A long-standing tradition for the Owen D. Young Central School District (ODY) was deemed a success by the local senior citizens honored at the annual dinner held last Friday in the ODY gymnasium in Van Hornesville. | | Local seniors enjoyed a gourmet holiday meal complete with all the trimmings as part of a decades old tradition honored by students, staff and residents within the Owen D. Young Central School district. (Photo by Janine Giordano) | | Student Council members, high school students and staff members hosted approximately 50 senior citizens from the community with a holiday turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings, according to Megan McCoy, librarian and advisor to the student council.“The whole school participates, including the art classes, elementary classes, and the poinsettias were donated by the faculty,” McCoy said. The event has been held for decades she said. “We’re very proud of this tradition. The students look forward to this every year.” In addition to the turkey dinner, prepared on site by the cafeteria staff members, diners were entertained with holiday tunes performed on the piano by eleventh grade student, Victoria Crockett. A well decorated Christmas tree sparkled and glittered from the stage, and poinsettia’s adorned each of the tables, all of which were set formally with linen tablecloths, napkins and china and glassware. Artwork adorning the walls and tables were the creations of elementary students, McCoy said. A number of senior citizens who are new to the district joined many of the longtime residents who have been attending the dinner for as long as they have been served. Harriet Lyons was enjoying her first ODY dinner after recently moving to the area from East Springfield. Lyons said she moved here to live with her daughter, Melissa Manikas. | | While behind the scenes the cafeteria staff cooked up the turkey dinner, students were on the front lines serving and waiting on more than 50 diners who attended the annual ODY Senior Citizens dinner. (Photo by Janine Giordano) | | Although Barbara Poor has only lived in the area for two years, this was her third dinner. She joked that this was the reason she moved to the area, then remarked, “The food is excellent.”Longtime residents like Curt and Muriel Richardson and Ron and Nancy Smith recalled memories made at these dinners. “It’s a good time to socialize with people we haven’t seen in quite a while,” said Ron Smith, former school board member. “We’ve been coming to these dinners for fifteen years.” His wife noted that “I” know most of the kids because I’ve subbed here.” Former chief turkey carver, Curt Richardson, recalled how he used to volunteer at these events, and would spend the day carving up to six or seven turkeys. His wife also worked within the district teaching Home Economics on and off for 20 years. The ODY mascot was on hand with two cheerleaders to seat diners as they arrived. Also on hand was seeking survey answers regarding which mural the community wanted painted within the school. Also attending the dinner was Dellephene Woodruff, the wife of the late, former superintendent/principal of ODY, Robert Woodruff. “He worked in the district for 40 years, and served as superintendent for 30 of those 40 years. Back then the superintendent and principal were the same thing,” she recalled. Commenting on the performance by the school chorus, who sang a variety of songs for the seniors, Woodruff said, “It was quite a large group and they sang very well. All of us seniors really appreciated their efforts.”
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