Marian York recalls a century of life in Cazenovia
By Jason Emerson
Editor
Marian York will celebrate her 100th birthday on January 3, 2017, and she attributes her longevity to keeping busy and helping other people.
“I always enjoy doing for others,” she said.
Marian, one of eight children, was born in Cazenovia to George and Mary (Knowlton) Burdin on a farm two miles outside of town. “It was a little farm but it kept us busy,” she said. They raised cows, sheep and chickens, and she remembers helping to sheer the sheep and driving them to the pasture from Ballina Road to Nelson-Erieville Road.
As children, Marian and her sisters liked to play “church” and “school.” In a time with no electricity and no telephone, the girls would set up chairs like pews and sing hymns while one of them played the organ. She also liked to ski and snowshoe for fun, and ride the family’s “big bobsled” out by the south cemetery.
Marian attended school at Number Nine Schoolhouse on Ballina Road (which still stands and is now a private residence). After sixth grade, she attended school on Sullivan Street until the age of 16.
There was always lots of work as a child, she said. She and her sisters used to make butter with the butter churn and stack pole bean stalks to dry. Once the bean pods were dry, they would gather them into empty feed bags which they pounded enthusiastically to loosen the beans from their shells. Their mother would use the dried beans to make baked beans on Saturdays.
Marian would also work for neighboring farmers, watching children, fetching cows and farming. She would pull mustard weed out of corn fields for 5 cents per row; she picked beans and corn on Fenner Road to earn money for school books; she would pick bushels of potatoes and bag them for a farmers who paid her 15 cents an hour — “At the time, I thought I was rich,” she said.
She also remembers picking cowslips on Chenango Street, which she sold to ladies at 35 cents a peck. “You cook them and eat them like greens,” she said. “We were always doing something to make money.”
After she finished school, Marian worked as a maid for different families in Cazenovia. She even worked for a time for Anna Hubbard Oakman. “Oh, did she feel bad when I told her I was getting married,” Marian remembered.
Marian married Lawrence Osbourne in 1937, and together they ran several different farms for various owners throughout the years. Marian would cook for the family and do housework while Lawrence worked in the barn and tended the fields. One of Marian’s favorite employers was the Lake family. Benjamin Lake was the minister of the Presbyterian Church, and he and his wife Cynthia had two children.
Marian became a widow in 1972, and five years later she married her second husband, Lester York, a businessman, and they lived in a house on Gorge Road. Lester taught Marian to drive, and she got her driver’s license at age 60. She remembered that they bought a new car to celebrate.
Lester died after only two and a half years of marriage, after which Marian moved into a house on Lyman Street in the village, where she stayed for 25 years.
In addition to her family, Marian is proud and fond of her years of church service and volunteer work. As a child she was raised Episcopalian and attended St. Peter’s on Mill Street. She and Lawrence joined the Cazenovia Baptist church, and over the years she served as a deacon, head usher, tender of the nursery and even a janitor.
Marian has always had a passion for volunteering. She has volunteered at the Cazenovia Public Library, Gerrit Smith Infirmary, Habitat for Humanity, Caz Cares, the American Cancer Association, The Key, Madison County Office of the Aging, the Salvation Army, the Rescue Mission and The Samaritan Center, among others. In 1985, she was recognized as Madison County’s Volunteer of the Year. Marian is also a proud member of the Order of Rebekahs.
“I miss all that because I don’t go anymore,” she said. “I was always doing something.”
“Marian’s accomplishments in life and her ability to touch others is an inspiration to all of us,” said her great-great-niece Pamela Rightmyre. “She has dedicated her life to volunteering and giving to others.”
Nowadays, Marian stays inside her apartment in the village of Cazenovia. She hasn’t been out all winter she said — “Boy, that’s not for me.” Her family members and friends bring her groceries and visit. She misses going to church, she said, but now she watches it on television. Pastor Steve Thomas is her favorite.
Marian has declined a party this year for her 100th birthday, but Rightmyre said the family is encouraging people to send Marian birthday cards to 1D carriage house village apartments, Cazenovia, NY 13035.
Some of the details of Marian York’s life contained in this story were taken from a family biography of Marian, written in 2007 by Roxana Spano after interviewing Marian.
