603 Route 32

I knew a number of American Indians around the country. One in particular rented a house on route 32 in the town of Esopus. Sunday mornings I visited with John Devol for a coffee klatch. John was of the Narragansett tribe, originally in Rhode Island.  One Sunday morning I arrived to find a for sale sign on the door. The house was owned by a Burt Van Kleek. I called Burt and we negotiated a price of $19,000. A closing date was set for April 21, 1977 by our Lawyer Norman Keller. At the closing I paid Burt $5000 and took a bank mortgage for $14,000.

Twenty-one years later as I write this book, I revel in the comfort this house has given us.

It is mortgage-free. We have replaced the roof, siding, furnace, water pump and septic tank. We've installed a water heater and water softener and a driveway; anything a 78 year old couple does not want to trouble them. Credit must be given to Bruv Hoisington. Without his need, we might not have ventured into ownership.

On April 24th a group of friends brought their trucks to Rosendale to move us to the new home. Previously we had separated and packed every thing by individual rooms.

I was sent to the new house (by Scharmer) to direct the room setups. Wilma stayed at Rosendale to be sure things were loaded on the trucks in their proper order. The move was started at 10 o'clock and was completed by noon. From then on it was one great party. Much thanks to;

The Coogans, Ed ,Emily, Butch, Kay, Debra and Kathleen;

The Cullens, Dawn, Sue, Mike, Tom and Krissy

Ed Scharmer, Nick Ditmar, Walt Carr, Floyd Craig and The Ronks

Al, Joanne and Mike Heinitz

Billy and Linda Liggan.

The women helped put up all the curtains and set out a buffet for the hungry group. A quarter keg of beer was a bit too much to finish, but we tried.

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