Virginia A. Darden

LAKEVILLE — Virginia A. Darden, née Appleton, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and Lakeville resident, passed peacefully in her sleep on Oct. 25, 2024. She was 104.

During a blizzard, with the doctor arriving by sleigh, Virginia was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, on Feb. 10, 1920, to Chester F. Appleton, a contractor for the Austin company, and Ann Appleton, née Powers, a businesswoman and fur buyer. Virginia grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended University of Michigan.

At University of Michigan, Virginia was active in many honors’ societies, and joined the Pi Phi sorority, of which she remained an active alumna throughout her life. She graduated in 1942 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, with an emphasis on childhood education. With WWII raging, Virginia moved to Niagara Falls, New York, where her parents resided and began a career in teaching. She founded and managed three different child care centers, supervising dozens of assistants who oversaw children ranging in age from 19 months to 14 years, whose mothers were working in aircraft and armament productions while their fathers were overseas in the war. Once the war ended, she married her college sweetheart, Robert H. Darden (Bob) whom she met in her freshman year on a geology field trip, and dated sporadically until their engagement. The two were married Nov. 10, 1945, in Niagara Falls, and were married for 75 years until 2021, when he predeceased her.

Throughout their early years, as Bob’s career grew from a private attorney and attorney for the Federal Small Business Administration, and eventually, to its Regional Counsel for the West Coast and Pacific Islands, the Dardens moved from Fort Collins and Denver, Colorado, to Washington D.C., to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and to San Francisco, California.

Their family also grew; they added four children Dave, Tom, Anne and Margaret, and in each location, Virginia played an active role in their schools, and was part of the choir at Our Lady of Fatima in Albuquerque, in addition to founding two sorority houses at Colorado State University and at the University of New Mexico, and volunteering at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Albuquerque, where she edited, and wrote a column for the hospital newsletter. She was an avid reader and played piano throughout her life, well into her nineties.

In 1994 she and Bob moved for the last time, following Bob’s retirement, to Lakeville to be near to their daughter, Anne Richardson and their grandson Barrie Richardson. In Lakeville they found a welcoming community, enrolled in music appreciation classes at Taconic Learning Center, exercised at Hotchkiss indoor track, and were active at St. Mary’s Church in the choir, with Virginia volunteering for the food pantry at Owl’s Kitchen. They continued to travel abroad and continentally, even driving from Lakeville to San Diego at the age of 90.

In addition to her husband and parents, she is predeceased by her beloved son David, her brother Jack Appleton, his wife Dorothy, and her nephew Robert Appleton. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Thomas and Rebecca Darden, her daughter Anne Richardson and Howard Chico Aller, her daughter, and son-in-law, Margaret and Steven Garber, three grandchildren, Madeleine Garber and her husband Randy Thurber, Barrie Richardson, and Kristina Darden, two great-grandchildren, Ruth and Hendricks Thurber, her nephew and his wife, Bruce and Julie Appleton, and a grandniece and several grand nephews.

A funeral mass will be held at St. Mary’s Church in Lakeville on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Newkirk Palmer Funeral Home, Canaan. In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions can be sent to American Red Cross.

Latest News

Silo Ridge donates $50,000to Amenia Ambulance Corps

Residents of Silo Ridge and Amenia Fire and Ambulance volunteers posed with a big check in front of the volunteer ambulance Sunday morning, Nov. 17.

Photo by Nathan Miller

AMENIA — Jamie Vitiello presented a check for $50,000 to the Amenia Volunteer Ambulance Corps Sunday morning, Nov. 17, during the Amenia Fire Company’s pancake breakfast at the fire house.

Vitiello said he heard about the ambulance corps’ need for a life-saving device called the Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System device, or LUCAS device for short. The LUCAS device assists emergency responders in applying chest compressions. The mechanical device can be situated around a person’s chest in the case of cardiac arrest and used to provide compressions that are more consistent and generally safer than a human providing CPR.

Keep ReadingShow less
Millerton Square Plaza sold; plans call for food market

The Millerton Square Plaza has been sold with plans for a grocery market.

Photo by Christine Bates

MILLERTON — On Friday, Nov. 15, the Millerton Square Plaza got new owners when the sale of the entire plaza was closed in New York City.

Although agreement between the parties on the purchase was reached in May of 2023 it took almost 18 months to comply with state and county regulations before the sale could be completed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Millerton: $5 million water quality grant

MILLERTON — In what Mayor Jennifer Najdek has described as “a huge bump for us,” New York State has awarded Millerton an Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grant (IMG) to fund various projects which continuously monitor and improve local water quality. The size of the grant is a generous $5,082,099, an amount which cannot be exceeded.

The official acceptance of the grant, which is application-based, came together fairly quickly as officials had only one week to decide. With the knowledge looming that grant requests may be bypassed or allocated to other communities without a decision being reached, Millerton leadership aligned after careful consideration at a special meeting held last week, signing off on Nov. 8. With the grant now secured, Najdek is optimistic Millerton can now move forward on pending wastewater concerns like water treatment and stormwater projects, saying “This project has great potential to happen now.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Aymar-Blair declares victory in County Comptroller race

Dan Aymar-Blair

Photo provided

MILLERTON — Democrat Dan Aymar-Blair defeated Republican A. Gregg Pulver in the race for County Comptroller, according to unofficial results of the Dutchess County Board of Elections after a count of affidavit and absentee ballots.

As of Friday, Nov. 15, Aymar-Blair was ahead of Gregg Pulver by 850 votes. Aymar-Blair declared victory on Friday.

Keep ReadingShow less