“I remember that corner table at Deanies, as you walked in the side door on Deming Street. On one side of it was a chair, on the other side was a phone booth. Dad would sit in the chair and Deanie, or Artie DiNapoli Sr., or Stubby Wolven (who both cooked at the place) would sit in the phone booth and he’d hold court. He picked up tabs there for people his whole life. You should see the amount of bad checks he took in, the people he loaned money to, those stories will never end.
“It was a great life. He lived life like he wanted to.”
Raise a glass to Joe Forno, and to a Woodstock that should always be remembered.
Only a fraction of the content from each issue of Woodstock Times is available to read online for free. To get it all, you'll need to subscribe. Learn more.
I remember Joe and the old Colonial Drugstore well, but most of all, this makes me think of my Uncle David, for whom the only Woodstock was the Woodstock of the 40s and 50s, and for whom Joe Forno was the center of that Woodstock.
Goodbye to a fine man and a great era.
I went before Joe when he was the judge in Woodstock (1954-1957) Court was held in the back of his Pharmacy . I had been caught driving without a license two days after I had taken my drivers test in Kingston, I was 17 years old at the time. He told me that if I passed the drivers test, all was well and there would be no fines or charges, but if I had failed the test, I was in trouble. A few days later I was happy to learn I had passed the drivers test. Joe handled the whole issue with fairness and compassion as he knew I was just a dumb kid, and he gave me a break.