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COOPERSTOWN BOYS SOCCER MAKES FINAL FOUR/Page 6
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Volume 15, No. 04
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE COMPLIMENTARY
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, November 10, 2022
Former CSC Director Honored Val Paige recognized for tenure of service, leadership in athletics By IAN KENYON
COOPERSTOWN
F Photo provided
Local Casts Vote for First Time By TED MEBUST
COOPERSTOWN
L
ocal hairdresser and caregiver Paula Rudloff voted for the first time on Tuesday after receiving her citizenship this past March. “I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes because I believe it’s so important to participate these days,” she said of the experience. The process of receiving her citizenship, she explained, took a long time, yet she loved studying and learning the necessary information. Paula and her husband, Geoffrey, have lived and worked in Cooperstown for 18 years. Together they have three children—Daniel, Michael and Stephanie— who are now all in college. Daniel studies at SUNY Oneonta, Michael at SUNY Buffalo and Stephanie at SUNY New Paltz. Along with her work, Paula is an avid volunteer around town. “I like to help people. It’s my joy to give to the community, and I’m thankful for the love and support I’ve received here,” she said. INSIDE ► Local filmMakers win top prize, page A2 ► glimmerglass film days luminosity exhibit, page A3 ► richfield springs moving forward with major progress, page A4
Photo by Ted Mebust
Val Paige receives the 2022 Patrick C. Fetterman Award from Jane Forbes Clark, president of The Clark Foundation.
among others. The Fetterman Award, presented each year in memory of longtime ACC Gymnasium Director Patrick C. Fetterman, recognizes individuals demonstrating a distinguished dedication to serving local youth in the area of athletics. Paige recalled the moment she learned she had been chosen as this year’s winner. “I was sitting in the office with [current CSC director] Brenda Wedderspoon-Gray. The sports center staff walked in and, unknown to me, they were this year’s award committee. Brenda then told me I would be honored this year and at that moment it hit me square in the heart. There really is no more elite group of people to be a part of.”
Through an annual presentation of the Fetterman Award by the Clark family, The Clark Foundation, and the CSC, recognition of honorees takes place amongst their family, friends, and members of the community. This year’s presentation was held on November 8 at The Otesaga Resort Hotel. During her tenure Paige experienced two major milestones in the sports center’s 130-year history, beginning with the transition from the ACC Gymnasium to the current facilities. Looking back, Paige noted the ACC Gymnasium’s initial core offerings: a small swimming pool, basic gym floor and a few squash courts. Regarding the move to the presentContinued on page 11
New York State Recognizes Otsego County Volunteerism By TED MEBUST
OTSEGO COUNTY
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tsego County residents Sheila Serbay ► what really happens to our and Neil Riddell recyclables?, page A4 were recognized by New ► Vertically integrated busi- York State’s Office for the nesses streamling their opera- Aging at a celebration of tions, page A5 Older New Yorkers’ Day on ► veterans get help transiNovember 4. The pair, along tioning with Boots to Business with 92 others from around Program, page A10 the state, received honors for their volunteerism and service to older adults in Follow Breaking News On their communities. “These are two individuals OTSEGO.com who unselfishly give up their time, resources, and skills in order to make someone else’s life a little better, and we are proud to have such
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or 45 years, Val Paige has been in the center of activity at the Clark Sports Center. Spanning a career that began within the walls of the Alfred Corning Clark Gymnasium—now home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s executive offices—and moved in 1986 to the CSC’s current home on Susquehanna Avenue, Paige’s story and that of the sports center are very much intertwined. “What we have in the Clark Sports Center and the role it serves in our community, it’s really so special and so amazing, and people really appreciate it,” Paige noted. A longtime member of the Clark Sports Center team, Paige began her CSC career as assistant aquatics director. She later served as the aquatics director, program director, associate director and, ultimately, as director of the sports center from 2012 to 2022. Paige has been named the 2022 Patrick C. Fetterman Award recipient and is the first post-pandemic honoree, following a two-year hiatus of the award’s bestowment. She joins an exclusive roster of honorees including previous winners Pete Henrici, John Lambert, Harold “Bud” Lippitt and Michael Perrino,
Photo provided
Photo provided
SHEILA SERBAY
NEIL RIDDELL
genuine volunteers representing Otsego County in this statewide recognition,” stated Tamie Reed, director at the Otsego County Office for the Aging.
Though Governor Hochul declared May as Older Americans Month earlier this year, the online ceremony—which heard remarks from New York
State Office for the Aging Director Greg Olsen—took place in November to dually acknowledge National Family Caregivers Month. Serbay, a Cooperstown resident, continues to teach her “Psychology of Adulthood and Aging” class at SUNY Oneonta despite challenges brought on by the pandemic. Originally created as a project for that class, she has been the organizer of a yearly event in collaboration with local businesses, college students, and the surrounding community which raises money for gift bags filled with blankets, hygiene products, gift
cards, and various foods intended for older adults in need. When the pandemic took away a large number of her students, Serbay coordinated the help of friends from around Otsego County to create masks for distribution to organizations serving those in need. “It’s nicer to give than receive,” Serbay expressed. In addition to such efforts, Serbay helped schedule vaccination appointments when they became available, for those lacking access to the necessary software. Serbay has lived in OtseContinued on page 11
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD