GROWING UP IN THE CATSKILLS IN THE 1940S AND 50S SEEMED PERFECTLY NORMAL TO A CUBAN/PUERTO RICAN LIKE ME. Maybe it’s because the Catskills
by one vote!) Or maybe it’s because
were historically a multi-ethnic
I went to Onteora Central School
resort destination and accustomed
and married a classmate, Jane Todd,
to diversity. Maybe because my
whose parents and grandparents
parents fell in love—with each
grew
other and with the mountains—
Shandaken.
up
in
Fleischmanns
and
while vacationing at the Hispaniccatering
Hollywood
Hotel
in
Becoming an Historic Preservationist
Highmount in the late 1930s. Or
in the 1970s changed the way I looked
maybe it’s because Pine Hill, where
at the Catskills. All of a sudden I saw
they decided to settle in 1944, was
the buildings, the beauty of the tiny
such an accepting place.
hamlets, the relationship between the architecture and the history, in
My
the
a new way. Through my work, and
community, even though my father
through my service on the Catskill
never lost his Spanish accent
Center Board, I’m pleased to have
and my grandparents only spoke
had a small part in protecting that
Spanish. (In a way, that difference
heritage. The Catskills were good to
was even celebrated; one year my
me, and it’s one way I can return the
father ran for mayor and only lost
favor. - FS
32
family
fit
right
2020 RESILIENCE
into
PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANK SANCHEZ, HERE SHOWN IN THE FOURTH GRADE WITH HIS FUTURE WIFE STANDING NEXT TO HIM.
Exploring Diversity in the Catskills with Frank Sanchez
