Honors for Shirley Reuter

DAVID HULSE
Posted 11/29/17

ELDRED, NY — About 50 people, including old friends and three generations of her descendants, gathered at the Highland Senior Center on the afternoon of November 21 to honor Shirley Reuter by …

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Honors for Shirley Reuter

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ELDRED, NY — About 50 people, including old friends and three generations of her descendants, gathered at the Highland Senior Center on the afternoon of November 21 to honor Shirley Reuter by renaming it in her honor as the Shirley Reuter Senior and Community Center.

“She was the energy, without which we’d be standing here in the woods freezing,” said former long-time Highland Supervisor Andy Boyar, who provided the story of how the center came to be.

Reuter, at 90, now resides in New Jersey, but in 1990 she and her late husband Ken Reuter were active members of the Highland community, he as the local VFW commander and Shirley as a civic activist who often spoke from the audience at town board meetings—most memorably about the need for a place dedicated to the town’s large number of senior citizens.

After Boyar donated his time to organize a seniors’ club in March, they began meeting at the town hall or in Lumberland. Highland seniors began wondering why they didn’t have a center, and Shirley Reuter voiced the question repeatedly to Boyar. She lobbied him “consistently, persistently… she was getting annoying,” Boyar mused.

The issue was how to pay for it without blowing up the town’s budget, he said. Still, she persisted. “She was like my shadow. If I went to the post office, she was there… I began hiding behind trees,” he said.

Shirley began arguing for trying for a grant. “I figured there was no way we’ll get a quarter-million-dollar grant, but I told her, ‘Go for it, Shirley.’”

She did, with support from councilmen Joe McDonald and Al Norris. In June of 1991, Highland bought 10.45 acres along Route 55 outside Eldred, which was to provide sites for a senior center and a new highway department barn. Arlene Glass and Mark Baez, then of the Sullivan County Planning Department, drew up the federal Housing and Urban Development grant, and Sullivan DPW architect Bernie Kozykowski drew sketch plans. They filed the application before the June 28 deadline and were notified in October that they had in fact won a $250,000 award.

“She was right all along,” Boyar admitted. “We got the grant; we hired the architect [Dennis Jurow], bid the project and broke ground. At last I could come out from under cover,” he said playfully.

Construction proceeded in 1992-93 as McDonald, who passed away earlier this month, served as volunteer clerk of the works. The completed building was dedicated on June 18, 1994, and with the project completed, life went on.

Then this July, another civic activist, Pete Carmeci, spoke at the town board meeting. He suggested that Shirley Reuter should rightfully be recognized and her name be attached to the building. Board members quickly approved the idea, which brings us up to November 21.

Noting the warmth of the building, Boyar said, “[Shirley] brought this warmth to our community, and I am honored to call her my friend and to be able to tell you of the positive impact she had on me and this community.”

To her great-grandchildren, at play during his remarks, Boyar said, “It is important for grandchildren to know about their family’s heritage and accomplishments… You should be awed at your grandmother, as we are grateful for her amazing contribution to this community... Thank you so much, Shirley.”

eldred

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