Preschool teacher honored for service

PINE PLAINS — Marylyn Schmidt was honored last Saturday, Oct. 3, for well over 30 years of service as a teacher for the Pine Plains Pre-School.

The Backyard Garden hosted the party for Schmidt, who retired over the summer.

Donna Hill, who worked with Schmidt for 22 years at the school, said that the retiree was “compassionate, loving and very nurturing� to all the students who made their way through the program over the years.

“She brought a lot of love to the school,� Hill said.

“I was very fortunate to have a job that I loved,� Schmidt told the audience gathered around her. “I left the house every day and went to have fun.�

Because of her long tenure at the cooperative school, Schmidt in recent years found herself teaching the children of children she taught in earlier years, reaching across several generations of the community.

“I always enjoyed interacting with the children,� she added. “And I’d like to thank everyone for being so supportive to me and my assistants. The school is a cooperative, so the parents were always there for us.�

Ruth Thomas is the new preschool teacher for the Pine Plains Pre-School, which is heading into another year. And as for Schmidt, there will be plenty to keep her occupied.

“We just bought a new house, so that should keep me busy for a while,â€� she said, without eliminating the possibility of returning to the school for some special visits. She added that being in a close-knit community like Pine Plains  leaves plenty of options open.

“It’s definitely nice living in the same town,� she said smiling.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less