Mohawk Valley history: Genesis Group honors health professionals; police officers honored

2012, 10 years ago

Genesis Group honors 8

The Genesis Group of the Mohawk Valley Region joins area medical societies to honor eight health care professionals. They are: Outstanding physician: Dr. Joseph Gale of Mohawk Valley Retina; Outstanding nurse: Cheryl LaQuay of Valley Health Services; Outstanding behavioral health care leadership, Angelina Roche of Faxton, St. Luke’s Healthcare; Outstanding behavioral health care professional, Susan Cooper of St. Elizabeth Medical Center; Outstanding nurse practitioner, Virginia Clive of the Folts Home; Outstanding volunteer, Jane Gwise of Faxton, St. Luke’s Healthcare; Hall of Distinction inductee, Dr. John DeTraglia, a vascular surgeon who helped to establish a trauma center at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, and James Stasaitis, director of America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk in Utica and director of the Utica Boilermaker Road Race.

The results of the Utica Board of Education elections are: Louis LaPolla 2,522; Christopher Salatino 2,372; Michele Mandia 2,242; Rochitella Napoli 1,673. Susan Arcuri 1,041, and John Andereck 589. The two highest totals will become president and vice president of the board and the third highest total fills the seat vacated by Anthony Brindisi, who now is a state assemblyman.

Hannah Douglas of Cedarville is selected as Herkimer County Dairy Princess. She is a junior at Mount Markham High School in West Winfield. Dairy ambassadors for the year are: Carly Sherwood, of Newport; Karlie Schwasnick and Victoria Treadwell, of Little Falls; and Kelsey Collins, Paige Johnson and Allison Donahue, of Ilion.

1997, 25 years ago

Police officers honored

Two Utica police officers receive a “Law and Order Award” at a ceremony in Albany. Thomas Dreimiller and Steven Fitzgerald are given the award by state Attorney General Dennis Vacco for saving the lives of two men and an infant in a fire on Taylor Avenue in Utica last April. Vacco says, “The quick action and bravery of these two officers spared the lives of a baby and two men from fiery deaths.”

Patty Furner, a junior at Sauquoit Valley High School, is selected as Oneida County Dairy Princess. Her parents own a 150-acre farm and look after 100 heads of cattle.

1972, 50 years ago

YMCA honors Morris

The Utica YMCA celebrates its 114th anniversary and honors William C. Morris, who is retiring after 12 years as president of the board of directors. Incoming president is Knox L. Peet.

St. Paul’s Baptist Church, on Fay Street in Utica, presents a gospel music concert that attracts a large crowd. Soloists include: Gwen Wooten, Charles Shelton, Oscar McKenzie Jr., Sandra Walker, Tim Wilkerson, Richard Berry and Dale Garrett. Donald Robinson Sr. plays the organ, and Angela Rivers and Donald Robinson Jr. play the piano.

“Corridors,” the school newspaper at Utica Free Academy, captures top honors at the 33rd annual Central New York State School Press Conference at Utica College (today Utica University). Runners-up are New Hartford Central’s “Tattler,” and Oriskany Central’s “Oriska.” Utica’s Earl Rogers wins a news writing contest. Gail Sunderlain and Mary Ellen Luker, of St. Francis De Sales High, take first place in editorial and feature writing, and Mary Helen Klein of Utica wins the cartooning contest.

1947, 75 years ago

Valley View

Utica’s Valley View Municipal golf course is shortened by 83 yards, making it 6,323 yards long. The par 4 third hole is dropped from 431 yards to 427 and the par 3 sixth hole is shortened from 199 yards to 120.

1922, 100 years ago

City buys canal

Utica Mayor Fred Douglas and Common Council members agree to buy from the state for $500,000 the abandoned old Erie Canal land that runs through the city. The city will pay an additional $11,364 for the bridges that cross the canal. The Erie was abandoned when the state, in 1918, opened the Barge Canal, a mile to the north of the Erie. Douglas says it will cost $1.5 million to remove the bridges, fill in the canal bed and pave it. (The paved sections later were named Oriskany Street and Boulevard.)

1778, 244 years ago

Hamilton arrives

Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton joins General George Washington at Valley Forge and is assigned to the general’s staff. Hamilton also is asked to assist Baron von Steuben, who is drilling Washington’s soldiers and attempting to turn them into an efficient fighting machine.

Steuben doesn’t speak English so Hamilton – who is fluent in French – helps to translate Steuben’s orders to the troops into English. He also is helping Steuben write a “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States.” (A part of that manual still is used by the Army.)

(Both Hamilton and Steuben have connections to Oneida County. In 1793, Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton agreed to become a trustee of the new Hamilton-Oneida Academy in Clinton, New York. The academy, that was named for him, evolved into Hamilton College. After the Revolutionary War ended, Steuben was given by the state 16,000 acres north of Utica. He moved there and is buried at the Steuben Memorial Park near Remsen.)

Trivia quiz

Who was president of the United States when the White House transportation fleet was changed from horses and carriages to automobiles. (a) William McKinley, (b) Theodore Roosevelt, (c) William Howard Taft or (d) Woodrow Wilson. (Answer will appear here next week.) You’re a super presidential history buff if you can name any of the four automobiles in the first fleet.

Answer to last history question: When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a brigadier general in the army. The 1915 graduate of West Point went on to become the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961.

This Week in History is researched and written by Frank Tomaino. E-mail him at ftomaino221@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Mohawk Valley History: Health workers, police officers honored