Peekskill Couple to Receive 2016 Chester Smith Award

PEEKSKILL, NY — Robert and Kathleen Barthelmes will be the recipients of the 2016 Chester Smith Award from the Field Library.

The Field Library's annual Chester Smith Award is presented to honor a person or group for outstanding community service. Library officials announced the annual ceremony will be held Oct. 1.

Here's what they said about the 2016 honorees:

Both Bob and Kay are active members in the Peekskill community. After receiving her MS in Education from Fordham University in 1988, Kay went on to teach in the Peekskill school district for 20 years. She worked at The Field Library and served as president of the “Friends of the Library” group. and was also one of the first staff members of the “Teacher in the Library” program, a job which she continues to this day. Kay is also a member of Peekskill’s Conservation Advisory Council and the Peekskill Parks Board.

Bob Barthelmes comes from a long line of “Peekskillites.” He graduated from Peekskill High School in 1957 and in 1970 began a 31 – year career with Conde-Nast publications as an Art Director and Creative Director. Bob began teaching watercolor in 2002 at WCC Arts Workshop and also taught at CAMP, Inc., the Elton Brand-funded center for Peekskill students. He created an art program for Peekskill’s Park Street Alternative High School and has taught painting at Aunt Bessie’s Open Door as well as the Peekskill Senior Citizen’s Club.

Bob’s artwork has been shown in the Peekskill Museum, Museum of the Hudson Highlands, Zum Pulverwirt in Bad Tolz, Germany, The Hudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art, the Chappaqua Library and the Field Gallery in Peekskill . His popular “Finktown” series, depicting the working-class Peekskill neighborhood in the ‘40s and ‘50s, is highly prized and cherished.

This year, the event reception will take place in the Library’s main room from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Oct. 1. Tickets are $45 per person and include a light fare and cocktail reception followed by presentation of the Award. To order tickets, please call Sally Bentley at 914-862-3291 or email sbentley@wlsmail.org.

PHOTO: Bob and Kay Barthelmes/ contributed by the Field Library