Archive: Around Town

Last Friday in Ludlowville Park could have been a scene from half a century ago.  Kip Opperman and Richy Stano played an acoustic concert in the gazebo, and the Lansing Lions Club held an ice cream social in honor of the late Jim Howell, a charter member who was instrumental in forming the club 50 years ago this year.  Many members of Howell's family were present, and the money raised is targeted for recreational equipment for the park in the hamlet where Howell was born.

"He was a charter member of the Lansing Lion's Club," says Howell's wife Phyllis.  "When he passed away he was the last living charter member.  They have such lovely playground equipment in Myers Park that is all new.  He had expressed an interest to the Lions Club to see if there was anything they could improve here in the Ludlowville Park."

Howell and Lansing Lion Noni Krom had talked about having a carnival in Ludlowville with an ice cream social.  They both grew up in Ludlowville, and wanted to do something to benefit the park there.  Howell passed away last year before they could do anything about it and the carnival idea never took flight.  But when the town Recreation Department decided to have a concert series there this summer, it was a natural event to connect an ice cream social with.

"A year ago we talked about having an ice cream social, because we grew up here," Krom says.  "We wanted to have something here, because to us Ludlowville meant more than Myers.  I promised him I'd do that, and then he passed away.  So I'm living up to the promise I made a long time ago."


The Howells were both Ludlowville people at a time when Ludlowville was a thriving hamlet with a commercial block and a successful mill.  The Brick Block, now an apartment building, housed a dry goods & grocery store, and a post office.  Dancing lessons were given upstairs, and movies were shown there.  The hamlet had a fire station, two churches, and a school house that now stands in disrepair up the hill above the brick block.  Kids looked forward to fireworks there, and there were celebrations in the streets.

"It was the mill," Phyllis says.  "The mill made it a center.  It was really a sophisticated block for those days.  And we always used to have Old Home Days.  They would close off the whole center here."

What is now the Federal House Bed & Brakfast was originally built by Abijah Miller in 1815 as a summer house.  Since then it has had many owners.  Howell's family owned it when he was born there in 1926.  Later his family moved to Emmons Road where his father bought a farm.

"He still considered Ludlowville his home town," Phyllis says.


Phyllis lived on Mill Street until her family moved to 34B north of the current school campus.  She was two years younger than Jim, so they didn't meet until they both attended the Drake School House on 34B.  She says their families knew each other.

"I knew who Jim was.  He was really quite a tease and I wasn't very fond of him when we were in grade school.  But he did grow on me."

This year would have been their 65th anniversary.  They had four sons together.  One lives in Ludlowville, another in Atlanta, one in Montour Falls, and another in Charlotte.  Howell was passionate about Ludlowville, the Lansing community, and the Lions Club. 

"He always saw to it that a flag was purchased for Ludlowville Park," Krom says.  "He was involved with every project we did: Fourth of July Barbecue, pancake breakfasts, everything.  He helped build three pavilions in Myers Park."

Over $500 was raised in donations and from the ice cream in his memory.  Ice cream donated by Cornell University, and Scoops Ice Cream, and all the toppings were donated by LakeBreeze Ice Cream.  Money donated in his memory and further fundraising by the Lions will be used to buy recreation equipment for the Ludlowville Park playground.  Currently they are considering a bench for parents to sit on while children play and a new piece of playground equipment.

"Jim was an avid Lyon because everything they do is community related," phyllis says.  "They work hard, raise funds, and then spend them wisely."

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