Since the untimely death of Lasher Funeral Home director Ken Peterson in May, the Woodstock business is still in operation by staff members Scott DiMicco and Ralph van Hoesen. Ken’s mother, Janet, and his brother, Carl, hope to sell the business to a qualified funeral director, although Carl remarked that no one could replace the historical perspective Ken brought to his work, with his lifelong knowledge of the community and its history.
He’s looking forward to sitting on the porch, gazing out at the Hudson ‘with a martini in one hand and chocolate in the other.’
In response to a growing outbreak of measles throughout New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley, which has recently expanded to include cases in Sullivan and Greene Counties, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan has directed Commissioner of Health Dr. Carol Smith to issue orders requiring measles vaccination or immunity for all campers and staff, except those with a valid medical exemption, who wish to attend or work at day or overnight camps in Ulster County.
Jim Starlin is one of the most important writers in the history of pop culture, but you likely don’t know his name. As a comics writer at Marvel in the 1970s, Starlin created Thanos, the villain who has supported the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, the cinematic juggernaut whose intricately-connected franchise movies have dominated international theaters for over a decade now.
“I haven’t experienced freedom in so long, my biggest fear is to have that taken away,” said Woodstocker Ryland Koller, who has been partially released from prison after doing eight years for robbing a heroin dealer in 2011. “I wake up in a cold sweat, thinking some technicality will come up, and I’ll have to go back in. Sleep has been elusive.”
“I’ve cooked better than I’ve ever done before, I’ve done everything I could possibly do…and now I want to start my culinary revolution. I’m so close to the trophy, I just need to grab on to it…”
Another popular swimming hole has fallen victim to an explosion in popularity through social media and travel websites, this time closing for good. The section of the Millstream just above the intersection where Millstream, Ohayo Mountain and Tannery Brook Roads meet, a popular summer spot for a century and more, also known to locals as Sully’s, has become too much to handle for its owners.
In the hamlet of Big Indian in Shandaken, the former Rudrananda ashram, a gathering place for idealistic young hippies in the late 1960s, has been coming back to life as a spiritual center since half the property was donated to the Bodhivastu Foundation for Enlightened Activity in 2014.
Woodstock honored its residents who have served and died in battle as the American Legion Post 1026 hosted the annual Memorial Day Parade, ending with a service at Woodstock Cemetery.
Woodstock Land Conservancy’s (WLC) ninth annual Vernal Fling, 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18 at the Byrdcliffe Barn, 485 Upper Byrdcliffe Road, Woodstock, honors Mike Hein, former Ulster County Executive, with the William R. Ginsberg Stewardship Award, in recognition of his significant achievements toward the protection and improvement of Ulster County’s environment.