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Louis Polsinello, Jr., Class of 1978 is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for his volunteerism, heroism, entrepreneurship and his concern and generosity towards his community.
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Lou played varsity football while opening a gas station and attending high school. He was a member of Honor Society and recipient of The Rensselaer County Firefighter of the Year award in 1978 for saving the life of someone who had fallen through the ice at Red Mill Creek.
Lou went straight from high school into the working world. He has been CEO of Polsinello Fuels, Inc. for 35 yrs. and operates 8 different corporations. He lead the company's efforts to build the business in numerous areas within the petroleum industry including: truck stops, convenience stores, wholesale gasoline and diesel, heating oil, propane, lubricants, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning sales and service. Altogether he employs 140 people at 4 different locations from here, north to Plattsburg, west to Canastota, and south to Westbury, NY.
Lou has served on numerous boards and committees, both public and private, including: president of the Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce, the Rensselaer Planning Board and Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency. He has held numerous leadership roles within volunteer organizations and charities, including: Rensselaer Little League, Pop Warner, The Boys and Girls Club and the Fire Department. He was elected for 2 terms to the Rensselaer County Legislature, becoming Democratic Minority Leader. He was instrumental in starting the Polsinello Foundation Scholarship Fund, giving RCSD vocational training students financial assistance. He is also a board member for Shell Oil, Citco and BP Castrol.
In his spare time, Lou is an avid golfer, boater and pilot.
Lou was nominated by his friend, Rick McCabe, former faculty member for RCSD and 2016 Hall of Fame inductee. Lou is married to the former Judy Mooney '79. They have 3 children, and are the proud grandparents of 5.
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Linda O'Toole Martino, Class of 1973, is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for her dedication to bettering the lives of the disenfranchised and fighting for legislative change.
Linda attended Van Rensselaer HS, leaving school at the completion of her junior year and earned her equivalency diploma in 1973.
She married her high school sweetheart and while raising their 6 children, earned her Medical Assistant Certification in 1988. She continued to work inside the home, also being a Cub Scout leader for a couple of years. During this time Linda and her husband became Fresh Air Fund parents to a little boy who has continued to be part of their family until this day. He still calls them mom and dad.
In 1998 Linda began volunteering with the Ombudsman Program after her father, who had been in a nursing home, was unsafely discharged. Her volunteering led to the position of Assistant Coordinator of the Rensselaer County Ombudsman Program. Later, she became the Coordinator of the program, overseeing 17 facilities ranging from family type homes, adult homes, assisted living facilities to skilled nursing facilities.
Over time, the state was trying to enforce the reduction of the number of mentally ill residents in adult homes for the elderly. Linda knew that this would mean that a large number of residents at a particular facility would have nowhere to go. Linda took it upon herself to physically go to the legislative offices to lobby for these residents, and it worked!
Linda is also passionate about the heroin addiction problem facing our society. She has personally known many cases of young teens and adults struggling with this problem and even some who have died. So she decided to do something about it by spearheading a heroin epidemic awareness program in Rensselaer County. She is the founder and board president of Nopiates. This organization, along with a legislative liaison lobbied to reduce the amount of opiates prescribed from 30 days to 7, and to enforce that those suffering from addiction could be held for 3 days in a hospital for observation, detoxification and development of a community care plan instead of being released after the emergency 911 call. Linda's group has marched and held rallies with the support of such community leaders as Father Peter Young and Assemblyman John McDonald to raise community awareness and provide outreach. Nopiates is currently working with the police on an "Angels" program where people suffering with the disease of addiction would be placed in treatment rather than be incarcerated.
Linda's friend from schooldays, Dr. Linda Rozell Shannon, class of '72 and 2013 Hall of Fame inductee nominated her. Linda and her husband Jim live in West Sand Lake where they are the proud parents of 6 adult children and grandparents to 8, and soon will be great grandparents.
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Ethel T. Houser, faculty member and administrative staff for the RCSD, is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for her dedicated service to the students of the district and community as a whole.
Ethel was born in Castleton, VT, where she graduated high school and received her degree in teaching from Castleton State Teachers College in 1940. During WWII, she worked in the Springfield, MA armory, assembling M-1 rifles for the military. She received her Master's degree from SUNY Albany sometime later, doing post graduate work at Siena College, Russell Sage and SUNY Oneonta.
She began her elementary teaching career previously in Vermont and after moving to Rensselaer, began teaching mathematics at Fort Crailo Junior High School. She held positions of principal of Fort Crailo and Assistant Principal of Van Rensselaer High School, then Principal.
As a volunteer she was one of the initial and ongoing contributors of her time and finances to the Rensselaer Boys and Girls Club from 1956-88. She also was involved in the formation of the city's Little League at this time, was active in Cub Scouts, Ladies' Auxiliary and the PTA while her two sons were young.
Ethel lived in Rensselaer, and gave back to the community for most of her life. She retired and moved to Cape Neddick, ME in 1988, following her husband's death. She passed away in 2001 at the age of 83.
Ethel was nominated by her son, John '62, who now lives in Virginia with his wife. She had 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
John Houser III and his son, John Houser IV accept their mother Ethel Houser's award.