Carl Zenger, MHS 1956, National Award Winner

New York conservation volunteer honored for 45,000 hours of service at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge

Wendy Weber-Northeast Region Chief of Refuges-Retired

Desiree Sorenson Groves-President and CEO National Wildlife Association

Carl Zenger-Volunteer of the Year 2025

Tomas Roster- Manager Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge-Retired

Richard Remmer- National Wildlife Refuge Association

Carl Zenger grew up in Sullivan Township and graduated from Mansfield High School in 1956. In 1958, he married classmate Phyllis Swan. We met them when they attended their 2016 class reunion here at The History Center, and they became history center members. Their careers took them to Lockport NY.

Carl became actively engaged with the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and continued after retirement and until the present at age 87. His volunteer career statistic is at 45,000 hours - that's 22.5 YEARS full time equivalent. He was also a charter member of the Friends of INWR and served in officer positions.

From the National Wildlife web site: "Zenger’s work is most visible across the refuge’s grasslands. Each year, he mows and maintains about 200 acres of habitat, ensuring that migratory birds and pollinators have the open fields they need to survive. This is part of nearly 1,500 acres of early successional habitat that Iroquois NWR manages through mowing, haying, prescribed fire, mulching, and planting. Zenger’s role as the refuge’s primary mower has been essential to keeping these lands healthy and vibrant.

"He has also been the driving force behind the refuge’s bird conservation programs. Zenger maintains more than 50 bluebird boxes, launched a purple martin project that now fledges over 700 birds annually, and expanded nesting opportunities for the American Kestrel, which has declined by 85 percent in New York. He is also a permitted bird bander and has banded hundreds of bluebirds, tree swallows, and purple martins on the refuge, contributing valuable data to regional and national studies."

“Carl is a vital thread in the fabric of our refuge—his unmatched dedication to conservation, from championing grassland restoration across 200 acres annually to launching a multi-species cavity nesting program, continues to inspire and connect our community to the natural world,” said Emily Kelly, Park Ranger at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

In 2024, Carl was awarded the Volunteer of the Year for the Northeast Region of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Carl's contributions to the improvement of wildlife habitat are extensive and will have a long-lasting impact.

Send Carl congratulations at cpzenger@gmail.com

Read the full article here. Carl Zenger Named Recipient of the 2025 Refuge Volunteer of the Year — The National Wildlife Refuge Association

Zenger a man for all seasons at Iroquois refuge - Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge

We were glad to hear of Carl's award. If you know of interesting stories about Mansfield people, past or present, we'd like to hear about it. Just send an email.

Coming Soon: the 20th issue of Voices from the Archives

Our next issue tells the stories of some of our earliest local physicians starting as far back as 1813. Who were they, where did they come from and what roles did they play in our communities? What did they leave behind that reminds us of them?

This will be mailed to all currently enrolled members.

Membership Renewal Due

Membership in the History Center is a valuable part of our support. Members receive 3 to 4 issues of Voices from the Archives annually with stories highlighting our town and its people. Memberships expire 31 Dec unless you have already renewed. The mailing label on your issue includes your membership expiration date. We have continued to send the journal to members for a year after expiration. If your label says 31 DEC 2024, you will receive no more issues. If it is 31 DEC 2025, renew soon. Renewal card will be included with the journal.

You can send your check by mail or you can pay by PayPal. Click from the Membership or PayPal button below.

Upcoming High School Class Reunions

No new reunions scheduled yet for 2026. If your class is planning a reunion this year, let us know and we'll be glad to welcome you to our museum for an hour or two of remembering Mansfield.

Our Library: History and Genealogy

 Our History-Genealogy Library is open any time the History Center is open. We invite you to stop by to browse, dip into volumes, do research, or just sit and read. We can search our database if you are looking for some specific book or topic. You can also check out a volume on loan to take with you.

Online Collections | History Center (pastperfectonline.com)

It's a slow and time-consuming process, but we continue to add new items to our online collections. Particularly, we have added to the individual biographies of our local people. While we collect obituary and other information for all our local burials, checking them over in detail before we click to add it to the upload take time. There are already 5,000 biographies uploaded, some with photos, and many more thousands just waiting for a final check. You'll find them in the Browse by Term - People section, alphabetic by name at birth.

Take a look. The ONLY way to learn your way around this utility is to read the guidelines and poke every link. Just explore, go wandering. You'll be surprised.

You will find lists of people (all by name at birth), lists of subjects, or try searching on keywords which is just about anything. Our genealogy database of local connections includes over 100,000 individuals. Over 11,000 of them are also included in our museum files with links to schools, cemeteries, businesses, etc. People are only included online if we have an object or photos associated with them, although they are in our files if they are/were local (lived here, buried here, went to school here). If your family is not shown, send us photos so they can be.

You can select Random Images and follow something that catches your eye.

Try searching for advertisements. They link to businesses and the life stories of the people who ran them, and even the buildings they operated in.

You can also link to the online catalogs through our landing page at joycetice.com.

We have lots more fine-tuning and linking to do for our online presentation, but you'll be surprised what you find when you get lost in our files.

Renewed Members - New Members - Join us for 2026

We'd like to have twenty new members for 2026. As a bonus, we'll send each of them an earlier journal issue from 2019 to 2024 in addition to the 2026 issues as they are published. You can send a check or pay by PayPal. Directions link from the button at left.

If you are planning a reunion, consider a casual afternoon Meet & Greet at the History Center's Museum of Us. In an informal environment, you can chat with your friends, watch a slide show of Mansfield's historic photos, and find traces of yourself, your friends, and your family. Many of our exhibits are designed for those who grew up here. The Blue & Gold Room is full of MHS sports mementos. The pictorial display includes YOU along with all the other MHS graduates in its first hundred years.

Thank You to Our Gold Level Sponsors

Law Offices of Larry Mansfield

VFW Post 6757

Mansfield Auxiliary Corporation

Lutes Foundation