MILLBROOK — By all accounts, Army 1st Lt. Andrew Doro was an ideal choice to receive the honor of being remembered at the first-ever Honor-a-Veteran program sponsored by the Dutchess County Office of Veterans’ Affairs, a ceremony held at Village Hall on Thursday, April 17. The event drew a gathering of nearly 100 veterans, friends and area residents.
The solemn event was the first of what will be monthly Honor-a-Veteran ceremonies throughout the county sponsored by the Veterans’ Affairs office.
Andrew Doro, father of Millbrook’s Mayor Peter Doro, was born in the Bronx in 1945. He earned the rank of First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served with valor during the Vietnam War, receiving the Silver Star and a Purple Heart.
A large representation of Dutchess County officials and veterans’ organizations attended the historic Honor-a-Veteran program at Village Hall on Thursday, April 18, honoring the memory and service of Army 1st Lt. Andrew Doro, who served with valor in the Vietnam War.Photo By Leila Hawken
Following Doro’s service he went on to become an entrepreneur and local educator, fondly remembered by his students, some of whom were in the audience.
The ceremony was attended by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Color Guard and included presentation of several commemorative items, accepted by Millbrook Mayor Doro on behalf of his family.
Also attending the ceremony was County Executive Sue Serino, who presented an official proclamation and a U.S. flag flown for 30 days in Doro’s honor.
Millbrook Mayor Peter Doro spoke at the first-ever Honor-a-Veteran ceremony sponsored by the Dutchess County Office of Veterans Affairs. The ceremony, held at Village Hall on Thursday, April 18, honored the memory and valor of Doro’s father, Army First Lieutenant Andrew Doro during the Vietnam War.Photo by Leila Hawken
“A true American hero from the battlefield to the classroom,” Serino said in praise of Doro’s service.
Other commemorative items presented to the Doro family included a Challenge Coin, a shadow box of medals, and a quilt from the Quilts2Quilts program.
“My dad was a humble guy,” said Peter Doro during his remarks as he thanked everyone for coming to the ceremony.
“That we can honor him in this way is a great honor for our family, the village and the vets,” he said.
Dutchess County Legislator Chris Drago addresses the crowd at the end of a discussion on challenges facing parents and child care providers in rural northeast Dutchess County on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Drago hosted the forum to collect feedback from local stakeholders ahead of an expected $20 million in state funding to establish a universal childcare program in the county.
The proposal follows Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement in her State of the State address that she is seeking $60 million for Dutchess, Monroe and Broome counties to expand child care, with an emphasis on children under three. The funding, pending approval as part of the state budget due April 1, is a component of her broader effort to expand affordable child care statewide, including a push toward universal access for children under five.
Billed as a fact-finding session ahead of the state budget vote, the forum opened with presentations from representatives of Poughkeepsie-based child care advocacy and training organizations. Parents expressed concerns about access in the far reaches of the county, where services have long lagged behind more densely populated areas.
Kim Yarnell, a parent who lives in Millerton, said she struggled for years to find childcare. She was one of the parents left scrambling for care last December when the North East Community Center announced the sudden closure of its Early Learning Program.
"When I first got pregnant in 2019, I was on a waiting list for two years," she said. "So that's the kind of situation we all face every day."
Parents emphasized a lack of providers in the area, saying the biggest barriers in rural communities are cost and availability. Webutuck Elementary School Principal Amanda Coppola said parents regularly tell her they can't afford child care, a struggle she said she can relate to.
"I have a four-month-old at home, and I just finished my first month of paying for daycare, and it's expensive," she said. "Funding, as far as tuitions or lowering tuitions, I feel is one of the biggest needs that I hear. And now that I'm living it, I hear even more."
Local parents, child care providers and nonprofit representatives outline the challenges they face in accessing and providing childcare in rural northeast Dutchess County during a forum at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Photo by Nathan Miller
Representatives of the Child Care Council of Dutchess and Putnam presented facts and figures to the group, saying that within Drago’s legislative district there are roughly 300 children under three who need care, but licensed facilities have capacity for only 95.
Outside of Red Hook — the district’s most populous town — licensed providers have capacity for just 29 children.
That data underscores parents’ anxiety. The governor’s proposal emphasizes working within existing child care systems and infrastructure, but those resources are limited in northeast Dutchess County. Parents said there's a significant need for infant care, with some reporting they drive more than 30 minutes one way to Connecticut to access the nearest available care.
"We just need more daycare," Yarnell said. "It's not complicated, like, we need more daycare."
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Stephanie Haboush Plunkett
“The field of illustration is very close to my heart,” she said. Inspired by that example, she studied illustration at Pratt Institute and began her career as an illustrator before shifting toward museum work. An internship at the Brooklyn Museum proved pivotal. “It was inspiring to see the children come alive in front of art,” she recalled.
In addition to her curatorial work, Plunkett is the author of two children’s books, “Kongi and Potgi: A Cinderella Story from China” and “Sir Whong and the Golden Pig,” and has written or co-authored numerous books on illustration, including “Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School” and “Leo Lionni: Storyteller, Illustrator, Designer.” She earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and built a museum career that included positions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Heckscher Museum of Art before joining the Norman Rockwell Museum, where she has worked for 31 years.
But elevating illustration has meant challenging decades of critical skepticism.
“The goal has been to shine a light on this important American art form and to elevate public awareness of its artistic and cultural importance,”Plunkett said.
As a popular and widely circulated art, illustration is sometimes thought of as inferior to fine art, such as painting and sculpture. Plunkett considered why. She theorized that the 1913 New York Armory Show, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, with works by artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Duchamp, initially contributed to this evaluation. In the 1930s and ’40s, abstract expressionism became the art of the nation, and the rift widened further.
“Norman Rockwell became the antihero for many art critics of the time,” said Plunkett. “Illustration was viewed as too commercial and sentimental because of its emphasis on visual storytelling.”
Plunkett calls illustration “art with a job to do.” She explained, “Illustrators are adept at solving visual problems for their clients while expressing their own aesthetic and artistic vision.”
Visitors consider Norman Rockwell’s paintings on Civil Rights for Look Magazine, “New Kids in the Neighborhood” (1967) and “The Problem We All Live With” (1963.) L. Tomaino
She noted that the line between the fine and applied arts “is much more porous now, with many artists working across platforms and styles.” She cited late-20th-century illustrators like Marshall Arisman, Barbara Nessim, Robert Cunningham, Bernie Fuchs and Mark English as illustrators who forged unique approaches to working and seeing.
Plunkett commented that people want to see the original illustrations. “Generally, Rockwell exhibitions bring high attendance. Currently, our traveling exhibition, ‘Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas,’ is at the New Britain Museum of American Art, but we’ve traveled Rockwell and illustration to 45 states and several countries, including Japan, France, Italy and Germany.”
Nowadays, illustrators take on subjects that are important to them. “The children’s book industry is committed to sharing the richness and diversity of people and cultures with young readers.” Plunkett cited the late illustrator Jerry Pinkney’s commitment to this goal. As a boy, Pinkney found no books portraying children like him, and “his life’s mission as an artist was to present inspiring, positive images of children of color.”
The Norman Rockwell Museum and Rockwell Center seeds were sown when “Rockwell placed the first 199 artworks in the care and collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum upon its founding in 1969, some of which he personally acquired for the fledgling collection,” said Plunkett. “The museum’s current Rockwell holdings include 865 original artworks, the artist’s Stockbridge studio and an archive of 400,000 photographs, letters, props and first uses of the artist’s work. We also hold about 25,000 illustrations by other artists, from the historical to the contemporary.”
“We call ourselves the home for American illustration. We have a real commitment to illustrators and what they’ve accomplished,” said Plunkett.
The Norman Rockwell Museum is located at 9 Glendale Road, Stockbridge. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit
nrm.org
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