What I did In Memory of My Father

[The Time Keeper]

A Donation From The Heart

Written by: Steve Yablonski www.oswegocountytoday.com 2/4/2009

OSWEGO, NY – For the better part of his life, Andy Pawlenko used his talents to help others and bring joy into their lives. The well-known bluegrass musician of Hannibal lost his battle with prostate cancer in September 2007. He was just 74.

Deanna Hubbard presents a donation to Dr. Jonathan Wright, left, and Steven Thomas. She raised the money through sales of a CD she created of her late father's music. The funds will benefit the Charlie and Mary Haney Cancer Giving Fund of Oswego County, which helps cancer patients.

Thanks to his daughter, his spirit of giving lives on and his music won’t fade from memory.

Last year, Deanna Hubbard of Hannibal created a CD, called “Out Behind The Barn,” from a recording her father made.

Over the last couple of months, she created copies of the disc and sold them for $12 apiece through Scott Building Supply in Hannibal, Raby’s Ace Hardware in Oswego and at McCarthy’s tavern on Tallman Street, her father’s old stomping grounds in Oswego. It’s also available on her website, clipclocks.com

On Tuesday afternoon, she donated the proceeds to the Charlie and Mary Haney Cancer Giving Fund of Oswego County, which helps pay for cancer treatments for county residents who do not have health insurance.

She presented a check for $1,833 to Dr. Jonathan Wright, medical director of the office (who treated her dad), and Steven Thomas, RN, nurse administrator, at the Hematology Oncology office at Oswego Hospital, run by University Hospital.

Her father would have said, “Holy crap! We’re rich, let’s put a deposit down on a new truck!” she said laughing. “I can just hear him,”

“My goal was $500,” she said. “I did that in like the first day. I was very shocked.”

Her mother and father both had cancer. “Two weeks after my mom passed (in 2004), my dad was diagnosed. I helped take care of him until he passed,” she said. “A year had gone by and I thought I had to do something in his memory; I just felt uneasy.”

Her father had made her a recording, a cassette, of songs from a list she had given him.

“I just wanted him to sing like he did around the campfire,” she explained.

People all over the Northeast knew her father as a musician and leader of the bluegrass group Andy Pawlenko and the Smokey Hollow Boys.

The band performed at festivals all over the region. They were together for 47 years.

She has “a ton” of recordings of her father’s band, and people from all over have sent her some as well, she noted.

“But, this was just my dad singing, for me. He talks to me on it; just him and his guitar. I loved it. I thought I’d make a CD,” she continued. “I did add in three of the band with him playing with them to just round it out.”

She contacted Scott’s in Hannibal and asked if they’d be interested in selling some. She did the same with Raby’s and McCarthy’s.

They all agreed and they sold CDs from the end of November to the middle of January. The CD is still available on her website.

Charlie and Mary Haney started the fund about eight years ago, Dr. Wright said.

“They realized there were a lot of folks who were out of work and didn’t have any money,” he said. “We use the money for things like wigs, transportation and many other things. A lot of different people have donated to the fund over the years.”

The cost of medical care is so incredibly high the fund can’t be used for their treatments, he noted. “But for people who fall through the cracks, who can’t make their co-pays, can’t pay for the high cost of prescriptions this money is very helpful.”

In order for the fund to last forever, the Haneys created an endowment and encourage others to donate to the fund and assist needy cancer patients in Oswego County.

Mary got sick and Charlie retired early from Alcan to take care of her, Dr. Wright said.

“Just after he retired, he was diagnosed with cancer. Ironically, she ended up taking care of him at the end,” he said. “Mary and Charlie have both passed away. But, this fund they developed continues to be a blessing to many. Neither of them were from Oswego originally.”

“We’re keeping up, we’re using it,” he said of the fund. “But, that’s only because people are being generous.”

Hubbard’s donation was the largest to the fund since the Haneys established it, Thomas said.

For more information about the fund, call 464-4416.

People who bought the CD heard a different side of her father, “just him and his guitar,” Hubbard said.

“I had asked him for a tape of just him back in 1998 and now I’m glad I did,” she said.

“Everybody’s asking me to do another one. I have talked to quite a few of the band members and said if I come up with music and they’re on it could I use it and so far I’ve gotten a yes from everybody,” she said.

The next CD could be music by the band in the early 1970s, she noted.

Deanna Hubbard presents a donation to Dr. Jonathan Wright, left, and Steven Thomas. She raised the money through sales of a CD she created of her late father's music. The funds will benefit the Charlie and Mary Haney Cancer Giving Fund of Oswego County, which helps cancer patients.

[LadyBarbossa]

That is awesome. :)

~Lady B