicly with media that their children died of suicide.
​The most recent data from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention shows that in New York state, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 34.
The toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is (800) 273-8255. The 24/7 lifeline offers free and confidential support for people in distress, resources for the caller or loved one calling about them, and best practices for professionals. An online chat is also available at suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/.
Local chorale looking for NYC performers
In August 2017 I told you about the Amadeus Chorale Youth Singers being invited to perform at the 2017
Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. Darla Bair, of Sweden, the chorale’s founder and artistic director, reports she will bring a group of adult singers this December to open for the Rockettes. If you’re interested in performing or attending as an audience member (you must be 16 and up) visit travelwithdarla.com.
Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad.rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Twitter at @CauriePutnam and on Facebook at facebook.com/ BrockportBlog/.

This article was originally published in the Democrat and Chronicle on August 25, 2019.

by Caurie Putnam

On a winter’s day in 2016, Sue Savard opened a dust-covered trunk in a storage room of the village of Brockport’s Emily L. Knapp Museum of Local History and made a startling discovery.

“There were books, newspaper clippings, brushes and notebooks,” recalled Savard, director of volunteers at the museum. “But at the bottom, stacked one on top of another, were 105 oil paintings and 135 illustrations that were at least 100 years old.”

The art — an astonishing variety of landscapes, figure paintings and stills — was the work of Helen Mary Hastings, a Brockporter who lived from 1871 to 1953 and was best known locally for persuading her cousin James Seymour to bequeath his family home to the village for a library and the Knapp Museum.

Just like the stacks of paintings, though, Hastings had many layers. She was not only a relative of one of Brockport’s leading families, but also an accomplished artist with impressive training and a passion for women’s rights and architecture.

“You’ll find articles in all the old New York papers about the museum she started and her historic home restoration,” Savard said. “But few people knew she was an artist.”

Hastings studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art from 1898 to1904 under some of the leading artists of the day, including portraitist Cecilia Beaux and impressionist William Merritt Chase. She also studied at Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry with illustrator Howard Pyle. The paintings and illustrations in the trunk were all made while she was a student.

Also in Hastings’ trunk were her student notebooks and sketchbooks with direct quotes, criticisms and instructions from her teachers.

“We have something amazing here,” recalled artist, instructor and gallery owner Sarah Hart when Savard shared the contents of the trunk with her.

Not only was Hart impressed with the caliber of Hastings’ work, but realized immediately the value of her notebooks, especially with the words of Chase, who was considered an American Monet and established the institution that was the forebear of the Parsons School of Design “Her notebooks have one of a kind information that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” Hart said. “And Hastings’ collection shows the old fashion training of a portrait painter. This is a really significant find for people who love this type of art because it’s been washed over by a tidal wave of modernism, but it is making a comeback.”

It is unknown why Hastings saved her student work. At the time, artists typically destroyed their student pieces. Hastings even writes in a notebook that Chase said “not to keep their studies but to paint them out and use the canvas for a fresh start.”

Hart, who lives in Brockport, believes Hastings saved the work as a time capsule for the future and that this time capsule has the potential to attract art scholars and enthusiasts from around the world to the village.

In an effort to further preserve her words and works, Savard has spent the last three years painstakingly transcribing Hastings’ notebooks and self-publishing a book called “Helen Hastings’s Art In A Trunk.” The book, whose proceeds will help support the museum, is available locally at Lift Bridge Books in Brockport and on Amazon.

The public can view the find for the first time at a free exhibit of artwork by Helen Hastings from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, and from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Emily L. Knapp Museum of Local History, 49 State St., on the first floor, in the former mayor’s office, below the museum.

After the show, the work will all be available for viewing permanently in the newly named Helen Hastings’ Gallery within the museum.

Due to the age and delicate condition of the original works (most need extensive restoration), the show and gallery will feature replica canvas prints that have been reproduced by Greg Lawrence of Holley,  Orleans County. Lawrence also assisted Savard with the book.
​Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad .rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Twitter at @Caurie Putnam and on Facebook at facebook .com/BrockportBlog.

This article was originally published in the Democrat and Chronicle on August 11, 2019.
by Caurie Putnam
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Jennifer Oberlies isn’t bothered by some of the strange looks she gets when new customers pop into her store, JC’s Cards and Collectibles in Brockport.

“A lot of people are shocked when they realize I’m the owner,” Oberlies, 43, said. “I’ve been asked, ‘Is your dad here?’ or ‘Is the owner here?’ I don’t know any other female owners of sports cards shops and I don’t know a female that collects either.”

Oberlies, who lives in Spencerport and graduated from Spencerport High School, is no stranger to sports cards. She began collecting baseball cards at age 7 after her parents took her to a Rochester Red Wings game and she fell on love with the sport.

When she was 12 she was the only girl to attend a local baseball camp run by Bobby Bonner, who played for the Baltimore Orioles and Rochester Red Wings — her two favorite baseball teams. She won camp MVP.

Oberlies estimates she has about 100,000 cards (mostly baseball) in her personal collection, over 3,000 of which are her favorite retired player, Baltimore Oriole legend Cal Ripken Jr.

Interestingly enough, one of the most sought-after cards at JC’s Cards and Collectibles is her current favorite player: the Orioles’ Trey Mancini, who is the brother of a Brockport resident.

“People come in looking for Trey Mancini all the time because of the local connection and because he’s very popular,” Oberlies said. “Other popular cards at the moment are Mike Trout, Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield.”

Her store buys, sells and trades individual rated and non-rated sports cards and blaster boxes of all types, including baseball, hockey, football and basketball. There is also some fan memorabilia and merchandise, like hats.

Michael Macartney of Brockport was one of about six customers who stopped into JC’s Cards and Collectibles when I was there for an hour on a recent Sunday. He was looking to add to his own, extensive baseball card collection.

“I was in the first day she opened,” said Macartney, who was wearing an Orioles shirt. “I love that the store’s in Brockport, that it’s small, has great pricing and that she’s very personable and knows what she’s talking about.”

Prior to JC’s Cards and Collectibles opening this summer, Macartney did most of his card shopping online from two trusted sellers, but he’s happy to have a sports card focused store on the west side again.

“In the late ’80s, early ’90s, there were probably 20 card stores within a 45-minute drive of Brockport. Now there’s not really any aside from here,” he said. “If you’re spending more than a couple of bucks on cards, you want to feel them and see them.

​That’s why it’s so great to have a place to buy in person.”
Oberlies did have a sports card store on Culver Road for a year in 2003, but the market wasn’t right at the times, she said. What motivated her to try again was to get more youths involved in the hobby. The store is partially named after her 4-year-old nephew, Charlie, whom she has introduced to collecting.
“I wanted a shop for the kids so they have a place to go, where it’s OK to touch the cards and where they can open their packs and enjoy themselves,” Oberlies said. “This is for the kids.”
Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad .rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Twitter at @Caurie Putnam and on Facebook at facebook .com/BrockportBlog.

This article was originally printed in the Democrat and Chronicle on August 18, 2019.
by Caurie Putnam
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When Ryker Pray, 6, of Brockport heard who was performing at the Monika Andrews Children’s Park in Brockport recently, he was raring to go.

“As soon as I told him ‘Your music teacher is going to be there doing a concert’ he was out the door,” said Megan Pray of Brockport, Ryker’s aunt. “He was so excited to see Mrs. Kuhn!”

Ryker and about 50 other youngsters attended the pop-up concert at the park on Aug. 9. The rock star was Sara Kuhn, the music teacher at the Ginther Elementary School in Brockport.

By now, most people are aware of the pop-up trend; eateries, artists and retailers temporarily and unexpectedly setting up shop in a unique location. But, Kuhn surprised the community by offering a pop-up teacher experience to help get kids ready and excited for back to school.

“This idea has always been in the back of my head as a way to help with the transition for the new kindergartners,” said Kuhn, who received an enthusiastic green-light for the concert by her building principal Debra Waye. “Because of the unique way Brockport schools are set up, I teach every kindergartner. I’m a face they all know or will know and I wanted them to have a positive experience with me before school even started.”

Kuhn put a few posts on her teacher Twitter page and some Brockport parenting Facebook pages to advertise the concert, but said she never expected such a huge turnout. Every parking place was full and wagons and bikes lined the sidewalk.

Tommy Brice, of Brockport, brought his first-grader and 3-year-old twins to the concert after his wife saw a post on Facebook. They danced and sang along with Kuhn as she played various instruments and introduced the group to items they’ll see in her classroom, like an owl puppet and cleanup basket.

“Our oldest already had Mrs. Kuhn as a kindergartner, but it was nice for her to interact with her again before school starts,” Brice said. “It was nice for the kids to get out and enjoy the good weather, the music and other kids.”

Kuhn, who grew up in Massena in St. Lawrence County and graduated from Nazareth College with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, is celebrating her 20th year as a music teacher.

She began her career in the Rochester City School District and has taught at Brockport since 2006. Most of her career was with middle school students, but three years ago she moved to the Ginther School, which is for kids from universal pre-kindergarten to first grade.
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“A lot of people didn’t understand why I wanted to move to the younger grades,” said Kuhn, lives in the district with her husband Daniel and their three children, ages 14, 10 and 6. “I believe it’s really important to be where children start; to give them a foundation and help start their love for music now.”

Kuhn draws inspiration from the teaching method of Zoltán Kodály, the late Hungarian composer and educationalist who extolled teaching music to children early and the importance of elementary music teachers in the community.

Among her favorite Kodály quotes: “It is far more important who the elementary music teacher is in a small town than who the director of an opera house is because if the opera house director is not good, he will be dismissed in a year, but a poor music teacher in a small town can kill off the love of music for 30 years from 30 classes of children. This is an enormous responsibility.”

A responsibility Kuhn clearly takes to heart.

Contact Caurie at caurie@urgrad .rochester.edu with news from west-side towns. She’s on Facebook at facebook .com/BrockportBlog.​