3 new board members join Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum
Museum plans photography exhibit, dessert fundraiser in August
Provided photo: Pictured from left include Larry Grimes, Cheryl Giacherio and Dr. David Giacherrio.
Press Release, Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum President Chris Manaseri
POINT BREEZE – The Board of Trustees of the Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum expanded this month, adding three members from the community.
Larry Grimes, a life-long resident of Kenyonville, has been active as a docent at the OOLHM for several years. Cheryl Giacherio grew up spending her summers at her parents’ cottage near Point Breeze. Her husband, Dr. David Giacherrio, was both a practicing chemist at Kodak for many years, and a college teacher at Nazareth and at St. John Fisher.
The Giacherios reside in Rochester but summer at their Lake Ontario cottage. All three are active in the Oak Orchard Neighborhood Association, for which Dr. Giacherio acts as secretary.
The Board of Trustees for the Lighthouse Museum has been functioning since 2003 with the formation of the Lighthouse Committee, organized to raise funds for the construction of the replica which occurred in 2010.
Margaret “Peg” Wiley, the powerhouse behind the community project, served as the organization’s first president. Wiley will be honored with a plaque to be displayed on the Lighthouse at an Aug. 10 fundraising Dessert Buffet at the Carlton United Methodist Church on Archbald Road in Waterport, where Grimes is an elder and the kitchen master.
A first edition of this Dessert Buffet sold out last August when Susan Peterson spoke about her Lake Ontario sailing books. This year’s guest speaker is Roy Widrig, a geologist with the NYS Sea Grant Program who will address concerns specific to high water impacts at Oak Orchard and Point Breeze.
Tickets are $20 for the event and are available online at the Lighthouse website, at the lighthouse each weekend, and at the OONA Summer Concerts each Tuesday evening at the Orleans County Marine Park. Half of the ticket price is a tax-deductible donation to the Lighthouse, which is dependent on donations and gift shop sales to fund its open hours and programs.
The Lighthouse was also a recipient of a GO Art! regrant this year in support of a photography exhibit which will also take place at the Dessert Buffet on Aug. 10. Entries for the exhibit are open to amateur and professional photographers, and must be made through ShowSubmit.com (click here) by July 17. A portion of each entry fee also supports the lighthouse.
With its three new members, the Board is now 10 members strong. Vice President Larry Albanese and Treasurer Diane Blanchard are the senior members of the Board, having served on it since the early days of fundraising and grant writing that brought the lighthouse project to fruition in 2010.
Recently retired Albion teacher Dawn Squicciarini, daughter of the long-time and late president Dick Anderson, also has been part of the lighthouse for many years. Relative newcomers to the community, Ann and Ken Martin and Holly and Chris Manaseri, round out the Board membership.
The Lighthouse Museum is chartered by the NYS Education Department with a mission to educate the public and to preserve and interpret local history, particularly maritime history of the Oak Orchard communities along the lake and river.
The Board meets on the third Wednesday of each month from April through October, and as needed to maintain the building during the winter. The lighthouse is open to the public each weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day, thanks to a cadre of dedicated volunteer docents including several Board members, Paul Blake, Kim Charron, Sylvia Goodstine and Tracy Panczyszyn.
