Whipple Foundation Gets Important New Backing

George Whipple Eric Gross Preserving the history and greenways of Putnam County is getting some new, high-powered backing with the formation of a new board to expand the efforts of the Whipple Foundation.

The new Board of Trustees will help guide the Whipple Foundation for the Preservation of Putnam County Antiquities and Greenways, said Meredith Ann Whipple, the foundation’s president. In announcing the new board, she said it’s been established to move the Foundation to the next level of operation. County Sheriff Donald B. Smith is the foundation’s first chairman.

The Whipple family established the non-profit foundation more than twelve years ago to work on significant preservation and education projects in Putnam County. Since then, the foundation has leveraged millions of dollars in funding to benefit Putnam County’s historic and natural resources.

“Our aim is that in establishing a Board of Trustees, the foundation will broaden its outreach and commitment to projects that preserve the rich history and legacy of Putnam County,” said George Whipple, the Putnam County philanthropist and sister to Meredith Whipple.

The foundation has deep relations with Putnam County government, both the county executives over the years and the county legislators. It has managed all of its projects as public/private partnerships with their support and collaboration.

One example of the Whipple Foundation’s work is the public/private partnership that built Spain Cornerstone Park, converting a derelict gas station into a park, meeting room and a memorial for Putnam County victims of 9/11.

Another is the historic 1832 Red Mills Baptist Church, which was dismantled and reassembled in the Putnam County Veterans Memorial Park as the Whipple-Feeley Putnam County Veterans Memorial Chapel. This December, another phase of the project came to fruition when the steeple was raised by Ed Cooke, representative of the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters Union 279, and Pete Allegretta, former Chairman of the Putnam County Joint Veterans Council and member of Operating Engineers Local 137.

The chapel was named by the Putnam County Joint Veterans Council in honor of the late Captain George Carroll Whipple Jr. and Sergeant Robert Stanton Feeley, both Putnam County veterans, as well as all of the veterans of Putnam County. The Putnam County Executive’s office now administers the chapel.

And for three years, the foundation managed the Tilly Foster Farm Museum on a non-profit basis with a goal restoring it as a working farm, keeping it free and open to the people of Putnam County forever, and creating a world-class museum of rare and endangered Early- American farm animals.

The new board for the foundation has been in the works for more than a year. In addition to Smith, elected as chairman, other board members include Robert Morini, a principal in Houlihan Lawrence Inc.; Steve Ewing, an investment banker and farmer at Wingnut Farm in Pawling; Suzanne Clary, President of the Board of Trustees of The Jay Heritage Center in Rye, New York; Ed Cooke, representative of the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters Union 279; Pete Allegretta, former Chairman of the Putnam County Joint Veterans Council and member of Operating Engineers Local 137; JoAnn Feeley Whipple, Meredith Ann Whipple, George Whipple, Founder of the Whipple Foundation for the Preservation of Putnam County; Dr. Mark Jordan, DVM – Mid-Hudson Veterinary Practice; and Callene Rapp, former Chairman of the Board of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. In addition, all Putnam County executives, current and former, have been invited.

Meanwhile, Meredith Ann Whipple continues to serve as president of the foundation and as Executive Director of the Tilly Foster Farm Museum.