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Greene County Historian Ray Beecher dies at 91

By Jim Planck

COXSACKIE — Greene County Historian Raymond Beecher died at the age of 91, friends said Thursday.

Beecher had been a mainstay in preserving, protecting, and promulgating Greene County history for decades.

He was single-handedly the driving force and benefactor in saving Cedar Grove: The Thomas Cole House when it was available for purchase, and shepherded it into the ownership of the Greene County Historical Society in 1998.

Beecher was officially appointed to the position of Greene County Historian by the County Legislature in 1993 and served in the position with distinction.

He was with the Greene County Historical Society for more than 50 years, having served as both its Chairman of the Board and its President, and was at the time of his passing Trustee Emeritus.

He was also chairman of the Greene County Bicentennial Committee in 1976, as well as a past librarian of the Vedder Research Library, the historical society’s archival and research facility in Coxsackie.

Beecher’s knowledge, skills, and standing in the county’s cultural heritage was such that in 2002 he was officially proclaimed a Greene County Treasure by the Greene County Legislature.

Additionally, in 2005 the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development awarded Beecher its Alf Evers Award for Excellence.

Beecher was a 1938 graduate of Hartwick College, Oneonta, which in 1996 awarded him a Doctor of Humane Letters because of his writings, expertise, and great service on behalf of documenting and preserving history.

In 2007, he received a Jefferson Award, a tribute of the American Institute for Public Service, jointly from the Times Union, St. Peter’s Health Care Services, and NewsChannel 13, which recognized him for his outstanding volunteerism in the Capital District.

Beecher also created the Greene County Historical Sites Register as a cultural database to document and recognize architecturally and historically significant structures in the county, and the effort — still ongoing — has been received with great success.

He was historian for the Town of Coxsackie since the 1970s, was a life member of the Zadock Pratt Museum, in Prattsville, and was often a speaker at special events and conferences.

Beecher was the author of four books, “Kaaterskill Clove: Where Nature Met Art,” (Black Dome Press, 2004), “Under Three Flags: A Hudson River Story,” (Black Dome Press, 1991), “The Houghtalings: A Dutch-American Family,” (Greene County Bicentennial, 1994), “Out To Greenville and Beyond,” (Hope Farm Press, 1977), and co-author of another, “Around Greene County and the Catskills,” with Harvey Durham, (Arcadia Publishing, 1997), and editor of a sixth, “Letters From a Revolution, 1775-1783,” (Greene County Historical Society/NYS American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1973).

In addition, he was the author of countless articles on local and regional history, and remained at work providing Greene Gleanings, a 20-plus year weekly local history newspaper column.

Beecher was also working on a seventh book, a history of Greene County’s river towns at the time of his death.

In 2006, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site inaugurated its annual “Raymond Beecher Lecture” to honor him, and which features lectures by major speakers in American landscape painting.

This year’s, on Oct. 25, will be especially poignant given Beecher’s passing, and will feature Yale University’s Dr. Timothy Barringer on “The Englishness of Thomas Cole,” an unusual and distinctive topic that he would undoubtedly have found entertaining and engaging.

Dr. Raymond Beecher’s contributions to Greene County’s historic heritage and cultural future are, in brief, immeasurable.

Memorial and funeral services information was not yet available at press time.

To reach reporter Jim Planck, call 518-943-2100, ext. 3324, or e-mail jplanck@thedailymail.net.

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