Friends, neighbors remember NECC co-founder Sam Busselle

MILLERTON — Sam Busselle’s half century of life and work in the Millerton community was celebrated on Sunday, Aug. 30, by friends, family members and colleagues who gathered to remember him as someone with boundless imagination and a relentless push to make the community a better place.

Busselle, who died on July 31 at the age of 86, was a Millerton resident for 50 years and cofounded with Wendy Curtis what became the North East Community Center, a nonprofit that addresses social service needs in the local community and northern Dutchess County.

“Because of him, Dutchess County’s a better place,” said Jenny Hansell, whom Busselle hired in 2001 to run NECC. “We had no staff. No programs. Busselle wanted programs for teenagers, the elderly, for transportation. My basic approach was to say ‘yes’ to everything,” she said.

“He always had another idea,” Hansell said, adding that his legacy — the NECC itself — will last beyond him.

Rebecca Busselle, Sam’s wife, said the sadness of his death is overcome by the knowledge of all the friends Sam had. “The love he spread around is coming back,” she said.

Busselle’s eldest son, Wynne Morriss, who described with some humor how his father taught him how to hitchhike, said “most importantly he told me to think about other people first.”

The gathering at Busselle’s home in North East also drew local and county politicians and civic leaders who recognized Busselle’s indomitable spirit and drive to address community problems, notably the need for affordable housing. In past years, Busselle served as a volunteer on the North East Town Board and on the Planning Board.

Former Pine Plains Town Supervisor Darrah Cloud recalled how he stopped into her office almost daily to urge her to take action on housing. “I realize now that you have to be a pain in the butt to get anything done,” she said, getting affirmative chuckles from the gathering, which was all too familiar with Busselle’s general refusal to take “no” for an answer.

Cloud pointed out that Busselle helped start the Tri-Town Coalition for affordable housing.

Chris Kennan, North East Supervisor, remarked that when he first took office Busselle demanded a meeting “to tell me what we needed to do.”

But family stories about how Busselle spent time with his children and grandchildren along with how he persisted in community improvement — including a three-year stint in the Peace Corps with Rebecca and the children in West Africa — created a broad-stroke portrait of family man with a developed public mission.

“He was game for whatever was going on,” said Don Cosentino, a UCLA professor emeritus who recalled Busselle from early Peace Corps days. “Always ready to jump in.”

Cosentino summed it up: “Architect, carpenter, devoted husband, fond father, community organizer, tireless reformer, country gentleman and city slicker. A man indeed of many ways.”