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Amelia R. Wright
Oct 02, 2024
Falls Village – Amelia Rosalie (Betti) Wright, 91, of Falls Village died September 30, 2024 at her home surrounded by her loving family. She was the wife of the late Robert Kenneth Wright.
Amelia was born September 6, 1933 in Torrington, CT, daughter of the late Benjamin and Mary Eliza (Passini) Betti. Amelia worked at Camp Isabella Freedman as the Head Housekeeper. She was employed there for 35 years. She attended the Falls Village Congregational Church and had been very active at the Senior Center in Falls Village. She enjoyed collecting. She also enjoyed the craft classes offered by Adult Ed at the Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She enjoyed traveling, especially to the Cape, Vermont and New Hampshire. An avid flower person, Amelia had traveled to the major flower shows in both Boston and Philadelphia.
She is survived by her daughter, Susan Osborn and her husband David of Falls Village, her son, Robert H. Wright of Falls Village and her son, Donald Wright and his wife Kate of Millbrook, NY; her sister, MaryAnn Betti of Falls Village; her grandchildren, Benjamin and Katie Osborn and Jacob Wright. Amelia is also survived by her great grandson, Gunner Osborn. Amelia was predeceased by her brother, Donald Betti.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, 2024 in the Mountain View Cemetery, Sand Road, North Canaan, CT. Calling hours will be held at the Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home, 118 Main Street, North Canaan, CT 06018 on Friday, October 4, 2024 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Memorial donations may be sent to the Falls Village Volunteer Ambulance Association, 188 US-7 South, Falls Village, CT. 06031
State Representative Maria Horn (D-64) gave brief remarks Monday, Sept. 30 before she picked up the big scissors and cut the ribbon on a new group of affordable housing units built in Sarum Village in Salisbury.
Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — The third group of affordable housing units at Sarum Village is complete. There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday afternoon, Sept 30.
Sarum Village is owned by the private Salisbury Housing Committee, Inc. SHC Vice-President Jocelyn Ayer set the stage, noting that there are 204 households in Salisbury who pay 50% or more of their income for housing.
The median price of a home in Salisbury is $900,000, she continued, and 40% of the town’s housing stock consists of second homes.
Ayer said there were between 60 and 70 applications for the 10 new units.
She said the demand for affordable housing in Salisbury outstrips the supply.
State Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno praised the effort that went into building the new housing, and thanked U.S.Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who was standing nearby, for his help in securing federal funds.
The commissioner added that there is about $10 million in funding for affordable housing statewide.
Blumenthal said “You are making a statement in favor of a diverse and inclusive community,” and praised Mosquera-Bruno and Governor Ned Lamont (D) for being “aggressive” on housing issues.
State Representative Maria Horn (D-64), who handled the big scissors, said because there are so many local people involved, the new housing represents “the beating heart of Salisbury.”
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Haystack Festival returns to Norfolk
Oct 02, 2024
Now in its sixth year, the Haystack Book Festival brings together writers and thinkers in unmoderated conversation. Produced in conjunction with the Norfolk Foundation, whose mission is “to contribute to the vitality and sustainability of Norfolk, particularly in relation to the town’s natural setting and multiple artistic and cultural attractions,” the Haystack Book Festival takes place at the Norfolk Library. On Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m. the festival will have an event for middle grade readers at The HUB featuring Sarah Maslin Nir.
“We’re excited to be celebrating the sixth year of the festival. This year we have a great program discussing topics as wide ranging as ballet, interpreting the landscape, and looking at the horse as a treasured companion throughout history, along with other ideas that will be discussed on our stage,” says Michael Selleck co-director of the Haystack Book Festival.
On Friday, Oct. 4 the festival kicks off with Marina Harss, author of “The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet,” speaking with Mindy Aloff, author of “Why Dance Matters,” in a conversation called “Out of Steps” at 3:30 p.m.
At 5:30 p.m. Gillian Linden, granddaughter of Brendan Gill and author of “Negative Space: A Novel,” leads the “Brendan Gill Lecture.” Linden’s latest novel follows a week in the life of an English teacher at a New York private school. Linden received her MFA from Columbia University. She is a 2011 winner of the Henfield Prize for fiction. Her previous book — “Remember How I Told You I Love You?” — is a collection of short stories. An open reception will follow at The Manor House on 69 Maple Ave.
On Saturday, Oct. 5 at 10:30 a.m., best selling author Michael Korda, whose book “Muse of Fire: WWI as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets,” speaks with Simon Winchester, author of “Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic,” in a talk called “A Conversation About Wisdom and Memory.”
William Egginton, author of “The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality,” and Samuel Moyn, author of “Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times,” will be in a conversation called “Institutions and Ideas” at 1 p.m.
At 3 p.m., “Reading the Landscape: How Trees Tell a Story” features Mike Zarfos, Executive Director of Great Mountain Forest, speaking with conservation biologist Noah Charney, author of “These Trees Tell a Story: The Art of Reading Landscapes.”
“A Haystack Evening at the Art Barn” is a ticketed event Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. that allows patrons the opportunity to mingle with authors and friends while enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres with live music. Tickets are available online at www.norfolkfoundation.net/book-talks
Sunday, Oct. 6, at 8 a.m., attendees can take a walk in Great Mountain Forest with Noah Charney and Mike Zarfos. Attendance is limited to 20 people and registration is required. Location: TBA. Registrants will be notified.
Back at the Norfolk Library at 11 a.m., “Horses and Us: Treasured Companions and Engines of Power” is a conversation between David Chaffetz, author of “Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empire,” and Pulitzer Prize–nominated New York Times reporter Sarah Maslin Nir, the author of “Horse Crazy: The Story of a Woman and a World in Love with an Animal.”
At 1:30 p.m., kids can meet Sarah Maslin Nir at The Norfolk HUB, where she will talk to young readers about her series “Once Upon a Horse.” Nir will be giving out free copies of her latest novel in the series titled “The Star Horse.”
Together with co-director Steve Melville, former publishing executive Selleck and their hardworking committees are involved with selecting authors and putting the program together to make the Haystack Book Festival rich and intellectually stimulating.
“It’s about bringing great writers to Norfolk and exposing people to their work. We’re trying to create great conversations at the festival,” Selleck says.
The Haystack Book Festival is supported with donations from friends, sponsors, and partners including the Norfolk Foundation. For more information, see their website: www.norfolkfoundation.net
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The Hudson Valley Gospel Festival featured groups from across the region, including the Ulster County Mass Choir directed by Reverend Dennis Washington.
Provided
Arts Mid-Hudson presented the 5th annual Hudson Valley Gospel Festival Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 269 Mill Street in Poughkeepsie.
The First Congregational United Church of Christ was founded in 1837 as an anti-slavery church. It is a compassionate community with vibrant worship, and a deep-rooted commitment to social justice.
Audiences were treated to all varieties of gospel music. There was a procession into the church, a praise dance team who will lead the audience in a participatory dance, and an opportunity for the audience to sing along.
The evening featured the Hudson Valley Gospel Festival Choir directed by Dinesa Hansen and the Hudson Lily of the Valley Praise Dance Team led by Linda Molina. The mistress of ceremonies for the evening was Reverend Evelyn Clarke of New Progressive Baptist Church in Kingston.
Also performing wasthe Southern Dutchess Coalition Mass Choir, which was established in 1990 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Reverend Barbara Baker, of Springfield Baptist Church in Beacon, New York. Sharlene Stout is the choir director.
In addition, The Ulster County Mass Choir, a 25-member community choir, directed by Reverend Dennis Washington specializing in Gospel music, performed. Established in 1999, the choir started as the MLK Community Outreach Choir to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dennis Washington, who has directed the choir for 15 years, and shares these duties with Elder Albert Cook.
Folk Arts Program Manager Elinor Levy explained the festival’s origins.
“The Hudson Valley Gospel Festival began in 2020 as a joint project of the community, Dutchess Tourism and Arts Mid-Hudson. For the last four years, it has been a community project and Arts Mid-Hudson project. For many years in the 1980’s to the early 2000’s there was an annual gospel concert in December,” Levy stated. “The festival is produced by a committee of community members and myself with support of the Arts Mid-Hudson management and staff. Ray Watkins heads up the committee.”
Arts Mid-Hudson is a nonprofit arts service organization serving the Mid-Hudson region. Since 1964 their initiatives have engaged and promoted the arts benefiting artists, arts organizations, and communities. It also provides vision and leadership to support diverse arts in the Mid-Hudson region.
In addition, Arts Mid-Hudson researches the arts and traditions of the region’s rich cultural, ethnic, religious, and occupational heritages. Through educational and public programs like Kakizome and La Guelaguetza, the Folk Arts Program works with communities to share traditions. The program is open to ideas and suggestions about how to assist in celebrating the heritage of different communities residing in the Hudson Valley.
For more information about Arts Mid-Hudson, find Arts Mid-Hudson on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or sign up for the weekly E-newsletter at www.artsmidhudson.org, or call (845) 454-3222.
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