Faye A Ferris

Take a look at the tip of a tree branch… What do you see?... We see leaves and their supporting twigs, which further down become branches; the branches, in turn, a trunk… and giving support to all of the above, the trees roots. Like a tree a family has roots, and when a member of that family, a leaf, falls from the tree - in autumnal brightness - they don't fall to the ground, only to shrivel up and blow away as dust: they seep back into the branches and twigs, through the soil… and for the next generation - for the following seasons leaves - they are its nourishment: Thus continues the cycle. Charles and Elizabeth Jilison Bronson had a farm on the East Ava Road, between Boonville and Ava, from which they populated the central New York countryside with seven children: who in turn spread their kin throughout the globe. One of their children, Harry, married Anna Stephon, - the daughter of William and Alice Stephon - purchased the family farm; and together they had their own tribe of seven children. (So continues the cycle.) Harry and Anna sent their children off to school - the proverbial one-room school house - up the hill, toward Ava (a great hill to slide down during the winter, so I was told)… and at the base of the hill, across the road from the farm house, was the meadow: which when frozen, became the Bronson family ice skating rink. (Anna didn't skate, - she, like Harry, was a dancer - but she enjoyed being waltzed around the "rink" on a chair by her husband and children - Everett, Dorothy, Harold, Phyllis, Millard, Faye and Dolores.) In time, Faye would contribute to the family cycle. She met a new, at the time, Boonville Central School student, Richard Ferris; and not long after graduation, they too, would marry. Richard joined the Air Force. Dick, as he was known, and Faye, would ship off to bases in Cheyenne, Wyoming - where daughter Sheri was born - then on to Chicopee, Massachusetts - where son Ken was born… Eventually they settled back in Boonville - just in time for the birth of Scott… followed by Karen and then Christopher. As the children blossomed, Dick and Faye grew apart… leaving Faye as the primary care provider. She took great pride in raising her children, and for a time, helping with a couple of her grandchildren. Struggling to feed five children she worked as a home health care assistant and as a nurse's aid, at Sunset Nursing Home, for nearly 30 years - getting fired (for the hell-raising that she and fellow aids would engage in) almost as much as she was rehired. Dinner parties, crme de menthe; Civil War cannon shoots, Model T trips; sliding down the back hill, during winter, and long after the snows lifted, picking blackberries from that same hill (to make pies). Andy Williams, Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass, and Nat King Cole encouraged her to smile and sing… while polkas and jitterbugs introduced her to Carl Safford, with whom she shared her life, until he passed away. With the assistance of the staff at Masonic Care Community, in Utica, she lived out her days. Faye leaves behind her children, Sheri (Ed), Ken (Suzanne), Scott (Sharon), and Christopher (Deanna): Karen predeceased her; sister Dolores Nichols and a sister-in-law, Maxine Bronson; as well as seven grandchildren, - Shannon, Gabriel, Tyme, Dylan, Nicole, Jenna and Annie - nine great-grandchildren and her dear friend Yvette Lallier. As we close out this tale, Faye's parents have called her to the dance floor… Two steps with her right foot, sliding two steps with her left… Take her out Mr. Cole: "Ramble on, ramble on, When your ramblin' days are gone, Who will love you with a love true, When your ramblin' days are gone… Ramblin' Rose, Ramblin' Rose…" A graveside gathering will be on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at 11:00 A.M. at Boonville Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Boonville Fire Department Ambulance Fund, P.O. Box 164, Boonville, NY 13309.