Le Roy HS Alumni Committee honors its busy, fact-filled town Historian Lynne Belluscio
Town of Le Roy Historian Lynne Belluscio holds the Certificate of Appreciation she received from Joe Riggi at the Le Roy High School Alumni Banquet on July 13.
Submitted photo and press release from Pat Iamon:
On July 13, during the Le Roy High School Alumni Banquet at Sacred Heart hall in Batavia, Joe Riggi presented Lynne Belluscio, Town of Le Roy historian, with a framed certificate thanking her for her dedicated service to Le Roy.
The annual alumni banquet is for Le Roy High School students who graduated 50 or more years ago.
Busy as she always is, Lynne rushed in, bounced around the room chatting with many of her fellow LeRoyans; many that she called by name. At the start of the festivities Riggi introduced Lynne who gave an interesting talk about Le Roy’s Jell-O history. She shared many facts about the invention of Jell-O, the Woodward family, the Jello-O plant, marketing stories of the product and also about the artifacts at the Jell-O Museum she manages.
Lynne asked for a raise of hands from those in attendance whose family members worked at the North Street Jello-O plant. It quickly appeared that about 15-20 percent in attendance had mothers, fathers, aunts or uncles who worked at the plant. Marie, Rose and Joe Riggi, all present and members of the Alumni Committee have a long history with Jell-O. The Riggi’s mother and father relocated to Delaware when General Foods moved the plant to Dover. Once in Delaware their other siblings, Frances and Sam not only found work at the plant but also met their spouses there.
Following her talk Lynne could not stay for the meal and said her goodbyes while inviting everyone to come to the Jell-O Museum over Oatka Festival weekend. As she was ready to turn and leave Riggi stopped her to recognize her with the committee’s award of appreciation.
This year there were members from the Class of 1944 through the Class of 1967. During the program Riggi showed many old photos of Le Roy as well as photos of the classes in attendance taken from old yearbooks. If anyone wants information on attending future banquets or becoming a member of the committee, please give Rose Scott a call at 585-768-7534.
Knowing that Lynne would be honored, Pat Iamon tried to quickly get some information about our keeper of Le Roy’s information. She spewed out her story as Iamon scribbled notes down. Lynne is a wealth of dates and details. Her memory is outstanding. As the town historian for the past five years it is hard to believe she’s dedicated herself to a town that’s not her home town. Lynne’s only been here since 1969 when she and her husband built their family home on North Road.
Lynne and her husband, Bob, are both from Rochester. Lynne attended Monroe High School then graduated from SUNY Oswego and worked as an Industrial Arts teacher at the Number 2 and 7 schools in Rochester. Bob attended West High School and graduated from RIT, he worked for Kodak. They have two children: Mark born in 1971 and Laura in 1972.
When they decided to build a home, they chose Le Roy. Lynne stayed home for a period of time before accepting a position heading up the special events at the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford. During her years there she initiated many of their established yearly events such as the Agricultural Fair. She also established a baseball team known as the “Slab City Sluggers” who played ball around the community for several years.
Lynne had been a member of the Le Roy Historical Society since 1971. She became the director in 1988 and in1989 she initiated the column that appears in the Le Roy Pennysaver & News every week. Lynne estimates that she has written more than 1,000 of these lengthy fact-filled articles.
Once she became our town’s historian she has headed up many initiatives. She led the crusade to beautifully restore our little Statue of Liberty on the banks of the Oatka Creek. Last year she established a marker to commemorate the first Le Roy woman to vote. On April 2, 1982 she cast her historic vote. The marker stands in front of Le Roy’s Municipal Building.
Besides her continuing work in educating us, upgrading and increasing the collections and improving the appeal of the Le Roy House and Jell-O Museum, Lynne has more projects in the works. She is planning a new World War I memorial for Trigon Park and also has some plans for the historic steam shovel located on Gulf Road.
Lynne who is more than dedicated to Le Roy’s history is constantly digging up facts and happy to teach us all about this delightful little town. At the end of her talk, Lynne expressed her desire to become an honorary member of the Class of 1962. Any class would welcome her!
