batavia

9000 S Lake Road, Pembroke. Click here. Great opportunity for the person who is looking for a chance to have a nice ranch home in the Pembroke School System and with the added benefit of added business opportunity! There is almost 8000 sq ft of warehouse space with loading dock-also an almost 1500 sq. ft., 2 bay truck garage, currently houses a long term tenant so there is instant rental income of $600 plus utilities and a residential ranch home with attached garage and office space that could easily be converted to more living space or in law situation!! Home currently rents at $1350 plus utilities monthly. In total there is 4.1 acres -huge parking area with extra wide driveway for easy access and within minutes of NYS Thruway. Loads of opportunity for the entrepreneur!

1367 Lewiston Road, Alabama. Click here. Large two family home, in need of some TLC but is solid and consistently rented. Each apartment is large with two and three bedrooms decent kitchens, laundry available in both units and has good size yard! Conveniently located minutes from thruway and all major routes for quick commute access. Located next to Alabama Hotel and Holley Farms for great food and tenant convenience!

205 Liberty Street, Batavia. Click here. Awesome City Money Maker and great owner occupant situation! This is truly a property where you can have your mortgage paid for while you build your portfolio! Or just rent all four units and build your equity faster–either way its a step in the right direction!

19 Dellinger Avenue, Batavia. *UPSTAIRS NOW CURRENTLY VACANT AND WILL REMAIN SO FOR EASY SHOWINGS* Lovely double owned by one owner for last 60 years! Well maintained and and consistently occupied. Location is wonderful for tenants that need walking distance to all amenities also there is large parking area so everyone has a place to park without bothering anyone else to move a vehicle! Tear off roof installed in 2009. Owner pays heat and water. Rents are currently priced below market rate
 

A two-vehicle collision is reported at Main and Bank streets in Batavia.

Injuries are a sign-off.

City Fire and Mercy EMS on Scene.

Traffic is blocked.

It was a busy year for the Batavia Police Department, with officers answering 20,341 calls for service in 2021, according to an annual report released by the deparment.

Those calls included:

• 1,115 domestic calls
• 658 mental health calls
• 805 reported thefts
• 868 disturbances

Officers also: 

• Handled 185 fraud complaints
• Conducted 338 escorts
• Responded to 311 alarm calls
• Responded 408 times to 911 hang-up calls
• Handled 492 animal complaints
• Served 386 subpoenas
• Conducted 187 sex offender registrations
• Conducted 594 welfare checks 

There was one murder investigation, 13 rape investigations, 11 robbery investigations, 49 aggravated assaults, 61 burglaries, 12 kidnappings, 41 DWI.

Officers made 501 arrests, of those, three were juveniles.

There were eight arrests for rape, 14 for aggravated assault, 21 for burglary, 52 for theft, 22 for drugs, 40 for DWI

Investigations included 651 motor vehicle accidents. Of those, 107 were injury accidents.

Patrols conducted 2,526 traffic stops and issued 1,490 traffic tickets. 

They also handled 1,712 parking incidents and issued 612 parking tickets.

Press release:

The Law Street Yard Waste Station will open for the season on MONDAY, APRIL 11th, 2022 for City Residents.  

The station will be open from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday until November when time changes to 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The station will also be closed on May 30th for Memorial Day, July 4th for Independence Day, September 5th for Labor Day and November 24th for Thanksgiving. The station will close for the season in early December.

City residents may bring yard waste material (grass, leaves and limbs) to the Law Street Yard Waste Station as there is no spring curb side pickup of these materials.  

The following items cannot be accepted at the station:

Tree stumps, building materials, rock, fill (soil and stone) other debris.  Yard waste shall be free of trash (paper, plastic, bottles, cans…etc.), as this material cannot be processed.

Use Law Street entrance to enter and exit the City Yard Waste Station only.

Daniel W. Knauss is indicated on counts of assault on a police officer, a Class C violent felony, assault in the second degree, a Class D violent felony, criminal contempt in the second degree, a Class A misdemeanor, criminal contempt in the first degree, a Class E felony, resisting arrest, a Class A misdemeanor, and two counts of harassment in the second degree. Knauss is accused of assaulting and causing serious physical injury to Trooper Mark Catanzaro while the trooper was attempting to perform his lawful duties during an incident on Sept. 29, in the Town of Pavilion. Knauss is accused of violating an order of protection on Sept. 29 by striking a football out of the hands of a protected person. He is accused of intentionally attempting to prevent his arrest. 

Tarrence Y. Williams is indicted on counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a Class B felony and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, a Class C felony. Williams is accused of possession of cocaine with the intent to sell on Dec. 16 in the City of Batavia. He is accused of possessing preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances containing a narcotic drug, cocaine, with a weight of an eighth of an ounce or more.

Tamaneek T. Perez-Smith is indicted on counts of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree, felony DWI, felony driving while ability impaired by drugs, resisting arrest, harassment in the second degree, and circumvention of an interlock device. Perez-Smith is accused of driving a 2010 Dodge on Park Road in the Town of Batavia on Sept. 30, while knowing her license was revoked and of driving while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. She is accused of intentionally trying to prevent her arrest. He is accused of kicking Deputy Kenneth Quackenbush. She is accused of driving a vehicle without an interlock device as previously ordered by a court.

Tyrone Nathan Thigpen, Sr., 44, of Summit Street, Batavia, is charged with aggravated family offense, endangering the welfare of a child, menacing 2nd, and criminal possession of a weapon 4th.  Thigpen was charged after allegedly displaying a rifle during a disturbance in the presence of a woman and her children while on Batavia Elba Townline Road, Batavia, at 3:15 p.m., April 3. Thigpen was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and ordered held without bail.

Mohammad Imran Nasir, 48, of Grandview Drive, Amherst, is charged with possessing 30,000 or more untaxed cigarettes for the purpose of sales and failure to signal a lane change.  Nasir was stopped at 6:53 p.m., March 31, on Route 77 in Pembroke, by Sgt. Andrew Hale.

(name redacted upon request), 47, of Alexander Road, Alexander, is charged with disobeying a mandate. xxxxx is accused of violating an order of protection at 7:20 a.m., March 28, in the Town of Alexander. He was issued an appearance ticket. He is also charged with criminal contempt 2nd for allegedly violating a stay-away order on five different occasions.

Jordan Ellsworth Brodie, 35, of West Bergen Road, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, and driving an uninspected motor vehicle. Brodie was stopped at 2:54 a.m., April 3, on Griswold Road, Le Roy, by Deputy David Moore. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Logan Nathaniel Norcott, 25, of Lockpit Road, Clyde, is charged with criminal contempt 2nd. A person filed a complaint with the Genesee County Sheriff's Office that Norcott violated an order of protection at 7:45 p.m., March 24.  Norcott was taken into custody by the State Police in Wayne County and transferred to GCSO custody. He was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released on his own recognizance. 

Alicia K. Urban, 36, of Batavia, is charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old, driving while impaired by drugs, and aggravated DWI with a child in the car. Urban was stopped by State Police at 7:49 p.m., March 29, in the Town of Batavia. She was issued an appearance ticket.

Sarah P. Lytle, 39, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Lytle is accused of stealing in the Town of Batavia at 6 p.m., April 1. She was arrested by State Police. She was released on an appearance ticket. No further details released.

Trevor T. Cook, 31, of Holley, is charged with felony DWAI/Drugs. Cook was stopped by State Police at 3:02 a.m., April 2, in the Tonawanda Indian Territory. He was issued an appearance ticket. No further information released.

Devin J. Manning, 22, of Le Roy, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Manning was arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at 4:36 p.m., March 31, in the Town of Le Roy.  He was released on an appearance ticket. No further details were released.

A car and semi-truck collision is reported at Oak Street and Park Road in the City of Batavia.

Unknown injuries. 

City Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 2:41 p.m.: No injuries reported.

The Wayne D. Foster Foundation, Inc. had the distinct pleasure of honoring a high school hockey player in memory of Wayne D. Foster during the BND hockey banquet held Sunday at Batavia High. 

Addison Warriner was selected as this year’s recipient, earning the award for his ceaseless display of good character including his wisdom, determination, and his fortitude and for his achievements both on and off the ice. 

The foundation, represented by board member, Chase Pangrazio, selected and presented Addison with a trophy, certificate, and a scholarship, honoring Addison's values while remembering Chase’s grandfather for their shared qualities.

The Wayne D. Foster Foundation is a recently formed foundation with pending non-profit status.

The afternoon’s ceremonies complemented and awarded several deserving student-athletes for their achievements in the classroom and at the rink while recalling deep Batavia hockey roots and traditions, expressing the enduring sense of community, and sharing the comradery and love that the 2021-2022 teammates enjoyed and will forever cherish.  The foundation presenting the W.D.F. award is privileged to recognize Addison and to collaborate with a respectful program full of profound pride and rich, well-established heritage.

Rhonda Pangrazio is founder and president of the Wayne D. Foster Foundation, Inc.  Her son Chase Pangrazio is a board member.  Wayne D. Foster was her father and Chase's grandfather who passed in December 2020. 

John Bruggman credits his dad’s past hobby for how the 21-year-old got involved in collecting and drawing — and now joining the ranks of being published for — the comics genre.

Bruggman just celebrated the debut of his first published book cover, Slumber #1, for Image Comics. It depicts a dark- and hollow-eyed woman holding a shotgun in a large doorway. He didn’t actually design the character, he said, but studied the sample pages, examples, and a brief description provided by the company. He submitted his version of lead character Stetson, which was chosen for the March cover release. 

“I’ve always been interested in drawing, and in high school, I started taking it more seriously in my junior year. As a kid opening up my dad’s comics, this is like a dream come true to be published with this company. But also professionally, it's a confidence boost in a weird way," the Batavia native said during an interview with The Batavian. “ "When I first came to college I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to find work or if my style would be popular with an audience. And it was a really nice confidence boost to see the praise from not only the company, but the people who bought it, and the orders that came in, and the support from the local area as well.”

The book is available at 3D Comics in Lancaster, Pressing Matters LLC in Buffalo, and through Bruggman’s website. It’s a freshly written comic with new characters and storylines. The premise features Stetson, a nightmare hunter and a dream detective.

From Image Comics: 

"She runs a shoddy back-alley business where she helps clients sleep at night by entering their dreams and killing their nightmares. But Stetson’s past comes back to haunt her when she tracks down a literal living nightmare—a serial killer that murders people in their sleep. SLUMBER is an ongoing series from the twisted minds of writer Tyler Burton Smith (Kung Fury and Child’s Play), and rising-star artist Vanessa Cardinals.”

Bruggman remembers how his passion was ignited for classic comic books. The then-middle school student had been down in his family basement and discovered his dad’s filing cabinet full of old comics. The paper materials were kindling for his own desire to join in as a collector.

“It’s like our family thing that we do. My brother started doing it as well. So we got into comics that way,” John Bruggman said. “It’s mostly from the artists I’ve been influenced by who worked in comics, they kind of worked more in horror. I’ve also taken influence from several tattoo artists as well.”

Bruggman’s process for the cover submission was to select a few key details from the premise — in this case, a door, the woman and a shotgun — and began with a loosely based sketch of poses, he said. He then figured out which poses he liked and worked out a final compilation in black and white to get an idea of the light and shadow placement. He finished it by digitally painting the work in color.  

A 2019 Batavia High School graduate, Bruggman is attending Daemen College pursuing a bachelors in illustration. His future goal is to be a freelancer working for Marvel and/or DC Comics. He’s into 1990s style comics, and likes “the diversity” of characters devised by individual artists. For example, Batman has been around since the 1930s, he said, and yet “no one has really drawn him the same.” He leans toward figures of horror with a punk, edgy influence.

His practice has been to nail down human anatomy, so often integral to comic book characters. Take a look at one of his favorites, Silver Surfer, depicting a well-chiseled body displaying many muscular poses. His work displays those fine-tuned details of muscles and curves, and he also appreciates the complexity of one’s limbs.

“Figure drawing has been a super big help, with live models. Hands and feet were the hard ones, because they’re so expressive,” he said. “We’re always progressing as artists and trying to be better. 

“And I feel like my work, especially as I keep working, I've noticed a lot of improvement, even in this last year. My work has come a long way and I'm very excited to see where it goes moving forward.”

He has been influenced by such artists as Simon Bisley, Frank Frazetta, Bill Sienkiewicz and Glenn Fabry. He believes there has been “kind of a resurgence” in the comics market with exclusive and limited covers and special editions. Those items have drawn a wider pool of collectors, he said.

Drawing helps to relieve stress, he said, and is “a highlight of my day.” He hopes to work his way into a freelance status and sees this published book cover as just the beginning.

“I really want to promote that because I really do think this is going to go somewhere very special. And usually when it comes to artists’ first issues that they work on, are like drawings: they do become more valuable. And I could see this happening with this book,” he said. “And then just looking at the story, the book, it's very well-read and the writers worked on a lot of comics and movies that were more horror related and artwork on the interior. I didn't do it, but it's a very unique style, a little cartoony, a little loose, and it's a good read. And, I don't know, I love it.”

For more information, go to: johnbruggmanart.com

Top photo of John Bruggman's published book cover for Slumber #1, by Image Comics. Above, Bruggman works on a project at school. Photos courtesy of John Bruggman and Image Comics. 

For 50 years, the Genesee Society of Model Engineers has hosted a twice-annual model train show in Batavia and after a hiatus for COVID, the train show returned to the Richard C. Call Arena at GCC for the organization's 100th event.

Photos by Howard Owens

Lauren, 3, and Nathan, 6, of Le Roy, were excited this afternoon to meet the Easter Bunny, as part of an Easter Egg Hunt event, at Batavia First United Methodist Church.

If you've got nice things around your house that you no longer want, Angelina Pellegrino is ready to sell it for you, with all proceeds benefiting a family moving into a Habitat for Humanity home.

Pellegrino, herself a beneficiary of Habitat's homeownership program, has had previous garage sales to benefit the organization or its clients.

She's now collecting donations for the yard sale at her home, 150 State St., Batavia, on May 21 and 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There are two Habitat homes near completion and Pellegrino said proceeds from this year's yard sale will go directly to the families moving into those homes.

"It's start-up cash," Pellegrino said.  "It's for the little things you need around the house that you don't really think about." 

If you have items to donate -- and it can be pretty much anything that somebody else might want to buy -- you can contact Pellegrino at (585) 356-4867 or angelinapellegrino@ymail.com.

"I know people will be spring cleaning and instead of tossing out what they don't want or donating it elsewhere, we could really use any donations at this time," Pellegrino said. "There is nothing really is off-limits for donations, from clothes to furniture. I am willing to pick up donations or people may drop them off at my house."

Press release:

The Kiwanis Club of Batavia is very excited to bring back our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 16th.  After a two-year hiatus, we are happy to bring the community together again. With COVID restrictions lifted, the Easter Egg Hunt can now be safely run.  There are three age categories for the event: birth-3, 4-7 and 8-10.  The event will begin at 9 AM sharp at Centennial Park in Batavia.

In addition, we will continue last year’s new tradition, the Golden Prize Egg. Starting on Saturday, April 9th, there will be a Golden Prize Egg hidden daily at Centennial Park. The egg will be hidden at different times each day to allow for families with different schedules to search and have an equal chance of finding the egg. The Golden Prize Eggs are restricted to kids age 12 and under, although older siblings and family members can help search!  The winning Golden Prize Eggs must be turned in at the Easter Egg Hunt on April 16th to receive an Oliver's Chocolate Bunny prize. With both events going on, there are now 16 Golden Prize Eggs up for grabs!

We are asking those who find Golden Eggs prior to the Easter Egg Hunt, please send pictures to the Kiwanis Club of Batavia Facebook page.

The Kiwanis Club is very happy to provide these fun and healthy activities for families to participate in.

Photo: File photo from 2018 by Howard Owens

Press release:

The Batavia Police Department is looking for help in identifying a person of interest in a larceny at Kwik Fill which occurred on March 27, 2022, at approximately 11:30 p.m. During the larceny, a bucket of small liquor bottles was taken off the front counter. Anyone with information on the identity of the person in the photos is asked to contact Officer William Yung at (585) 345-6350, the confidential tip line at 585-345-6370.

Dr. Edward C. and Ruth Atwater. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Briccetti

Edward C. Atwater’s home — initially in Batavia and later in Rochester — was a dead giveaway of his passions.

The late doctor and medical historian kept collections, from thousands of books and print materials to thousands of architectural slides and posters, throughout his and wife Ruth’s home from top to bottom.

Ned Atwater knows the posters well. Collected by his dad on the topic of AIDS for decades, Ned at one point counted out 6,500 duplicates while the artifacts were being organized.

“He never boasted about it at all … it’s the largest collection in the world, and he could have cared less. It was about the messages and content, and he was the messenger,” Ned said from his home in Canandaigua during an interview with The Batavian. “It was important that he collected it and got it out to the public.”

Attending the debut of a six-years-long project that, at last, puts the senior Atwater’s efforts on proper display at Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery, was “super emotional,” Ned said.

The exhibit, Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster, is a collaboration between Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) and the River Campus Libraries at the University of Rochester. It runs through June 19 at the Gallery. (See related article, "Former Batavia resident's collections ..." )

Exhibit curators and editors chose 165 samples out of the 8,000-poster collection. Ned had seen “all of those,” he said, and remembers Christopher Hoolihan’s frequent visits to their home. Hoolihan was rare books and manuscripts librarian at the Edward G. Miner Library at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry.

“And he'd come over every Monday night for 20 years to my parents house, and my mom would cook them dinner, and then they’d go down to the basement, which is where the book collection was, and they'd work on the books,” Ned said. “And the AIDS poster collection was in the attic, and so Jessica (Lachman, co-editor of the collection’s book) would come over. Jessica was there every Tuesday, so I got to know her quite well. Those were a couple of important people in the same collecting sphere that he was in.”

Collections, Donations ...
Atwater’s collections have gradually made their way to the University of Rochester as prized relics of medical history. AIDS took hold in the 1980s, and Ned clearly remembers how little the government was doing to prevent or raise awareness about it. Organizations across the globe, including municipal health departments, began to create posters as visual reminders of the life-threatening AIDS epidemic.

Dr. Atwater didn't start collecting posters until 1991, and was in his mid-60s by then, Ned said. Three decades later he was still collecting, shortly before he died in 2019 at 93. Posters are from many countries in multiple languages, and they stray from one another by colors, images, wording, message and target audience. Ned attended the debut with his sister, Rebecca Briccetti, of New Hampshire. 

“Rebecca and I went into the show, we were, I think, both astounded at the show itself, the professionalism in which the Memorial Art Gallery had done it. And, you know, just the messages that it all conveyed. It was really a very good overview of the AIDS posters over history. I thought it was just so well done,” he said. “And the people at the Memorial Art Gallery even told us that in a visual sense, they think it's the best show they've ever had. ‘Wow,’ we thought, and we were pretty surprised and humbled by that. My father would be absolutely thrilled.”

The collection of posters fills in the story, from graphic pictures of men and condoms to more generalized messages that no one is immune to the disease. It was such a heavy and insidious topic and disease that took hold in a public that was ignorant of its causes, symptoms, and life-threatening nature of it. 

“The AIDS epidemic really hit hard. My father was in touch with Dr. Fauci about it,” Ned said. “I had a lot of friends in the gay community in Oregon. One of the biggest turning points was that it wasn’t just in the gay community.”

While Edward C. Atwater was a renowned medical historian and collector, he was also “such a humble guy,” Ned said, someone who took the time to listen during a conversation, take an interest and ask thoughtful questions. Those traits fed his desire for knowledge and details, and he often acquired them in the forms of various rare books, patented medicine bottles, organ pipes, architecture slides and AIDS posters.

“It was important that he collected it and got it out to the public,” Ned said, addressing the poster varieties. “It was a visual thing; some are really funny, and scary, compassionate. Some of the most graphic ones are from Germany and France.”

Those displays may have been more explicit, he said, but the messaging was effective.

Recalling Batavia and the farm ...
Although Ned’s father and mother moved from Batavia before Ned’s childhood, he recalls the fun times he and his sister Rebecca had visiting the small city and Genesee County. The siblings also visited their mother’s homestead farm in Stafford. There were horses, sheep and “the smell of the barn,” Ned fondly recalled. He and his sister would take the bus from Rochester to Batavia and visit both sides of the family.

“I used to love to go there, we’d go on a whim on the weekend … hanging out in that big old house, and we’d sneak over to the RCA factory to see the color TVs,” he said. “You really can't mention my father without mentioning my mother; they were married 67 years, and she was really my father's wing woman.”

One thing his father didn’t do was to push Ned into a similar career path. There was no cajoling or needling on the topic, and Ned’s career took him down a more artistic path as a furniture maker. He and his sister fondly remember taking the bus from Rochester to visit their grandparents, Edward P. and Rowena Atwater, who lived in the well-known Atwater House on East Main Street, a rambling structure that accommodated extended family and the constant presence of dogs, Rebecca said. 

Ned often preferred the country life in Stafford, where his mom Ruth grew up. She and Edward C. married in 1951 and lived in Batavia, where Edward grew up and attended school. The couple later moved to Rochester closer to his workplace, the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Briccetti was looking at a screenshot she had taken of her father’s childhood diary, with notations about current events and the $5 his grandmother gifted him. He noted when the Hindenburg crashed in New Jersey while carrying 99 passengers. 

“What a thing for a little boy to write,” she said. “I’m just completely going down memory lane here.” 

The Renaissance man, The Godfather ...
A part of that memory bank includes how much his parents embraced people, from children to adults, with their generosity and care for humanity. So much care, in fact, that Dr. and Mrs. Atwater were asked to be godparents to at least a dozen children, including Kathleen Harleman, Director Emerita of Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois. Her parents became good friends with the Atwaters and thought there would be no couple better for the symbolic guardian role than Edward and Ruth. 

“I always thought of Edward as a Renaissance man or polymath, a person with wide-ranging knowledge and interests in many fields and deep expertise in several areas,” she said. “He epitomized the characterization, being highly educated, a gentleman, cultivated in the arts, and immensely charismatic. Edward’s professional and personal practice, teachings, writings, and collections extended beyond internal medicine (specifically rheumatology), to embrace the history of medicine, as well as major health reforms and global activism.”

Later in life, Edward wrote Women Medical Doctors in the United States Before the Civil War: a Biographical Dictionary. Harleman loved that his efforts “highlighted these female pioneers,” she said. She came from Illinois to see the exhibit, and rated it as “superbly conceived and presented.”

“They explore multiple aspects of the subject with a truly impressive range and depth of voices and expertise. The individual contributions of writers in the publication and for the QR codes in the exhibition are very powerful, as is the exhibition design of the installation and the book's graphic design,” she said. “Edward would have been happy and impressed with the levels of thought, care, and execution that have gone into the exhibition, publication, and programming. My hope, shared by many others, is that this exhibition will travel globally.”

Given his proclivity for research and detail, it may come as no surprise that dinners at the Atwater home included open conversation “about pretty much everything,” Rebecca said. However, she learned more about HIV and AIDS by reading about it for herself.

“The crisis became apparent for what it was … so I didn't have to hear about the AIDS epidemic and HIV from my father, I was reading about it myself. I was living in New York City, a horticultural and culinary editor at the time. And I was reading about it. Rolling Stone Magazine did a very important job in communicating the urgency of this emerging crisis and a lack of national attention, and political attention,” she said. "I know there are a lot of people still out there that really associate this as being a gay disease. And there's still an enormous amount of people there that just don't understand it. And my hope is, this is going to provide good information and change those misconceptions if it's possible. Still, the poster has as much power as anything, you know, to change people's minds, or just to make them realize basic things about AIDS.”

Her father loved to play piano and organ, and sang as a youngster in choir, she said. His collection began then, with organ pipes, and later one of his first collections was of patent medicine bottles, which he researched, and then wrote papers on the patented medicine purveyors, she said. 

“He just loved that. And then finally he and mother realized, you know, this is just too many bottles, this is too big a collection to keep. And they gave it to the university,” she said. “And from there, he moved on to a different kind of collection. And that was medical trade cards. I mean, my goodness, I remember coming home from school and, instead of picking up a comic book, or you know, a favorite young adult fiction book, or maybe working on your math homework, I would eat an afternoon snack while leafing through these enormous bound books of plastic pages into which father was keeping his medical trade card collections. And he was constantly adding to them for years until my mother realized this is just too much to keep at home … and they gave those to the University of Rochester. I think during all of this time, as an historian, he was interested in collecting ephemera in the realm of popular medicine. And that became a thread through his entire historical collecting life.”

It was a passion he was devoted to until he died at age 93. Shortly before that, Rebecca’s husband Fred took him out on a snowy day in New York City and Greenwich to scour collector’s shops. Atwater talked to fellow antiquarians, and they would step out from behind their display tables to say “Dr. Atwater, it’s so good to see you.”

“Obviously surprised that this ancient gentleman would be still out looking for more material," she said. "It was very moving.”