T IMES
SOUTHERN
Highland
Superintendent
set to retire
in September
Deborah Haab, superintendent of the
Highland Central School District, has
announced her retirement. The Highland
Board of Education will accept her letter
of resignation at an upcoming public
meeting. She will remain at the helm of
the District until September 8, 2017.
“We appreciate the strong leadership
Mrs. Haab brought to the Highland
Central
School
District,”
said
Board president
Alan Barone on
behalf of the Board
of
Education.
“She has been a
wonderful school
leader and an
active member of
our
community.
She will be missed
very much.”
Haab has been
Deborah Haab superintendent at
Highland for eight
years. During this time, she has led the
District through economic challenges,
the passage of a Capital Project, and the
settlement of several expired employment
contracts.
“Her leadership under the Tax Cap and
through year-after-year of cuts to State
Aid is invaluable,” said Barone. “She was
tireless in her efforts to secure outside
funding from our elected officials, and she
was steadfast in her work to find savings
and make changes needed to pull us
Continued on page 2
Vol. 14, No 24 3 JUNE 14 - 20, 2017
ULSTER
3
ONE DOLLAR
Champions
of Education
Page 19
SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL
Nearing a century
Marlborough resident celebrates 99th birthday
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
Mary Ann Baxter, of Marlborough,
was born on June 2, 1918 in Stattsburg,
NY. Woodrow Wilson was in the White
House and WW I continued unabated
until November 11, when an Armistice
was signed that ended the Great War.
The war cost the lives of 53,513 in battle,
63,195 in other deaths, mostly from
disease, and 204,002 were wounded. The
outlay of the war reached $21.8 billion,
not including loans to allies.
In other news in the year Baxter
was born, Wilson signed a law ushering
in Daylight Savings, Sara Teasdale
won a Pulitzer prize for her book of
poetry entitled ‘Love Songs’, the first
Air Mail stamps were issued by the U.
S. Post Office and an influenza epidemic
appeared in early September, initially
in Boston, New York and Chicago and
swept across 46 states. The epidemic
disappeared in 1919 after nearly 500,000
people had died and survivors were left
with Bright’s disease, cardiac diseases
and tuberculosis. The Boston Red Sox
won the 15th World Series against the
Chicago Cubs by four games to two.
Each member of the Red Sox received
$1,102.51, an all-time low payment for
series winners.
When asked how it feels to reach
the age of 99, Baxter smiled and said
“breathless.” She said one of her earliest
memories was how far she had to walk
to school.
Baxter met her future husband
Charles when they both worked at
Schatz Federal Bearing. She assembled
metals for three-ring notebooks and
he was a welder. They were married
Fran Bunt helps Mary Ann Baxter with cutting the cake.
for 49 years and had two children,
eight grandchildren and eight great-
grandchildren.
A surprise birthday party for Baxter
was held recently at the clubhouse at
Jenny’s Garden, a senior housing center
in Marlboro where she has lived for the
past 13 years.
“It was such a surprise, I’ll tell you,”
she said.
Jenny’s Garden owner Richard
WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM
Gerentine said Baxter is the oldest
resident in the complex “and is the best
looking,” He said he comes to these
happy events for the people.
“Mary has been a great tenant and is
a model for Jenny’s Garden. She is very
much loved by all of the residents here
and this is a very close community,” he
said. “They watch out for each other as
you can tell by the love in this room for
Mary.”