Veden captures more Falls Village stories in 39th film

FALLS VILLAGE — Local filmmaker Eric Veden has released Episode 39 of his video series documenting the people and everyday life of Falls Village.

Veden began the series in 2000, combining interviews with residents and footage of community events to create an ongoing record of the town’s people, history, businesses and traditions.

The latest episode opens with Gail Sinclair, who recalls first meeting her husband on a Windjammer cruise off Miami in 1964.

The native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, soon found herself married and living in Falls Village.

“I was a city girl. I knew nothing about the country.”

With two children at Lee H. Kellogg School, she decided to get involved with their education and wound up as president of the Parent-Teacher Organization.

Her husband, Sheldon, was a merchant mariner and away for two months at a time. When he was home, he developed an interest in beekeeping, so Gail had to learn it too.

The focus then shifts to Feather Blass, who says she comes from a long line of artists and artisans: blacksmiths, photographers, woodworkers and painters.

“I like to learn a little bit of everything and use all these skills.”

She runs One Tiny Light studio on Music Mountain Road. “I can make anything you have in mind, or help you make it.”

A quick tour of the studio reveals kilns, vises, table saws and torches, all of which she seems at ease with.

Next, highway foreman Tim Downs reflects on his life and work in Falls Village, beginning with buying a house in 1989.

“My wife and I bought the house. Then we got married.”

He worked in a machine shop until December 2003, when he became the town’s highway foreman.

Drawing on the knowledge of his predecessors, he learned the seasonal duties of the road crew in a snowy town with 30 miles of town roads.

In winter, the crew can’t do much road repair, so they focus on equipment maintenance.

“And we wait for it to snow.”