Red Devil Ramblings

Actually our work- for the month of March started when in March we received numerous photos from Kathi and Jim McCormack, the official photographer – complete with names. covering the Feb 19th Peekskill Day in Jupiter, Fl. We put them in a presentable slide show that can be accessed from the Peekskill Day Pictures pages.

The Class of 1951 also got together for a group photo – unfortunately we do not have the names of those grads. Although we were not able to attend, we are told that the event was a huge success – as it always is. Almost 300 people attended the outdoor picnic lunch and found opportunities to greet old friends and make new ones.

Rick and Eileen Baisley, along with Lou and June Pugliese were once again the co-hosts this year. They did a terrific job in getting a program together and a followup

containing the names of all attendees was the contribution of Bill, Jack, and Marilou Salicco. Everything has been published. Check out the pages. and you will see that if you are around this area in 2010 you will want to take in this annual get together.

Along came March 9th and Peekskill Day in Tarpon Springs, FI., at Anderson Park. Although the crowd was much smaller this year, at least Doris and I were able to make that one okay. Bob McArdle. 1955: Richard “Digger” Vogt. 1950, and George Martin. 1954 organized the picnic, under a nice pavilion, as usual. We were able to take our own set of pictures which have been published, along with the guest list from Bob McArdle. Both of the “Days” are annual events and details can be seen on the web pages as we receive them for the year 2010.

There were two really nice side benefits for the webmasters. First Jim McCormack noticed that we still needed the 1935 Yearbook to make our collection virtually complete back into the 1920′s. He sent me a note that his aunt, Mae (Graber) Tompkins had a 1935 book. He called her and she agreed to loan it to us for scanning and publishing. Ms. Tompkins lives in “The Villages”, a part of Lady Lake. Fl.. some 19 miles frorn my home here in Tavares. She asked me to drive up to get it and return it, which I agreed to do. While there I learned that Ms. Tompkins, at age 92, bowls twice a week with a team, and plays cards 3 times weekly. We had a nice

time talking about olden days in Peekskill. She showed me a group picture of over 100 people who had attended the Peekskill Day in Tarpon Springs in 1985.

At the Tarpon Springs Day I met “Digger” Vogt. who showed me an article that he had written entitled. “Finktown USA”. Finktown was, and maybe still is, a neighborhood in Peekskill. Digger had written about his boyhood days there and his memories of the Dain Farm, etc. There was a art show at the Peekskill Museum of watercolors by local artist R. Barthelmes covering scenes from Finktown. His article may have been part of it. We have included a special page for Finktown, U SA. Digger has written to me again and said he is sending a second article entitled “Finktown in the Winter”. That will be added to the Finktown link.

Also this month we were pleased to receive another tome from Jack Burns as an addition to his “From The Streets of Peekskill” Blog which we host, along with other Blogs. Jack formerly wrote a column for various newspapers and magazines and now treats us to his own reminisces and current observances of Peekskill. This one unfortunately dealt with a raft of obituaries and his association with those people and their families. Jack’s style is unique and his memory of past names and events is nothing short of astonishing to me.

Finally, we asked PHS if there was an existing musical rendition of “Hail To Our Colors” which could be added to the pages. We received word that there was – and a musical CD would be sent to us. We are hoping it does not fall through the cracks and we will indeed be able to add music to part of the pages at some point in the future.