Ostrander, Alva E.
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Obituary
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Alva E. Ostrander
KNOX — Alva E. Ostrander, 81, of Township Road, died Monday at St, Clare's Hospital in Schenectady, after a brief illness.
Mr. Ostrander was supervisor Knox from 1968 to 1974. A Republican in a largely Democrat town, he promised to write a trailer ordinance for the town.
"Frankly, at the time, Knox was like an oasis for people who wanted to have a mobile home," said Robert Whipple, who ran on a ticket with Mr. Ostrander for town justice, a position that put him on the town board.
"Also, as supervisor, he took it personally that it was his job to protect the town and save money. I have seen, him outside on a snowplow, in below-zero weather, with the wind blowing, to get the roads plowed. He was of the old school."
Mr. Whipple pointed out that Mr. Ostrander passed the trailer ordinance — the beginning of the Knox Zoning Law—as a minority supervisor. "I don't know how you could write anything about Alvy without saying he was a born leader," Mr. Whipple said. "He went on a board that was still a Democrat board, and he got that board to cooperate 100 percent with him."
Mr. Ostrander was supervisor during the Knox sesquicentennial, and was a charter member of the Plankroaders, an organization formed from the celebration. Mr. Ostrander was born Oct. 8, 1916, on the family farm on Ostrander Road in Knox, son of the late Frank and Kathryn Bradt Ostrander. The one-room school he attended through eighth grade was down the road at the corner of Ostrander and Bozenkill roads. Later, he lived in Delanson, where he married his wife, the late Alice J. Ostrander, in 1938. The couple moved to Schenectady in the early 1940's, and returned to Knox in 1954.
As a foreman of the small engine division at the General Electric Co in Schenectady, Mr. Ostrander oversaw a crew of some 20 people. He retired in 1977,
He was a member of the Knox Reformed Church and the former Helderberg Grange. Mr. Ostrander enjoyed antique cars and engines. He regularly attended the Gas-Up in Gallupville, and after retirement owned a Model A Ford and a Model T Ford.
He was an avid gardner. "Every year," his daughter Marlene Schager said, "he would say. 'I'm not going to plant so much,' and every year it was the same amount." He sold the surplus at a stand in front of his home.
"He loved to talk with people," Mrs. Schager said., She said people would come to converse with him on the porch at his house. She said her father mostly stayed at home, "but in recent years would go down to the Voorheesville Diner on Friday for a fish fry.
In addition to Mrs. Schager, who. lives in Knox, survivors include two other daughters, Carole Bayly of Voorheesville and Doris Keahler of Raleigh, N. C.; two sisters, Ethel Bassler of Rotterdam and Florence Smith of Guilderland; one brother, Frank Ostrander of Knox; eight grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren! including Brandon Fortuin, who was born yesterday; and many nieces and nephews. Mr. Ostrander's wife died in 1993; a son, Donald Ostrander, died in 1975. Two brothers, Steven and William Ostrander and a sister, Lena Ostrander, are also deceased.
A funeral service was held this morning (Thursday) at the Fredendall Funeral Home in Altamont. Burial was in Knox Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Altamont Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 56, Altamont, NY 12009.
- Altamont Enterprise - April 9, 1998
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