A feature interview with: CULLIE MOWERS,

PRIEST & ORGAN RESTORER

Paulette Likoudis

Christmas is perhaps the most prominent time of year for Cullie Mowerspipe organs to raise their voices to the heavens. Although not all pipe organs are found in churches, their vital role in sacred music throughout the ages is undeniable.

Built by the Caywood brothers and now the home of Harriet and Michael Eisman, located on a lane west of the Caywood railroad station, no longer standing. Persons pectured are believed to be Nivisons. (courtesy of Ruth Wagner)

Last Beach DayFifty years ago, millions had their prayers answered. In April 1955, it was announced that Dr. Jonas Salk had perfected a vaccine effective in preventing polio.

It was an important announcement. Polio (infantile paralysis) had crippled and killed thousands every summer. Fifty-eight thousand Americans – mostly children – contracted the disease in 1952. Of the 58,000, many never walked again, some were crippled for life and others died.

Play BallBy Paulette Likoudis

Documentation of the days when Lodi had a baseball field is hard to come by, but the memories of the players and the fans are as vivid as can be.

Fran Steverson (70) and Jim Covert (68) played ball on the Lodi town team when they were teenagers attending the Ovid Central School. The playing field was located in what is now a cornfield to the north of Alta Boyer’s home.

unknownSOFT MOMENT IN A HARD LIFE? This undated photo of an unidentified woman and her cat was among numerous photos found in a barn on the John C. Townsend farm, now the location of Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine on Rt. 414 at Upper Lake Road. Unlike most of the professionally produced, matted photos in the collection, this one was wrinkled and torn. Does anyone know who she is? (photo courtesy of Gayle Hatch) (featured on the cover of the Winter 2005 issue of The Rec

When Henry Budd Covert showed his prize Shropshire sheep at the New York State Fair in Syracuse he transported them on a train boxcar so they could travel comfortably.

Porter homeOne of three large houses built by James and Charles Caywood, around 1900, has been purchased and renovated by James and Patricia Pellegrini. Located at the corner of State Rt. 414 and Caywood Road, the house was home for Elmer J. Porter and his wife, Mary DeBuyscr Porter, and their family before it was sold to the Pellegrinis. The couple is set to open the doors of their home to bed and breakfast guests in March. The est

Covert CoonsA GOOD DAY’S HUNT – As fall settles in, hunters in this area still look forward to their sport. Around 1900, raccoons were hunted for their pelts, which could be turned into soft, warm coats. A 1907 edition of the New York Times advertised a “man’s raccoon automobile coat” for $47.50. Popular to this day, vintage raccoon coats sell from $500 to $1000.

John Walter Keady, Summer 2005 cover of the RecordSUMMER TIME AND THE LIVIN’ IS EASY… Some simple pleasures, like watermelon in summer, are universal. John Walter Keady, Jr. II is the third man from the left, in back row. Photo is believed to be from summer 1918, just before Keady left Lodi to become a soldier in WWI. Last fall, Kathleen Keady, daughter of John Walter Keady, III, contacted and visited the present owners of her great-grandparents’ home on Keady Road.

Vescelius Hall

Vescelius Hall was an imposing wooden structure that filled the northeast corner of Main & E. Seneca Streets in the village of Lodi. The lower level housed shops, the second story included a stage and space for social functions, and the third floor was reserved for Masonic activity. The grand building was destroyed by fire on Dec. 5, 1913, under suspicious circumstances. This image appeared on a postcard.

Jack Mulford's Cadillac

In Summer of 1985, Jack Mulford drove Rob & Laurie Curtin VanVleet from Lodi Station Road to their wedding reception at Wagner's Ginny Lee Cafe in his 1909 Cadillac.