Fathers Day, Allegany County Veterans, Genesee Valley Chorus, and more….
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
This weekend has two significant events, one of which fills my heart with joy and the other one that triggers mixed emotions.
I grew up without a father but since I had never known one, I didn’t have one to miss. From what I have learned about my biological father, I am better off without him in my life. Later in life having settled in on the Back River Road in Scio I was blessed by the presence of an “across the street neighbor” who stepped into my adult life and became somewhat of a surrogate father.
Charlie Young (pictured above on his tractor), despite working his farm and employed at Worthington-Dresser-Rand in Wellsville, always found time to share with me and also served as a surrogate grandfather to my children. Charlie would give the kids a ride on his horse leading it around the pasture. One day the air was quite “odorific” and daughter Kristin asked: What is that smell Mr. Young? Charlie replied: “That’s the smell of money Krissy.”
When our youngest son Shawn bagged his deer one hunting season Charlie helped him get it to the house, hang it to drain, and de-hide it. When Charlie butchered one of his beef-cattle we were the beneficiaries of hamburg, and steaks. When Charlie departed this earth, undoubtedly heaven bound, I tried to give a short eulogy at the funeral, but broke down sobbing unable to complete my words. With apologies to Charlies own actual offspring, I say “Happy Father’s Day” Charlie.
Having no previous childhood father experiences of my own I was kind of “winging it” parenting my own children. I was absent a good deal of the time in their earlier youth as I was occupied with teaching duties. In addition to my normal Alfred State College heavy teaching load I was very active with Industrial Training excursions representing Jamestown Community College (JCC) (including also the Olean JCC campus) and Corning Community College. My geographical range of teaching excursions stretched from Elmira to Jamestown and even down into Pennsylvania teaching classes for Goulds Pumps.
The Allegany County Veterans Agency under the direction of Mallory Short and Harold (Bobby) Budinger, has a couple of events on the horizon.
Veteran’s and their guests are invited and there is no payment fee required. All are welcome.
Jun 22 8:00 am Fly-In Breakfast, Veteran and Family Event
Jun 28 10:00 am Lunch at Alfred University
Jul 19 9:00 am Flight Experience, WWII C-27
Click on the hi-lighted link for access to additional information and details.
Here is another area activity that may be of interest. The Genesee Valley Chorus will present its Spring-Summer Concert at the Grace United Church on North Main Street in Wellsville, NY, June 14th as noted on the accompanying poster.
There will be a couple of additional venues for this concert presentation which I will summarize in a future notice posted in a Wrambling in the Wellsville Sun.
The chorus is under the direction of Matthew L. Purks-Morris and accompanied by Liz Crawford.
Watching a recent professional golf presentation prompted a recall of one such event, and one significant golfing experience held at the former Six S Golf Course. For those who knew or remember, Hole #13 was to an uphill green nestled in the woods, pretty much at the pinnacle of the course. Our second shot put us on the green but with a daunting 35-foot, 7-inch putt.
In that we were playing a “Scramble” format whereby each golfer on the team gets to play a shot or stroke depending on whether you are off or on the green. I didn’t want to go first so I let a teammate putt first hoping he would give me an idea of how the path to the hole would lead. A couple of the golfers before me came close but they didn’t make it into the hole. I stepped up and taking advantage of knowing how the ball was “going to break,” I tapped the putt above the hole and it broke just right and dropped in the cup. Since it was a tournament, and various prizes awarded, I won the plaque for “longest made putt.” Other contestants couldn’t believe it and asked how I knew exactly how far it was. I proudly explained that I carried a tape measure in my golf bag.
I (and hundreds of others) loved the old Sis S golf course and were broken-hearted when it was closed down. The property eventually was sold and is now a “solar panel” farm. I think I have written before of my efforts for some Allegany County entity to take it over and turn it into a state park or property similar to what the Pinnacle golf course in Addison is or was.
There are a couple of golf tourneys in my near future but hopes for one were dashed given the torrential rain downpouring of last weekend. My wife was concerned that I either couldn’t hit the ball, or would hurt myself given my recent neck and spine surgeries. I visited Serenity Hill in Friendship the other day and had no difficulty hitting the ball. Straight was a problem, but that’s pretty much the story of my game. My long drives leave a lot to be desired, but I have a good sense of feel for the “chips” or shots from in close. I have won the team some extra prize money a few times by “chipping” the ball into the hole giving us a rare “eagle” which is two times under par putt or shot for the hole.
I had another memory failing episode the other day/night. I have and wear contacts to enhance my long-distance viewing and to make it possible to read or work in closely within arm’s reach distances. I then take them out before I retire for the evening. The other morning, I put my contacts in and didn’t immediately sense a problem but as the minutes passed by my vision seemed to be not quite right. Thinking that perhaps the contact lenses had outlived their usefulness I decided to put in a new pair, and did. As the day went on my vision seemed to fluctuate. I thought that something might be off with the new pair. Upon removing the first lens It felt like I still had a contact in. It turns out that I did. I forgot to take my contacts out the night before and I ended up putting a new contact lens right over the old contact lens.
I will leave you with this Father’s Day Poem written for and about my mother.
