TROY, NY — Former New Hartford resident John Russell “Russ” Elmore, now a resident of Diamond Ridge independent senior living in Troy, New York, marked a century of life Jan. 28, 2021. For his 100th birthday, Elmore’s daughters Susan Elmore and Nancy Elmore Wendlandt held a special birthday lunch for the three of them. The family was unable to hold a large party due to pandemic health risks, but a birthday card shower was planned by his niece Ardy Elmore.
Elmore has been sequestered this past year in his apartment and has stayed safe from the coronavirus because of the safety protocols where he lives. His favorite thing is to hop onto his electric jazzy wheelchair a few times a day to zip down the halls and go outside for a breath of fresh air, according to Diamond Ridge.
The following was provided by Elmore’s family:
Born January 28, 1921, Elmore was the eighth of 11 children born to Willard Ray Elmore and Rosa Lewis Elmore, including a son who died at four months. He grew up on a small rural dairy farm that also operated as a summer hotel in South Fallsburg, New York. He attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, grades 1-8, and he skipped past the fourth and the seventh grades by engaging in the studies of the older children.
In ninth grade, he attended the newly opened South Fallsburg High School and was just 16 when he graduated from high school, and he stayed home for two years to work on the farm before entering college. In fall 1940, he enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, also known as RPI, in Troy, New York. Because of his interest in aviation, he began his studies as an aeronautical engineering student. While attending RPI, he took flying lessons and he received his private pilot’s license shortly after the start of the World War II. Elmore left RPI after three years in June 1943 to join the war effort.
After basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, he was assigned by the U.S. Army to study advanced engineering for three months at the University of Tennessee. Following that, he was assigned to an ordinance division, heavy maintenance company, and landed in camps in Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas for further training. And it was from Texas that his company was alerted to go overseas.
After getting home for Christmas 1944 for one day, Elmore and his company embarked for Europe, landing first in England for just a few weeks, and then on to France, arriving in January 1945. Remaining well behind the front lines, he and his company repaired tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, canons, rifles, pistols, and optical equipment including gun sights and high-powered binoculars. His unit moved through France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany.
Several months after the war had ended in Europe in May 1945, Elmore’s company had made its way back to a camp in France, where they and other units were getting ready to join the war in the Far East against Japan. During those preparations, the announcement came that on Aug. 14, the Japanese had given up the fight. Elmore and his company were shipped home first, landing in Hampton Roads, Virginia in September 1945.
After resting at home for several months, he went to Fort Dix, New Jersey, in early 1946 and was discharged from the Army. But his final physical exam revealed he had pleurisy and a collapsed lung, and possibly tuberculosis. He was sent to an Army hospital near Ashville, North Carolina, to recuperate. While there, he was one of the first to be treated with streptomycin to treat tuberculosis, with an injection four to six times per day. After a few months, that Army hospital was turned over the Veterans Administration, and Elmore was released from military service.
In March 1951, Russ and Barbara DeGroot were married. Following his graduation, he took a job in Syracuse, New York, and after a year took a job for another Syracuse company that made parts for secret supersonic jet engine being built by General Electric. In 1955, Russ was hired by the Research and Development Department of The Torrington Company in Torrington, where he remained until his retirement in 1973.
Russ and his wife Bobbe raised their four children, John, Susan, Nancy, and Sharon (who died in 2001), and together they made birthdays, regular visits to the grandparents, family trips and the holidays to be fun times for their kids. For many years, Russ and Bobbe welcomed his brothers and sisters, spouses, nieces, and nephews for the Elmore family Christmas gathering. Russ and his family also enjoyed visits with his siblings during the year, including the family summer cookout. The couple both enjoyed playing golf, playing tennis, and playing bridge with friends, and traveling together.
After Bobbe suffered a stroke, Russ sold their home New Hartford and initiated a move to Sunapee NH, and then Great Barrington, MA. Bobbe passed away in May 2010, after which he made one last move to the town of his alma mater, RPI. During the past decade, he has enjoyed making large yarn pictures of the houses of his family members, drawing lines on a nylon grid based on photographs, and framing these to present as gifts. He has created more than 20 of these works of art.
Fly fishing film festival starts Feb. 6
The International Fly Fishing Film Festival, coming virtually to all of Connecticut beginning on Feb. 6, features 11 films, 6- to 16-minutes in length, from all corners of the globe showcasing the passion, lifestyle, and culture of fly fishing.
Admission to the Connecticut area International Fly Fishing Film Festival is $10 and may be accessed at https://watch.eventive.org/if4us/play/5ff60182e4840c00ad07a681. Viewers may log on to the site anytime within 48 hours of the showing at 4 p.m. Once logged in, access to the film will be granted for 7 days.
In addition to the films, there will be fly-fishing product giveaways and other promotions at the event. One attendee will be selected to win the 2021 Grand Prize drawing consisting of fly-fishing gear provided by International Fly Fishing Film Festival sponsors and valued at thousands of dollars. The event is sponsored by Fly Fusion Magazine. Total virtual IF4 film festival viewing time is 115 minutes, said Chris Bird, festival producer.
For more information and film trailers, visit flyfilmfest.com.
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