When Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller drives along Route 394 outside Chautauqua Institution, her sympathy goes out to the bikers and walkers along the side of the curvy road, dodging speeding cars and inhaling exhaust and particulate matter.
The 2016 election season may still be on the horizon, but Chautauquans are already busy casting their votes.
Jack Voelker wipes the dirt off his hands onto his already dirt-stained jeans. He cleans his glasses with his black Buffalo Beer Week T-shirt and thrusts those same soiled hands into his frayed pockets. Leaning back, he looks up at his hundreds of healthy hop bines stretching toward the sky. He removes his white Chautauqua tennis hat and takes a hand out of his pocket to comb back his hair.
There is a steady stream of passersby and bicyclists along the street in front of Ted Wolfe’s Chautauqua porch. A wave or greeting occasionally punctuates our conversation. Thoroughly relaxed in his familiar wicker chair, Wolfe, 77, is a man clearly comfortable in his own skin. He channels a bit of James Stewart with his laconic style. Retired for nearly 20 years from a successful corporate career as a marketing executive and board member, he has been able to indulge a number of passions, including astrophotography. Introduced to the region when he joined Welch’s corporate offices in Westfield, N.Y., Wolfe held Chautauqua dear, even as his career moved him elsewhere. He has photographed the sun many times from his Chautauqua backyard.
The Chautauquan Daily 