2014 Newsletter
Haines Family Association, Inc.
TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Hello All Haines Family Members and Friends,
Our 28th annual family reunion and meeting! We will be celebrating 235 years of Haines families on the mountaintop. The reunion will be held at the South Lake pavilion at the North - South Lake campground. All are welcome for the day to partake in the activities. Bring family and friends! Remember to bring your lunch and something to drink. This is a time for descendents of the mountaintop settlers and friends to get together and reminisce about their ancestors and current family. Bring photos and whatever you know about your family tree, and hopefully some of our attendees can add info to it. We will have activities for the youngsters, and a table where you can share your special dish or treat or snacks. Ice cream is again being donated by the Haines Falls Stewarts Shop for us to enjoy. New this year – a plant swap, and recipe sharing! If you have plants you would like to exchange or give away, bring them along, and hopefully take home some new varieties. Also bring any recipes you’d like to share - especially old family favorites! If you would like to bring the finished item for attendees to sample, all the better!
2013 was a busy year. We had work parties for cleanup, repairs, maintenance and mowing at the Aaron Haines cemetery. However, the weather did not cooperate when we had time to do cleanup work at the Peter B. Haines and Layman cemeteries. Work parties also completed trash pickup along our Adopt-A-Highway section in May, with additional spot cleanup done in July, August and September as HFA members noticed trash along the highway. There was constructive work done on the right-of-way for the Aaron Haines Cemetery. Thank you to HFA board members and their families for helping at these work parties.
On August 31, 2013 we had a float in the Bicentennial Parade for the Town of Hunter. The Haines Family Association was well represented by our members, wearing blue Haines Family Association t-shirts.
Our volunteer HFA groundskeepers and mowing crew were busy at the Mountain Top Historical Society in 2013, and are working there again already in 2014. With all of the wet weather, the crew is overworked when the sun shines. If you have some spare time – part of a day or a whole day – and like to use a riding mower, let us know.
2014: We started off with a work party on May 19th for the highway cleanup along our adopted section of Route 23A in the town of Hunter. We have plans for future highway cleanup work crews for July or August, and again in September, as needed by the conditions. Cemetery work parties have begun, with the first being the mowing of the Aaron Haines Cemetery. More are being planned for future dates. Let us know if you are able to help.
Membership dues and donations are needed to continue our services to the mountaintop communities. Our dues are only $5 per year, which does not go far; that is why we ask for donations. You can mail your dues and donations in, or hand them in at the reunion. We need updated email addresses so we can send out info without spending dues money on postage and supplies.
We held our annual Board of Directors meeting on May 19, 2014. You can check out our previous and current newsletters and activity updates, or contact any of our officers or directors, on our website at www.hainesfamilyassociation.org.
Our tentative slate of Officers and Directors for 2014-2015 is as follows: President - Harold Palmer, Vice President – George “Gibby” Van Dyke Jr., Secretary - Richard E. Haines, Treasurer - Richard E. Haines, and Directors: Nancy McGowan, Robert H. Van Dyke, Linda Schultz, Harriet Bucca, George Van Dyke Sr., Sandy Palmer, Peg Fries and, new this year, Jim Jones and Tony Coiro. If you would like to nominate someone, let us know, now or at our annual reunion / meeting.
Thank you. I’m looking forward to visiting with you at South Lake on July 12th!
Sincerely,
Harold Palmer
President
Haines Family Association, Inc.
From Sandy Palmer, HFA webmaster: Our website www.hainesfamilyassociation.org is growing and has been very active. There is a myriad of ancestry and other info posted, along with 8 family trees with beautiful photos! If you would like to have your tree included, please send the info to webmaster@hainesfamilyassociation.org . You can privately view the page as it is being built. Guidelines for submission are at http://hainesfamilyassociation.org/descendants.html .
Haines Family Association is also on FaceBook! Find us at www.facebook.com/HainesFamilyAssociationInc. It is a nice way to share news and events with the public. Did you know you can participate on our page? It’s easy! Here are some ways to take part:
v Just visit our page and click “LIKE” – it’s just below the picture that’s at the top of the page.
v When we post new things, write a comment or click “like” below the post. This tells Facebook that people are interested in what we have to say!
v If you have news and/or photos you can share – HFA work parties, your weekend bbq or a family event, wildlife you catch on camera, mountaintop scenery, mountaintop news and happenings, library and historical society and fire company events (they show our community involvement), and whatever else – please feel free to post it on our page!
v If you’d prefer, or if you don’t have a Facebook account, send info/photos for posting to webmaster@hainesfamilyassociation.org .
We hope you will visit our website, and take part in our Facebook page. See you at the reunion.
Sincerely,
Sandy.
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2013 Newsletter
Haines Family Association, Inc.
TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Hello All Haines Family Members and Friends,
Our 27th annual family reunion and meeting! We will be celebrating 234 years of Haines families on the mountaintop. The reunion will be held at the South Lake pavilion at North and South Lake campground. All are welcome for the day to partake in the activities. Remember to bring your lunch and something to drink. This is a time for descendents of the mountaintop settlers and friends to get together and reminisce about their ancestors and current family. Bring photos and whatever you know about your family tree, and hopefully some of our attendees can add info to it. We will have activities for the youngsters, a table where you can share your special treat or snack item, and ice cream from Stewarts. If you would like to have the baking contest again, we will need entries in the pie, cake or finger food categories.
2012 was a busy year. We had work parties for cleanup, repairs and maintenance at the Aaron Haines cemetery, the Peter B. Haines cemetery and the Layman cemetery. Work parties also completed trash pickup along our Adopt-A-Highway section in May, August and September. There was constructive work done on the right of way for the Aaron Haines Cemetery and the cemetery grounds. Thank you to HFA board members and their families for helping at these work parties.
Our volunteer HFA groundskeepers and mowing crew have been busy again this year at the Mountain Top Historical Society. With all of the wet weather, the crew is overworked when the sun shines. If you have some spare time - a part of a day or a whole day - and like to use a riding mower, let us know.
As in 2012, we have undertaken again in 2013 worthwhile projects and efforts that contribute to the good of the general public. We will be donating to the American Cancer Society, Haines Falls Fire Dept., Tannersville Rescue Squad, Tannersville Fire Dept., Hunter Fire Dept., Lanesville Fire Dept., Tannersville Area Health, Haines Falls Library, and the Mountain Top Historical Society. In 2012 we also paid for the perpetual care for one of our Haines Family ancestors in the Haines Falls Cemetery. For 2013 we have not yet decided whether to pay for perpetual care or donate to help with the costs of grounds maintenance at the Haines Falls Cemetery and other mountaintop cemeteries.
2013 started off with a work party on May 13th for the highway cleanup along our adopted section of Route 23A in the town of Hunter. We have plans for future highway cleanup work crews for July or August, and again in September, as needed by the conditions. Cemetery work parties have begun with the first on June 15 at the Aaron Haines Cemetery. More are being planned for future dates. Let us know if you are able to help.
Labor Day weekend - August 31, 2013 - there will be a parade celebrating 200 years of the Town of Hunter, and members of the Haines Family Association are planning to be a part of it. The HFA parade committee is our Board of Directors and their families. If you would like to join the committee or help with anything, just let us know. We are planning on a float for the parade.
We are looking for members to participate in the parade and help with setting things up. We are looking into purchasing balloons, banners and other materials for the parade. We are also pricing t-shirts for any HFA members who would like to purchase one, with the hope that all Haines Family members and families will wear them during the parade.
We have also sponsored a banner for Hunter’s 200th anniversary celebration. It is displayed as you come to Haines Falls from the east on 23A.
Our website is growing and has been very active, thanks to all the work that Sandy Palmer does as webmaster. We have seven family trees with ancestry photos posted, along with a myriad of other information. Please check it out at www.hainesfamilyassociation.org . If you would like to have your family tree included, or have other interesting information that we could post, contact Sandy at her email address on the website.
Membership dues and donations are needed to continue our services to the mountaintop communities.
Our dues are only $5 per year, which does not go far; that is why we ask for donations. You can mail your dues and donations in, or hand them in at the reunion. We need updated email addresses so we can send out info without spending dues money on postage and supplies.
We had our Annual Meeting on June 1, 2013. When the minutes are completed they will be emailed to those we have emails addresses for, and sent out in a future newsletter. You can check out our previous and current newsletters and activity updates, or contact any of our officers or directors, through our website at www.hainesfamilyassociation.org.
Our tentative slate of Officers and Directors for 2013-2014 is as follows: President - Harold Palmer, Vice President - Ron Haines, Secretary - Rachel Haines, Treasurer - Robert J. Haines, and Directors: Richard E. Haines, Nancy McGowan, Robert H. Van Dyke, Linda Schultz, Harriet Bucca, George Van Dyke Sr., Sandy Palmer, Peg Fries and, new this year, George Van Dyke Jr. If you would like to nominate anyone let us know now or at the reunion / meeting. Sue Haines is continuing to help with many of our projects and the reunion but has decided not stay on as a director.
Thank you. I’m looking forward to visiting with you at South Lake on July 13th!
Sincerely,
Harold Palmer President Haines Family Association, Inc.
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2012 Newsletter
HAINES FAMILY ASSOCIATION, INC. TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
SATURDAY JULY 14, 2012
Dear Haines Family Association (HFA) members, this year we will be celebrating our 233rd year and 11 generations on the Mountaintop here in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of New York State at our annual reunion in Haines Falls at the South Lake Pavilion, NYS North-South Lake Campground. All are welcome for the entire day as we socialize, picnic, play games, have activities for the children, take our group photo, and conduct our annual meeting. Please bring sharing-table snacks, your own picnic lunch, your photo albums, family trees and/or genealogy research on your computers or albums to share, collections and anything else you think would be of interest. The Park opens at 8:00 a.m. There is a lot to see and do until lunch time and our annual meeting.
In our opening prayer this year we will be remembering Harry Poladian and Katherine Distin Krajick, who died since we last met.
In keeping with our mission statement “To undertake such other worthwhile projects and efforts that will contribute to the general public good,” in 2012 we are supporting the following national and local charities: $100 to the American Cancer Society, $50 each to the Tannersville Rescue Squad, Mountain Top Historical Society, Tannersville Area Health, Haines Falls Library, Haines Falls Fire Department, Hunter Fire Department, Tannersville Fire Department, Lanesville Fire Department, and $200 to pay off the long-past-due perpetual care on one more Haines plot in the Haines Falls Cemetery. Susan Haines is working on a scholarship for a Hunter-Tannersville School student, with the assistance of Bob Haines. Susan is bringing her computer to our reunion and will scan your genealogy/photos/documents for our records via CD or Zip drive and return the originals to you at the reunion.
Our HFA groundskeeping crew continues to maintain the Mountain Top Historical Society Campus at the Gateway to the Catskills at the top of the mountain in Haines Falls, which was owned by our ancestors at one time, and the historic Aaron Haines Cemetery adjoining it, for the 16th year. We can use more help if you are so inclined.
Ron Haines, Bob Van Dyke and yours truly conducted our first 2012 HFA Adopt a Highway pickup on our assigned section of Route 23A on May 24th.
Sandy Palmer, our Webmaster, is always looking for interesting additions to our HainesFamilyAssociation.org website. At our annual May Directors’ Meeting we approved HFA participation on FaceBook and a website blog. They are up and running. Check them out.
Our Reunion Committee will do their usual great job of setting up at the reunion, which is a big help to me. Stewarts Shops are donating three gallons of vanilla ice cream with all the fixings again this year. Be sure to say “Thanks” the next time you stop at the Haines Falls Stewart Shop.
Susan Haines and Gail Haines will be retiring as directors, after many years of faithful service to the HFA. If you think you have, or know someone you think has the qualifications to serve on our Board, please contact Harold Palmer or me. We’re looking for directors who will be active and supportive in reaching our goals.
In furtherance of our HFA Mission Statement goal of rediscovering, rescuing and restoring “so-called lost existing cemeteries and burying grounds,” Harold Palmer, Ron Haines, Joe McGowan, Art and Peg Fries and I held work parties on June 11 th and 18 thto rescue the Peter B. Haines cemetery, neglected for 50 years or so. We took out four dump truck loads of branches and fallen trees and about 50 cans and bags of leaves, uncovering many hidden monuments, the oldest of which was a burial in 1812, 200 years ago. Edward Haines and his wife, the founders of Haines Falls, are buried there. We will plan a future work party to inventory, sketch and re-erect many of the fallen monuments in this cemetery.
Work parties on the Layman Cemetery and the new Aaron Haines Cemetery ROW will be scheduled for this summer.
Check www.GreeneTourism.com for a place to stay.
As always, my thanks to our officers, directors, and to you, our faithful members, for your support over these past 26 years. I look forward to seeing you at our reunion on Saturday, July 14th.
My best regards,
Richard E. “Cousin Dick” Haines
President, HFA
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2011 Newsletter
HAINES FAMILY ASSOCIATION, INC. TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011
This year we will be celebrating our 232nd year and 11 generations on the Mountaintop here in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of New York State at our annual reunion held in Haines Falls at the South Lake Pavilion, NYS North-South Lake Campground. All are welcome for the entire day as we socialize, picnic, play games, take our group photo, have a baking contest, give out awards and conduct our annual meeting. Please bring sharing-table snacks, your own picnic lunch, your photo albums, family trees and/or genealogy research on your computers or albums to share, or collections and anything else you think would be of interest. The Park opens at 8:00 a.m. There is lots to see and do until lunch time and our annual meeting.
In our opening prayer this year we will be remembering faithful members Jan Haines, Marvin Howard and Marie Haines, who died since we last met.
I can’t believe this is our 25th anniversary, can you? The years have gone by fast, and we’ve accomplished many things which benefit our children, our grandchildren, our mountaintop and its residents and the various charities to which we contribute each year.
At our recent annual directors’ meeting we agreed to donate $100 to the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life and $50 each to the Tannersville Rescue Squad, the Mountain Top Historical Society, Tannersville Area Health, Haines Falls Library, Haines Falls Fire Department, Hunter Fire Department, Tannersville Fire Department and Lanesville fire Department, and $200 to pay off the oldest long-past-due perpetual care on a Haines plot in the Haines Falls Cemetery, where most of our ancestors are buried. We also set up a committee to explore setting up a Haines Family Association (HFA) Scholarship Fund for an annual award to a Hunter-Tannersville High School Senior.
Our HFA groundskeeping crew continues to maintain the Mountain Top Historical Society (MTHS) Campus, which was owned by our ancestors at one time, and the historic Aaron Haines Cemetery adjoining it, for the 15th year. If you would like to get some exercise and fresh air, we can always use more volunteers.
Thanks to the initiative of Greene County Legislator Larry Gardner, the Greene County Legislature, the Greene County Highway Department, Gary Harvey, Highway Superintendent, sign maker Lesa, Town of Hunter Supervisor Dennis Lucas and Town Board members, in consultation with the Showers family and members of our Family Association, signs were erected at both ends of North Lake Road and in front of the High View House in Haines Falls honoring the memory and WWII ultimate sacrifice of Lt. Richard A. Haines, dedicating that portion of road the Richard A. Haines Memorial Highway on October 29, 2010.
Also, courtesy of Supervisor Dennis Lucas and Hunter Town Board members, our Lt. Richard A. Haines’ ship plaque which we commissioned is now displayed in the entrance foyer of the Town of Hunter building.
Through our participation in NYS’s Adopt-A-Highway Program, our HFA members have made pickups on our assigned section of Route 23A on 5/29/10, 9/23/10 and 5/25/11. Signs with our name on them are posted at both ends of our highway section.
The new access road to the Aaron Haines Cemetery in Haines Falls, the right of way for which was granted to the HFA by the MTHS, continues to be a work in progress as we await more free fill.
Sandy Palmer, our Webmaster, is always looking for interesting additions to our HainesFamilyAssociation.org website.
Director nominees this year are Susan Haines, Nancy McGowan, Anthony Bucca, Harriet Bucca, Harold Palmer, Robert Van Dyke, Richard Haines, Ron Haines, Rachel Haines, Robert Haines, George Van Dyke, Linda Schultz and Gail Haines.
As always, my thanks to our directors and to you, our members, for your support over these past 25 years. I look forward to seeing you at our reunion on Saturday, July 9th.
Check www.GreeneTourism.com for a place to stay. Hope to see you at the reunion. My best regards, Richard E. “Cousin Dick” Haines President, HFA
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2010 Newsletter
HAINES FAMILY ASSOCIATION, INC. TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
SATURDAY JULY 10, 2010
Dear Members and Friends:
This year we will be celebrating our 231st year and 10 generations on the Mountaintop here in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of New York State at our annual reunion held in Haines Falls at the South Lake Pavilion, NYS North-South Lake Campground. All are welcome for the entire day as we socialize, picnic, play games, take our group photo, tell stories about our ancestors, have a baking contest, sharing table, give out awards, and conduct our annual meeting. Please bring sharing table snacks, your photo albums, family trees, genealogical research, collections, and anything else you think would be of interest.
As you continue to read through this newsletter, I will be referring you to our website, which is HainesFamilyAssociation.org, for more details on noteworthy items that occurred during the past year. Two are very sad: the passing of our HFA vice-president Bill Haines on February 24, 2010 and Hillard Hommel on March 4, 2010. See our website for their obituaries. We miss them both.
We’ve also had some major accomplishments this year. You may recall that some time ago we brought to the public’s attention the bravery and ultimate sacrifice of Haines Falls native Lt. Richard A. Haines, commissioned a ship’s plaque in his memory and erected it on a Veterans’ Memorial. On May 15, 2010, out of 155 candidates, Lt. Haines received the Honor a Deceased Veteran award for Greene County at the Greene County Office Building, Catskill. See our website for the complete newspaper coverage.
In addition, the Town of Hunter has taken the initiative to rename what is now known as North Lake Road, in Haines Falls, the Lt. Richard A. Haines Memorial Highway, which passes by the High View House where he was born. The Town has our wholehearted support in this effort.
On May 26th work was completed on the Route 23A curb cut accessing our new right-of-way (ROW) road to the Aaron Haines Cemetery in Haines Falls. On May 27th we received NYS DOT approval to use this curb cut. Our HFA maintenance of this cemetery is ongoing. We plan on cutting trees and bulldozing at the north end of the new road to complete access to the cemetery this summer. Bulldozing is expensive. Please keep that in mind when you fill out your membership renewal this year. The first $5 is your membership dues, the remainder can be allocated to either Cemetery or General Fund.
Our HFA groundskeeping crew is celebrating its 15th year maintaining the MTHS Campus grounds, once owned by our ancestors. We hope to complete the ROW road to the rescued Layman Family Burying Ground and at least begin our rescue of the Peter B. Haines’ Cemetery this summer. We have a special incentive to work on and complete these projects as soon as possible in memory of Bill Haines this year.
HFA charitable donations thus far in 2010 include Relay For Life (cancer) $100, West Kill Community Cemetery $50 and Mountaintop Historical Society $50 (both in memory of Bill Haines), and Haines Falls Cemetery, Inc., $200 (pays off perpetual care on one long-past-due Haines plot).
The Haines Family Association now participates in New York’s Adopt-A-Highway Program. Signs with our name on it have been erected at either end of our two-mile stretch of Route 23A west of the Village of Hunter. We had our first pickup on May 29th.
A feature article on our Haines ancestors was published in the Summer Edition of the MTHS Hemlock newsletter last year. You can read it on our web site, as well as many other items of interest.
Sue Haines continues to look for historical documents and photos to scan into our data base. She will be at our reunion in July. She can also be contacted by sending an e-mail to our web site.
Speaking of our HFA web site, Sandy Palmer, our webmaster, is doing a fantastic job, and she is always looking for interesting items to add to it. You can contact her via our website also.
Rachel, Harriet, Sue and others did a great job having more activities for children at last year’s reunion. We anticipate having more of the same this year.
If you need a place to stay for the reunion, you may contact www.GreeneTourism.com or www.travelerdiscountguide.com for the Northeast. See you soon.
My best regards,
Richard E. “Cousin Dick” Haines
President, Haines Family Association
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2009 Newsletter
HAINES FAMILY ASSOCIATION, INC. TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2009
Dear Members and Friends:
This year we’ll be celebrating 230 years and 10 generations on the Mountaintop here in the Town of Hunter, Greene County, NY. As usual, our reunion will be held in Haines Falls, NY, at the South Lake Pavilion, NYS North-South Lake Campground. The Pavilion is ours for the day, and you may come as early as you wish to enjoy this beautiful spot. Most folks show up between 10:00 and 11:00 and have a picnic around noon, followed by our annual meeting, games, group photo, baking contest, awards, story telling, etc. Please bring sharing table snacks and your photo albums, genealogy, collections, anything you think would be of interest.
The historic Aaron Haines Cemetery is looking better than ever. Our maintenance, regrading, reseeding and fertilizing is showing off the cemetery to good advantage. This spring we planted 50 Colorado blue spruce transplants on the west shoulder of the new right of way that we were granted by the Mountain Top Historical Society. They will eventually provide a living fence and will tend to take your eye off the tall building behind them. The completion of the right of way to the cemetery has been delayed by NYS DOT’s insistence on a new application, fee, insurance, etc., for an entrance curb cut at Route 23A--more expense and red tape. I will follow up on that after several more pressing issues are dealt with. If we have to pay a contractor to construct the curb cut, it will more than use up whatever funds we presently have in our Cemetery Fund. Please keep this in mind when you check the boxes for your membership donation this year. Your first $5 goes toward membership dues, the rest towards Cemetery or General Fund. Your donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
The historic Layman Cemetery that we restored is in good shape. The right of way to this cemetery is awaiting a load of fill and more work with the backhoe/front end loader. The cemetery is accessible, but you have to walk to it from Fern Ridge Road, in Haines Falls.
The historic Peter B. Haines Cemetery, off O’Hara Road in Haines Falls, is on our to-do list for rescue and restoration later this summer. Some of the earliest mountaintop settlers are buried here, including Edward and Mariam Haines.
The historic Griswald (Schoonmaker/Dibble) Cemetery in Platte Clove is also on our to-do list to be rescued and restored.
Our HFA groundskeeping crew is celebrating its 14th year maintaining the Mountain Top Historical Society (MTHS) Campus grounds, which were owned by our ancestors at one time.
A feature article on our Haines ancestors will be published in the summer edition of the MTHS Hemlock newsletter. If you are not already a member of the MTHS, go to www.mths.org and sign up. It’s a great organization that shares many common goals with the HFA.
Our HFA web site www.HainesFamilyAssociation.org is really coming along, thanks to Sandy Palmer, who takes care of it for us. It is a work in progress and is getting better and more comprehensive all the time. Check it out.
Our 23rd Reunion on Saturday, June 11th will have more activities for the children. Among others, this year we are hoping to have a nature theme for the children. We will be making pinwheels and decorating plastic containers for a short hike. We also hope to find some Monarch eggs/caterpillars to hatch (that’s what we will use the containers for). A scavenger hunt might be fun on a hike to the Mountain House site to help familiarize the children with local plant life.
Our Treasurer’s Report is enclosed, as are our May 23rd Directors’ meeting minutes. As recommended by our Board of Directors, we have increased our donations to charities in an effort to be good citizens, also allocations in support of HFA goals.
A very important process has begun: Sue Haines is now scanning our voluminous archival materials for preservation and future reference and research. If you have important documents or photographs that you would like scanned into our HFA data base, contact Sue Haines.
If you need a place to stay for the reunion, contact www.GreeneTourism.com or www.travelerdiscountguide.com for the Northeast. See you soon!
My best regards,
Richard E. “Cousin Dick” Haines
President, HFA
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2008 Newsletter
HAINES FAMILY ASSOCIATION, INC. TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION & MEETING
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008
Dear Members and Friends:
The Haines Family Association will be dedicating a plaque in memory of Lt. Richard A. Haines at the Veterans’ Memorial on the campus of the Mountain Top Historical Society, Haines Falls, at 10:00 a.m., followed by our annual HFA Reunion and meeting at the South Lake Pavilion, New York State North-South Lake Camp Ground, Haines Falls, New York. When attending the plaque dedication at 10:00 a.m., please park in either the large or the small blacktop parking areas at the MTHS Campus.
Thank you for your ideas and suggestions as to how we could appropriately honor the memory of Lt. Haines. We tried to incorporate them in the plaque which shows his photo, rank, medals and states as follows: “Richard Alexander Haines was born in Haines Falls, NY, on April 28, 1903. He attended the Tennessee Military Institute from 1921-1923, attended the Naval Academy for a time, and served in the Coast Guard from 1928-1931. Haines was Commissioned a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve on July 23, 1941, served in Washington, and was eventually assigned to the cruiser USS New Orleans (CA-32). When the USS New Orleans suffered a devastating torpedo hit in the Battle of Tassafaronga on November 30, 1942, Lieutenant Haines remained at his station to assist in controlling the damage until overcome by asphyxiating gas generated by the explosion. In the true tradition of the Navy he gave his life to save his shipmates, and he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross for his heroism. He was buried in California where his family lived. To Honor Lieutenant Haines’ memory, on December 27, 1943 the destroyer escort USS Haines (DE-792) was commissioned and served throughout the remainder of WWII performing various duties, earning one Battle Star.”
In addition to the plaque being affixed to the Veterans’ Memorial, we made an extra to replace the plaque when it weathers, and a beautiful wood-framed original which can be made available for interior display and loaned to those who desire to show it.
Aaron Haines’ Cemetery:
Since our 2007 reunion, we have done much work at this cemetery which before we took over the maintenance had been neglected for many years. In addition to the normal fertilizing and mowing, this year we dug out tree stumps and cleared on the east bank, hired a bulldozer to grade the bank, seeded, fertilized and mulched the previously unmowable area. This spring the new grass is coming in nicely.
On 8-13-07 our work party reset head stones and foot stones in the cemetery. We also located a boundary line for the recently approved 20’ right of way to the cemetery from the MTHS. On 8-22-07 we located a survey pin representing an important corner of the ROW. On 9-6-07 a surveyor put a pin on the southwest corner of the ROW. On 9-14-07 MTHS President Justine Hommel was authorized to sign the deed granting the ROW to the Haines Family Association. On 9-19-07 the Town of Hunter dumped the first load of fill to be used on the ROW. On 9-26-07 Tony Bucca completed the ROW deed, MTHS President Justine Hommel signed it, and on 9-27-07 it was recorded at the County Clerk’s Office. The reason for this new and improved ROW is because the original ROW has been partially blocked and is no longer practical to use. It continues to be a work in progress, dependent upon volunteer labor, fill, bulldozing, and a new curb cut application, etc.
Peter B. Haines Cemetery: A future project.
More good news: the Haines Family Association now has its own web site, thanks to Sandy Palmer, who volunteered to create and maintain one for us. It was just recently started and will be a work in progress for some time. As time goes by we will be making thoughtful additions to it. Please send your submissions, preferably as a Word e-mail attachment or on a CD. At present we do not have the ability to scan. For items submitted that are not put on our web site, they may be scanned into a database by Sue Haines for future reference and research. Please do not send originals.
Layman Burying Ground:
On 6-12-08 our HFA work party continued the good work done by Sal and Carol Centamore, HFA members and new adjoining owners, who had already begun clearing and cleaning up this cemetery earlier this spring. We worked for five hours and enlarged the improved area and continued clearing the access ROW by cutting down obstructing trees, digging out stumps, and we began grading the ROW to the cemetery with a backhoe. It is a work in progress, another cemetery that was hidden in the woods for scores of years, which we rescued and are slowly restoring. It’s difficult to build a road through the woods with modern machinery. Imagine what it was like for our ancestors, who did it by hand or with the aid of animals, and had to remove even bigger trees and stumps.
As a fringe benefit of our work party, when raking leaves in the area of the three headstones we repaired last year, two more stone monuments were located in line with the original three, for a total of six now, including a very small headstone some distance from the others. The two newly-discovered stones are plain bluestone about a foot wide and four inches high with no inscriptions on them.
In addition to our work rescuing, restoring and maintaining the mountaintop cemeteries in our care, Haines Family Association member volunteers have maintained and cared for the Mountain Top Historical Society’s 20.3 acre grounds for the past 13 years and continue to do so. Our present crew is made up of Bob Van Dyke, Sal Centamore, Robert Haines and Dick Haines.
Reunion: During this year’s reunion, we would like to involve the children in learning about their family through crafts. We will have some supplies available for the children who along with their parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles, can color, write and create “family trees.” We ask that if you want to participate, please bring along a few family pictures (NO ORIGINALS) that can be cut down to a 3x2 size. Also bring along names and birth dates of as many family members as you are aware of. We hope this will be a fun project for everyone who gets involved. If you have crayons, stickers, markers, etc., that you would like to share, bring them.
Another enjoyable activity planned for our reunion, open to all, is storytelling about our ancestors, a wonderful and entertaining opportunity to share our past with our children and each other, giving meaning to the present, who we are and how we got here.
On 5-29-08 our Finance Committee met and established a 2008-9 budget. Copies are available.
As you can see from the enclosed Treasurer’s report, the cemetery portion of our treasury was seriously depleted by our ambitious improvements to the Aaron Haines Cemetery and ROW. If you approve of our efforts and would like to continue to support this activity, which is one of our mission-statement purposes, check the CEMETERY box and/or write “Cemetery” on your check. The first $5 goes toward your membership dues. Our work party participants donate their time, tools, machinery, gas, diesel, backhoe, etc., at no expense to the membership.
On May 31st vice-president Bill Haines and his wife Gail hosted a cemetery restoration seminar on behalf of the HFA in Walton, NY. Apparently it was such a success that Bill has already been contacted to do another one in that area in the future.
For the public good and to help our communities, the Finance Committee recommends that we make a donation or donations annually to charity. Your input will be welcomed at the reunion or by phone or e-mail.
In closing, a reminder or two. Your dues and donations to the HFA are now tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Mark your envelope/check “cemetery” if you wish to help replenish our cemetery fund. If you need a place to stay, visit www.GreeneTourism.com or www.travelerdiscountguide.com for the Northeast.
In addition to the new children’s activities and storytelling, we will be taking a group picture for the newspapers, enjoying the fresh mountain air, renewing old acquaintances, making new friends, providing a sharing table for your favorite dish, holding our usual baking contest with awards for different categories, awards for largest family group, patriarch, matriarch, youngest boy, youngest girl, and farthest traveled, sharing genealogical research and old photos, memorabilia and collections of all kinds. There will be 2008 mugs for sale and perhaps a few T-shirts and caps. Freebees may include pens and letter slitters.
See you at the Dedication at 10:00 a.m. or at the Reunion thereafter.
My Best Regards,
Richard E. “Cousin Dick” Haines
President, Haines Family Association
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