Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor
Glens Falls Mayor-Elect Dan Hall was a three-sport star at Queensbury High School, quarterbacking the football team while serving as class president.
John Strough, the current town supervisor, was “kind of quiet and shy” and “the guy who was holding up the bleachers at school dances. But I got along with everyone.”
Both men graduated in 1969, and both noted that another classmate was former Queensbury Supervisor Dennis Brower.
Queensbury’s graduating class in 1969 numbered only 150 students. It’s now nearly twice as large; 291 graduated in 2017.
On Jan. 1 Mr. Hall becomes mayor of Glens Falls, and Mr. Strough begins his third term as Queensbury supervisor.
Mr. Strough says Mr. Hall “was a very popular guy. He was part of the ‘in’ crowd, but he was always friendly to everyone, and never left anyone out. We’ve had a strong friendship for many years and we have a lot of mutual friends.”
Mr. Hall said Mr. Strough “was quiet, and I was just the opposite!”
“Dan lived on Country Club Road,” said Mr. Strough, “and I lived on the other end of Sweet Road, up on the hill, so we grew up less than a mile apart….
“The Class of 1969 was a very tight class in that everyone seemed to like everybody and respect everybody. We were very social and very together.”
Mr. Strough, who went on to a long teaching career at Queensbury, says he himself was a “medium student….I had many people copying my tests, and back then there weren’t the child labor laws there are now, so I was working at McDonald’s many nights doing the 1 a.m. cleanup and I had to be at school the next day.”
“I’ve known John most of my life,” said Mr. Hall. “We took different paths to where we are today. He became a teacher and I went out west to work, but we both got into politics at roughly the same time.
“It’s interesting the way it has worked out. I think it bodes well for both Glens Falls and Queensbury. John has always been forthright about what he thought was best for Queensbury. I think we will work well together.”
Mr. Strough said, “Since we’ve already worked well together, we will continue to work well together to the mutual benefit of both communities.”
