Who was Charlie Toombs?

A few years ago the local bank in Amenia, facing on the Fountain Square Veterans Memorial, came up with a promotion to attract new accounts. The plan was to give away hot dogs at lunchtime. The bank hired a Weenie Wagon, and unfortunately it was parked right in Fountain Square in front of the memorial plaques.

When several longtime residents of Amenia saw the intrusion of the lunch cart, they went into the bank to register their outrage and among their comments were, "What would Charlie Toombs think?" The response of a young teller was, "Who is Charlie Toombs?"

Lest we forget….

It was back in 1990 that local veterans, led by Charlie Toombs and Joe Piantino, announced plans for the new memorial park at the crossroads of Amenia. The centerpiece of the Amenia Veterans Memorial was the old stone horse trough, which for years sat at the intersection of state highway routes 22, 44 and 343. It had been found buried behind the highway garage in Wassaic. It was removed in the interest of traffic safety.

When it was initially installed in 1906, the pace of life was a bit slower. No cars, but instead horses and carriages were the mode of transportation. The fountain was important for watering the horses. It was donated by Mrs. Joseph Guernsey and dedicated by the Grand Army of the Republic in the memory of Joseph R. Guernsey, her husband, and a leading citizen of Amenia who had served as a physician in the Union Army during the Civil War.

A prime mover of the new Fountain Square Memorial, Charlie Toombs was commander of the American Legion Post 319. His organization, along with VFW Post 5444, raised some $50,000 to build the park, designed by architect Darlene Riemer.

Charlie was an Army veteran of the campaign in Northern France and the Rhineland in World War II, which left him with a limp.

Nevertheless, for years, as a veteran, Charlie led a crew of volunteers readying the park for Memorial Day ceremonies and tending the grounds until winterizing the fountain after Veterans’ Day in November. Charlie watched over Fountain Square year round, preventing vandalism and keeping the center of Amenia a showplace. He particularly loved the holiday festivities, when children filled the square with songs and decorated a town Christmas tree.

Charlie, a plumber, was married for 50 years to Betty Toombs, a neighborhood reporter for a local weekly newspaper. He died in 2000 at age 83. Despite his war injury, he served for a number of years with the Amenia Fire Company and the Dutchess County Auxiliary Police. Typical of Charlie’s patriotic spirit was the garden and flag pole he kept neatly groomed in front of his home at the junction of Randall Road and Benton Hill Road.