Obituary (from Thousand Islands Sun of 7 April 1983): GRINDSTONE ISLAND---William H. (Bud) Faust, 72, of Grindstone Island, was pronounced dead on arrival Sunday at the Community General Hospital in Syracuse.
The funeral will be Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Cummings Funeral Home, with the Rev. Robert F. Nay, pastor of the United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be on Grindstone Island.
Donations may be made in his name to the Clayton Volunteer Ambulance Fund.
He is survived by his wife, Jewell A.; a son, William T. Faust, a policeman for the Village of Clayton; five grandchildren; a brother, Leo Faust, Grindstone; a sister, Mrs. Dominic(Jeanette) Cristino, Syracuse; nieces, nephews, and
cousins.A daughter, Carol M. Faust, died Oct. 13, 1971.
Born in Syracuse on Aug. 28, 1911, a son of William H. and Anna Carnegie Faust, he attended schools on Grindstone Island and in Clayton.
On Sept. 8, 1938 he married Jewell A. DeCoursey in the Methodist Church in Syracuse.
Mr. Faust, a veteran of World War II, was employed by the York Buffalo Trucking Company and the Syracuse State School. He recently retired from the Calumet Marina.
He was a 32nd degree Mason with Syracuse Lodge No. 524, and a member of the Clayton American Legion Colon-Couch Post 821. He was a member of the American Association of Retired Persons, the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Syracuse Council
and the Grindstone Island Church.
Obituary (from newspaper of 3 Jan. 1980): CANTON---J. Garland Garnsey, 70, Sykes Road, nationally-known harness race driver who earned more than 1,300 victories in a 30-year career, died Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. at his Winterhaven Farm home.
The funeral will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at the O'Leary Funeral Home with Rev. Calvin Zimmer officiating. Burial will be in St. Lawrence Cemetery, Clayton.
Calling hours at the funeral home are tonight from 7 to 9 and Friday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Surviving are his wife, Florence; his mother, Mrs. Carrie Garnsey, Clayton; four daughters, Mrs. Phyllis Ashwood, Hightstown, N.J., Mrs. Donald (Shirley) Corneau, Shafter. Calif., Mrs. Clare (Elizabeth) Patterson, Vestal, and Mrs. James
(Carla) Toomey, Canton; three sons, Eugene M., Canton, Glenn G., Pompano Beach, Fla., and John T., Canton; 19 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and nieces.He was born in the Town of Clayton, April 11, 1909, son of John and Carrie Slate Garnsey, and attended school on Grindstone Island. He married Florence Carnegie at Solvay in 1948. The couple had lived since on the Sykes Road.
For many years and up until his death, Mr. Garnsey had raised horses and had been a well-known trainer and driver in the east and in Florida.
Mr. Garnsey drove horses over the ice at Clayton in winter months, when that village had its annual ice race meeting, and later drove over the Edgewood track at Alexandria Bay, when Capt. Chester A. Massey, a retired Great Lakes captain
and fancier of trotters and pacers, held summer and winter meetings at the resort.Mr. Garnsey began racing in 1938 at county fair meets throughout Northern New York. He raced at Saratoga Harness in the 1940s and moved to Vernon Downs in 1953.
He rapidly became a favorite with the harness race enthusiasts at Vernon and finished the inaugural Vernon Downs season as the number two reinsman at the central New York track.
In his second season, the veteran driver was the second leading money-winning driver at Vernon Downs, winning more than $29,000, during the 1954 campaign at the three-quarter mile track.
That same season saw Garnsey set a world's record with a 1.28.4 time for a three-quarter mile pace.
During the 1960s, Mr. Garnsey and his son, Glen, consistently placed in the top 10 drivers at the Vernon track, and had among the highest winning percentages at the track. They were the first father-son duo to earn more than 1,000 career
wins.In 1968, Mr. Garnsey became the 45th driver in harness racing history to earn 1,000 career wins. He had amassed more than 1,300 victories and earned an estimated $1.5 million in purses.
He operated a public stable for training purposes here. One leader in the harness racing business once pointed out that while many drivers take their stables to Florida and Georgia in the winter for training purposes, Mr. Garnsey seemed
to get just as much success training his horses in the cold north country weather, which was considered a remarkable feat.In 1966, after 31 years of racing, Mr. Garnsey won a $40,063 purse, then the biggest purse he had ever won.
He was a member of the Clayton Masonic Lodge, Harness Horse Association of Central New York, Harness Horse Breeders' Association of New York State, United States Drivers' Association, the Old Times Club, Saratoga and the Kentucky Colonels.
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 14 Feb. 1983): Leslie W. Conant, 77, of 432 Glenn Ave., died at 4:08 this morning at the House of the Good Samaritan, where he was admitted Sunday. He had been ill two years.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at the Hart and Bruce Funeral Home with Rev. Jack Steves, pastor of the Assembly of God Church, officiating. Spring burial will be in North Watertown Cemetery.
Calling hours will be 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
He is survived by his wife, Olive; a daughter, Mrs. Phyllis Ashwood, New Jersey; a step-daughter, Mrs. Jean Sharp, Kentucky; four step-sons, Francis Ryan, Adams Center, Robert Ryan, Rochester, Mike Ryan, Watertown, and Bernard Ryan, Adams
Center; a sister, Mrs. Leona Niles, Watertown; two brothers, Leo, Holcomb, and Donald, Oneonta; 25 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.Five brothers, Lynn, Bill, Harvey, Jack, and Leland, died before him.
Born on Wellesley Island March 24, 1905, a son of William and Mabel Seaman Conant, he attended Wellesley Island and Clayton schools and owned and operated a farm on Grindstone Island.
He sold the farm and joined Carpenters Union Local 278 on Aug. 5, 1949 and worked as a heavy construction carpenter until retiring in September 1972.
His marriage to Florence Carnegie, Clayton, ended in divorce.
He married Mrs. Olive Campbell Ryan Dec. 31, 1964 in LaFargeville with Rev. E. C. Van Brocklin officiating.