Allan, Patricia Pullis

Named Grand Marshals

At 4^th Of July Parade

Couple Leaders In Local Agriculture

Milking 300 At Holsteins At Roedale

SPRINGFIELD CENTER – The Springfield Fourth of July Committee today announced Springfield residents Allan and Patricia (Pat) Pullis will be co-grand marshals of this year’s 105^th event.

The Pullis’ Roedale Farm is one of few producing dairy farms remaining in the Town of Springfield. The 900  acres of rolling green hills sustain 140 registered Holsteins, and provide milk, hay and straw, and breeding stock throughout the Northeast.

To call Roedale Farm a “family farm” seems an understatement.

Allan’s parents, Russell and Betty Pullis, bought the Farm on McShane Road from Harold and Hattie Collins, moving their Roedale Farm from New Jersey to Springfield New York in April 1972.

Allan, then 21, soon met the Collins’ granddaughter Patricia Collins, who lived just down the road, and by October of the same year the two married at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Springfield Center.

They moved into a trailer on the farm, and five years later, when Allan’s parents built themselves a new house across the street, they moved into the farmhouse where Patricia’s father Chet and his 10 siblings had grown up.

Allan and Pat raised their own four children in the farmhouse, where they have lived for 43 years now. With 10 grandchildren and many relatives in the area, they  enjoy annual family reunions at the farm hosting up to a hundred people.

Currently there are four generations living on the farm, including the Pullis’ two sons Jason and Luke, (partners at Roedale), their wives Holly and Theresa and five young children between them, as well as Allan’s mother Grace (also known as Betty), and Patricia’s mother Phyllis, who at 94 and a half is the eldest.

As demanding as farm life is, the Pullis’ have always managed to get a lot done besides.

Patricia earned a nursing degree from the Oneonta School of Practical Nursing in 1967, and worked as a nurse for over 50 years. She retired from Bassett Hospital in 2011.

She currently works at J. Seaton McGrath Funeral Home in Richfield Springs, and as an usher at the Glimmerglass Festival’s Alice Busch Opera Theater.

Patricia is also a current member of the volunteer Fire Department EMT squad in Springfield, where she has served for 23 years. In addition, she works on the Committee for the Annual Springfield Fire Department Christmas Party (which hosted 122 children this past year), and she represents the Fire Department on the Springfield Fourth of July Parade Committee, organizing outdoor concessions and the EMT booth.

And Patricia is an active member of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Cherry Valley, where she serves on the Parish Pastoral Council.

Patricia has been president of the PTO at Owen D. Young in Van Hornesville, and former director of the Springfield Library Board.

Allan and Patricia started the Springfield High Meadows 4-H Club, which they led together for 20 years.

The couple are 44-year members of the OHM (Otsego, Herkimer, and Montgomery counties) Holstein Club, where Allan and both sons have served as president, and Patricia has acted as junior adviser.

Allan and Patricia have both served as chair for the Otsego County Dairy Promotion; according to Patricia, “When he got tired of it, I took over.”

Allan served on the Springfield Town Board for over 20 years.

And Allan has served as director for several agricultural organizations, including the Van Hornesville Milk Producers Co-op (known as the Feed Mill), Eastern Artificial Breeders, Farm Credit East, and the Otsego County Farm Bureau.

When it comes to the Springfield Fourth of July Parade, as with everything else with the Pullis family, it’s a family affair.

Pullis daughter Jenna and her husband Phil are enlisted as “bike wranglers” (making sure the children riding their decorated bikes in the parade are registered, accounted for, helmeted and ready to go), daughter Tina and her husband Jack help out with the fire department Raffle, and everyone in the family is involved with several organizations participating in the parade, from 4-H to Dairy Princess.

And just for fun, the family puts together their own Roedale Farm float for the parade every once in a while.

This year, the Pullises will have their own float again, this time holding a special place of honor in the front of the parade.

Be sure to cheer for Pat and Allan as they go by, and thank them for their commitment and contributions to our community over the years.

The 105^th Annual Fourth of July Parade, themed “Let Freedom Ring”, will begin at 11 a.m. sharp Thursday, July 4^t.

Following the parade there will be a patriotic celebration at the Springfield Community Center, featuring a flag-raising ceremony, live music, Brooks’ chicken barbecue and other foods, an indoor quilt show and historical displays, the Utica ZooMobile, games, raffles, and more.

The Springfield Fourth of July Committee will also present a Fourth of July evening concert and firework display to be held at Glimmerglass State Park Beach. This year’s concert will feature “The Burners” rock and blues band starting at 7:30pm, to be followed by fireworks at dusk.

The Parade and Celebration are supported in part by the Glimmerglass Festival and the Otsego County Events Grant Program.