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The River Reporter Wasser honored by 700 well-wishers By TOM RUE MONTICELLO - An ocean of familiar faces, of local people of all political and professional stripes, swelled the halls of Kutsher's Country Club at a December 7th retirement dinner for Sheriff Joseph Wasser, honoring him for a half century of public service. A hotel employee said that more than 700 dinners were served, adding that summer workers were brought back to work at the event which was large for the season.Toastmaster George Cooke, county clerk by day, cracked jokes and introduced dignified speakers who droned on all through dinner -- leaving Wasser with more than a dozen plaques, board proclamations, certificates of merit and appreciation, and plain old best wishes. In 1952, Wasser became New York's youngest town justice, a seat he held in Thompson until 1971, and also served as a councilman in the same town, until being elected county Sheriff in 1971. During World War II, Wasser was a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Adjutant General's Office, and later Captain in the Reserves. Five days past his 76th birthday, Wasser is presently the oldest sheriff in the state. One of the first speakers -- Anthony Suarez, president of the Sullivan County Police Benevolent Association -- announced the creation of the Hon. Sheriff Joseph Wasser Scholarship Fund, to benefit college students majoring in criminal justice studies. In addition to local posts which he has held, Wasser served as a Commissioner on the NYS Commission of Correction for six years, and on the governor's cabinet under Hugh Carey. A lifelong Democrat, the event was weighted in that direction -- but numerous Republicans also came to honor the man described by one speaker as "Sullivan County's first citizen." Thompson supervisor Anthony Cellini compared the group at the hotel to a different crowd, one which appears each year at a field in Bethel -- referring to Wasser's consummate diplomacy in past years, with pilgrims who attend questionably legal Woodstock anniversary reunions. The first such festival took place two years after Wasser took office. After listing some of the numerous positions of public trust which Wasser has held, retired chief judge Lawrence Cooke noted that he "did not stain the office that he held in any way... and we are all in his debt." Wasser's new title will be "the most eligible man in the State of New York," judge Cooke added. Wasser was accompanied by his fiancé, Natalie Feldman, with whom he has spent recent winters in Florida. Members of the Wasser family made note of the sheriff's sense of humanity, memory for names, and comfortable manner in public. "People are his religion. He seems to draw sustenance from those around them," said Martin Wasser, who called his father's term "45 years of sunshine." Wasser married the late Ethel Apter, and they had two children, Martin (who spoke at the dinner) and Ellen, and a granddaughter, Laurie. The program listed over a dozen local organizations in which Wasser is a member. Thanking those who came to congratulate him, Wasser said he initially planned to modify Douglas MacArthur's words and say, "Old sheriffs never die, they just fade away." Then, he said, he remembered another famous quote attributed to MacArthur -- "I shall return." Instead, Wasser said, he decided to conclude his finale by reading the poem by the French missionary Etienne de Grellet: I shall pass this way but once; Any good, therefore, that I can do, Or any kindness that I can show To any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, For I shall not pass this way again. |
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© 1985-2006, Tom Rue. All rights reserved.
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