SERVING THE COMMUNITY
Barnwell serves Thanksgiving dinner to the troops
Thanks to a friend with a
(Kitchen Patrol) duty on
little pull, RCC’s Coordinator
Thanksgiving afternoon.
of Veterans Affairs
Barnwell joined the general
JONATHAN BARNWELL
for a 90-minute shift in the
ended up serving
mess hall at Naval Support
Thanksgiving dinner to U.S.
Activity Bahrain, a U.S.
servicemen and women in the
Navy base, serving gravy
Middle East.
and stuffing. It is a tradition
Barnwell traveled to the
for military officers to serve
island nation of Bahrain
Thanksgiving dinner to the
Jonathan Barnwell (third from left) served Thanksgiving dinner at a Navy base in Bahrain.
to visit his friend, Marine
enlisted men and women.
Brigadier General FRANK DONOVAN, over the holiday break.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” said Barnwell, “but it was exactly
Unbeknownst to Barnwell, Gen. Donovan signed him up for KP
what I’d like to do.”
Passings
RETIRED FACULTY
Joan Silberman, one of
RCC’s first graduates who
returned as a Professor of
English for more than three
decades, passed away on
November 22, 2017, at age 94.
Silberman, a self-described
“restless housewife,” came
to RCC in 1960 at the
suggestion of friend Dan
Brucker, one of the College’s
founding fathers. She found
herself right at home,
despite the limited facilities
and rotting cabbages in the
fields surrounding Brucker
Hall, the only classroom
building. Silberman was a
member of the College’s
SCENE | 10
second graduating class in
1962, and went on to earn
her bachelor’s degree from
St. Thomas Aquinas College
and master’s degree from
New York University.
After trying her hand
at teaching high school,
Silberman was invited to
join the RCC faculty in
1968 by Henry Larom,
another seminal figure in the
College’s history. Once again,
Silberman found RCC to be
the perfect place for her, a
place where she was treated
with respect and given the
academic freedom to teach in
the way she saw fit. Silberman
won a SUNY Chancellor’s
Award for Excellence in
Teaching in 1990.
Seeking to establish
rapport with her students,
Silberman started each
semester by playing the
1960s Joni Mitchell song
“Both Sides Now,” then
having the class discuss the
song’s meaning. This worked
so well that she continued
the tradition for decades. At
her retirement luncheon in
1998, many former students
reminisced about the song,
and the group ended the
event by singing it together.
Even after retiring,
Silberman made an important
contribution to RCC by
introducing then-President
Cliff L. Wood to Herbert
Kurz, a local businessman
and philanthropist. Kurz
became a major benefactor
for the College, backing the
President’s Student Support
Fund and many other
initiatives.
Silberman was predeceased
by her husband, Morton, a
Rockland County District
Attorney and New York
State judge. She is survived
by her daughters, Barbara
Regan and Janet Weber, two
granddaughters and four
great-grandchildren.
Dr. James Cappuccino,
Professor Emeritus and
retired Science faculty
member, died on July 12,
2017, at age 87.
ADJUNCTS
Scott Kaplan, adjunct
faculty, Psychology, died in
January at age 51.
EMPLOYEES
Debra DiFiore, staff
member of Records and
Registration, died after a
brief illness July 23, 2017, at
age 56.
FORMER EMPLOYEES
Marsha Bass, former
Admissions employee, died
October 2, 2017, at age 71.
Eileen Weinstein, retired
secretary for the Criminal
Justice and Public Safety
departments, died January 9
at age 74.