News from President Andrew: The date is set & the trophies are back!

"This year's banquet will be held on June 28 at the Corporate building as usual," Alumni Associated President Kevin Andrew says in an e-mail he sent me this weekend.

According to Kevin: "We have been busy in the planning stages and everything is coming along pretty much on schedule."

Kevin also reports that he and other alumni officers have "some time in the Alumni room at the Village hall and we are hoping to have it open to the public sometime in May. Karen Taft and I have retrieved all of the LVCS trophies from Cattaraugus school and have them back in L.V."

For those who plan ahead: Graduation is June 27

Don't say you weren't told:

The CLVCS graduation date is June 27, which means the Alumni Dinner should be the next evening.

A postcard from the past

While wandering through a huge flea market today in Chantilly, Va., this blogger came across a couple selling vintage postcards. They had a large section devoted to New York state -- and a subsection within that for Cattaraugus County.

"You don't have any cards from Little Valley?" I asked.

"I certainly do," the woman replied.

"You don't," I cleverly sputtered.

"I do. I have a very nice twin set," she said, pulling out a binder from behind the counter.

Sure enough, she had a wonderful panoramic scene -- it appears to be two postcards connected to each other -- showing L.V. from up above on what we in the 400 block of Fair Oaks Street used to call "the hill" (the one that rises above where Bush Industries' factory has been).

She had picked it up at some other flea market or a yard sale sometime in the past.

So of course, I bought it.

I'll get it scanned in for a better look, but this camera shot will give you a rough idea of what it shows.

I can easily pick out the fair grounds and Fair Oaks Street. The Memmott homestead is obscured by those great Elm trees that used to line the street. The school building -- before the addition was put on in the '50s, I think -- is to the right.

On the back is a message, written to a Mr. & Mrs. William "Noy" or "Hoy" (I can't be sure) at 648 1/2 Roscoe, Chicago. The postmark says it left L.V. at 10 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1947. Here's what the sender writes:

Dear Bill & Marion,

We are here to visit Marjorie & Milton's (I think it says Milton) summer home. It sure is lovely and what a view. I think dad is coming tonite (sic) to spend Sunday. Will see you either Monday or Tuesday.

Mother.

A couple questions:

- Does anyone have an idea who these people were? Or who they might be, I suppose, since Bill & Marion could have been children at the time and "mother" might have been a young women in 1947.

- Does anyone have a theory on why someone would visit a summer home in February?

One other note: The postcard says it was "published by McLouth's Drug Store, Little Valley, N.Y." That's before my time. Who remembers it?

An L.V. man who's a man of few words

"They're what?"

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that's what "Tim Skudlarek, an 18-year-old freshman from Little Valley, N.Y.," had to say when asked about the "green" dorms that have been built at California University of Pennsylvania.

The digs aren't only energy efficient (thanks to the use of geothermal energy). They also sound pretty nice. Particularly this feature: "No student shares a shower or toilet with more than three other classmates; most share with only one other person."

Kudos for Hugh Duckwall

This blogger remembers Hugh Duckwall as an elementary school teacher and volleyball coach.

Jim Riggs, sports editor at The Post-Journal in Jamestown, remembers him as a football coach who did the right thing by his players. Check this column by Riggs, who says Mr. Duckwall always called to talk about LV's games -- so that the team's players would get some recognition, even when they weren't winning.

By the way, this blogger's first "professional" reporting job was calling the Post-Journal with the box scores from LVCS baseball games. The pay: 50 cents a game.

Not the kind of story you might want L.V. to be known for

Newsday thought this Associated Press story was noteworthy:

LITTLE VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) -- Two cows and a horse were killed in separate collisions with vehicles on western New York roads.

Seems to us that odder things happen on Long Island's streets and expressways all the time.

L.V. waaaaaaay down under

Here's another Little Valley that's not our Little Valley but is still a Little Valley none-the-less.

Little Valley farm in South Otago, New Zealand.

It appears they have a webcam going there. Right now, it's pointed at a bird feeder.

Coincidentally, given where your faithful blogger now lives (Fairfax County, Va.) the location was originally supposed to be called Fairfax.

Click here to see what else we've written about "Little Valley around the world."

Familiar names in Tuesday's primaries

As you'll see if you click on this link to the Salamanca Press, there appear to be at least two LVCS alumni on the ballots in Cattaraugus County's Democratic and Republican primaries this coming Tuesday: Norm Marsh, a Republican; and John Zimbardi, who the Press says is a Republican and a Democrat. The race they're in involves two seats on the county legislature.

(We must admit to being a bit confused -- and not just about which party John is hoping to represent: The Press says both Norm and John are incumbents, but the county's official website doesn't list John as being a member of the legislature right now. Could the media have made a mistake?)

Wait a minute! Akron looks more like Colorado than L.V.?

According to the Buffalo News, a Canadian film company doing a commercial decided to use Akron, N.Y., instead of Little Valley or Ellicottville as a backdrop that's supposed to look like Colorado. Go figure.

Hmm. Little Valley as a movie or TV setting. Perhaps the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission could be encouraged to keep on suggesting that.

Meanwhile, the opening game of the CLVCS football season didn't go so well from the CLVCS point of view: Maple Grove won 45-0.

Seen any Little Valley stuff out there?

With LVCS alumni spread further than we probably think, there are certainly enough eyes out there to spot interesting things that remind us all of the old home town and the old school.

Maybe it's the Little Valley Bistro in Sunol, Calif., which appears to be spinning off a Little Valley Winery (some bottles from there have already been spotted and made their way east). Or:
- The Little Valley Inn near Yosemite.
- The Little Valley Brewery in West Yorkshire, U.K.
- The Little Valley Candle Co.

Or maybe it's a license plate like this:



(OK, we cheated a bit. That license plate belongs to this blogger.)
If you spot anything LV-related, e-mail us here; memmottmark@yahoo.com.

Meanwhile, here's something interesting: The Glens Falls Post Star, in writing recently about the possibility that the Fort Edwards and Hudson Falls school districts might merge, notes that the most recent merger of two districts in New York State is the 2000 combination of Cattaraugus and Little Valley. The story (which you can read by clicking here) goes into considerable detail about the history and events since the new district was created, but seems to rely on one source -- Superintendent Louis McIntosh Jr.