When I received this big folder in the mail with the following title on the cover — “WALK OF FAME / HOWARD RILEY” — I was so thrilled! But my balloon burst when I found out that Carol Vosler, Gail Rice, Ron Keough, Phil Feinberg, Tom Catillaz and Mary Hotaling had received the same folder.

Former Mayor Clyde Rabideau appointed us the official Walk of Fame Committee — not, apparently, inductees of the Walk of Fame — with the following excerpts from his appointment letter:

“Thank you for agreeing to serve on this unique and important committee — Your charge is simply this:

“From a list of nominees submitted to you or brought to the table by you or fellow members, kindly determine the names of residents or former residents that have distinguished themselves positively on a national or international level in the arts, sciences, entertainment, sports, commerce, and philanthropy and government, bringing honor to themselves and, by their residency in Saranac Lake, to our community.

“A simple majority of four members shall approve a selection of a nominee. You may wish to choose a chairperson from among your group to conduct meetings and report.”

“The village shall oversee plaque design, location and installation after your selection process and these tasks are not part of your charge.”

The committee “by-laws,” if you will, was accompanied by a press release with other details such as:

“The committee feels that the gathering of names for consideration should be open to the public. The entire list of suggestions with the background information will be provided to the Mayor and Village Board for review.”

Our appointment letter was dated July 24, 2010. We never met and we never heard from anyone again.

However, the idea obviously worked out fine with plaques on downtown buildings honoring a number of celebrities.

There were many other successful events that Mayor Rabideau created — just to name a couple — the very successful “6ers” mountain climbing challenge and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, festivities that have grown each year since their inception. The mayor appointed me the very first St. Pat’s Grand Marshall but I was away at the time and big Mike Ryan immediately took the honor — well deserved. The Grand Marshall is now chosen each year by the former Grand Marshalls.

I had the mayor’s back from the day he entered politics here. He was sometimes controversial — so what? Do you know why some people never cause any controversy? They never do anything …

The incredible

Elizabeth Mills Reid

My Walk of Fame file also contained the following bio by Historic Saranac Lake.

The Reid family built the first Great Camp, “Camp Wild Air” on Upper St. Regis Lake in 1882. Ms. Mills, born on Jan. 6, 1858, married Whitelaw Reid in 1881.

The Camp was situated on 29 acres, accessible only by boat. Her husband was Whitelaw Reid, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, ambassador to Great Britain and United States Minister to France.

Excerpts from Ms. Reid’s bio:

“Elizabeth Mills Reid was a philanthropist and social activist. She was the daughter of the founder of the Bank of California, D. Ogden Mills, and the wife of Newspaper man and Ambassador Whitelaw Reid.

“In 1898 and 1899 she served as Secretary of the Red Cross Society for the Maintenance of Trained Nurses and Chairman, Red Cross Committee on Nursing in the Philippines. In 915 she served as Chairman of the England Chapter of the American Red Cross, London.”

I worked at Trudeau Sanatorium in the late 1940s and now I know the beautiful Reid House was built by Mrs. Reid as a gift to Trudeau Sanatorium as a home for nurses and is “considered one of the best equipped homes for nurses in the United States.”

She established the D. Odgen Reid Mills Training School for Nurses.

Reid House at Trudeau was where the student nurses from Rochester and Buffalo General Hospitals lived during their three-month required training at a tuberculosis hospital.

Upon her death in 1931 she left $20,000 to Trudeau Sanatorium, equivalent to more than $368,000 in today’s currency.