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People who make Kingston special
Name: Jon McGrew
Organization: The Trolley Museum of New York , on the Rondout waterfront at 89 East Strand.
Occupation: I am retired from IBM, where I was a computer programmer. My interest there was in the design and development of the APL2 programming language itself as much as in the use of it, and later, likewise with the A+ programming language. I am currently the president of the Trolley Museum of New York. And I run a small typographic business; more on that later.
Age: 66
Where are you from originally? I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- a great city.
Why are you here? My job with IBM brought me here to Kingston in 1975. I had previously been in Endicott, so I was already a fan of the upstate New York environment. When an enticing job became available here, I made the move.
What is your favorite hangout? Spending time with my wife is always my favorite place to be- wherever we are. But whether I'm working on paperwork or relaxing, I tend to be at home most of the time. I can also be found at the Trolley Museum, and I always enjoy visiting with friends, perhaps over coffee at a diner.
Tell us something we never would have guessed about you. A lot of my interests in life were passed down to me from my dad. He was one of the founders of The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum outside of Pittsburgh, and that's what got me started in my love of trolleys. But he was also a renowned expert in typography, and that passion was certainly passed on to me, too. I grew up doing letterpress printing, and now printing and lettering in general and just the study of lettering designs and typefaces are all in my blood.
On the computer side, I designed and implemented one of the early e-mail systems, back before most people had heard of e-mail. (In those days, I would sometimes be asked what the "e" part meant.)
What keeps you here? What's not to like in the Mid-Hudson Valley? Okay, apart from the weather, at times, I mean. Kingston's waterfront areas make for a pleasant location, and its small-town feeling is very appealing. And ultimately, just like anywhere else, it's our love of nearby family and friends that keeps us here.
What would you change? Those of us who are active with the Trolley Museum have a lot there that we want to change -and we are doing that- but it all takes time. We are a volunteer-run organization with a very small group, so progress can be frustratingly slow sometimes, but we are moving ahead.
We have some big projects for the future, such as electrifying the trolley line, so that we can run the electric cars as they were meant to be run. That will come. But in wishing for change, let's not to overlook some great progress that has been made there in the past several years, such as some major building improvements and the rebuilding of a good portion of our trackage during the past year.
One change that we could certainly use is getting more volunteers, so that we can take on more projects. (...Interested? Come and see us!)
The fact that we need more volunteers probably also says that we need to do a better job of letting the public know who we are and what we do. It's still common for us to hear people say that they have lived here all their lives and never knew that we were here. Meanwhile, this Saturday (May 18th) the Trolley Museum is celebrating thirty years in Kingston. So I guess we need to do a better job of getting the word out.
Where would we find you on Sunday mornings? Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are our operating days at the Trolley Museum. But in addition to being active with the Trolley Museum, I am also a member of the planning committee for Hurley's annual Stone House Day, where the owners of some of the historic stone houses open their doors to the public for one day each year (...always the second Saturday in July). Even though it's a one-day activity, the planning for it continues throughout the year, and those meetings are normally held on Sundays, after church.
When you're not in Kingston, what's your idea of a wonderful city to visit, and why? My wife is English, so spending time in an English village is a special treat. Our visits to family and friends there take us to Devon and Somerset and occasionally up to Scotland. We love traveling together, wherever we go. While there is lots to do in big cities like London, our interests lean more toward the villages and the English countryside.
Closer to home, having grown up in Pittsburgh, that's still a city of great interest to me. It used to be The Steel City, but that industry has moved on. Many cities might have become ghost towns when their identity dissolved like that, but Pittsburgh reinvented itself and has really blossomed. It's a great city, with both a large, active downtown area and lots of surrounding suburbs, each with its own individual small-town feeling. It's a city with character... and so is Kingston.
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On the Friday May 17th (the first of a series happening on third Fridays during the summer), the shops and galleries on