Anna Handler makes her BSO debut.
Hilary Scott
Anna Handler at Tanglewood.Hilary Scott
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Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
Nathan Miller
AMENIA — The Town of Amenia has recently announced several boards and committees needing volunteers to step up and apply. The principal requirement is that the applicant be a resident of Amenia.
Openings exist on the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, where alternates are needed. There are also anticipated openings on the Boards of Assessment, Ethics, the Recreation Commission, the Community Advisory Committee, Enhancement Committee, Wastewater Committee, Housing Board and Water Committee.
“Every year, as terms expire, it creates a vacancy,” explained Town Clerk Dawn Klingner, commenting on Tuesday, Oct. 21. She added that on occasion, a seated volunteer will step down, making a vacancy.
As a quorum is required to vote on agenda items, the absence of members impacts the work of that board or committee.
Seeing town service as a way to learn more about town governance, Klingner urged residents to become involved in what makes the town a community.
If interested, send resume and cover letter expressing interest to the Town Clerk at dmklingner@ameniany.gov. or mail to Town Clerk, Dawn Marie Klingner, 4988 Route 22 Amenia NY 12501. Application deadline is Nov. 13, 2025, at noon.
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Honoring courage, faith and righteousness in the lives of three whose earthly accomplishments have earned them recognition in stained glass, the newly-installed window panels at Grace Church were officially dedicated on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Photo by Leila Hawken
MILLBROOK — Grace Church in Millbrook was filled to capacity to observe the dedication of the new stained-glass window on the west façade on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Area clergy, parishioners and the community gathered to participate in the historic event, a ceremony led by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Calkins, Rector of Grace Church.
The new window honors the lives of three individuals — a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, a former First Lady, and a 15th-century English saint and mystic.
“What Johnson did was incredible,” said Gary Cifferi, member of the Charles Johnson Medal of Honor VFW Post 9008 of Millbrook.
“We always knew he was a hero,” said Johnson family member Edward Johnson Jr., representing the large contingent of family members present. Johnson noted that it had taken 70 years to recognize Charles Johnson’s extraordinary courage with the award of the Medal of Honor in a January 2025 ceremony at the White House led by former President Joseph Biden. He added that the family is thankful that his memory has been kept alive.
During his Korean War service in 1953, Pfc. Charles Johnson demonstrated extraordinary valor in saving the lives of 10 of his fellow soldiers, some with injuries, by drawing enemy fire. Placing himself in danger to save the men of his unit, he was killed.
The left panel of the new church window memorializes Johnson who is depicted standing in a barren landscape carrying a 17-year-old wounded infantryman to safety.
The right window panel of three honors the memory of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt whose life had brought her close to Millbrook, including her later years in Hyde Park.
The Right Rev. Alan Shin remembered Eleanor Roosevelt as “a person who fought for justice and equality for all people, a lifelong public advocate, embracing the humanity of all people.”
A panel of readers presented excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. Eleanor Roosevelt had been instrumental in its creation and adoption.
“A life of compassion and strength, a champion of human rights,” Shin described the life of the former First Lady, depicted in the window amid blue blooming flowers.
Rev. Shin recalled former First Lady Roosevelt’s words, “You must do the things you think you cannot do.”
“She found courage by being faithful,” Shin said.
Calkins recounted the lengthy process of creating the window. “We made many drawings. The window represents a balance in gender, with two lay heroes known locally, Pfc. Johnson and Eleanor Roosevelt.
The third panel honors Saint Julian, widely credited with having produced the oldest English-language work known to have been written by a woman, “Revelations of Divine Love.”
“Her story was all about love, a journey of faith,”Calkins said.
The three panels of the new window invite contemplation of courage, faith and righteousness, the overarching theme of the dedication ceremony.
“Let us all work toward more courage, faith and righteousness in the name of love,” Calkins said.
“We are thankful that the window project happened here and at this point in history,” said the Rt. Rev. Douglas Fisher, Bishop of Western Massachusetts, at close of the service. He had served Grace Church in Millbrook between 2000 and 2012, returning to take part in the event.
The new window was designed by artist Chris Duke Gerbi whose history with Grace Church spanned the 1980s and 1990s. She is now a resident of Corning, New York.
“I am proud to have been part of a project so hopeful, so life-giving,” she commented in the dedication bulletin.
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Rory Chase of Chaseholm Farm in Pine Plains was featured in Murphy Birdsall and Keith Reamer’s film “Our Farms, Our Farmers.”
Photo Provided
PINE PLAINS — Patrick Trettenero is making the final preparations for the Stissing Center’s upcoming Pine Plains Festival of Short Films, set for Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2.
Tickets are still on sale at thestissingcenter.org for $30 per night for adult tickets and $15 per night for student tickets.
The film festival is part of a fundraising effort to purchase film screening equipment for the Stissing Center, Executive Director Patrick Trettenero said.
Currently, the center shows films using a consumer-grade Epson digital projector and a makeshift screen. And although the auditorium’s loudspeaker system is professional, acoustics in the space are more suited for live musical performance than film, Trettenero said.
So he set out on a mission to upgrade, and started using his connections within the center’s Film Advisory Board and the northeast Dutchess County filmmaking community at large to assemble a lineup of films for a charity film fest.
The lineup is a veritable who’s-who of the local filmmaking scene, featuring 10 films by directors and animators from Pine Plains, Stanford, Ancramdale, Poughkeepsie, LaGrangeville and Pleasant Valley.
Filmmakers Murphy Birdsall and Keith Reamer co-directed “Our Farms, Our Farmers,” a documentary on three dairy farms in north Dutchess and south Columbia counties.
They said the project started out with simply filming local family farms for the Little Nine Partners Historical Society in Pine Plains.
“It was much more cut and dry,” Reamer said.
“But then it became a movie,” Birdsall followed.
The film follows life and work on three area farms — Chaseholm, Ronnybrook and Lo-Nan — showing three distinct approaches to the dairy business.
And the farmers got into the challenges they faced, Birdsall said, sometimes emphatically.
“Anything from the price of milk, which can be pretty brutal,” Reamer said, to the ever-expanding collection of milk and dairy alternatives offered at grocery stores.
Other films on the schedule include Brian Gersten’s “Hollywood’s Mermaid: The Esther Williams Story,” animated short “A Cow in the Sky” by C. Fraser Press and Darren Press, “Pete’s Jeeps” by Matt Bartolomeo, “Mr. Marty Pants” by Patrick Trettenero and others over the course of the two nights. Each showing will include a Q&A with the filmmakers.
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Joan Jardine
Oct 29, 2025
TORRINGTON — Joan Jardine, 90, of Mill Lane, passed away at home on Oct. 23, 2025. She was the loving wife of David Jardine.
Joan was born Aug. 9, 1935, in Throop, Pennsylvania, daughter of the late Joseph and Vera (Ezepchick) Zigmont.
Joan graduated from Harding High School.
She was a working artist for much of her adult life, starting her career studying plein air impressionist oil painting at the Cape Cod School of Art. Her work evolved to include a more representational style, and eventually a large body of abstract pieces. Her award-winning work has been shown in galleries and juried art shows throughout southern New England.
She is survived by her daughter Leslie and her husband George, brothers Joseph, Victor, and their families, nephews Gregory, Christopher, and their families, daughter-in- law Huong, and the extended Jardine family. She was predeceased by her son Douglas, and brother Michael.
A memorial service will be held at All Saints of America Orthodox Church, 313 Twin Lakes Road, Salisbury, Connecticut on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 10 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the All Saints of America Orthodox Church, PO Box 45, Salisbury, CT 06068.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
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