Former Times Herald-Record columnist Barbara Bedell, 87, 'was always there for us'

Her basket of candy was always there for us, brimming with little Hershey chocolates, Reese’s peanut butter cups and gooey caramels for anyone who stopped by her desk for a sweet and a schmooze. Those schmoozers ranged from publishers and politicians to reporters, their visiting kids and all of the folks who brought this newspaper to you, from the workers who maintained its headquarters to the folks who fixed its computers.

Her daily columns — thousands of them during her 46 years at the Record — were always there for us, chronicling the lives of folks who gave this sprawling area called the mid-Hudson its distinctive heart and soul. Those folks ranged from once familiar names like a founder of Orange County Community College, Amy Bull Crist, and the woman behind Newburgh’s Meals on Wheels program, Federica Warner, to the countless volunteers who filled backpacks for our hungry children and the veterans who gave so much so we could be free.

Barbara Bedell was there for me when I was a new reporter from New York City who barely knew Monroe from Monticello. When I needed a contact for virtually any story — from gospel music to homelessness — Barbara was the person I turned to. She fed me scores of names and numbers from her Rolodex, while I munched on those chocolates.

You knew you’d always get something else when you stopped for a sweet and a schmooze with Barbara. You’d get a piece of her mind about someone or something that was never sugar-coated like that candy, but always grounded with an old-school respect for the values she lived by: loyalty to family, friends, faith and a love of this country.

That was Barbara Bedell. In these impersonal computerized days when the newspapers that once connected our communities with news of our neighbors are more about the bottom line of dollars and digital clicks, Barbara — who never really mastered that computer thing — had a different bottom line. What mattered to her were the people she served: us, her loyal readers, and those values she held dear to her dying days.

Barbara Bedell died Thursday. She was 87.

She not only connected us to a time not so long ago when dignity and decency was embodied in people like U.S. Rep. “Gentle” Ben Gilman and this newspaper's former owners, James and Ruth Ottaway, Barbara showed us how decency and dignity mattered today. That’s why you could always count on Barbara to find a place in her columns for the everyday folks who helped those less fortunate — folks who ran thrift shops for the needy, helped the disabled or fought prejudice of any kind.

Take the last column she wrote just before Easter 2019. She once again reminded us of what's important in this frantic often impersonal age: family, faith and a love of this country where all men and women deserved to be treated as equals.

The column features a black and white photo of Barbara as a child, her curls flowing from beneath an Easter bonnet. She’s standing with her siblings Sonny, Lily and Harriet, also in bonnets and holding Easter baskets. Their father carried the snapshot as a soldier during WWII. It begins like this:

“Growing up, the most wonderful holidays were Christmas and Easter. My paternal grandmother was a devout Christian, and because of her loyalty to the teachings of the church and her love for the Bible, we grew up as children who attended Sunday School and knew about the holidays and Jesus.”

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In the direct, descriptive words of the skilled journalist she was, Barbara wrote about how those times had changed:“The gathering at the (Easter) table changed the fastest. Gone are the dear souls who smiled when the youngest would say grace, and the older ones remembered manners when a visiting relative would dig in his pocket and dole out a few coins…. During World War II, despite rationing and other limitations, I believe that it was a good family time, when family members depended on each other and looked forward to their company.”

As her column transitioned to today, she did what she always did; connect the past — when this country was fighting for freedom for all its citizens — with the present.

She wrote of an anti-Semitic incident in our region, and efforts to stop similar incidents. She closed with these words.

“When one person is discriminated against, the incident stands as an attack against all of us. We simply won’t tolerate it.”

Barbara Bedell was always there for us, to connect us to one another with her sweets, her schmoozing and her simple yet profound words of wisdom.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Remembering Barbara Bedell, former Times Herald-Record columnist