Tice, Hadowanetz honored by DAR
LAFAYETTE Charles L. Tice of Newton and Wasco Hadowanetz of Ogdensburg will be honored Saturday, Feb. 25 by the Daughters of the American Revolution at the Chinkchewunska Chapter's annual Community Awards Luncheon. Tice will receive the Community Service Award and Hadowanetz will receive the Historic Preservation Recognition Award. Community man Tice was a member of the commission that established Sussex County Community College and is a Trustee Emeritus. He was an officer of the United Methodist Homes of New Jersey for over 10 years. Then when the need for additional senior living services in Sussex County became an issue, he and several others searched and found land on which to establish Bristol Glen, a senior residential community in Newton. He served as treasurer on its board of trustees. The Charles L. Tice Heart Center for Diagnostic Services at Newton Medical Center (formerly Newton Memorial Hospital) displays a plaque that says the facility "extends its grateful appreciation as a member of the board (of Trustees) for his continued dedication and service on behalf of our community." In addition, Tice is an active member of the Newton Methodist Church, where he has served as a trustee and given generously to its outreach programs for many years. He is retired from Selective Insurance Company, where he served as senior vice president, treasurer and chief investment officer. Preservationist Hadowanetz was born and raised in Ogdensburg and grew up in a miners home. He attended the Ogdensburg Elementary School, Franklin High School and after serving in the Marines, earned a degree in electronic engineering. He retired after a year career at Picatinny Arsenal. In 1983, a renovated railroad station in a nearby town inspired Hadowanetz and it piqued his interest in preserving buildings in his own town. He organized and became a founding member of the Ogdensburg Historical Society in 1984, where he served as its first president for seven years. He is currently a member of its board of trustees. He was also appointed in 1984 as Borough Historian (a volunteer position) and was reappointed by a succession of mayors for 25 years. He now works with the Historical Society to preserve the Edison House, one of the four houses originally located near Thomas Alva Edisons laboratory on Sparta Mountain that were relocated in 1905 to Main Street in Ogdensburg. Hadowanetz was instrumental in preserving the 1910 Schoolhouse and Firehouse that was listed as a Town Historic Site and Sussex County Historic Site in 1990. The land on which the museum now stands once served as a campsite of Native Americans. In 1985 he wrote the master plan for establishing this building as an Historic Museum and aided in writing a $50,000 grant to the New Jersey Legislature that was approved and used to renovate the old school and firehouse (now called Old Schoolhouse and Firehouse Museum). Currently, he conducts tours of this historic building to schoolchildren so that they may learn about the history of this small town. In 1987 he applied for and received a research grant of $2,725. He provided the needed research to prove that the boroughs so-called Backward Tunnel completed in 1871, was an erroneous name and that the tunnel had been built to specifications. Because of his research and help with the application for the designation, the tunnel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 28, 2005. In 2008 he published The Backwards Tunnel as the first volume in a mini-series and in 2011 he published Volume 2 in the mini-series, Sodom A James Snell Myth. The second book disproved a myth that the town was once named Sodom. His extensive research provides evidence that only a portion of Kennedy Avenue was actually referred to as Sodom, not the whole town. Supporting role In addition, the chapter will present its Ramsey/Stamy/Ayers Award named for Effie Ramsey, Britta Stamy and Dorothy Ayers. These women are not connected to DAR but each one made it possible for the chapter to own and furnish the Van Bunschooten Museum in Wantage. In their honor, the chapter presents an award to someone who has shown outstanding support of the chapter and museum. This year the award is going to the New Jersey Herald.