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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Armand FAMILIES REUNITED St.supervisor
ELIZABETHTOWN
LAKE PLACID
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By Keith Lobdell keith@denpubs.com
Vols needed for Spec. Olympics PAGE 2
SARANAC LAKE
Comp plan hearings set PAGE 2
Alice Keesey Mecoy and Kenneth B. Morris Jr., great-great-great grandchildren of Frederick Douglass and John Brown, meet after 153 years of Photo by Katherine Clark silence between their families.
SCHOOLS
Adirondack abolitionist families reunite By Katherine Clark katherine@denpubs.com
Saranac Lake honor roll PAGE 5
SARANAC LAKE — In August of 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown and Frederick Douglass, American Social Reformer and freed slave, met for the last time after working closely together for over a decade to bring about social change and help escaped slaves through the underground railroad. For nearly 153 years, the Brown and Douglass families never met again. On Nov. 30, the gap was
closed by less than ten steps as Alice Keesey Mecoy walked across the room to meet Kenneth B. Morris. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you,” She exclaimed as the two hugged. Mecoy, the great-greatgreat-granddaughter of John Brown, and Morris, the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass, closed the gap of time between the two families with their first in-person meeting at the 150 year anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation event at North Country Community
College Campus. “The families were friends up until 1859,” Mecoy said. “The last time they talked was in the quarry in August prior to Harper ’s Ferry when Douglas told John Brown it wasn’t a good idea and he wasn’t going to participate (in Harper ’s Ferry).” Brown and his group of 21 men were caught had gone to capture the arsenal at Harper ’s Ferry hoping to start a revolution to end slavery. Though they were captured and later executed, Douglass later said their efforts were the basis for the
end of slavery. From then on when the families would see each other, Mecoy said for one reason or another they just didn’t communicate and ultimately drifted apart. Today, Mecoy and Morris continue the legacy of their abolitionist ancestors through the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, of which Morris is the founder and president and Mecoy on the board of advisors, one of many organizations she serves on. It exists to serve two purposes: to preserve CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
POTSDAM — The longest-serving member of the Essex County Board of Supervisors passed away Dec. 3 at the age of 77. St. Armand’s Joyce Morency had been a supervisor for the town since her election in 1981, only the third female to be elected to the position, following Mildred Dobie of North Hudson and Florence Hathaway of Willsboro in 1980. Morency built up a long list of county accomplishments, serving as county Republican Party chair, budget liaison, vice chair and chair in 1994-95, the first woman to hold the position. She had been battling cancer, and died at her daughter ’s home in Potsdam around 4:30 a.m. the morning of Dec. 3. “Joyce was a wealth of knowledge,” Jay Supervisor and current county chair Randy Douglas said. “She was a financial wizard with town and county budgets. She was a dear friend and a tremendous colleague. She served with quite a few generations of supervisors and had all of their respect. It’s a great loss for Essex County.” “Joyce was one of the most dedicated local public officials I ever met as countless times I would stop in at her town hall and she would be the first person to greet me through her office door,” Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau said. “She was totally dedicated to her township and its residents and would spend whatever amount of time it took to solve any problem at hand CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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