Dead President’s Society lives
Glens Falls Police need to explain why driver’s name was withheld.
By Ken Tingley
This strange and unusual odyssey started in Tennessee in 1986.
John Doherty, a colleague who worked with me at The Daily Star in Oneonta, was coming to visit me in Kingsport, Tenn. He asked me if Greeneville was close by. It was just an hour’s drive.
John was on a mission. On that drive, he explained to me about the Dead President’s Society. He and another friend had been visiting president’s graves as a hobby. Andrew Johnson, the 17th president and the first to be impeached, was buried in Greeneville. He was my first dead president.
Later, when I moved to Glens Falls, Doherty and I made trips to see Calvin Coolidge in Vermont and Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire. I was hooked.
Since I rarely do anything halfway, I embarked on the Dead Presidents Society as a mission that continues 36 years later. Along the way, I dragged my wife on a Dead Presidents Society vacation in Virginia to see George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler and James Monroe.
While covering the Breeders’ Cup in Louisville, Ky. one year I arrived a day early and completed a three-state swing to see Zachary Taylor (Louisville), William Henry Harrison (Cincinnati) and Benjamin Harrison (Indianapolis). The day started with me jumping the wall in the closed cemetery where Taylor resided.
Twice I’ve had to sneak in through a hole in the cemetery fence to see Teddy Roosevelt.
While attending a conference in Chicago, I passed up one day of seminars to drive three hours to Iowa to see Herbert Hoover and then back again.
When my son showed an interest in history, I got him involved in the Dead Presidents Society as well. He told me recently that after he was dumped by his first girlfriend, I loaded him into the car and introduced him to President Chester Arthur in an Albany cemetery.
Earlier this month we made a family trip to Michigan to see Gerald Ford’s museum and gravesite. And last week, we did the same for George H.W, Bush and Lyndon Johnson in Texas.
I was so excited after seeing Bush’s grave, I texted my cousin Nancy - who is also in the Dead Presidents Society - to tell her of my feat. I had now seen 37 of the 39 dead presidents. I was missing just Ronald Reagan (California) and James Polk (Nashville).
“That’s great,” she wrote. “It’s a fun/weird hobby, but very interesting.”
I was expecting more from Nancy. After all, this had been a life-long pursuit. Maybe, she was just jealous.
After the Ford visit in Grand Rapids, my son started chronicling his list on his phone. He now has 23 dead presidents.
I started my own list on my iPad and found my wife had 25 presidents and she wasn’t even trying.
Driving back to the hotel after seeing the Bush museum, I announced I was already planning a trip to California and wondering if I could make it to Nashville, too.
Twice we planned trips to Nashville only to be interrupted by life. The first time was when my wife was ill. The second time was at the start of the pandemic. President James Polk was proving rather elusive.
For now, I’ll revel in my two latest accomplishments, and hope that none of the living presidents leave anytime soon.
Police release name
The Glens Falls Police Department finally released the name of the driver who struck and killed an elderly woman in a February accident. The police initially described the accident as a hit and run, then said it was still under investigation. Although, the police knew the name of the driver they refused to name the driver publicly. In accidents, the driver’s name is a matter of public record and is supposed to be released to the public.
Finally last week, Glens Falls Police issued a press release that stated Jeremy Willett, a 41-year-old man from Stony Creek, was the person who struck and killed 71-year-old Nina A. Dever in February.
The police revealed that Willett stopped at the scene to help the victim but never told police he was involved in the accident. Police said Willett did not realize he had hit the woman. Several hours later Willett realized he had damage to his vehicle and he believed he was involved in the accident.
The only thing the police report did not address was why it gave Willett special treatment and withheld his name.
That question is one the police need to answer.
Smithsonian in Lake Luzerne
The Hadley-Luzerne Historical Society will be hosting an event to mark its 50th anniversary when Dr. David Allison, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and Dr. Richard Dressner, a Lake Luzerne resident and former deputy director of Mount Vernon, will discus how the town of Lake Luzerne got its name from a French ambassador who worked closely with the founding fathers.
The event is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Lake Luzerne Town Hall.
The Chevalier de La Luzerne was the French Ambassador to the U.S. from 1779 to 1784 and the namesake for the town.
If you are a history nerd, this should be a great evening.
We have been to the LBJ Ranch when my folks lived in San Antonio, I was serving the military during his second term. My son and I went to the Truman Library in Independence when we were on a baseball stadium trip, and Truman was the president when I was born, very eye opening to see how simpler times were then, and Missouri these days would never elect a person like Truman.
Dead Presidents' Society Interesting. I was hoping for a mention of New York's own Grant's Tomb. I have been making a point of visiting places U.S. Grant lived. I haven't been to his tomb, even though I live in New York State; I have seen it from afar, but have not walked near it. I've visited most all the places Grant lived except for Galena, Illinois and military residences. I visited where he was born, raised, and died, but not his burial site. I have not been to battle sites or places he lived while in military housing. Your keeping of a list is a good idea. I should do that. I have been to a few other presidential homes, but Grant is the only one for whom I have made a special effort. I would love to go to the LBJ ranch in Texas when the bluebonnets are in bloom. You ought to think about writing a book with photographs of the presidential tombs with brief stories that highlight their personalities.