Visitors recall old memories around eclipse

Apr. 8—PLATTSBURGH — Fear is what Richard Victor remembers from his first eclipse.

Thinking back to the partial eclipse of 1963, the 68-year-old Victor remembered the stern warning from his mother.

"I remember as a little child my mother telling me 'get away from the windows,'" he said. "I was always told the fear of God — don't look into the eclipse."

The reason being, he explained, was the danger of looking directly toward the sun.

So Victor, who traveled to Plattsburgh from Marlboro, N.J., to witness the total eclipse Monday, remembers his delight in later learning of the different ways that you could safely look at an eclipse.

"Use a pinhole or through film negatives. How many kids nowadays know what 35mm negatives are?" he joked.

Indeed, Victor's 10-year-old granddaughter Agam Euzam, far from hiding from the eclipse, captured photos of it through the lens of an iPhone 13.

The pair were among the crowds that gathered around the Macdonough Monument to see the eclipse Monday afternoon.

Along with the diamond ring effect of the sunlight haloing the moon, Euzam said she enjoyed watching the progression of the moon covering the sun.

"It was really cool to see how the sun progressively got smaller as the moon covered it," she said.

For Carol Desch of Albany, what struck her was the sudden chill in the air when the eclipse reached totality.

Desch was among a group of seniors from the Albany area who traveled to Plattsburgh to see the eclipse.

Among them were retired boxing officials Al Thompson and Paul Silverstein, who in their career even called matches held in Madison Square Garden.

Thompson recalled visiting the North Country to officiate boxing matches organized by the late boxing promoter and New York State Boxing Hall of Famer Bob Miller.

The group's companion Cecil Picard, a native of Quebec, noted that in her lifetime the eclipse was the first time she'd ever made a stop in Plattsburgh.

That was the same experience of photographers Jason Tan, 23, of Plattsburgh and Angelo Gergatsoulis, 50, of Lyndhurst, N.J.

Both said they'd seen Plattsburgh listed online as a prime viewing location for the eclipse and had chosen that as their eclipse destination based on that and favorable weather forecasts.

It was the local Chabad House that drew a group of about 15 Satmer Jews from Brooklyn to choose Plattsburgh for their eclipse visit.

The group enjoyed breakfast and morning prayers at Chabad of Plattsburgh.

"They were very welcoming," a spokesman for the group, Abraham J., shared.

He also noted the significance of eclipses to the group's faith.

"It is talked about a lot, if it's a bad sign or a good sign."

Gesturing to the crowd enjoying the afternoon sun along the Saranac River, he noted warmly: "If the people are good, it's a good sign, and I think everyone's behaving."