![Remembering Katharine Coon Dunlop: Amenia’s stylish go-getter and wonderful girl](https://millertonnews.com/media-library/this-photo-of-katharine-coon-dunlop-was-used-on-the-cover-of-the-service-bulletin-for-her-funeral-having-been-chosen-by-kathari.jpg?id=48208668&width=980&quality=90)
This photo of Katharine Coon Dunlop was used on the cover of the service bulletin for her funeral, having been chosen by Katharine’s son, Robert. Dunlop passed away on Monday, Aug. 22, at the age of 87. Photo submitted
AMENIA — Having touched innumerable lives during her 87 years, Katharine Coon Dunlop left a positive impression on those who knew her, all witnesses to her steadfast belief in community betterment and just plain getting things done. Known by most everyone in the area, Katharine died on Monday, Aug. 22.
Her funeral was held on Saturday, Aug. 27, filling Smithfield Church in Amenia to capacity in remembrance and celebration of her life and dedication to her community. A successful Realtor for 50 years, friends noted that she had often sold the same home to successive new owners over the course of her career.
“Katharine was known by everyone and everyone loved her,” Smithfield’s Pastor Douglas Grandgeorge said. “I have known Katharine for 14 years, and we have never had an argument.”
Grandgeorge noted that this was in spite of acknowledged distinct political differences.
“We had so much respect for one another. On my first Easter Sunday at Smithfield,” he noted and in keeping with the Midwestern Easter heritage of his youth, “I was wearing light colors.”
Katharine approached him to say, “In this part of the world, we wait until Memorial Day.”
“I’ve waited until Memorial Day ever since,” he said.
Katharine was a regular at Troutbeck in Amenia, Jim Flaherty recalled, when he and partner Bob Skibsted re-opened Troutbeck following extensive restoration 43 years ago. It would quickly become a preeminent conference center and retreat.
“She arrived within the first five minutes of our opening and we became friends in the first hour,” Flaherty reported. It was a friendship that lasted.
“She was, no she ‘is’ a great lady, not just in real estate, but also in local and national politics,” Flaherty said, promising to make her a “Bloody Mary” (her favorite) annually on her birthday.
“Kathy and I laughed a lot,” he added.
“Some people are here in church because of Katharine,” said Smithfield Choir Director Denise Jordan Finley.
“So, we can add evangelist to her accomplishments,” Grandgeorge interjected.
Realtor Robert Riemer, who knew her for 50 years, recalled meeting Katharine at the old DeLavergne Farms Hotel in Amenia. As a schoolteacher he was doing photography on the side, because in those days, teachers were not paid during summers.
Katharine was teaching third grade at that point and was a wedding guest at the hotel when she spotted Riemer and his camera. She asked him to take a photo of her with her young son, Bobby, both seated in a wingback chair.
Riemer made regular use of the dark room at the school to develop his film, enabling him to present her with the black and white photo.
Moving the story to the present day, Riemer recalled that two or three years ago, Katharine asked whether he could provide her with another copy of that photo.
Riemer recalled that Katharine ran for and was elected to the Amenia Town Board in the 1980s and was instrumental in moving ideas forward. For example, she was a proponent of the idea of converting the old school to what is now the Town Hall, and she was an important supporter of the Amenia Fire Company.
Riemer said that he went on to work part-time for Katharine summers as a real estate agent, when her office had six agents.
“Katharine was not one ever to give up,” Riemer said.
Carol Coon described Katharine as “bold and outspoken.”
Katharine’s niece, Sheila Hewitt, described her as “stylish and fashionable,” seldom without a hat and beads, and always with her hair done.
Kevin McEneaney, clerk of Smithfield’s Council, said, “Katharine was the most optimistic person I ever met,” citing her “can-do” spirit in all things. She served on the church’s governing body for two decades.
Darlene Riemer said, “Katharine could argue with you and still say it with a smile.”
She remembered Katharine’s organizing and assembling the volunteers for the annual Christmas Tea, now a community tradition.
Longtime Amenia dairy farmer Joe McEnroe went through four years of Amenia High School with Katharine.
“She was a wonderful girl,” he said. “I have a lot of fond memories.”
“An awesome mother,” her son Robert said.
Amenia resident Dan Brown called her “a cornerstone of Smithfield Valley, like a big sister to me.” He noted her 20 years of service on the town’s Republican Committee for Ward 1. She was consistently elected to the committee except for one election on a Tuesday, when Brown’s broken fan belt disabled his car in New York City. His wife, Nancy, and he were unable to drive to Amenia to cast their two votes for Katharine. She lost that election by one vote but won by wider margins in other elections that were to follow.
Katharine served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1985 and attended the Inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, earning a box seat for the big parade and even attending the Inaugural Ball.
“She was a go-getter,” said Jim Murphy of Pine Plains, a friend of 30 years, adding “and how she loved her grandkids.”
Considering their grandmother, those “grandkids” Colby and Mackenzie Dunlop and Kaiden O’Brien agreed on descriptors such as “extremely supportive, helpful, very nice and very loving.”
Although now beyond the reach of mortal touch and sight, her life dedicated to service will be remembered with love by her vast and grateful Amenia community.
Maxon Mills in Wassaic hosted a majority of the events of the local Upstate Art Weekend events in the community.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene during the Garden Tour in Amenia.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else. I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and
Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.