Jack and Barbara (Baker) Van Auken (2024)

Barbara and Jack exemplify two lives of work and service that have benefitted Greenville.

Born in Catskill (living in Greenville) in 1940, Barbara was the older child of Clara (Faehndrich) and Marshall Baker. Barbara’s grandfather was Gus Baker, owner of the Main Street restaurant.

            Barbara graduated in the GCS Class of 1958 and worked three years with NYS.

Meanwhile, John “Jack” Van Auken was born in Catskill (living in Cooksburgh), the older son of Edward and Ruth (Wood) Van Auken in 1941, He attended the Durham Central School (Grades 1-8), moved with his parents to Red Mill Road in Greenville in 1957, and graduated GCS in the same year as Barbara.

            High school sweethearts would marry in 1960 and have children Lori (m. Marc Lewis, ch. Christopher); Lynn (ch. Aaron, Eva); and Kimberly.

            Barbara worked at NYS Division of Architecture Landscape and then a public relations office for three years before working full-time at home as a mother.

            Jack spent many hours of his youth on his grandfather’s dairy farm in Cooksburgh when he was not riding with his dad who had a delivery route. Jack’s grandfather Niles had operated a milk route to Manorkill and then Jack’s father expanded into general delivery.

            Jack started at Albany Business College but four months later his dad had an opening in the delivery business. After fifty-two years of leadership of Red Mill Road-based Van Auken Express, Jack transferred his share of the business to his nephews, Jim and Ed. Jack would spend another ten years semi-retired before accepting the fact that the business could survive without him. Van Auken’s Express served the regional area, carrying anything that a truck could handle.

            Barbara and Jack lived on New Ridge Road, Norton Hill from 1964-1991 before moving to their current home on Turon Rd.

Although life stories are informative, GLHG awards its recognition for service above and beyond the usual. And Barbara and Jack epitomize this trait.

Barbara:

·       volunteered for 4-H in the 1970s

·       supported the school musicals with costumes and makeup in the 1970s

·       is a lifelong member of Christ Church Episcopal: teaching Sunday school for 10 years, a lay reader, and altar guild directress for 50 years

·       assisted Greenville blood drives for 10 years while also acting as a recruiting blood drive chair

·       served as a Friends of the Greenville Library for 20 years and as its treasurer 10 years

·       worked with All Arts Matter as a board member as well as coordinating AAM’s poetry contests

·       sang with Mamas Without Papas as one its original members in the 1970s

·       was part of the Mary Heisinger-led Dine and Discuss book group for about 25 years

Barbara socially enjoyed her bridge group for a half century and led a demanding business and family life have been blessed in so many ways

Jack’s life, he will say, was the family business.

            Still, he has served as a Town Board member, Planning Board member, the Christ Church Episcopal Vestry including as a Warden, as well as a scattering of community projects.

            When he retired in 2014, Jack acquired the fields of the former Turon Farm that fills the eastern boundaries of Rt 26, Turon Rd, and Irving Rd. He daydreamed about restoring the hayfields and dreaming about what they could be, the product of which passers-by admire.

            Jack’s most recent project, with the assistance of other community members,  is a renewal and improvement of the grounds of the Greenville Cemetery: cutting brush, improving roadways, clearing threatening trees, straightening gravestones, and pursuing the history of one of Greenville’s historical gems.

Jack and Barbara, thank you for your decades of sharing your lives and service.