Lake Huntington News

Posted 8/21/12

My column this week is dedicated to the original writer of this column, Ethel Hulse, who passed away on October 9 (see death notice, p. 8). She wrote Lake Huntington News for many years before I took …

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Lake Huntington News

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My column this week is dedicated to the original writer of this column, Ethel Hulse, who passed away on October 9 (see death notice, p. 8). She wrote Lake Huntington News for many years before I took over writing the column in late 2012.

Did you know that Ethel was the last of the founding members of The Women’s Community Club of Cochecton (WCCC)? She was a member for 60 years. As I was sitting at Ethel’s wake, I looked around to see all who came out to show their respect. What really impressed me the most was that I saw all the business owners of Gasko & Meyer, American Electric, Cochecton Oil, Cochecton Mills, Mountain View Day Spa, Pierpoint Heating and Plumbing and Esselman Paving—and I was there only for an hour and a half that night.

Judge Bob Meyers and his wife Kathy and Sullivan County DA Jim Farrell were also there. I was thinking, “Wow, Ethel was really well respected and loved.” I looked behind me and saw that Pat Voges and his wife Pat came all the way up from Long Island. When I asked him, “Did you come up just for this,” Pat’s answers was, “Why not, it’s for Ethel.”

In front of me was Terry Davidson, who was there during the day and that night and for mass the next day. He was choked up when he said, “Ethel is a big part of my life. I spent many a day at Pete’s Pub with Ethel; she is now up in heaven with Pete and Anita.”

I remember going to ambulance meetings and Ethel would be there, ready to go on calls and help out the community. I first heard about Ethel’s passing on Facebook. I e-mailed Supervisor Gary Maas to get more information, and Gary said to me, “Did you know that Ethel was a town board member for 20 years?”

One thing I always remembered about Ethel is that her nails were always polished. When I went up to the casket, that is the first thing I looked at. Ethel, your nails looked great. As I was talking to her, I asked her to not start in on my husband Tommy—she loved to get his goat. Funny, they both had the 23rd Psalm on their mass cards.

My heart and prayers go out to her daughters Gloria, Nancy and Karen, all her grandchildren and great-grand kids. Cochecton will not be the same; we lost a good one. As Ethel would say in her column, “A good time was had by all.”

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