Tree To Be Planted At 2 Walnut
On Arbor Day, Cooperstown
To Honor Homer Osterhoudt
COOPERSTOWN – A tree will be dedicated to Homer M. Osterhoudt, who passed away last June 30 at age 100, at the Village of Cooperstown’s annual Arbor Day celebration at 1 p.m. next Monday, May 13, at 2 Walnut St., his home for many years.
Homer, a retired mailman who walked more than 10 miles a day through village streets for decades, mixed concrete to build the Baseball Hall of Fame and attended all Inductions since 1939 except the three while in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
In 1939, he took photographs at the first Induction ceremony and the baseball game that followed at Doubleday Field, many of which are now in the Hall’s archives.
After his discharge from the Army, he joined the Postal Service as a carrier in Cooperstown, retiring in 1980. He and his wife Marion built the house at 2 Walnut in 1949.
He was active in the First Baptist Church of Cooperstown, Boy Scout Troop 54, the Doubleday Dancers Western Square Dance Club, the Native Sons of Cooperstown, and the VFW Post 7128 of Cooperstown.
Cooperstown’s Arbor Day celebration will include a proclamation by Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh and a presentation by a DEC forester. The Arbor Day Foundation recognized the village as a Tree City USA for the 29th year in a row.
Arbor Day began in 1872 in Nebraska City, Neb. The event, held in late April or May across the country, is meant to recognize and support the planting of trees, which provide many benefits to local communities like Cooperstown.