Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Firefighters are lined up for the Sept. 11, 2001 memorial observance on Monday evening at the Courthouse Square.

There were about 150 people at the 22^nd anniversary service. On September 11, 2001, terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others when four airplanes were hijacked and crashed – with two into the World Trade Center towers in new York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the other into a field in rural Shanksville, Pa.

In New York City, 343 firefighters were killed responding to assist people in the World Trade Center.

Members of the New York State Police, Orleans County Sheriff’s Office and Albion Police Department stand for the service.

There were 60 police officers killed in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

Orleans County Legislature Chairwoman Lynne Johnson said the United States was badly shaken from the terrorist attacks, which brought the country together in a spirit of sadness and patriotism. She said Sept. 11 remains “a day that forever changed our nation.”

“We must never forget those who died at the hands of undeniably ungodly evil people,” Johnson said. “And we must never forget how tens of thousands of first responders from across the country ran towards the danger to aid their fellow Americans at the Twin Towers, at the Pentagon, and the fields of Pennsylvania. The fateful events of that day forever changed our nation – and called on the bravery and selflessness of first responders as they faced unimaginable challenges.”

She said the terrorist attacks 22 years ago reshaped how Americans think of war and peace.

“Whether you lived the moments watching the horrors of that day, or if those who did have shared their own personal memories of that day with you, let us never to forget; never become complacent; and sadly never assume it will never happen again,” Johnson said.

James Hollinger of Albion was part of the Honor Guard at the service. A large American flag is in the background. It was draped high on Main Street from the Albion and Medina ladder trucks.

Carol Callina, a Navy veteran from Medina, plays Taps near the end of the half-hour service. She is on the steps of the County Clerks’ Building.

Scott Schmidt, the Orleans County chief coroner and a local funeral director, served as the keynote speaker at the observance. Schmidt spent three weeks with a federal team – U.S. Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) – and assisted in collecting and identifying remains, and interviewing family members searching for loved ones.

He left for New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He was there for 20 days, including a week at Ground Zero. Five of his colleagues on DMORT attended the service in Albion on Monday.

Schmidt said there have been 2,997 who were verified to have been killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Those people “are our brothers and sisters who were senselessly killed,” Schmidt said.

Many others have been afflicted from exposure to the dust from the collapse of the two World Trade Center buildings, Schmidt said.

He urged the crowd to reflect on the loss of life and the pain many people continue to experience from the attack. An airhorn was sounded from an Albion fire truck, which Schmidt said is sounded on a rescue call when firefighters are in danger and should evacuate from a burning building.

The sound of the airhorn “is a stark reminder that 2,997 is not just a number,” Schmidt said.

Other speakers included Don Snyder, chaplain for the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, and Justin Niederhofer, director of the Orleans County Emergency Management Agency.

Snyder encouraged the community to consider joining their local volunteer fire department and other service organizations.

Niederhofer shared a timeline from 22 years earlier. On Sept. 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., the North Tower was struck in New York City. At 9:03, a plane hit the South Tower. At 9:37, the Pentagon was struck. At 9:59 p.m., the South Tower fell. At 10:07 a.m., Flight 93 crashed in rural Shanksville, Pa. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed.

“We were attacked and wounded beyond belief but not beyond repair,” Niederhofer said.

Doug Egling, a musician from Albion, performed “God Bless America.”

A very large American flag was displayed high on Main Street from the Albion and Medina ladder trucks.

These firefighters work together to lower the flag and fold it.

Site also works with VA to offer telehealth pod for veterans

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Village of Albion Mayor Angel Javier helps Cassie Healy, director of Community Action’s Main Street Corner Thrift, Gifts and More Store and Community Action’s executive director Renee Hungerford cut the ribbon to celebrate the store’s new name and focus.

ALBION – This past weekend was a busy one for Community Action’s Main Street Store, now re-named the Main Street Corner Thrift, Gifts and More Store.

On Friday, the store welcomed Paul Galantowicz, facility Telehealth coordinator for the VA Western New York Healthcare System.

Galantowicz spent a couple of hours cooking hotdogs outside and offering them free to the public. It was Galantowicz’s aim to attract veterans to the store, where earlier in the year the VA announced placement of a telehealth pod in the store.

He said veterans have been slow to utilize the service, which the VA hoped would make it more convenient for veterans to communicate with the VA and eliminate long drives to the city. Veterans can sit privately in the pod and access their health records, communicate with medical people to schedule appointments and renew prescriptions.

The pod is one of only 14 in the country and two in New York state, the other being in Gowanda.

(Left) Cassie Healy, manager of the Main Street Corner Thrift. Gifts and More Store helps Adam Iaymon of Georgia with a purchase. Iaymon said he shops there often and likes the store. (Right) Paul Galantowicz, facility Telehealth coordinator for the VA Western New York Healthcare System, sits in the healthcare pod the VA has placed in Community Action’s Main Street Corner Thrift, Gifts and More Store.

On Saturday, Community Action cut a ribbon to celebrate the store’s new name and the launch of still more innovative new features at the store. Participating with store manager Cassie Healy and Community Action’s executive director Renee Hungerford was Albion Mayor Angel Javier.

“It’s amazing the assortment of things they have here,” Javier said. “They have just about anything anybody could possibly want.”

The name was changed to Main Street Corner Thrift, Gifts and More Store in an effort to better reflect all the store offers, Hungerford said. In addition to a wide selection of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, small household appliances, furniture, holiday decorations, gifts and toys, the store runs a credit recovery program for graduating students, a job development program, the veterans’ pod and prom dress giveaway program.

Healy said she is planning to expand the prom dress giveaway this year and will have a corner devoted to prom dresses.

Two new features are a Young Entrepreneur’s Corner and party rentals.

(Left) Abbie Worsley, 14, of Albion arranges her homemade magnets and sewing kits on the new Young Entrepreneurs’ Shelf at the Main Street Corner Thrift, Gifts and More Store. (Right) Kinzie Rinkner, 11, stands in front of the Young Entrepreneur’s Corner with one of her homemade soy candles.

The Young Entrepreneur’s Corner is designed to support young people with the ambition to run their own business, Healy said. The idea sprung from her own daughter, Kinzie Rinkner, 11, who makes soy candles. Hungerford donates the wax. Kinzie buys assorted glassware and containers from the thrift store and fills them with colorful wax.

Another young entrepreneur is Abbie Worsley, 14, of Albion who makes do-it-yourself magnets and sewing kits. She was busy on Saturday arranging her merchandise on the shelf.

Other budding entrepreneurs are invited to bring in their new ideas to sell.

“The purpose of the Young Entrepreneur’s program is to work with youth and show them how to run a business,” Healy said. “In return for selling their merchandise, we ask them for at least an hour a week of volunteer time here.”

During that time, the young people will help around the store and learn how to run a cash register and deal with customers.

Also new is a service renting party decorations and supplies, said Jackie Dunham, operations officer and overseer of the store. They will be renting tablecloths, decorations, glassware, silverware, centerpieces and candle holders.

“There are still lots of new ideas to come,” Hungerford added.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Taco Bell employees celebrate the opening of a new Taco Bell in Albion this morning. Ashlie Buzard, with scissors, is general manager for the new restaurant at 122 West Ave.

Autumn Zona, at left, is the assistant manager and Junior Morales, right, is a shift supervisor. They are among the 32 employees at the site, which is looking to add about 20 more workers.

The Taco Bell opened at 7 a.m. today. It starts at 7 every morning and is open until midnight from Sunday through Thursday, and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

The group cuts the ribbon on the new Taco Bell on Route 31 next to McDonalds.

Co-owners include Matt Prouty, fourth from left, and Wahid Akl, third from right. They are part of Hospitality Syracuse which now owns 106 Taco Bell restaurants.

Akl said many Albion and Orleans County residents asked for a Taco Bell in Albion when they visited nearby Taco Bells in Brockport and Batavia.

“A lot of people have been requesting we come to Albion,” Akl said just before a ribbon-cutting at about 10 a.m. “The community has been very welcoming.”

Many of the Albion employees received training at the taco Bells in Brockport and Batavia. They also worked Tuesday evening in a VIP celebration for employees and their families.

The Albion restaurant is led by Ashlie Buzard, the general manager. She also was the GM for the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Albion. When that site closed in May she reached out to Hospitality Syracuse.

She hired the team for the Taco Bell, which includes seven former employees of the KFC.

“I’m really excited to be here,” Buzard said after the ribbon-cutting. “We’re open early and we’re open late.”

Eileen Banker, chief of staff for Assemblyman Steve Hawley, presents a citation of congratulations to some of the Taco Bell team, including from left Janet Lalone, training manager; Marc Stout, area coach (district manager); and Ashlie Buzard, the general manager.

Matt Prouty, one of the co-owners, said he is grateful for a talented team of employees to open the new Taco Bell.

“We’ve had a ton of applications,” he said.

He encourages more people to apply for a job at the Taco Bell.

Hospitality Syracuse has three more Taco Bells under construction: on Mount Hope Avenue in Rochester, in Watertown and in Queensbury near Glens Falls.

The Albion site accepts mobile orders, and will soon offer DoorDash delivery.

Most of the customers are expected to use the drive through. There are also 46 seats to dine inside.

Taco Bell currently receives about 10 percent of orders through the mobile app as a company, and about 15 percent of its orders are delivered, a company representative said today.

The Albion location has four kiosks inside for people to place their orders and make their decisions without the pressure of standing in a line with other people, Prouty said.

Lalone, the training manager, said the tacos, burritos and other items on the menu are all made to order.

“There isn’t a microwave in the building,” she said. “Everything is made fresh. Nothing is pre-made.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The new Taco Bell is shown at about 6:50 a.m., 10 minutes before opening its doors to the community for the first time this morning.

The new 2,600-foot restaurant opened following about four months of construction.

Hospitality Syracuse is the developer for the project next to McDonalds and across from Freeze-Dry Foods.

Hospitality Syracuse will have a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. today.

These three Albion freshmen were among the first customers at the Taco Bell, stopping in before the start of the school year. They include from left: Ayden Coston, DeAvion Bloom and ChrisJen Winters.

Winters said he was ordering a Cravings Box and a Cinnabon coffee.

“We wanted to get the school year off to a good start,” Winters said.

Bloom said he often goes to the Taco Bell in Brockport and is glad to have the new place close to home.

Coston wanted to be among the first customers “just to show support.”

The three students are joined inside by Chris Quackenbush of Albion, who placed the first order: a Breakfast Box and Cinnabon coffee.

“I’m just glad there is something here that is good,” Quackenbush said.

Some other high school students also came in just before school, while the drive-through was also busy.

Isaac Sugar, 15, of Albion wanted to get a burrito before started his sophomore year at the Cornerstone Christian Academy.

Photos and information courtesy of Albion Central School

ALBION – The Albion school district invites the community to join in celebrating the opening of Spierdowis Field with a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the Purple Eagles’ home opener on Friday, Sept. 15. The district has replaced the grass surface with a new turf field.

The ceremony will take place before the game at 6:45 p.m., at the football stadium behind the District Office at 324 East Ave. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and parking will be available next to District Office.

“Celebrations like these reaffirm our dedication to investing in the success of our students and our community as a whole,” District Superintendent Mickey Edwards said. “We are excited to share the re-opening of Spierdowis Field with the Albion Community this fall.”

Provided photo

POINT BREEZE – Members of the Albion Class of 1949 celebrated their 74th anniversary reunion on Saturday at the Black North Inn.

Pictured from left, front row: Joan Sullivan Palacios and Lorraine Sledzik Fortune.

Back row: Joseph Ciarico, Betty Kirby Kenyon, Robert Paganelli, Ronald Miller, Gus Revelas, Ronald Ayrault and Dolores Chatfield Wolfe.

Cycling Without Age uses 3-wheeled bike to go at slow and steady pace

Photos by Tom Rivers: Susan Walders rides a tri-shaw bike down the sidewalk along East Avenue on Saturday. She practicing as a “pilot” with the new bike. She looks forward to soon giving senior citizens rides on the bike, which has space for two people in front. There will be a demonstration at Bullard Park this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for people to try out the bike as either pilots or riders.

ALBION – Susan Walders is eager to take local senior citizens out for a bike ride.

Walders pushed to create a chapter of Cycling Without Age in Orleans County and the group’s new tri-shaw, a 3-wheeled bike, arrived after being shipped from Denmark.

The bike has a padded seat in front for two people. The “pilot” pedals in back on the electric bike. Walders has been practicing as a pilot since the tri-shaw arrived about two weeks ago.

Susan Walders pushed to open a chapter of Cycling Without Age in Orleans County. She wants to make the cycle available to residents at nursing homes, assisted care sites and other care facilities, including those with developmental disabilities.

There will be a demonstration this Sunday, Sept. 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bullard Park in Albion for people to get rides or to be pilots.

Walders and Cycling Without Age want to make the bike available to residents at nursing homes, assisted care facilities and other “care” sites, including those serving people with disabilities.

The launch party at Bullard will offer rides about every 15 minutes. It takes about 6 to 8 minutes to complete the crusher-run walking/jogging trail at the park.

“We want to show people what this is all about,” Walders said on Saturday at Bullard.

She has been training on the bike to build up her endurance and get comfortable with maneuvering it. She said it is very sturdy. The goal is to go on slow rides so the seniors and other passengers can enjoy the scenery.

“We want to get people out of their rooms and into the community and nature,” Walders said. “They can feel the wind in their hair. Getting outside on this bike will improve mood and socialability.”

Walders, 57, lives in Albion. She is a customer service representative for Yahoo! in Lockport, although she is able to work from home.

Her mother, Janet Ridley, is a resident at The Willows, an assisted care residence in Medina. Walders said she was researching ways to enrich her mother’s life as a resident of a care facility. A Facebook page popped up about Cycling Without Age.

Walders was intrigued by the group which started in 2012 by Ole Kassow in Copenhagen, Denmark. His focus was to get elderly and disabled people out for bike rides that are free. Kassow wanted people to feel less lonely and build a bridge between generations.

The organization has grown to chapters in more than 40 countries. The chapter in Orleans County is the first in Western New York. (Click here to see a map and information about the chapters in the United States.)

Susan Walders said the electric bike is pretty easy to maneuver. She welcomes more volunteers to be “pilots” to pedal and steer the bike.

Walders started working on forming a chapter about 18 months ago. The group has a board of directors.

The process went faster than she expected due to a donation from the First United Methodist Church of Albion.

The bike cost $12,000, with $2,500 to have it shipped. There also were legal fees to form the organization and insurance to offer the service. Walders said the United Methodist congregation agreed to cover the bulk of those expenses. Walders also secured other donations and sold items that she crocheted and knitted.

“We wouldn’t be here without the First United Methodist Church,” she said.

Now she needs people willing to be given rides, and pilots to do the pedaling. That’s why Cycling Without Age will be doing the launch arty and demonstration at Bullard on Sunday.

“This might be our first bike because I really want this to grow,” Walders said. “We could do group rides in the future.”

She said the tri-shaw could be taking to care facilities, or residents could be brought to a location with a safe path to go biking. Walders really likes the canal towpath as an option. The route could include a stop to get ice cream.

 Cycling Without Age may set up a rotating schedule for residents in the local care sites. She said she may also take the bike to other nearby counties if there is a demand.

The bike was made by Copenhagen Cycles in Denmark. It was shipped to Lake Breeze Bicycle in Lyndonville, where it was assembled and inspected. Walders and Cycling Without Age have had the bike for about a week.

“I can’t wait to give my mom a ride on this and some of her friends,” Walders said.

For more information, check the Facebook page for Cycling Without Age in Orleans County or the group’s website (click here).

ALBION – Village of Albion officials want to pursue a $4.5 million Forward NY grant that would help revitalize the downtown in a program that aims to support a vibrant and year-round economy.

The village has scheduled meetings for 6 p.m. on Sept. 5 and Sept. 12 at the Village Hall, 35-37 East Bank St.

The village is working with its grant writer, G & G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing, to determine if there is enough interest and potential projects for the grant.

The village and G & G want to hear from businesses, cultural organizations, developers, non-profit organizations and landowners.

Potential projects could include:

• new construction (residential, mixed use, hotel, etc.)
• renovation of existing buildings
• facade improvements
• renovation of new retail, office, co-working, commercial, industrial, recreational or cultural use

For more information, contact the village’s grantwriter at info@ggprocess.com.

The Village of Medina was awarded the $4.5 Forward NY grant in February and has a committee working to identify projects for the funding, with the state to the give a final review of the projects.

The Forward NY grants were added by the state last year and are modelled after the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The DRI grants tended to go to cities. The state added the Forward NY program to include more villages and help those smaller municipalities move forward projects in the downtown areas and near the waterfront.

The Albion summer concert series concludes this evening with the Geneseo Wind Quintet.

The performance has been moved from the amphitheater at Bullard Park to the Albion Town Hall on Clarendon Road due to a forecast of windy weather. The concert starts at 6 p.m.

Members of the Quintet include: Angela McBrearty on Flute, Megan Kyle on Oboe, Andrew Brown on Clarinet, Martha Sholl on Bassoon, and Nathan Ukens on French Horn;

All are faculty members of the music department at SUNY Geneseo. Kyle, Brown, Sholl and Ukens are all members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

The Quintet will be playing pieces by Piazzolla, Sweelinck, Resphigi, Ibert and Musczinski.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans County Historian Catherine Cooper leads a tour of old St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Sunday evening in Albion. Here she stops at the gravesites for the Spada family.

Francesco Spada (1864-1933) and Melania Spada (1871-1951) had 12 children, but only six survived. One of their sons, Peter (Pietro) died in 1907 after jumping off a canal bridge. The loss of their teen-age son devastated Francesco, a quarryman, who made the grave marker out of Medina sandstone. He poured his grief and love into the grave marker.

Francesco later contracted polio, Cooper said.

He came to Orleans County from Alfedena, Italy, a community where many of the quarry artisans lived before coming to work in the Medina sandstone quarries.

Catherine Cooper and a group of about 50 people on the tour are near the entrance of St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Brown Road. The 3-acre cemetery opened in 1873 and has about 1,500 burials.

It closed in the early 1920s when the Catholics opened a new St. Joseph’s cemetery on Route 31. There have been burials in the older cemetery in recent years at some of the family plots.

Catherine Cooper shows the grave stone for Patrick McCabe, an Irish immigrant who died at age 75 in 1874.

St. Joseph’s is the final resting place for many Italian, Irish, German and Polish immigrants who were Catholics.

The cemetery was also known as “Holy Cross Cemetery.” Many of the gravestones have crosses carved in the stone or prominently featured at the top of the grave markers.

Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County historian, noted that many of the gravestones and monuments were made of Medina sandstone. That differs from the sites at Mount Albion Cemetery, where granite and other stone were more sought after. Those families didn’t want a common stone, often used for curbs and street pavers, for grave monuments.

But at St. Joseph’s, where many of the immigrants worked in the quarries, they wanted the Medina sandstone. That stone is what sustained many families in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Bill Lattin said many of the symbols and images carved into the stone are great examples of folk art. These hands, a man’s at right and woman’s at left, are on a monument written in Italian.

A statue of Mary is set on a big base of Medina sandstone. Two of the statues at the cemetery used to be down the street at the former St. Mary’s Catholic Church. They were moved after the church was closed by the Catholic Diocese in 2007.

Catherine Cooper stops by the grave for Civil War veteran John Frost. A new headstone for Frost was unveiled in 2016 as a project by Albion seventh-graders and former County Historian Matt Ballard.

A review of cemetery records showed Frost did not have a headstone. Frost was a principal musician (chief bugler) for the 33rd New York Infantry and also the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division of 6th Corps.

The seventh-graders worked with the Veterans Service Agency in Orleans and Niagara counties to secure a headstone for Frost. The marble stone was unveiled on April 30, 2016 during a service at the cemetery.

Frost was born in England on June 22, 1836. At age 13 he left for the United States with his father John and brother Edward on the Northumberland. They arrived in New York City on April 18, 1850 and moved to South Barre. In 1860, Frost was working as a farmer. He enlisted in the Union Army in his mid-20s and served three years.

Frost had the rank of musician, which was just below corporal and just above private. In the Civil War, musicians were relied upon to entertain troops, position troops in battle and stir them on to victory.

Frost, according to the 1880 Census, was married to Margaret Cusack and had five children, ages 14, 11, 9, 6 and 4.

The tour at St. Joseph’s was part of Sunday evening cemetery tours this month, a series planned by the Orleans County Historical Association. The final tour is this Sunday at 6 p.m. at Boxwood Cemetery in Medina. Todd Bensley, the Medina historian, is leading the tour.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Betty Sue Miller, the Hoag Library director, gives blood last Dec. 17 during a blood drive at the library. It was her first time giving blood. Her husband Fred Miller has given more than 20 gallons over several decades.

Press Release, Hoag Library

ALBION – Hoag Library will host a community blood drive with the American Red Cross this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 134 South Main St.

“Hosting a blood drive coincides with Hoag Library’s core values of giving back to the community,” said Betty Sue Miller, library director. “With a simple blood donation, we have the ability to help save the life of someone who could be a coworker, loved one or neighbor.”

Blood is routinely transfused to patients with cancer and other diseases, premature babies, organ transplant recipients and trauma victims, according to the Red Cross.

Donors of all blood types are needed, especially those with types O negative, B negative and A negative. According to the Red Cross, type O negative is the universal blood type that can be safely transfused to anyone, and is often used to treat trauma patients.

For more information or to make an appointment to donate, click here for more information.

Press Release, Albion Central School

ALBION – The Albion school district will be offering free breakfast and lunch for all students throughout the 2023-24 academic year.

As part of the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, each student grades K-12 will be offered a free breakfast and lunch every day.

“We are proud to announce that Albion Central School District will be offering all of our students two free meals a day,” said Mickey Edwards, superintendent of Albion Central School. “It is important that when our students enter their classroom they are ready to learn and that starts with a full belly at the beginning of the day. The more we can set them [our students] up for success, the better.”

In order to continue this wonderful program for our entire district, it is extremely important that families who meet the income eligibility guidelines complete the Household Income Eligibility Form (click here).

The completed applications should be returned to:

1. Mail to: Albion CSD Re: CEP Form 324 East Avenue, Albion, NY 14411

2. Fax: 585-589-2059

3. Email: kmcgaffick@albionk12.org

We are excited to be able to provide this opportunity to our students and their families.

Please contact Katie McGaffick at (585) 589-2056 with any questions.

This evening’s tour features the old St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Brown Road

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Sue Starkweather Miller, the Village of Albion historian, speaks during last Sunday’s tour of Mount Albion Cemetery.

She is at the grave of Elizabeth Babcock, who made about 100 Santa suits a year as owner of the Santa Claus Suit and Equipment Company. She made the suits for many years with the late Charles Howard, who established a Santa School and later Christmas Park in Albion.

Babcock died in 2006 and is a member of the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame.

She was included in last week’s tour of Mount Albion. The Orleans County Historical Association is planning different cemetery tours each Sunday evening in August, beginning at 6 p.m.

The first tour on Aug. 6 was at Hillside Cemetery and was led by Melissa Ierlan, the Clarendon town historian.

The remaining schedule includes:

• August 20 (today): Old St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Brown Road, Gaines – Presented by Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian.
• August 27: Boxwood Cemetery, North Gravel Road, Medina – Presented by Todd Bensley, Village of Medina Historian.

About 60 people attended the tour at Mount Albion, which was led by Starkweather Miller and Bill Lattin, the retired county historian.

Here they are shown at the grave of Lansing Bailey, a pioneer resident of Orleans County. Bailey owned 268 acres and survived malaria and encounters with bears.

Bill Lattin speaks at monument for the Whitmore family. It has oaks and acorns, which are symbols for strength and endurance.

Some of the stops on the tour included:

• Alice Wilson, who was murdered by her husband, George in 1887. He was the only man executed in Orleans County. He was hanged outside the courthouse in 1888.
• Jennie King, she wrote for local journalism for 68 years with the Orleans Republican as a printer and editor an then the Albion Advertiser as an editor.
• Weston Wetherbee, Orleans County sheriff and amateur astronomer.
• Chester Bartlett – Sheriff during the arrest and trial of Charles Stielow, accused and convicted of a double murder in Shelby. He was found innocent in a landmark case showing ballistic forensics.
• Skinner/Harding trolley accident – a tragedy for two families when their car is hit by a trolley on March 7, 1915 and four children perish on their way home from Sunday School. Alfred Skinner was driving a Cole automobile when a passenger trolley came around a curve and struck the vehicle, killing Mildred and Helen Skinner, and Marion and Herschel Harding. Mr. Skinner and one of his daughters survived the accident.
• Emily Pullman, sister of railroad tycoon George Pullman, she married a doctor William Fluhrer, who invented a device to remove bullets from the brain.
• Stuart John Flintham, whose egg collection is on display at Hoag Library, was a distinguished forester, and was the first head forester, fire warden and fish & game for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He died fighting a fire in 1925.