THE SWALLOW*For Weber and Smith-Snider genealogy information, please go to: Weber or Smith-Snider. To request an invitation to a private site for Snider Ancestry, please e-mail me at: AlFranB@optonline.net.
For the on line book Braley Genealogy, 1913, and Braley-Emmons & Deming-Robinson genealogy information, please go to: Braley Genealogy
Over the past 20+ years we have been very active members of the AMC (that's Appalachian Mountain Club for the uninitiated). Most folks know about the AMC from the huts in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire, and as a trail maintenance and hiking club, but it is more than that. We rarely hiked, but we were active canoeists, leading canoe trips, teaching canoeing, and training canoe leaders with the New York-North Jersey Chapter for over 20 years. We have served in various volunteer positions in the Chapter Canoe Committee, the Chapter and Club. For many years one of us was responsible for writing, editing all publications of the Canoe Committee, but we have passed that job on to others.
One or both of us was a member of the NY-NoJ Chapter Canoe Committee from 1980 to 1999. We were the Co-Chairs of the Canoe Committee in 1984 & 1985, and then Al became the Chair of the AMC Inter-Chapter Canoe Committee. Al is a former (1994-1995) Chair of the New York-North Jersey Chapter, the Past Chair of the Club's Outdoor Leadership Development Committee, and is a past member of the Club Board of Directors as the Regional Director for the Mid-Atlantic Region, which includes New York State and Northern New Jersey. This region encompasses two chapters, the New York-North Jersey Chapter (the oldest and second largest chapter) and the Mohawk Hudson Chapter (the newest and smallest).
For many years, we led or co-led several canoe trips each year for AMC members, guests and children. Lately we've been forced to stop actively paddling.
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<< Al, typical pose, off to paddle the Tenmile. . . Or someplace. . . |
We have taken some pretty wonderful canoe trips with the AMC and with friends that we have made through the AMC. For example, in 1994, we went to the Nahanni River in Canada's Northwest Territories, and canoed and camped along that wonderful river for about 22 days.
| Fran flipping flapjacks in her kitchen on the Nahanni River, NWT, Canada, 1994. >> | 
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In October of 1994, Al retired from Bell Communications Research, (Bellcore) after working more than 33 years for Illinois Bell Telephone Company, AT&T and then Bellcore. That is where he learned much of what he knows about computers and UNIX.
In September 1996, knowing that Al was to become an AMC Director and would have to attend many meetings in New England, and to reduce our cost of living, we moved to Dutchess County, NY. We live in the town of Dover, in a tiny area called “Webatuck”, which is served by the Wingdale Post Office. You can read all about our VERY old house there, and see a map of where we are by clicking on WEBATUCK.When we moved to New York, we had to give up our New Jersey license plates that had been part of our identity for several years. (Click on the plate to read all about it.)
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Already a memory. . . “Thanks for the memories . . .” |
From November 1995 until June 2003 Al was the Webmaster for the Web Site of the New York-North Jersey Chapter of the AMC, www.AMC-NY.org. In June of 2003 the Chapter Executive Committee appointed David Brucas, an old paddling buddy of ours, as the new Chapter Webmaster. With the same person running the Web Site for over seven years, it was time for a change. David has hit the ground running and has made a number of changes. Contact him at webmaster01@amc-ny.org
Contacting us -- you found our Personal Web Page.
Find Fran or Al on e-mail at: <AlFranB@optonline.net>, and Al also uses <ABraley@optonline.net> for his genealogy and personal business.
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Our voice phone in Webatuck is (845) 832-6578. |
Our US Mail address is: 31 Webatuck Road, Wingdale NY 12594.
http://www.amc-ny.org/