FLOYD COUNTRYMAN’S MEMORIES OF MIKE PALMER
“Mike was a tall, lanky guy. Quiet. If he knew you, he was a good friend. He didn’t have
too many friends.
“I was a kid right there in town. I used to go over and sit in the waiting room of the
station a couple of times a week, mainly in the summertime. I could hear the teletype going. He
would talk to me over his counter.
“Mike was a hard-working guy. He would take things out to the freight trains, like shipments
of eggs, and the used feed bags from Anderson’s Mill and GLF. The empty bags were sent back to
Beacon Feeds and Tioga Feeds for cleaning and refills. He wrote bills of lading for all incoming
and outgoing shipments, including Lawrence’s stones that were shipped out to grinding mill
companies.
“I used to help Mike in the summer, like loading trucks with the baggage going to Louie
Cohen’s bungalow colony, and all the trunks going to Camp Shangri-la for the boys and girls who
spent ten weeks there each summer.
“In the wintertime, Mike would care for Barley’s store while Poss and Dot were in Florida.
“While he was station agent in Accord (1918-1948), Mike and his family lived upstairs over the
station. He kept his car in one of the open sheds behind the Methodist Church. Mike had a wife,
Annie, and a daughter. Also a son, Pierce, who was good friends with Donald and Doris
Schoonmaker. Pierce had a small Austin car that he used to go to New Paltz Teachers College.
One time some ‘locals’ lifted the car up onto the landing at the front of the station. It was
six feet off the ground. Pierce found it next morning when he came out to drive to school.
“After he retired as station agent, Mike and Annie moved to the house next to Anderson’s mill.
Sometimes I would drive them to Ellenville where they had friends. (Mike had been agent in
Ellenville between 1907 and 1918.) One of the most comical things I remember was when Mike and
Annie were coming back from Ellenville and they stopped for soft ice cream. As they were driving
home, Annie finished her ice cream and threw her napkin out the window, forgetting that she had
wrapped her dentures in the napkin. A little while later, when a friend drove by and asked why
they were walking along the side of the road, the answer was, ‘Looking for Annie’s teeth.’ They
never found them.”
Floyd concluded, “Everyone in town knew Mike. He was well respected by all.”
Grandfather
Floyd also tells about his grandfather, William Countryman, who lived near the O&W tracks just
south of the rock cut; the one who reported a rock on the track in time for it to be removed
before the next train came through.
After the O&W closed down in 1957, William bought from the company the shed that was alongside
the track near the Countryman’s home. These tool sheds were all along the railroad right-of-way,
with tin roofs and pot-belly stoves where the section hands could go in and get warm. This shed
can be seen today behind the house at 7 Countryman Lane.
